Virelya stepped onto the worn stone steps at the front of the keep. The air held the type of cold that promised an early winter storm was on its way. Frost clung to the grasses and the edges of the steps. She pulled her hood up and her cloak tighter against the wind. Hallowspire loomed behind her like the dark guardian it was, watching, waiting for her to return.

  Thalmyer was waking the market square sprawling out in front of her. Vendors were donning heavier cloaks. Citizens waited, calling out prices to them wanting breads and meats to prepare.

  Kaida was a step behind her. She didn’t need to look to know it..

  Watching.

  She could feel her stare between her shoulder blades. Sharper than any steel.

  The smells from the vendors stalls reached her as she exited the gates of the keep. The warm scent of fresh breads a stark contrast to the cold she felt in her chest.

  The rune warmed once. Quietly. A reminder.

  You are mine.

  Obey.

  Kaida was the first to break the silence between them.

  Her voice was neutral, but only just enough to mask the sharpness that lived beneath it.

  “Where are we going?”

  Virelya kept her steps steady and her pace even. “The south district.” She answered with her voice almost as frosty as the morning.

  Kaida’s boots crunched behind her, her pace quickened to catch up and match Virelya’s.

  “Who is our target?”

  The word struck Virelya like a physical blow. It sounded wrong coming from Kaida’s young voice. Too eager. She clenched her fists beneath her cloak.

  “You are to observe.” She answered, hoping if she kept her answers short, dry it would cool the fire that seemed to be burning in the young girl next to her.

  Kaida walked next to her quietly for a moment. Virelya hoped because she was thinking of what this might actually cost her but knowing too well that was not the case.

  Again Kaida broke the silence.

  “I could do more.” The words were whispered, cold, they sounded like venom.

  Virelya stopped. Kaida continued a few steps before realizing she was no longer next to her.

  For a moment neither of them spoke. Virelya’s blue eyes found Kaida’s bright green ones and held them. So young. So certain.

  So unaware.

  “You will observe.” Virelya repeated. Turning her voice to cold stone.

  The rune warmed lazily. Approving of the firmness.

  Kaida pushed her shoulders back, masking the emotion that flicked across her face seconds before.

  “Fine.” She said holding Vierlya’s stare. Her eyes didn’t lower, they didn’t show the fear they should have. Not like Virelya’s once had.

  Virelya began walking again, Kaida falling in step behind her once more burning the invisible steel between Virelya’s shoulder blades.

  Virelya had the faintest thought that Kaida would prefer to place actual steel there.

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  The rune pulsed once more.

  Obey.

  They crossed into the southern district, this part of the city was older. The stones of the buildings here were worn smooth from years of weather and neglect. Moss clung to the cracks in the walls, it lay closer to the river and the smell of the water floated on the cold wind. The crowds were thinner here and people moved more quickly. Quietly making their way to the newer areas of the city. Heads down and collars pulled up against the wind. They paid no attention to the two black clad shadows walking among them.

  Virelya slowed, Kaida noticing immediately.

  “Why are we stopping?” Kaida’s voice was a whisper but Virelya could hear the excitement underneath it.

  Virelya didn’t answer. Her eyes moved over the street taking in every aspect as she had learned to over the years. Listening. Feeling.

  The rune stirred slightly at her wrist not a command, assessing, awareness.

  “He is close.” Virelya said, more to herself…the rune? She spoke to it at times as if it was a living being she carried with her.

  Their target was a printer. Aethryn had said that he was printing histories that painted him in poor light and that it must be dealt with as it was lies.

  Kaida had stopped nearly on top of Virelya and she heard the young girls breath hitch with excitement, she was failing to hide.

  “How do you know?”

  Virelya glanced at her, forgetting she had spoken out loud her thoughts about the target being near.

  “You learn to feel it.”

  Her voice was not as confident as she had tried for. Though the statement was not entirely a lie. She couldn’t feel the target but the rune. The rune reacted. Tightening. Almost with excitement of its own. Waiting, a chain drawn tight.

  She turned, looking down a narrower side street.

  At the opposite end, a man struggled with a cart, a wheel not moving how it should. Papers had spilled out of the sides, the ink on some already starting to blur where the frost had touched it.

  He was older than many of her targets. Thin in the way that said it had been some time since his last real meal. Harmless.

  The rune squeezed when that word crossed her thoughts.

  Although it didn’t seem possible Kaida stepped closer behind her. She could feel her breath.

  “That’s him?” Kaida whispered, even though looking at the man whispering was probably not necessary, he was old enough to have lost hearing years ago.

  Virelya didn’t answer. She watched, the man knelt down gathering papers with trembling fingers. Something in her chest tightened at the sight of his worn hands.

  One of the pages slipped from his grasp and the wind skidded it across the frost slick stones to Virelya’s boot.

  She looked down at it. Holding it still with a light touch of her toe.

  Words filled to the page in careful, deliberate script.

  Dangerous words.

  Words about oaths and choice.

  The rune squeezed up her arm, a command this time.

  You are mine.

  Kaida had not taken her eyes from the old man to see the words. “Well?” she asked impatience lacing the word.

  Virelya stooped and picked up the paper at her foot, before stepping forward toward the man.

  He noticed her then and fear instantly filled his eyes. He knew why she was there. Her hand moved to the dagger at her hip, slipping the paper into the pocket of her cloak as she did.

  The rune warmed as her hand gripped the hilt. Approval.

  Kaida rocked onto the balls of her feet. Waiting with sickening anticipation to see how her master’s shadow killed.

  Virelya drew the dagger from its sheath. The sound of steel moving from leather cut through the cold air.

  The man flinched and closed his eyes but did not run.

  Virelya shifted her grip on the blade, stepping again closer to the man.

  The echo of Dornath’s words found her in that moment.

  You can choose.

  The rune burned sharply in warning.

  She forced her face to remain empty.

  Virelya gripped the man’s shoulder with her free hand, feeling him tremble beneath her touch.

  She placed herself at an angle to hide the man from Kaida’s full view and swung the blade forward.

  The blade slid between the man's arm and chest as she buried it in the cart behind him, missing him entirely. She leaned in close to his ear as his back hit the cart.

  “Run,” She whispered the word so quietly the wind nearly stole it.

  His breath caught and his eyes went wide.

  He didn’t move and Virelya twisted the dagger further into the cart.

  “Find Dornath.” She whispered the final instruction as she pulled up from him and understanding flashed across his face and he gasped as he fell back against the cart. Dead weight.

  Kaida inhaled sharply at the same time. The high of a kill showing all over her young face. The rune flared.

  She stood fully and wiped the perfectly clean blade against her pants before returning it to her hip and striding back to where Kaida stood wide eyed.

  “Come.” Virelya ordered in a voice far more steady than she felt. Kaida followed immediately without question. The man stayed motionless behind them.

  Surviving.

  Choosing.

  Virelya desperately tried to slow her breathing as the rune flashed from lazy warmth to bright heat. When they reached the edge to the bustling market it had finally settled and was spreading a calming warmth up her arm.

  Kaida was nearly skipping when they entered the gates to the keep.

  Virelya felt as if her heart might bound from her chest to follow the girl. Fear gripped her even as the rune sent another warm caress of approval up her arm.