Once Kohl left, Aina stepped outside to meet with Kraz and the three other members of the Thunder tradehouse. Two of them smirked at each other, as if proud of themselves for having taken the Dom. Their young recruit still looked on the verge of tears. Aina kept her expression neutral, not wanting to give anything away. Whatever information she could get out of Kraz would be useful, so she couldn’t have him doubting her before then.
“We’re going to the Tower to meet with Bautix and help—”
Kraz pulled out a knife and placed it at her throat so quickly, she barely had time to blink. Trying hard not to gulp or step back, Aina slid her eyes up to meet his.
“We know the plan, Solís. Keep your mouth shut and follow me.”
She nodded and gave a conciliatory smile. One of his employees grunted at her and held out a hand. When she raised an eyebrow at him, he pointed at the scythes strapped to her thighs, and she froze.
“Let her keep them,” Kraz said, shaking his head. “The Blood King has put her in her place; she won’t defy him now. And she’ll need her weapons anyway once we’re at the Tower.”
Trying not to show her relief, Aina stepped in place behind Kraz. His three grunts surrounded her as they walked, like she was a dangerous animal that needed to be kept in a pen.
Good, she thought. They should be scared of me.
A moment later, they left the Dom and moved through the Stacks, steadily climbing the hill toward the rest of the city. The rain had mostly stopped, through a few errant drops still landed on her face as they proceeded. It was that thin time of night between full darkness and dawn, and if she looked to the right, she could see the sky lightening a little on the horizon. But even in this deep hour, the streets were still crowded. They passed near the Center and saw more fires, people running from them with their belongings, stores being broken into and raided, fights breaking out in the middle of the street.
Yet no matter where they went, people scattered when they approached, as if sensing they weren’t to be challenged.
Aina’s thoughts raced the whole way to the warehouse district, her nerves on edge with the chaos in the city. Where had Kohl gone? He’d said he still had work to do. What kind of work could he be doing in the city? It was already a mess, filled with the kind of chaos Kohl loved best. The Tower was taken, the Inosen were being routed out of their homes and killed.…
At least, the ones inside the city were. She slowed her pace a little, a new thought prickling at the corner of her mind, but then one of the Thunder grunts shoved her forward to keep moving.
Fighting the urge to punch him in the throat, Aina kept thinking. Kerys had said nowhere in the city would be safe for the Inosen, so all of the ones she’d left near the mines had to be safe. Ryuu had gone to make sure that they were.
But all of Bautix’s employees worked in duplicity. What if Kerys had lied, like Kohl had?
Or maybe … the thought hit her fast like lightning, and she raced to grasp on to it. Despite how terrible Kerys was, Aina had believed her when she said she didn’t want her daughter anywhere that she could be hurt. But would Bautix abide by that desire, even if he cared for Kerys?
No, she answered her own question instantly. He would destroy any of the Inosen’s hiding places. They were an opposition to his rule, and he would get rid of them even if he had to lie to Kerys to do it.
“He knows,” Aina whispered.
The churning Minos River could be heard around the edge of the nearest building. They were headed toward the outskirts of Kosín, presumably to make their way up to the Tower from the side or from behind, and enter discreetly to help take out the remaining Diamond Guards trying to hold the place.
Bautix knew, and Kohl surely knew, where most of the Inosen were now. And if Mariya had escaped, where else would be safest for her but somewhere provided for by Ryuu and outside the city instead of within its borders? Mariya likely knew of the location of that safe house after last month when Ryuu had explained to her his parents’ involvement in protecting the Inosen. Kohl would destroy anyone who got in his way; he needed to get rid of Mariya, and the Inosen wouldn’t stand for someone like him to rule. Before he could face Bautix, he’d want to get rid of these remaining obstacles.
