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get the feeling our paths will cross again.”

I didn’t know what to say or feel, so I just nodded. Halek drew back, peering out at the shadowed streets once more. “This

is going to be interesting,” I heard him mutter. “I’m guessing wherever the iylvahn is, he can probably see the whole area.

I can’t be too obvious, or he’s not going to be fooled.”

Reaching into his belt pouch, he pulled out a white cloth, then wrapped it around his head like a shawl, hiding his hair.

“Not the greatest disguise I’ve ever worn,” he said wryly, tucking the ends of the cloth into his collar. “But at least I’m

not dressed as a Ragnian sword swallower this time.”

My stomach twisted. “Be careful, Halek,” I told him. I was worried, I realized. Halek was still a stranger, but I didn’t want him to be killed. He might be a bit too fatalistic, but he was kind and brave, and he hadn’t vanished on me the second things got dangerous.

For a moment, a prick of anger filtered through the fear. This is why you keep things distant and professional. This is why you do not get attached.

“I will be.” The blue-eyed Fatechaser glanced at me once more and winked. “Fate be with you, Sparrow,” he whispered. “And

don’t cry for me. If the Weaver is kind, our paths will cross again.”

He darted out of the alley, keeping to the shadows, and vanished from sight.

Biting my lip, I drew back, crouched down in the darkness, and waited.

I didn’t see the iylvahn, but I knew he was watching for us, invisible, silent, and deadly. He must’ve come straight to the

door after getting out of the palace, rather than wasting time tracking us through the streets. A smart tactic; if I hadn’t

caught that fleeting glimpse of a moving shadow, I wouldn’t have known he was there at all. How he had beaten us to the door,

I didn’t know, but the implications were terrifying. It was pure chance that my gaze had been in the right place at the exactly

right time.

At least my luck was holding.

Minutes passed. I didn’t see movement in the shadows, from either Halek or the iylvahn. I didn’t hear anything. No footsteps, voices, or anything to indicate the assassin had taken the bait and gone after Halek. The silence throbbed in my ears until it was deafening.

After a few excruciatingly indecisive moments, I slowly rose and stepped to the mouth of the alley. On the other side of the

street, across the shallow pool of water, the door to the surface beckoned. So close. And yet it might as well have been on

the other side of the Dust Sea.

Move, Sparrow. You can’t stay here forever .

I took a quick breath and tensed to run, but as I did, a cry echoed somewhere in the alleys behind me. A sound of pain, fear,

and alarm that made my stomach clench. I couldn’t tell if it was Halek, the iylvahn, or something else, but in that moment,

I had a choice. Turn back and try to find Halek, or keep going.

I bolted for the door.

Guilt clawed at me, but I kept running. If Halek had met the iylvahn, he was probably dead, and nothing I could do would change

that. I tried not to think about it as I splashed through the water, shoved open the door, and stumbled blindly down the tunnel,

hoping I wouldn’t feel a knife in my back at any moment. I hit the ladder and started climbing, the darkness of the shaft

closing around me. My glowstone still hung dead and lifeless at my waist, and I didn’t dare light it up again for fear of

being seen.

Gasping, I reached the top of the ladder and scrambled onto solid ground. Heart pounding, I dared a peek down the shaft, wondering

if I would see the cowled head of the kahjai ascending after me. But the chute remained dark and silent, and I backed away from the hole and fled the room, slamming the

door as I did.

I wove my way through the sewers, not daring to stop, until I finally had to pause at a small alcove to catch my breath. Leaning back against the damp stone, I closed my eyes and tried to comprehend everything that had happened.

With shaking hands, I reached into my satchel and pulled out the black stone. It pulsed steadily against my fingers, cold

and ominous, and holding it caused my insides to squirm. This was the thing everyone was after. The Circle, who’d sent me

down there to get it. The iylvahn, who was willing to kill for it. What was this thing? I wasn’t ignorant. I was a thief,

and I knew that the more rare, dangerous, or valuable an item was, the more people wanted it. And the more atrocities they

were willing to commit to get it. It couldn’t be just a memory stone.

