It was odd to think of a place where people didn’t have to hide what they believed in, and so easy to forget that Sumerand’s view of religion was an exception rather than the rule. Only Sumerand and the north of Mil Cimas had banned the religion. People had tried to flee to Marin and southern Mil Cimas during the war, but travel was expensive, and Diamond Guards caught and killed many Inosen along the way. Her parents had considered fleeing, but hadn’t had the money and hadn’t wanted to put Aina at risk, so they decided to stay in Sumerand and kept up their faith even once the war began.
The cracked pavement in front of the house was still choked with weeds, but some yellow flowers stood out. Her mother had said they reminded her of her earliest memories, of the flowers that grew on the hills near where she was born in Mil Cimas.
“There was a flower in every color you can imagine,” she’d tell Aina, promising to take her there someday.
She would tuck the yellow flowers into her own short hair and Aina’s braids, reciting poems and singing lullabies in Milano all the while. Aina’s knowledge of the language had faded over the years with no one to practice it with, and now she could hardly remember the words to those songs.
Her mother’s face was a blur in her mind now, but when she was younger, everyone had told her how much they looked alike. Sometimes when she cleaned her daggers and caught her reflection on their surfaces, she saw her own eyes, her mother’s eyes, and imagined her parents telling her the Mothers’ teachings that life was precious and to take one was a sin.
Then she breathed in sharply, her eyes fixed on the clock in the train station’s tower in the distance. Her parents’ voices disappeared. Gunshots were the only sound, and she couldn’t tell if they were all in her head or somewhere in the streets beyond. She watched the dial on the clock move until the gunshots faded.
Though she yearned to escape the Stacks, something about watching the streets splayed before her, spreading miles southward, comforted her and made the gunshots ringing in her ears disperse. At night, especially in the spring and summer, she had played with the other kids on this street while the adults gossiped and passed around plates of food. Her parents usually shared rice and beans, but on special occasions when they could afford it, they brought fried plantains or sudado de pollo cooked with recipes from their hometown in Mil Cimas. As candles flickered in the windows, both moons rose high in the sky, adults reminisced about times before the war, and the local gang watched every street corner to keep them safe throughout the night. Wounds were healed and mistakes forgiven. Sometimes, the lack of anything made people appreciate everything.
Had she gotten too selfish? Had she climbed too high? But if her parents’ ghosts came back one day and asked if she was proud of herself, she wanted to have something to tell them.
Maybe she had climbed too high. But this job was her only chance at not falling to the bottom once more.
After what felt like hours, the creak of metal sounded nearby. Teo appeared at the edge of the roof.
“How did you know where to find me?” she asked.
“This is your favorite hiding spot, isn’t it?” he asked with no sign of judgment in his eyes.
“You remember?”
“Of course, I do. The first time we met.”
When she was sixteen, a year after her first kill, Aina had had more confidence than common sense. She’d learned which streets specialized in drug deals and which specialized in muggings, she’d started to get involved in diamond sales, and she’d learned all about the different types of people in Kosín: the mercenaries, the thugs, the gangs, the addicts, the pimps, the Inosen, the slavers, the thieves, and everything in between. With Kohl’s training in addition to her knowledge, she’d felt invincible.
That was, until she’d entered an alley one day and watched a tall boy a few years older than her being bested in a fight by three opponents. He was clearly skilled, but his gun—strapped to his belt—was probably out of ammo since he wasn’t using it, and he appeared to have no other weapons while each opponent bore knives and brass knuckles. She’d thought it stupid of him to only have one weapon, but the blood on his face and arms struck a seldom-played chord within her. He was too young and strong, like her, to die at the hands of cowards who relied on numbers instead of skill. She’d made her decision, taking out two of the boys before they even knew what was happening, but the third had plunged a knife into her side. She’d fled, leaving the boy she’d saved to deal with the third opponent. She should have returned to the Dom to have her wound treated, but her survival instincts had flicked on, and there was only one place she retreated to when that happened: her old rooftop, the one place in all of Kosín where she felt truly safe.
