As if on cue, Thane approached the rooftop railing, peering out to the arching falls. Shadows gathered in the corners of his mouth as he muttered, “How far we’ve fallen.”
“You deserve it for what you did to Loraya,” she hissed.
“WhatIdid?” Thane spun back to face her. “Gave her, andyou, a home? A family? What do you think happened to all those other orphans I had taken in? Did you think about them when you condemned me?”
No, she hadn’t. She hadn’t thought past anything more than her own survival, her own need to see sunlight again, and a burning desire to ruin the man before her. But she thought about them now, too late. She was always too late.
“You thought Loraya was so perfect. Infallible. You would have done anything for her.” Thane delivered each word like a well-timed blow. “Tell me, Kasira, do you know what a Silas Toad’s skin is coated with?”
“I don’t—”
“Of course not,” he cut in. “You used to tell everyone the story of what Loraya did at the orphanage the night the two of you ran away, never realizing the full extent of the lengths she had gone to, to protect you.”
“What are you talking about?” Thane had always spoken in riddles and halves, his words not quite the truth, but close enough to keep you invested. She knew it, and yet she couldn’t pull herself out.
A smirk split across his lips. “A Silas Toad’s skin is poisonous. One touch, and you asphyxiate in minutes, like that poor priest whose pillow our dear Loraya put it in.”
“She—Loraya wouldn’t—” Kasira sputtered. This wasn’t the kind of lie Thane would tell; it was too easy for her to verify. It sent her memory reeling. The Loraya she had known had been so very careful, planning everything out to the tiniest detail to ensure no one got hurt. She was the one who curbed Kasira’s darker impulses, who kept her grounded.
Had that Loraya ever existed at all?
“They would have shipped you off for heresy, sent you to the Malikinar, or worse.” Thane lifted a casual shoulder, but she could see the resentment simmering underneath. “Loraya was a cold, hollow bitch playing at life, but she never would have let that happen. You were her precious little Kasira, the light she would save from the darkness. That future you dreamed of together? She only ever did it for you. And how did you repay her? You got her killed!”
“Because ofyou!” Kasira snarled, and it left her breathless. These weren’t emotions she had allowed herself to feel in years, but her time at the Library had loosened her hold on them. She’d had to reveal pieces of herself she’d never wanted to see again, and it had made her vulnerable enough that she trembled as she said, “I was trying to get her away fromyou.”
“You were trying to keep her for yourself. All you ever thought about was yourself.” Thane’s anger petered out into a settling frost. “It’s the reason I wanted you out of the crew.”
Kasira recoiled. “What?”
“Oh, she didn’t tell you that either? Perhaps she didn’t trust you with everything after all.” He bared his teeth in a feral grin. “You were becoming too obstinate. Refusing to do what I told you. Challenging me in front of the others. I wanted you out, but Loraya convinced me to let you stay.”
All this time, Kasira thought she had been trying to protect Loraya from Thane, but it wasLorayawho had been protecting her. Because people didn’tleaveThane’s crew. At least, not with their throats intact. Thane had seen Kasira as a challenge, and Loraya knew that if they ran, he would hunt them down.
Thane leaned back against the railing, spreading his arms along the top. “How ironic it is that our survival now depends on each other once more. I can only hope you’re far less sloppy with me than you were in Ayador. Didn’t I teach you not to leave loose ends?”
A chill descended through Kasira. Morvir. The boy she had left alive. But he had stayed quiet, he had—
“What did you do?”
Disappointment darkened every corner of his face. “What you should have.”
“He was achild!”
“Exactly!” Thane launched off the railing, and she backed away. “And like a child, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, and now two people are dead instead of one.”
The boy had told someone. He had told someone, and it had gotten back to Vera, and she’d had them eliminated. Then she’ddenounced Kasira publicly so that anyone who whispered about the imposter Assistant would think her a true cheat and not the Ambassador’s pawn, tallying another mark against Allaster in the process. That was why Vera had done all this.
Because of Kasira.
Thane snorted contemptuously. “You’re soft, Kas. You’ve always been soft.”
Soft. Selfish. It had been so long since she had faced someone who knew all the worst parts of her, and now somehow, she was supposed to work with him. He had unraveled her so easily, even after years apart.
He leaned toward her as he asked, “What will you do now, Kasira, without Loraya here to save you?”
“I don’t need Loraya to run a game,” she snapped. “My next move is already in place.”
“Mm, Vera told me. It’s cruel, even for you.”
