I slump down next to Cal. Eyelids heavy. Carbon-fiber fist curled against my head. Utterly and completely drained, brutalized, and nerve-burned from the inside out. Wavering on the edge of consciousness. This city has been setting records for how many injuries I can carry at once and still keep going. Seeing where I’m at now, I’m not eager to find the limit.

Cal takes my return in stride, keeping up her talk with the young cook. How fast and far we’ve fallen from high society galas and banter over breakfast. Her arm is missing a flap of skin and bleeding from beneath a double layer of torn bandaging. There’s a notch in her ear dripping red down onto her shoulder. Hair unbound and spilling down her back and shoulders, shaggy bangs draping over her forehead like wide jungle leaves. A sheen of grime and smoggy sweat glistens in the pale light.

“…and so there I am just watching it go down, right?” she’s saying to the chef. “This guy just had his ass handed to him publicly, knows she let him off the hook easy, and still decides to start shit in the middle of downtown. And I’m like, well clearly, she can handle herself. But,” pause to slurp, “she’s also new to the big city. Really testy village type, like a dog that secretly likes to be petted but doesn’t want you to pet her, you know?”

“’Course,” the kid nods along, already prepping a second bowl.

“Throw some extra meat in there, please. She eats like an animal.” Cal clears her throat. “Anyways. Where was I?”

“The girl?” Fake proteins sizzle on a gas grill.

“The girl. Way out of my league. Way.”

“Only way they make ‘em out there.”

“Right? You get it. And I’m like half the size of either of them. So what do I so dumbly decide to do?” Cal points her chopsticks at herself, and is about to speak when I finish for her.

“…You stand right between us and drop the innocent act,” I say, resting my butchered forearm on the bar.

“Well. Can you blame me?” Cal takes a heavy bite, then goes on with her mouth full. “No manners. Very attractive. Abandons me on a whim. What’s a girl supposed to do?”

“Come to my rescue again, I guess.” I look up as the chef passes my bowl through the window. Thing’s half meat. Not that I’m complaining. “Makes me wonder what I’ve done to earn such dedication.”

“You’ve done enough to deserve the opposite, really. But I just so happen to have a weak spot for thorny personalities.”

She says it like a joke, but I know better by now. Her head dips towards her food as she keeps shoveling the greasy street slop down. I take the hint. We slurp and crunch without talking until Cal pauses to reach for the water jug. “I would ask if you lost your mind back there, but I already know the answer. What on earth ever made you think you had a chance at beating my brother?”

“I know his weaknesses better than anyone else. He’s not as invincible as people think.” I stab at my food, mind wandering elsewhere. “I thought I could do it.”

Cal side-eyes the massive cut down my arm. “That certainly worked out well.”

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“It’s just surface damage. I’ll be fine.”

“Surface damage, she says with a hole in her shoulder, two broken ribs, and an arm nearly cut off. You think you would’ve been fine if I hadn’t decided to intervene?”

“Maybe. But you weren’t going to let me die. Not after putting in so much effort to keep me from your brother.” I reach forward and grab the salt.

“Hold up. You picked a fight with Thane assuming that I’d pull you out of the fire?” Cal sits back and lets out a genuine laugh. “You bet everything on my pity. That’s so underhanded. And crazy.”

“I’m learning from the best.”

“Aww. Little baby pulled off her first blackmail and thinks she’s hot stuff.” Her eyes lid halfway in threat as she steals the salt back. “Go ahead then, Tay. Tell me why I should keep helping you.”

“You’re still here, aren’t you?” I pause, snort a glob of blood from my nose, pick my chopsticks back up. “But if you’re so bent on staying with me, we’re going to do this on my terms. No more secrets. No more lies. Just the truth.”

“Might as well start with the most obvious, then.” Cal wiggles her Relic. Or tries to; her wrist is barely able to twitch. The bangle's pink glow doesn't activate. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I know exactly why you want me. What I’m questioning is why I should continue to indulge in your eccentrically abrasive definition of company.”

“Thane sent you to capture me, and you did the exact opposite.” I finally look over to find her head tilted back, moonlight coloring her face, eyes tracking a faraway seam in the crust of the city. “You tell me.”

In the undercity night, her yellow eyes are nearly as deep a gold as her brother’s. Moody and drifting as she watches the metal sky. Stars shine through the gap. A faint smile plucks at her face. “Would you believe me if I said, I don’t know why?”

“Maybe if I were a moron.”

“When Thane sent me after you, he told me enough to get the job done, like he always has. He said he needed you as an insurance plan against Gami. But I don’t believe that’s the truth. And… it wasn’t the first time I didn’t believe him.” Her despondent eyes drink in the stars. “I trusted him for a long time, you know. Thane is my big bro. The brother who taped my knees when I scraped them as a kid. The brother who would write lullabies and sing them to help me fall asleep.” Her lips twitch. “The adults always liked him best. He always knew what to do. Always was liked. Always was right. And I didn’t think twice about it. Because that’s what he’d always been.”

Cal keeps watching the sky; I only see half her face. Humid, grimy wind stirs her hair over her sling as she talks.

“But somewhere down the line, I don’t even know when, I started noticing the holes. Differences between the person he was becoming and the version I’d been preserving in my head,” she murmurs. “He stopped being kind. He hid stuff from me. He manipulated. He did things Thane would never do. And even then, I wanted to believe it was just me.”

She leans back, shifting her weight on the stool.

“Before Jolie found us, when we were in the system, we were all we had. We swore to always protect each other first. Thane watched out for me when we were little. I’ve been wondering for a while now if it’s time I repay the favor.” Her eyes drift down, the moment of openness fading. “When I found you, this girl Thane used to love like the moon loves the sun, I knew I finally had a chance. If he would even try to use you like a tool, I’d know for sure. The brother that I made that promise with wasn’t the person I was talking to.” Finally, she glances over at ne. “I had to know. Sorry for using you as bait.”

“I used you too. We’re even.”

I hold out a closed fist to bump.

“Even.” She thinks it over. “You’re sure? I am supposed to be your assassin, after all.”

“Pretty bad at your job,” I chuckle.

“Hard to be good when you’re such an interesting enigma.” A small smile, weary and genuine, sneaks out for me and me alone. “I just couldn’t bring myself to off you before I got a chance to see what you’re really like.”