Chapter 26 · The Weight of a Name

The city had forgotten how to make a proper darkness.

Every window facing the Glasswater Night Market reflected the same pale shape: Lin Lan standing beneath a dead clock, one hand pressed against her ribs, silver fire burning in the cracked watch at her throat. The reflection did not move when she did. It only watched.

Then all the windows blinked.

A bell rang somewhere beyond the drowned arcades.

The market answered.

“Run,” Tavi said.

He shoved a bent iron signpost into the path of the nearest guard. The thing in the black uniform did not slow. Its porcelain face split down the middle, revealing a mouth full of blue sparks. It stepped over the wreckage and raised a hooked blade.

Tavi swore and fired his courier pistol. The shot burst into a cloud of stolen laughter. For half a second, the guard staggered, its head filling with someone else’s joy. Tavi grabbed Lin by the shoulder and pulled her through a curtain of dripping glass beads.

Lin stumbled. Pain flashed white beneath her bandages.

“Nara,” she gasped.

“I’m here.