She’d lain there, bleeding and hyperventilating. The boy she’d helped showed up within a few minutes. He’d stared at her with a mix of anger, concern, and amusement.
“How did you find me?”
He’d nodded at her still-bleeding wound. “You left a trail.”
It had taken them a while to trust each other, since he couldn’t comprehend why she’d helped him, and she couldn’t understand why he’d followed her. He’d helped clean and bandage her wound, and a week later, when they ran into each other at a bar, they talked as easily as if they were childhood friends reunited.
“Thanks for coming,” she said now, wondering what she’d done to deserve a friend like Teo.
“I get why you still come here,” he said as he walked across the roof and sat next to her. “I’m still angry about my father’s death. He didn’t want to fight for any side in the war; all he wanted was a good job. But then the war began, and the Steels he worked for made him fight. What choice did he have if he wanted a job? And now he’s dead, and the railroad he helped build still runs, carrying the Steels who sent him to his death. You know how it was. The Steels liked to paint it as a battle between them and the Inosen. But most families were secretly on both sides. Why should they give up their beliefs for a job?”
“Or they were on neither side, and died in the crossfire,” Aina clarified.
“Or neither side,” Teo agreed, shaking his head. He paused for a long moment, the steadily blowing wind the only sound. “There’s no war now, but I feel like I’m in one. I used to watch other kids get sucked up into gangs and smuggling, and thought I was better than them for avoiding it. My parents were falcon riders in Linash before they came here, one of the most respectable jobs in their country. I never saw myself doing any dishonorable work, or becoming a criminal, until I had no choice. But when my father died, my career options were narrowed down. At least with this job, I don’t have a Steel breathing down my neck, threatening to leave my family starving if I don’t follow his orders.”
Aina didn’t say anything for a long time, her thoughts spinning. Kill or be killed. Magic or industry. Nothing could coexist—steel and smoke never left room for nuance.
“And when you realize this type of job is your only real option,” Aina began slowly, “you have to fight for it. You can’t just let it go when it gets difficult.”
Teo reached over and took her hand, holding it between his. The moonlight hit his face at this angle, illuminating flecks of gold in the amber of his eyes. He was close enough that she could count his eyelashes or the scars on his hands when she glanced down at them. She felt warmer and braver by that touch, protected by their loyalty to each other. In her short time away from Kohl, she’d begun to notice how sometimes Teo held her hand, touched her shoulder, or hugged her a moment longer than was necessary.
Or maybe she was imagining that. Maybe she was so accustomed to never receiving affection from Kohl that affection from anyone, even in the smallest doses, seemed to mean more than it actually did.
Perhaps every time Teo touched or looked at her, it was because they were best friends and no other reason. She didn’t want to ruin the friendship they had by wrongly guessing at anything else, or by clinging to something that wasn’t really there.
“You j
ust have to decide what’s important to you, and put your mind to it entirely,” Teo said, letting go of her hand, then. “Like how I do with taking care of my mother. It’s what drives all of my decisions. If this job is what’s important to you, then I know you’ll overcome everything that stands in your way. You’ll get your life back, and you’ll excel where your parents never could, and in ways Kohl could never teach you. You know I’ll have your back the whole time.”
“And I yours,” she replied.
His words repeated over and over in her head: Decide what’s important to you, and put your mind to it entirely.
Tomorrow they’d go to meet Raurie’s aunt, get back to work, and find Kouta.
While Kohl had taken her off the streets, she was the one who’d chosen to work for him, pushed addiction out of her body, and risked her life every day to rise higher through the underground ranks. She’d managed to live while so many others had died.
If she was good at anything, it was survival, and she refused to let anyone take that away from her. She would finish this job, she would live, and she would never fall so far again.
19
When Aina woke up the next morning, she pulled the blankets over her head and squeezed her eyes shut. It was so easy to get comfortable in Teo’s apartment, to pretend her life wasn’t at risk and forget the world outside.
