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“I don’t get why she trusts you so easily,” Magni said with a scoff.

Kolfinna wasn’t prepared for the fire in his eyes and the way his lips curled back in disgust. She stepped back subconsciously, her back bumping into a thin coat rack with red capes draped over it. She stilled it with her hands while Magni watched.

“And I don’t get why you hate me so much,” Kolfinna said, trying to keep her tone level.

“You’re a faeanda murderer.”

“You know nothing about me.” Kolfinna’s own eyes narrowed at him. “And that man—” The words caught in her throat and she couldn’t spit them out. Couldn’t tell him that Lord Estur had killed Katla. How it was either Kolfinna’s life or his, and she had chosen her life. What was the point of telling him? By the way he was glaring at her with hate-tinted eyes, he would never believe her or care. Kolfinna being a fae was probably enough reason for him to hate her.

“That man,” Magni continued harshly, “was a distinguished member of society.”

“He was also a murderer,” Kolfinna spat.

He ignored that, pushing himself off the wall by the door. He towered over her as he stepped closer, and she inadvertently stepped back. The gold Royal Guard badge shone on his chest from the flickering torchlights. “It disgusts me how Captain Asulf is fine with keeping you here so we can succeed in this mission. It pisses me off how low we’ve fallen, to trust a murderer. To trust afae.”

Magni spat out the word like it was poison to his tongue. It was inevitable that she came up against a reaction like this, but she hadn’t thought it would be now. Right here.

Kolfinna’s hands flexed, and she briefly glanced at the exit. Would it be considered self-defense if he attacked her? Her body tensed and she readied her mana for his first blow. If he came charging at her, she decided she would manipulate the stone walls and crush him with them before running out the door. He wouldn’t die from that, but it would be enough to slow him down.

But he didn’t attack. He continued watching her with narrowed, green eyes. “I don’t trust you. I know you’ll betray us at some point. You’ll either kill us or make a run for it. You fae are all the same: manipulative, deceitful liars.”

Kolfinna stilled. She recognized his language, the words he used. “Are you a hunter?”

Something flashed in his eyes—surprise, or maybe pride? “I am,” he said. “I’ve only met two of your kind, but you’re all the same.”

A fly buzzed in front of them, momentarily distracting Magni as he swatted it away from his face. Kolfinna forgot to breathe and hid her shaking hands behind her back.

It didn’t matter that he was a hunter. That he filled his free time with hunting her people. That he either found pleasure in killing her kind, or that he thought it was necessary to eradicate her kind. It didn’t matter which hunter he was because he couldn’t hurt her. Fenris had said he would personally protect her so long as she was on the mission. No matter how much Magni hated her, he wouldn’t compromise his position in the Royal Guard … Or would he?

She would beat him if she had to. Ever since losing to Blár, her insecurities had gotten the better of her, and she didn’t know what to believe anymore. Was she strong, or weak, or average? Could she take down a Royal Guard? She had defeated the ice elemental guard back in the city when Fenris attacked her. That must’ve meant she could hold her own against Magni.

Before Blár defeated her last year, she had been confident in her abilities. After all, she had been better than Katla when it came to magic. When Katla had shown her how to use her magic to make a sapling grow when she was six, Kolfinna had been able to make it grow tall and wrap around her fingers at her will. Even Katla hadn’t been able to do that, despite being older and practicing with their parents. Even their parents couldn’t do that, according to Katla. So Kolfinna had always believed she was stronger andbetter.

She had defeated so many people in Lord Estur’s house. She had killed him, and he was a purple rank.

But Blár Vilulf was stronger andmuchbetter, and that loss a year ago had humbled her. It now served as a direct line to how she felt about her magic abilities. Even now, standing in a dusty, steaming attic with sweat pouring down her chest, it taught her that she wasn’t invincible. That there were people stronger than her. That she could likely never defeat Blár.

But it also reminded her that Blár was a black rank—there was no one stronger than him in the empire, only possibly two people, and even then, there was a chance he was stronger. She might not have been able to fight Blár, but Magni wasnotBlár.

“Are youtryingto pick a fight?” Kolfinna kept her voice low and hard.

“Only if you’re looking for one.”

“I’m not,” she said, “but you seem bent on picking on me.”

“I’m only warning you, fae scum.” Magni stepped closer, and his shadow loomed over her threateningly. “If you interfere in any way, Iwillkill you.”

Kolfinna leapt away; she didn’t like how close he was getting to her—how he was trying to intimidate her.

“Threatening me won’t get you anywhere,” Kolfinna ground out. “And don’t be so confident. I won’t hesitate to attack you if you attack me. Remember, yellow and purple ranks came to fight me, but I defeated them. It took a black rank to finally defeat me. What areyou? A yellow? Purple?”

Magni’s brow rose, and then he laughed. It sent shivers down her spine, and all the hairs on her arm rose as he spoke next. “Are you forgetting that same black rank that defeated you is going to be on the mission with us? If I can’t defeat you, which I highly doubt, don’t you thinkhewill? I heard he’s been itching to hunt something. Maybe this time he won’t play with his toy and leave it after it stops moving. Maybe this time he’ll actually finish the job.”

Kolfinna sucked in sharply and stumbled back as if he had slapped her, her hand catching on a small box filled with worn, muddied, black boots and sending them crashing to the floor. A plume of dust rose between them as she found her footing.

“You’re lying,” she breathed, unable to hide the tremor in her voice. The dust sifted through the air, and her nose tickled with it. “Blár isn’t a hunter.”

“And how do you know that? Not every hunterwantspeople to know they’re a hunter.”