“Move out!” one of the soldiers shouted. The envoy marched forward, and the world faded to ordinary again, like cloth bleached of its color by the sun. I found myself…disappointed.
“A great service to the Lys’Careths,” Wren said, stepping beside me.
Damn it. “I was hoping you’d missed that. You good?”
“Fine. You?”
I nodded, my gaze on the soldiers as they marched toward the palace. We should go,” I said quietly, because nothing else awaited me here. “The Lady will have questions.”
“When she finds out you saved the prince’s life? Yes. Probably.”
Three
We’d been at the easternmost market, and the Lady’s residence was tucked into the stronghold’s northeastern corner. It wasn’t a quick walk, but we knew how to move in shadows, and there were plenty of places to hide in the narrow streets. Most of the residences were behind stone or wooden walls, and with the advent of the curfew, they were already locked up for the night beneath the crescent of one of Terra’s two moons.
My mind was still racing from the attack. Fighting off an assassination attempt probably wasn’t supposed to be fun.
“Are you smiling about the fight or the man?”
“They were both pretty great.”
“What happened to ‘don’t be noticed’?”
“I couldn’t just stand there and let a prince die.”
“He’s the enemy—a man in service to the Lys’Careths. What good have they ever done for us?”
“Technically, he’s a man we don’t know, and we’re talking about murder.” I held up a hand to stop the coming argument. “I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it; it was a nice change from mucking stalls and doing strangers’ laundry.” The Lady wasn’tparticular about the work she sent us to do, as long as it led to coin. “And I can’t believe you’re complaining. You love a good fight.”
“When there’s a chance I can win. I don’t tangle with royals.”
“I wasn’t fighting a Lys’Careth. I was helping one of his soldiers fight an assassin. A very handsome soldier.”
“And you have a thing for beautiful objects.”
“Guilty,” I admitted. “But even I don’t want to steal a prince’s henchman.”
We turned a corner, scaring an owl from its rooftop roost. It made no noise as it flew above us, a shadow slipping across the sky.
“You think the Lady knew the prince was coming?” Wren asked.
“Doubtful,” I said. “She’d have been there, trying to catch a glimpse or get his attention or sell us into his service.” The Lady loved money above all things—except the things she could buy with the coin. She hoarded it like a storybook dragon, never quite satisfied.
Luna appeared in the magic-glittered shadows across the road, and after checking that the road was clear, we ran over to join her.
“Any sign of the Anima that attacked the prince?” I asked.
Luna shook her head. “Not in this world or the Aetheric.”
“It possessed the human?” I asked.
She nodded.
“How, exactly, does that happen?” Wren asked.
“Want to try it?” I asked.
She crossed her arms. “Want to stay away from it.”
