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She’d been out in the yard honing her blade for no more than fifteen minutes when Jianyu opened the gate. At the sight of him, some of the tension drained from her shoulders.

She lifted her hand in greeting, but the expression Jianyu wore made her pause.

“I take it that your meeting didn’t go as well as you hoped?” she asked.

Without answering, Jianyu lowered himself to sit on the stoop next to Viola. “I suppose it went well enough. He did not kill me where I stood.”

“Small blessings,” she said dryly. “He won’t join us.”

“No,” Jianyu said, sounding utterly deflated. “Werner’s fear is too great. So long as Nibsy has Dolph’s cane, he has the Devil’s Own. So long as Nibsy has the Strega, the Devil’s Own will suffer.”

Viola frowned. “Why is their fate so important to you? Most of them never truly accepted you even when Dolph was alive. Saving them won’t change that.”

“It is not about their acceptance,” he said, turning to her. “I had that and more with the On Leongs.”

“Then what?” she asked, truly curious. They’d lived and fought side by side for so long, but she’d never really understood the strange clockworks that drove him. “Dolph is gone. You can’t keep fighting for him.”

“I have never fought only for him, Viola.” His mouth curved grimly. “When I left the tong, it was not for Dolph. It was for myself, because I wished for something more. Dolph believed in a vision of what the world could be—for magic. For everyone. I believed in that vision.”

“He was no saint, Jianyu,” she said, remembering the truth of her old friend. “He hurt many people in his quest for this world he believed in.”

Jianyu nodded. “He did. He helped many as well.” He paused then, and the seconds stretched in silence as the city hummed around him. “I came to a point in my life when I made a choice between the man I was and the man I wanted to be. And the man I want to be would not allow innocents to suffer under Nibsy Lorcan’s rule. Not the Devil’s Own. Not anyone.”

She looped her arm through his and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. “You’re a good man, Jianyu,” she told him. “But the world doesn’t care for goodness. Only for strength.”

He patted her arm. “Then I shall be strong as well.”

They sat in companionable silence as the wind whipped through their hair and made their cheeks turn cold. When Jianyu spoke, his voice was serious.

“I cannot help but feel that something is starting, Viola. Beneath the peace in the streets, danger is churning. With every passing day, the Conclave grows closer, and Nibsy grows more certain of his power.”

“And Darrigan hasn’t returned,” she acknowledged, speaking the truth that they’d both been avoiding. “You expected him by now. Esta, too.”

“We are running out of time,” Jianyu said. “If they do not return before the Conclave…” He shook his head.

Viola laid a hand upon his knee. “If they do not return, we will do what we must.” But though her words were filled with confidence, the dread within her had been growing every day. They had no artifact, no allies. No idea what was coming next.

“Cela is inside?” Jianyu asked, pulling himself to his feet.

Viola nodded. “Abel as well. He has a plan to help,” she said, unable to hold back her smile at the thought. Strange allies, indeed. “But he leaves on the eight o’clock train.”

Jianyu was staring at the back door, not bothering to hide the concern in his eyes. Or the wanting.

“She won’t go with him,” Viola said. “Ask her as many times as you want, but her answer will be the same.”

Jianyu let out an exhausted-sounding breath. “I know.”

“At least here we can watch over her while Abel’s gone.”

“Perhaps.” Jianyu frowned at Viola. “It is the one thing I blame Darrigan for, putting Cela at risk when he had no right.”

“Only one? I have an entire list,” Viola said, moving her hands far apart as though to show just how long it was.

Jianyu shook his head, amusement chasing some of the shadows from his eyes. “Perhaps I do as well.”

“You should tell her how you feel,” Viola said softly.

He turned to her, his expression guarded.