I stood, pulling three fresh runes from my pocket. “Here. The shield charm’s stronger than your last batch. I used garzonite. More expensive. More power.”
He caught them without looking, already moving toward the door. Vitoria had shifted back to her natural form, but the violet still lingered in her eyes. “Try not to get yourself killed while we’re gone, Synnie,” she said sweetly.
“Try not to let Eda Mire turn you both into decorations for her wall. You know how fickle the Mistress of Blades can be.”
Calder paused at the threshold. “That’s not funny.”
“Who’s joking?”
By the timethe two assassins got home, I could barely keep my eyes open. Calder dropped two runes into the bowl by the door, their dull clink against ceramic telling me everything I needed to know about how the night had gone. He usually came back with four or five. Sometimes six if things went smooth.
Two meant their victim wasn’t the only one that bled.
Vitoria followed him in, her violet eyes already fading back to green, but there was something tight in her jaw, something that made her look older than her twenty-seven years. She kicked off her boots with more force than necessary.
“That bad?” I asked, though the answer hung in the air like smoke.
They exchanged a look. Quick. Practiced. The kind that came from years of shared secrets.
“You’ll hear about it tomorrow,” Calder said, shrugging out of his coat. A spray of something dark stained the collar. “Everyone will.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve never kept a job from me.”
His hand stilled. When he looked at me, the brutal edge he carried everywhere else softened into something almost apologetic. “It’s not about trust, Syn. You, of all people, should know that. This one—” He scraped a hand down his face. “It’s safer if you don’t know. Just until morning.”
“Safety by ignorance?”
Vitoria’s voice was flat. “Your reaction at the Chancellery tomorrow needs to be genuine. When you hear, when everyone hears... you can’t know before then. The job was easy enough, but it’s going to cause backlash.”
I studied them both. The exhaustion that went deeper than physical. The way Calder’s hand kept twitching toward his blade even here, even safe. Whatever they’d done tonight would ripple through every district in the city by morning.
“Someone important then.” It wasn’t a question.
Calder crossed the room, dropping into the chair across from me. “Important enough that if anyone at work suspects you knew before the announcement—” His jaw tightened. “It’s not worth the risk.”
The protective fury in his voice made something in my chest twist. This man, who could gut someone without blinking, who’d earned the name Heartless One upon rivers of blood, sat here worried about my safety over mere information.
“Fine.” I leaned back, matching his stare.
Four knocks echoed through our flat. Not delicate like the last sprite messenger. Not urgent like the hunter’s. Four measured beats, perfectly spaced. We all knew that rhythm too.
Vitoria’s shoulders sagged. “So much for sleep.”
She moved to the door while Calder and I stayed frozen. Some visitors you didn’t acknowledge. Some business stayed in the shadows where it belonged.
The door cracked open just enough for me to catch a glimpse, red hair like spilled wine, a different hue than my copper, and wings that glittered gold even in our dim hallway. Vitoria stepped out, pulling the door shut behind her with deliberate care.
We didn’t talk about her midnight meetings. We didn’t ask where she went some nights, returning just before dawn with her eyes too bright and her hands steady. Privacy was currency in Grimora, and we all had debts we paid in silence.
“Get some rest.” Calder stood, but hesitated at my chair, his fingers ghosting near my shoulder without quite touching. “Tomorrow’s going to be—” He stopped himself. “Just get some rest.”
“You too.”
He almost smiled at that. “Goodnight, Syn.”
Silas materialized fully, his chosen size filling the corner, and for a moment, just a heartbeat, griffin and assassin locked eyes. Something passed between them. Not words. Not even thought. Just understanding, dark and certain as death. People would be on edge tomorrow, and he was going to have to stay alert.
Calder disappeared into his room, and I was alone with my familiar and the weight of whatever storm would break over the city come morning. And I’d be in the best—and worst—place possible to hear about it.