Regardless, I had a job to complete. That hadn’t changed, and I’d be relieved to get it over with. Once I delivered this thing

to the Circle, my part in their plan, whatever it was, was finished. And hopefully, once I’d handed it off, I wouldn’t have

to worry about iylvahn assassins climbing through my window to murder me in my sleep.

Kovass seemed different when I finally climbed out of the enormous drainpipe and back into the fresh air. The sky was dark,

and the moon hung low over the Dust Sea, a brief visitor to Kovass before the twins chased him away. The district was deserted,

the residents sleeping while they could, unaware that deep below them, a cursed city lay forgotten, slumbering like an ancient

giant, its own residents waiting in the darkness for unsuspecting fools to cross their paths.

“Sparrow.”

I flinched, nearly bolting across the street before I recognized the voice. “Jeran?” I said, as a figure stepped out from

behind a fence and waved to me. “What are you doing here?”

“I followed you.” He looked sheepish, but only for a moment. “I saw you and Vahn leaving the guild and I was curious, so I

decided to tag along.”

“Tag along? Have you been here all day? You’re lucky Vahn didn’t spot you.” I gave him an incredulous look. Guildmaster business

was deadly serious, and if you weren’t directly involved, then you didn’t need to know. Vahn did not tolerate insubordination

and would not find Jeran’s “curiosity” amusing. Even if a tiny part of me was happy to see him. “That wasn’t very smart, Jeran,”

I finished, shivering as a cold breeze whispered through the streets, tugging at my damp clothes. “You could’ve been kicked

out of the guild.”

Jeran shrugged, a defiant, almost sullen gesture. He stared at me, and for a moment, his eyes were hooded, but then he blinked

and seemed to go back to normal.

“Yeah, probably. I was just... worried about you.” He scratched the back of his head and gave me a somewhat forced smile.

“If you were going on a dangerous mission for the Circle—”

“Jeran!” I cut him off with a sharp gesture. “Not here, you idiot.” You didn’t discuss the Circle openly in the streets. Actually,

you didn’t discuss the Circle at all. You pretended the Circle didn’t exist. “What are you doing?” I hissed at him. “What’s

wrong with you lately?”

He ground his teeth, then made a visible effort to calm down. “I’m sorry.” He raked a hand over his face. “I just... Look, Sparrow, can we talk? There are some things I have to say.”

“Now?” It really wasn’t a good time. I wanted to deliver the memory stone to Vahn, get it out of my possession. The sooner

I did that, the sooner I could be done with this whole ordeal. “I’m on my way back to the guild,” I told him. “Let me deliver

something to Vahn, and then we can talk.”

“No.” He held out an arm, surprising me. “We don’t need to go back to the guild. This won’t take long.” I gave an impatient

huff, and his expression turned desperate. “Please, Sparrow. I won’t keep you, I promise. I just... I really need to talk

to you.”

I clenched my jaw. After everything I’d gone through, I wanted to get this delivery over with. But Jeran had been acting strange

lately, and I did want to talk to him about what had happened in my room the other night. Maybe he wanted to apologize for

being a jealous sand ass.

“Fine.” I sighed. “But only a few minutes. I really do need to get back to Vahn.”

He glanced around, then nodded at the door to a warehouse across the road and beckoned me forward. “Come on, we can talk in

here.”

I followed, impatient. The memory stone throbbed in my satchel, as if it could sense something had changed. The warehouse

was empty, and we slipped into a corner behind a row of rotting gray shelves.

Jeran turned to me. In the shadows of the warehouse, he suddenly looked like a stranger.

“I’m leaving the guild,” he said without preamble.

I gaped at him. Of all the things he could’ve said, I never expected this. My heart gave a little stutter of despair, and I swallowed quickly to open my throat. “Why?”