Is Ryuu’s softness rubbing off on me?
She scowled as she remembered how when she and Teo returned last night, Ryuu and Ynes were busy chatting about the paintings on the walls. Ynes’s face had been lit up with a bright smile, and Teo relaxed at the sight, but Aina had felt a surge of protectiveness for the old woman. How could a rich Steel sympathize or bond with someone like Ynes or any of them? What right did he have to sit in Ynes’s house and eat her food while he had a mansion waiting for him to return to? She knew it was best to stay here instead of his mansion where his workers might see her, but he didn’t have to get comfortable with any of their hospitality.
She sat up and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. The sooner they got this job done, the sooner this Steel would stop invading their lives.
The first thing she did was check her wound. It was healing again, and the bleeding had stopped. As she rewrapped the bandages, Ryuu spoke up from the pile of blankets where he’d slept.
“Good morning!” He reached over and passed her a cup of mint tea.
She glared at him over the rim of her cup. His expression didn’t change. It was too early in the morning to cope with Ryuu’s smiling face and bright eyes without any caffeine. He truly thought she was going to spare his brother’s life. She brushed aside a brief surge of sympathy and turned away from him to drink her tea in a few large gulps.
Teo placed his empty cup on the table with a clink. “We should head out early.”
“You haven’t been to the Stacks yet, have you?” she asked Ryuu. “Rough part of town. Somebody’s body was found cut into pieces and thrown in a trash bin the other day.” She turned to Teo. “Should we leave Ryuu behind? Give him a snack, some soft blankets, reading material—”
“I’m going with you,” Ryuu insisted, keeping his voice steady despite the fact that his eyes flashed when she had mentioned the cut-up body.
Leaning forward, she fixed a concerned expression on her face. “It is dangerous; I won’t lie. If you’d rather wait here, you can just give us the money and—”
He let out a short, nervous laugh. “Why would I do that? And don’t forget, you might need my money for more things after this tracking spell, so you need to keep me around. We’ll follow the deal we made.”
She let out a frustrated breath, then smiled. “Right. The deal.”
While Teo went to get ready, Ryuu finished his tea and Aina moved to sit on the floor next to him.
“Why don’t you carry a gun on you? You can aim, and you don’t flinch when you shoot. Fighting for your life every day might not be the way you live, but you’re with us now and you could actually be useful if we get into trouble later.”
Ryuu shook his head, and his bravery from the warehouse last night evaporated. “After Kouta told me the truth of how our parents died, I had one of our guards teach me how to shoot. No amount of money or protection can really help you if someone wants to kill you enough. My parents and Kouta are proof of that.” His voice grew quiet, and he paused before continuing. “I won’t let anyone take me out the same way. But I also never want to get comfortable taking lives with bullets. I still believe in the Mothers’ teachings to value mercy over revenge, and that life is precious.”
She hadn’t expected such a long confession. With a grimace, she said, “You don’t have to tell me not to love guns, especially after what happened to my parents.”
He frowned. “Don’t you shoot people for a living?”
“Wrong.” She pulled out a knife and placed it on the tip of his collarbone. “I cut them.”
He leaned away from her, a brief flash of fear in his eyes. A bit of guilt wormed through her at the sight. There was no need to threaten him unnecessarily.
She removed the knife as Teo reentered the room. Then, avoiding each other’s gaze, she and Ryuu followed Teo out of the apartment.
The sun beat down on them heavily when they reached street level and headed south, stopping at a bank first for Ryuu to withdraw money to pay Raurie’s aunt. Aina began to sweat under her jacket and scarf, but she wouldn’t take them off even if she were boiling. Each hand gripped the hilt of a dagger under her jacket. She was more confident than yesterday after the fight in the warehouse, but she still had to be careful.
Every sight of a Diamond Guard made her pulse race, and every person tattooed with a gang’s markings made her wonder who would try to kill her next. But she had to be out in the open and get her job done if she wanted her life back. Hiding would get her nowhere.
