Their job was to decide how much they wanted to be like the Blood King.
As they spoke, Ryuu tapped his fingers on the table and took in the tavern with a careful look in his umber eyes. His wavy black hair framed a narrow face with high cheekbones, and his fancy attire reminded Aina how strange it was that they were friends—he a Steel who’d inherited the biggest mining and construction empire in the country, and the rest of them criminals from the south of the city.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Ryuu asked, crossing his arms and doing a decent job of trying to look comfortable. “Raurie asked us to come.”
“She did?” Aina asked, looking toward the bar where Raurie poured a drink for a customer.
Ryuu gave a tense nod. “I was wondering if she found out something about Kohl.” He met her gaze then, his deep brown eyes lit with the same determination she felt to track down Kohl. Last month, Kohl had sent Aina to kill Ryuu’s brother—that failed, and then they’d worked together against Bautix and Kohl—but eventually Kohl killed his brother himself.
Then Ryuu’s outfit caught her eye—a suit with a red tie, gold watch glimmering against his bronze skin. “Why are you wearing a suit here of all places?”
Ryuu yawned and the bags under his eyes seemed to deepen. “Just had a meeting and didn’t have time to change. Running a mining and construction empire takes away a lot of your free time, apparently. What’s wrong with the suit? Does it make me stand out?”
“Yeah, that,” Teo began, “and your gold watch, and your leather shoes—”
“We match now, my scarf and your tie,” Aina said, lifting up one end of her scarf, which was far too hot to wear in summer, but she had a hard time letting go of it. The bloodstains that had turned it red were certainly memorable, even if they smelled like rust.
Ryuu grimaced. “My tie doesn’t have blood on it, Aina. Do you want a new scarf? I can get you a new scarf.” He paused, then added, “Please let me get you a new scarf.”
“This is handmade artistry, Ryuu,” she said with a grin.
“Took years of work,” Teo added.
“Did you stab anyone today, Aina?” Ryuu asked then, leaning back from the end of the scarf she held out to him. “It smells exceedingly pungent.”
“I did, thanks for noticing. But you really should hide that watch.”
A minute later, Raurie stepped out from behind the bar to take her break. Aina waved as Raurie approached them, and Ryuu slid a drink toward her as she sat down and gave them a bright smile. Chin-length black hair brushed against the ocher brown of her cheeks lit golden by the candlelight at their table. Last month, Raurie had joined them to stop Bautix and Kohl’s plans.
“How is work tonight?” Tannis asked Raurie, her gold eyes lighting up as she leaned slightly across the table—they’d become friends since Raurie helped Tannis escape the Tower last month and recover from her wounds in an Inosen safe house. “When Kushik brought your message, he said you seemed anxious.”
“I overheard a couple of people talking about a hideout nearby. I think they’re new Jackals,” Raurie said, then smirked. “Not as careful with their tongues. The hideout is in the warehouse district, at one of the textile factories. Bautix must have bribed one of the owners to give them space to sleep there.”
“Did they say anything about Kohl?” Aina asked.
Raurie shook her head. “I overheard where it is, but they didn’t say who’s staying there. It’s the best lead we’ve gotten so far.” Then she nodded over her shoulder to the bar, where her uncle and a young girl still took drink orders. “See the new girl? Her family and a few others have joined our safe house, so we have people to help out here. I can leave early.”
“You’re all together in one safe house now?” Ryuu asked.
With a grim nod, Raurie said, “We still have that apartment you gave us, but right now it’s safer to go underground. All the Diamond Guard captains who want to try to get Bautix’s job are cracking down harder than ever on magic users and diamond smugglers. And if Bautix can take back power again by hurting Inosen, he’ll do it.”
“I don’t understand, though,” Teo said, leaning forward over the middle of the table to be heard above the loud, drunken voices nearby. “Why would he focus on the Inosen? Doesn’t he want to take the Tower? I understand he’s prejudiced, but killing the Inosen won’t give him power.”
“Won’t it?” Raurie asked, tightening the purple silk shawl she always wore around her shoulders. “That’s how he got it before, by killing King Verrain. Half the people in the city call him a hero for stopping the war. It’s how he got his position, commanding the Diamond Guards in the city and the whole military.”
A moment of silence passed as they all took in what Raurie said. King Verrain had been an Inosen himself, but instead of embracing the Mothers’ message of peace, he had used magic to kill, gathering his followers to help him shut down the factories since he viewed technology as a natural enemy of faith.
He gave a bad name to us all, her mother had whispered to her, while using the magic to heal a profusely bleeding boy, who’d come to them after getting into a fight, but they’re the ones who decided we’re all the same, that none of us can be good; makes it easier for them to push us down.
Businesses closing, bodies in the street, Inosen hiding in fear for their lives. Aina’s shoulders tensed at the thought. It was as close to the feeling of civil war as Aina had felt since she was a child, despite some of her memories being hazy.
Everyone back then knew someone who had died. She looked around at her friends now, wondering if they’d all make it out of this if another war began. Each of them had fought for a chance at a future in this world, and none of them would go down easily … but she still didn’t like to think of the possibility.
Aina let out a sharp exhale and looked up from the table as something caught her eye. The glint of candlelight on a glass mug reminded her of diamonds, the ones she’d used to smuggle to people like her parents. Power. Beauty. Magic that caused a civil war and brought death to thousands.
Magic that might be useful if she learned to use it now. Goose bumps rose on her arms at the thought. If she could learn to use the same magic as King Verrain, she could use it to fight Kohl and anyone else who tried to take the tradehouses from her.
But for now, she had a lead to follow. One that might take her directly to Kohl’s hiding place.
“We should go,” she said, standing and sliding two of her diamond-edged daggers into her sleeves for easy access—if Kohl was there, she’d need them.
3
When they left the tavern, the night had grown colder. Hair clung to her skin with sweat from the heat inside the bar, and after Aina brushed it away, she tensed, sensing eyes on her from a distance. One hand went to a knife. A fluttering on the ground caught her attention, and she inhaled sharply when she spotted the piece of paper held down by a rock.
“Another note,” Tannis whispered behind her.
As Aina bent to pick up the note, the others circled around her, all of them looking toward the shadows between buildings ahead, the rooftops, the windows, for some sign of who’d left it.