He turned away, his expression caught halfway between a grimace and a scowl. “Dahveen and I have been spending a lot of time

at the Golden Chalice,” he muttered, referring to the largest gambling house in the city. I knew Dahveen was a regular there,

but Jeran had no interest in high-stakes gambling. Or so I’d thought.

Instantly, I knew where he was going with this, and a knot formed in my stomach. “Jeran...”

He grimaced. “Dahveen said I could make it big,” he said, gesturing helplessly at nothing. “He kept pushing me, saying I was

one step away from a big score.” His lips tightened, and he shook his head. “Guess I’m not as good with dice as he is.”

I winced in sympathy. “How much did you lose?”

“Pretty much everything. But that’s not the point.” He hesitated, glancing to the side and not meeting my gaze. “I kept going

back to the Golden Chalice,” he admitted at last. “Dahveen and I went nearly every evening for weeks.” He bit his lip, and

his voice dropped to a strangled murmur. “I... haven’t paid my guild dues in four months.”

A ripple of horror went through me, and I stared at him in shock. You didn’t cheat the Thieves Guild—that was one of the defining

rules. You could steal from everyone else, but you did not steal from the guild. Even I, the Guildmaster’s prodigy, had to pay the tithe.

“Vahn gave me a choice,” Jeran continued in a low, dull voice. “Pay what I owe, or leave. And you know what that means.”

I did. Leaving the guild wasn’t just exile from the building.

It meant being banned from the Docks District entirely.

It meant never setting foot in buildings that were guild-operated.

And it meant you were forbidden to ply your trade in any place that the guild considered its territory.

The Thieves Guild did not tolerate competition, especially from former members, and those who broke the rules soon received a visit from someone like Bassig, who made certain they wouldn’t have the dexterity or fine motor skills to continue their work.

“You should’ve told me,” I said, watching Jeran’s mouth tighten. I didn’t know if the squeezing in my gut was anger that he

hadn’t come to me sooner, or a desperate need to stop him from leaving. “I could have talked to Vahn. I could’ve helped you,

Jeran.”

He stared at me, his eyes narrowed. “You can help me now.” His gaze flicked to my satchel, as if he could sense the memory

stone pulsing within. “Give me what you retrieved for the Circle,” he demanded. “Let me deliver it to Vahn. If I do that,

I know he’ll wipe my debts and let me stay.”

I recoiled. “What? No!”

“Please, Sparrow.” Jeran took a step forward. “I need this. I can’t survive out there without the guild. You’ll be all right.

You’re the Guildmaster’s daughter—the Circle won’t do anything to you.” His mouth twitched, as if he were trying not to curl

his lip, and a shadow of resentment crossed his face. “Let me take it to Vahn,” he continued. “I’ll say we did it together,

and you decided to let me go on ahead.”

“This is for the Circle ,” I hissed at him, more terrified than angry now. “It doesn’t work that way and you know it, Jeran.”

His face darkened, his eyes going cold and sullen, but he didn’t say anything.

Putting a hand on my satchel, I backed away from him. My stomach twisted, and I felt pulled in two different directions, but

I couldn’t waver. Vahn was counting on me, too. “I can’t give this to you,” I told Jeran. “I have to deliver it to Vahn, and

only Vahn. Look, let me get rid of this thing, and then we’ll figure something out together. There are other ways we can clear

your debts—I’m the best thief in Kovass, remember?” I tried to smile at him, but he just stared at me, stone-faced and silent.

I sighed, briefly closing my eyes, and turned away. “I have to go,” I said, feeling his bleak gaze on the back of my neck.

“Vahn is waiting for me. I will help you, I promise, but not like this. I’m sorry.”

As I started for the door, I heard the scrape of wood from a nearby shelf. “I’m sorry, too,” Jeran muttered, almost too low

for me to hear. Puzzled, I turned back—and saw him lunge at me, a broken plank held in both hands. Then wood filled my vision,

and I knew nothing else.