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Siblings?”
    “Husband and wife. More than a little crazy.”
    “Anyone who chooses this work is crazy,” Gaelan said.
    “They have a seven-year-old son.”
    “So I’m making an orphan. Fantastic.”
    “They’re already teaching him the business. Crazy.”
    “Oh, so now I’m doing him a favor?” Gaelan asked.
    “In this life, some people are finished before they begin, Gaelan.”
    “You’ll take care of him.”
    Her eyebrows lifted. First you were worried for him, now you want me to kill him?
    “I mean, provide for him,” Gaelan said. “You’re not going to put him on the street.
    He gets a chance. Small as it may be.”
    “Done,” Gwinvere said.

    * * *
    They were beating the boy when Gaelan arrived, landing on a neighbor’s rooftop. He supposed that should have made it easier. The Marions’ home, bamboo and rice paper with a steep slate roof, was in a nicer area on the southeast side of the city. The home itself was small, but had a large yard, surrounded by a high fence so their neighbors couldn’t watch them train.
    It was oddly careless for two wetboys, but then Gaelan supposed if you had a child, it was hard to move surreptitiously between safe houses. And any robber who accidentally came here would quickly wish he hadn’t. And if someone knew he was attacking two wetboys and decided to do it anyway, he was probably powerful enough to find you regardless.
    Still. Odd.
    And it was the mother doing the beating. “Faster, Hubert! Pathetic. You disgust me.” The boy was curled up on the ground, and she was punching him, her fist stabbing in past his blocks, efficient, crisp, remorseless.
    Will you serve me in this?
    ~What are you doing, Acaelus?~
    Serve me or abandon me, black heart. I’m going.
    Gaelan leapt from the roof. There were good tactical reasons to do this – there were doubtless booby traps on the fence, on the wetboys’ own roof, and at their doors – but really, he just wanted to get it over with.
    Problem with jumping – you can’t change course in midair. Jade screamed something just before Gaelan descended. Gaelan’s sword was out, aimed squarely for Saron’s back, going for the heart.
    But Saron jumped instantly, and used his Talent to do so.
    Gaelan’s sword struck deeply enough that the blade stuck and was ripped out of his hands by the force of Saron’s jump.
    Gaelan hit the ground off-balance and rolled, popping to his feet and throwing a pair of knives at Jade.
    She stood still, apparently stunned by his appearance.
    The knives passed through her, and she popped .
    Mirage! Of course. Jade was a master of illusions.
    A door slammed. The back door of the house. Jade had already escaped.
    The boy had risen. He was staring at Gaelan wide-eyed.
    “Sorry, kid,” Gaelan said. “Nothing to do with you.” He jumped over the fence into the neighbor’s much smaller yard – approximately where he thought Saron should have landed.
    Saron was in the yard, standing on trembling legs, leaning against a sapling for support. Gaelan’s sword had entered his back and exited below his belly button. The force of his jump had yanked it downward, but it hadn’t cut all the way through his pelvis
    – so the blade was sticking out of his crotch, angled down. Blood dripped off the sword’s point like piss dribbling off a penis.
    “You won’t get it,” Saron said.
    “Get what?” Gaelan asked, playing along.
    “The red stone. The fire ruby.”
    The red ka’kari? What the hell? “You’re dying,” Gaelan said. “If you don’t make your move soon, you won’t have the strength.”
    Saron shifted, and a gush of blood and worse splurted onto the ground from his groin.
    A knife tumbled out of his nerveless fingers. He grunted, face contorted in pain. “Too late. Curse you.”
    “How much does she love you?” Gaelan asked quietly.
    “What?” Saron’s eyes suddenly showed a bit of real fear.
    Gaelan lowered his voice further. “Because I want to know if I’m going to have