She led the way to a set of alleys south of the Center and the square with King Verrain’s statue. Her eyes watered under the bright sun, and as they crossed an intersection, she almost missed hearing the distinctive whistle of metal cutting through air.
She dodged the brunt of the attack, but her calf seared in pain as the dagger flew past her and left a sharp cut. She dropped to her knees and rolled out of the way as a streak of bright blue hair appeared at the corner of her vision. Coming to a stand in the shadow of a building, pulse pounding in her ears, she pulled out the pair of scythes strapped to her thighs.
“Stay out of it!” she yelled at Teo, who had moved toward Tannis with murder in his eyes. He backed away reluctantly, but didn’t take his gaze off Tannis as he did.
“Heard you got fired.” Gold, hawklike eyes as bright as the sun flashed at Aina.
Her lips twitched. “It’s more of a suspension.”
She kept her face straight as if those words weren’t like broken glass in her mouth. The Jackals coming after her had been one sign that her old life was gone, but Tannis attacking her felt more personal.
“Give up, street child,” Tannis said in a low voice that only Aina could hear. Pedestrians slowed and pointed, many of them stopping to watch what would happen next, some of their eyes lighting up like this was a free show for them to enjoy. “Kohl doesn’t trust you enough to finish this job, so he’s put me in charge of fixing your mistakes. Whichever one of us does it first gets to live. So, I thought, why not get rid of the competition now?”
Teo caught her eye and nodded. If he helped her win, it would make her look weak and pathetic.
This was her battle.
Catching Tannis off guard, she feinted with one scythe and struck with the other. Tannis blocked the attack with her own blade, metal clanging while several gasps rose up from the bystanders. When Tannis thrust her blade upward, Aina fell back, gritting her teeth.
Tannis feinted another strike, and Ryuu shouted a warning. Her eyes flicked over to him, but that second of distraction cost her.
A loud thunk went through her skull as Tannis punched her. She fell back, her
knees buckling with the strike, and caught herself on the side of the nearest building. Her head pounded, her vision spun, but she bit down hard on her tongue to keep focus and relied on the adrenaline from the fight to keep her standing. Squaring her shoulders and drawing a deep breath, she stepped away from the building and faced Tannis once more.
They circled each other, sun hitting them as they stepped into the street, and shadows covering them when they stood in doorways. The pedestrians watching them seemed to hold their breath as they waited for the fight to resume.
As Aina slowed, standing in the light next to a horse-drawn carriage with Tannis at the mouth of a dark alley, she caught sight of the vulture tattoo on Tannis’s forearm. It was identical to Kohl’s. Her throat went dry as she pictured Kohl coming after her himself—would she fight back or freeze as he delivered a killing blow?
Tannis moved first, swinging at Aina’s side with her blade. With a sharp inhale, Aina blocked the attack with her scythe. The clang of their weapons reverberated through her bones and gasps rose up in the crowd as people moved out of their way. Before Tannis could attack again, Aina made a fist with her left hand, small blades sliding out between her knuckles, and punched Tannis in the side.
Tannis faltered. Aina stepped back, but then a flash of silver shot through the air so fast she barely dodged it. A throwing star slashed her upper arm, in the place where her neck had been a moment before.
Hissing with the sharp pain, she threw herself behind the carriage to avoid the next star Tannis threw from her shoulder holsters.
As Tannis approached, the shadow of her boots visible under the carriage, Aina grabbed on to the window ledge and hauled herself to the roof. Tannis’s eyes widened as she looked up at the last second, but Aina landed in front of her and lunged forward, her scythes swiping across Tannis’s unguarded side.
Tannis stumbled back as the cut seared through her skin. A grimace from one of the bystanders caught Aina’s eye; they all knew a fatal blow would come next. But her legs didn’t carry her forward. Her hands didn’t lift her weapons to strike.
Diamond City Page 14
