Karris shook her head. “You ever think what a pain it is to work with people who are smarter than you?”

“No, never,” Ironfist said. Simple statement of fact. Because he didn’t?

But when she shot him a look, he was smirking.

She couldn’t help but grin back. For an instant.

“Dammit,” she said. “Hezik, that asshole.” That dead asshole, their colleague.

“He was intolerable,” Ironfist agreed.

“Heard he tried to claim that miracle shot you made at Ru,” Karris said.

“Asshole,” Ironfist said.

And they chuckled. They knew when you had to laugh, as warriors know.

“So what do we do?” she asked.

“The White said once you cut the strings that you’d be ready to start giving orders. Your command, Lady Guile.”

It was true. She knew what needed to be done. Karris woke the others, excepting only Gavin, who needed the sleep to heal. She gestured to the lightening sky. “The commander and I need to get back to the Chromeria. We’re already going to be too late for the dawn rituals. Essel, you and Ben-hadad are going to take the Lord Prism to Amalu and Adini’s. You know it?” Essel nodded. “If you have to refer to him by name, you call him Hezik, you understand? It won’t bear scrutiny, but perhaps Hezik will protect the Prism in death as he did in life. We’ll send any backup we can. Don’t hand him over to the Lightguard no matter what.”

With Gavin’s hair dyed dark, and his beard grown in, and so much of his skin wrapped in bandages and with all the weight he’d lost, he certainly didn’t look like the Prism of old.

She saw by the end of her orders that Gavin was awake.

He stood and took Ironfist’s cloak, swaddling himself in the big garment and throwing the hood on. Soon it would be too warm for such, and cause more questions than it staved off, but for the moment it was the right move. He looked up at her, and the movement must have broken a scab because she saw him wince and wince again and a dribble of fresh blood escaped from under his bandage and coursed down his cheek. He steadied himself on Essel’s shoulder.

“Just when I think I have your measure, dear Karris,” he said, his voice low but steady in spite of the pain. “You exceed my expectations all over again. I am blessed and honored above all deserving to have you as my bride. But you’re right. You must go. My father will have planned mischief and worse for this day. You can’t help them heal me, and you can’t stop him from here. Go, my love, go.”

Chapter 89

Teia didn’t wait at the door. Instead, she threw herself at Kip and gave him a fierce hug.

Oh no. As she froze in his arms, Kip wished for the first time that he was still as fat as he used to be. With his belly protruding, he might have had a chance. As it was, the difference in their heights meant their first point of contact was below Kip’s belt … and right in the middle of Teia’s stomach. There was no way to ignore it. She’d hugged Kip, and there was no way she couldn’t notice.

She stepped back and looked down, to confirm what didn’t need confirmation. Kip folded his hands in front of himself, which was pretty much closing the barn door after the cows were already out.

“Kip, what the hell?” she said. “Is that for—”

For you? Hey, they come on fast, but not that fast.

The words were out before Kip realized he’d said them aloud. Oh shit.

“Oh, you were—I’m so sorry!”

“No! I was—sometimes they just happen. You know, just out of nowhere. You know, to young men.”

Teia cocked her head, her lips pursed and one eyebrow lifted. She folded her arms, nonplussed. Not Kip’s best evasion ever.

Without turning her head, Teia swung the door shut behind her with a foot, exposing Tisis.

Teia’s expression went carefully blank. It did that when she was furious. “Constant as an oak, aren’t you, Kip?”

“I, I—this isn’t, this isn’t … this is probably exactly what it looks like.” Kip looked plaintively. “Teia—”

“I don’t care. I don’t have time for this. I need you. Right now.”

“Pardon?” Tisis said, coming out of the corner as if she’d simply been inspecting the drapes, haughty and put-upon, chin lifting.

Oh hells.

“Shut it, bauble, or eat fist,” Teia said. She didn’t turn her head, but her pupils flared as she looked at Kip—flared, in an instant, so wide that the irises were reduced to the tiniest rings, and then those pushed back so far that the whites of her eyes disappeared altogether. Her eyes became perfect black orbs. Kip knew she was gathering paryl, but with her set jaw and sneer, Teia’s suddenly inhuman eyes made Kip want to wet himself.

Tisis shut it. Teia ignored her, going straight to Kip’s bureau and rifling through it.

“Kip, you’re a great gushing shit sphincter, but I’ve got more important things to worry about. There’s—” She glanced distrustfully at Tisis, and stopped. She went back to digging and quickly pulled out Kip’s lens belt and tossed it to him. She looked at Kip. “You have any other weapons here? This may get ugly. The White’s in danger. I may be the only one who can save her.”

Tisis said, “I’m sure a color-blind drafter is exactly what the Blackguards need to do their—”

Teia pointed a finger at Tisis’s nose, getting right in the older girl’s face. “One more word, poppet. Give me the excuse. Breaker, now!”

The other thing? Oh, she meant the cards. Kip wedged his fingers behind his bureau and pulled it away from the wall. In the space underneath, he grabbed the card box.

Teia looked unimpressed. “I really need to show you better hiding places.”

Kip strapped on the lens holster. “Tisis,” he said, “go to the docks. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”

Teia turned and pointed. “Tisis, there are coin sticks on that rafter.”

“What?” Tisis said.

“Use green, moron! Knock them down with luxin and take them with you as you go. We can’t carry anything extra. Orholam’s balls you’re dumb.”

They left her standing there, fuming, and ran to the lift.

As they got in, Teia pulled out the gray cloak and fingered the twin black-and-white disks stitched on the back. “Kip, where’d you get this cloak?” she asked.

“I stole it from a god or a demon or something. Something bad.”

Teia looked at him, exasperated. “Asshole.”

“Teia, listen to me. I’m going to marry Tisis—”

“I don’t care. We need to talk about our strategy upstairs.”

“Teia! My grandfather has commanded—”

“So you are working for him. What was all this, part of a ruse?”

“What was all what? Ruse? What are you talking about? Teia, you of all people should understand!”

“Of all people? And why’s that?”

“You were a slave!”

“Oh, I’d forgotten about that. Perhaps you—”

“You should understand what it is to have to obey orders you—”

“—have forgotten that you’re free. Don’t you dare tell me you know what it’s like!”