Teia had known this was coming. Had been dreading it for a long time now.

“Why? Lose your nerve? Or are you not quite what you represented to the Order? Perhaps a spy?” he asked as if inquiring after the weather.

So Sharp had been intended to be the murderer if she’d tagged someone. That suggested that he was the only other Shadow that the Order had on Big Jasper.

“I did tag someone,” Teia said. “Did the assassin never find him?”

“That’s impossible. Did you tag him poorly? Perhaps you tagged him poorly on purpose?”

Of course, this gambit had meant casting aspersions on the skills of whoever followed her. Now that Murder Sharp had suggested it was he, that got dangerous.

“No, but I did try to be tricky. I wanted to see how good my tail was. I didn’t know it was going to be you.”

Sharp stopped looking at his teeth. He turned around, and for an instant, Teia thought she saw fear in his eyes. He was, Teia realized, terrified of anything that would threaten his value in the Old Man’s eyes. “I’d been up for two days straight, but you were only out of my sight for perhaps an hour—surely not…?”

“The night of my vigil?” Teia asked.

“Anat’s cunt!” Sharp said.

And that gave Teia another peek at one of Sharp’s cards: Sharp himself didn’t have sources among the few Blackguards who’d been around on her vigil. That was good to know. She was always slowly compiling a list of Blackguards she knew she could trust.

Of course, Sharp’s not having a source wasn’t the same as the Order’s not having a source. But every little bit of information helped.

“I wasn’t gone long,” Teia said. “Because I changed my mind.”

“Wait? You took the tag off?” Sharp asked. He sounded angry and yet relieved, too. If he’d missed a tag because she’d removed it, it wasn’t his fault, was it?

On the one hand, it was nice to see him scared; on the other, it was good to see him relieved. On the third, impossible hand, Teia was crossing a person Murder Sharp was terrified of.

Teia said, “The rules made it all pointless, didn’t they?” Bitter girl, hateful, spiteful, right?

“What rules?”

“I couldn’t kill anyone important. I mean, I briefly considered killing someone who’d irritated me who was close to someone important like that asshole slave Grinwoody, but I figured there was a good chance the Old Man would take that as me being impudent if not disobedient, so why risk it? And then I thought that if I wanted anyone who wasn’t that important dead, I can do it myself now. I mean, it would be easiest if I have the shimmercloak—which I’d like to start learning to use better, thanks—but even without it, I could start throwing paryl crystals into someone’s blood until they die. No one can find it except you, so no one can catch me. So if I’ve got a favor coming to me from the Order, I’m going to save it for when it matters.”

“One doesn’t save up favors from the Old Man. You obey or you take the consequences.” Sharp scowled. “He told me how to deal with you if you’d been disobedient or if you’d betrayed us… but this is something different. He’ll be irritated. But I guess he’ll have to deal with it himself.”

“Himself? What’s that mean?”

“I’m leaving,” Murder Sharp said. By the way he said it, it was clear he meant for a long time.

“Where are you going? I thought you were going to train me!”

“It’s war. Plans change. The Old Man isn’t pleased, but there’s word that there’s a Third Eye.”

“What’s that? What’s that mean?”

“A prophetess. A true prophetess. Apparently for a long time she was safely out of the way on Seers Island where she couldn’t tell anyone anything, but now she’s out in the satrapies, helping the Chromeria with the war. You might be able to guess how important someone who can see the future would be to either side.”

“Pretty damn,” Teia said.

“That’s right. So that’s where I come in.”

“Isn’t it going to be a bit hard to get close to someone who can see the future? I mean, you’d figure she’d protect herself, right?”

Sharp sucked spit through his dentures. “Smart one, aren’t you?”

Shit. Teia was supposed to be playing dumb. “I’m not trying to be wise,” Teia said, placating. He might punch her again, if not do something worse.

“The cloaks,” Sharp said.

“The cloaks?”

“Her powers are all connected to light, turns out. The Order’s known about her kind for centuries. She can’t See the future, past, or present of anyone who wears the cloaks. Course, the Seers know that we know, which is why they usually stay on their island sequestered away from our blades. Gavin Guile brought an end to that. So I guess we can blame this on him. But them Seers gotta know their place.”

Teia felt sick to her stomach. “So what’s the plan? Kidnap her and sell her to the highest bidder? Hold her somewhere and make her work for you?” Maybe Teia shouldn’t give them ideas.

“Too dangerous. How do you outwit someone who can see the future? You can’t. We gotta kill her.”

It shouldn’t have shocked Teia, this blithe talk of assassinating someone. It was what she was here for, after all. To learn, to become part of the plans, and then upend them on the Order’s head. But… he was going to kill this woman. It was just work to him.

“Thanks,” Teia said.

“Thanks?”

“For telling me. Like you trust me.”

“Eh.” He shrugged, and finally started working at the knots to untie her. “It’s lonely work. No one to talk to. No one to appreciate it when you’ve done good, you know? Shadows usually work in twos, maybe for just that. So you know, I asked that you be promoted to be my second.”

“Really?” Teia said. She was oddly flattered.

“The Old Man said you aren’t ready yet. It’s why you won’t get to keep the Fox cloak, at least not unless he’s got a job for you.”

“What? I earned that cloak.” Inside, though, Teia was delighted. As long as they thought she had no cloak at all, they wouldn’t be on the lookout for her doing the things that only a cloak allowed her to do; being known not to have a cloak made her invisible to the Order.