The smuggler’s words before she’d killed him came back to her now: The weapons are led through the mine tunnels. For all she knew, Bautix had even spread the rumors that the safe house at the mines was compromised, like Lill had believed for so long, so the Inosen would leave and he could sneak in the weapons however he pleased. And then he drove them back in after the bombing of all the safe houses in the city … so now they were all in one place, easy to get to, and easy to kill. All Kohl had to do was convince the Jackals they were headed to the mines on Bautix’s orders, and he’d have plenty of men to help him take out the Inosen.
Panic rose through her, sharp and tasting like rust on her tongue. Forget the Tower. She had to get to the mines now.
She took a quick inventory of her weapons in her mind, recalling where each one was. As they crossed the bridge, she moved.
In one swift motion, she took the scythes strapped to her thighs and slashed them through the throats of the grunt to her right and the one behind her.
The click of a gun. Arman Kraz faced her.
She dodged the first shot, rolling across the bridge as the bullet pinged off one of the handrails. Almost slipping off the edge, she caught herself on the handrail. The wind swept past, lifting the stench of the river toward her where she hung.
As he turned toward her again, she lunged forward, feinting with a strike to the right and then cutting him through the left side. He inhaled sharply when she drew his blood, but recovered faster than she expected.
His other hand not holding the gun flicked a knife out from his sleeve and she barely missed a slash at her chest. She stumbled slightly while getting away from it, then ducked around him. Wrapping one arm around his neck, she used her other hand to disarm him. His gun skidded across the bridge and fell into the churning currents of the river. The young boy from Thunder watched their fight, rapt with attention as Arman threw Aina off him.
He shoved her to the ground and drew another knife. Its blade flashed in the moonlight. She stared up at him, etching his face into her memory: the face of someone who’d always thought Kohl was the better choice of leader.
“Maybe Kohl didn’t give me the order to kill you,” Arman said, leaning over her so the tip of his knife was half a foot from her face. “But he’ll appreciate not having you around anymore. You are nothing, Solís. He told you whatever he had to, to get you to keep following him like a chained dog, but you’re just—”
She grabbed the hand with his knife and pulled him forward. His eyes widened, and he aimed the other knife at her face. But before it could reach her, she twisted his wrist so the knife fell into her hands, and she swept it across his neck. As he fell toward her, his blood coating her hands, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him off the bridge. His body hit the water with a loud smacking sound, and a second later, disappeared.
A surge of triumph flashed through her, but it vanished just as quickly. She might have won this fight, but her night was far from over.
The boy from Thunder held his arms over his face as if that would protect him from her next attack. He’d completely frozen on the bridge while she fought his boss. When she approached him and her shadow fell over him, he glanced up through the feeble shield of his arms.
“Did you have fun killing my employees back there?” she asked.
“I didn’t kill them, I swear. They made me bring the bodies to the hall, but that’s all I—”
“Stop talking.” His voice cut off immediately. “Go to the Dom. Bury them, then get some sleep. If you’re going to work for me, I can’t have you crying every time the job gets hard.” His hands fell away from his face then and he looked up at her in confusion. “If I survive the rest of this, I’ll meet you there.”
The wind swept across the bridge, drying the blood specks and sweat on her face as the boy took off back toward the Dom. After a quick search of the dead’s belongings, she pocketed a pistol and a grenade, then ran.
Dawn had broken, the sky a pale blue in the east. Kohl had already been headed to the mines when she left the Dom, she was sure of it now. His and Bautix’s fight for control would tear Kosín apart if she didn’t stop it.
Teo’s words came back to her: The city needs you.
She ran faster, keeping her breaths measured, her strides long. As if she had some map of the city in her head, of where to run to avoid the most chaos, she ran past fires, leapt over broken glass on the ground, climbed a fire escape and ran across it to the next building to avoid a fight in the side street below. Smoke shrouded the moons, so the only light was the flickering orange of flames coming from every corner and the hint of dawn ahead.
Her lungs seared by the time she reached a bridge leading out of the city. It was another three miles to the mines, over the train tracks and through the forest. Countless memories of going there to get illicit diamonds flashed through her thoughts. All those times, she’d never wanted to find Kohl there. Now she could only hope she found him before he destroyed the safe house and everyone in it.