The words had spread fast, whispered from mouth to mouth like fire through dry grass: mandatory gathering in the mess hall. Immediately. Starling fell into step beside Tenna as they left the training yard, blades sheathed, sweat still cooling on her neck.
"We know what this is about," Tenna said, too casual. But Starling caught the tightness in her jaw.
She gave a small nod, barely perceptible. "Keep close to Alis and Ledo. They're the most likely to give us away."
Tenna didn't argue. She never did when things mattered. By the time they reached the mess hall, it was already half full. Voices low. Movement restrained. There was a tight, brittle air to the room, as if it were waiting to shatter.
They spotted Alis and Ledo near one of the side walls. Alis looked pale, her mouth pressed into a line so tight it had no colour. Ledo, at least, had the decency to look carved from stone.
"Subtle," Starling muttered as they wove toward them. Alis met her eyes briefly, then looked away. She resisted the urge to sigh.
They clustered together, the four of them, and exchanged no words. There were none to waste. Not now. More Crows filtered in, senior and junior alike. Starling's eyes scanned the room as it filled. The familiar faces. The hierarchy pressed shoulder to shoulder. She spotted Wren near the stairwell, face impassive. Jaiteh was leaning against a beam, arms crossed. The room hummed with unspoken questions, silent calculations.
Then she entered. Caterina moved like she didn't walk so much as claim ground. Her expression was neutral, but it was the kind of neutrality that meant danger. Measured, deadly and focused.
Behind her, handlers slipped into the crowd with the same kind of trained ease Starling herself had practised.
Starling flicked a glance at Tenna beside her. She'd clocked it too - her eyes tracked every subtle movement, her spine straighter than usual.
No greetings. No preamble. Caterina spoke, and the room stilled.
"We have a problem." Her voice was crisp, carrying without needing to rise. "A man under Crow protection is dead. A collection of dangerous magical artefacts has been stolen."
There was a ripple of tension across the room, subtle but unmistakable.
Caterina's eyes scanned the crowd like blades. "We have a witness. A credible one. He saw at least three individuals in Crow black. This was not a random crime. It was ours."
Starling didn't move. Didn't blink. Her face stayed calm, body loose. Nothing to betray the thunder in her chest. A witness. That was new.
She heard Tenna exhale - quiet and controlled - but Starling could feel the tautness in her. Not fear yet. But awareness.
Caterina continued.
"I will not tolerate betrayal from within. We are more than a guild. We protect our own. We do not devour each other." She paused. "But I will offer leniency to the first one who steps forward."
Starling felt it then - that flash of cold. The subtle tremor running through Alis beside her. She shifted slightly, just enough to place herself between her and the rest of the room.
Leniency. Lies.
Anyone stupid enough to fall for that might as well slit their own throat. There would be no mercy. Only the illusion of it, a baited hook to draw the weak into the open.
She kept her face still. A dozen voices whispered in her head - lessons, warnings, years of training. Breathe through the guilt. Still your hands. Your face is a mask, never let them see behind it.
Beside her, Tenna's expression was unreadable. Across the room, Lucanis stood near the far wall, watching, face impassive. Viago not far from him, sharp-eyed, arms folded.
They weren't looking at her. Yet.
But the net was drawing tight. And Starling wasn't sure how long they could keep treading water before someone finally sank.
So she stood still. Calm and quiet. And waited.
--
Cade's place wasn't built for ten people. It was tight and hot and smelled faintly of leather oil, dust, and whatever cheap incense he used to try and mask both. The walls pressed in like they were listening. Maybe they were. This many Crows in one place felt like courting disaster.
Starling leaned against the dresser, arms crossed, the edge digging into her back. The silence was sharp. They'd all heard Caterina's voice earlier. Heard the false promise she wrapped in the word leniency.
Alis was the first to speak.
"We could take her up on it."
Her voice was too soft to be confident, too shaky to be serious. But she said it anyway.
Jacek let out a snort. "She's lying. Whoever takes it will just be the first to die."
A few others nodded - Brin, Neri, even Ledo gave a reluctant little grunt. Starling didn't move. She just kept her eyes on Alis, who had folded herself up in Cade's second chair like she wanted to disappear into the wood.
Vasha spoke next, arms folded over her chest like a coiled wire. "We need to find out who the witness is. Get rid of them."
"They can't have seen much," Cade said. "Or Caterina wouldn't be offering anything. She'd be swinging blades."
Tenna, leaning against the window, shook her head. "We killed one man the Crows were protecting. Now you want to kill a Crow witness too? The crimes against our own keep stacking."
"There's no choice," Vasha said sharply. "It's not as if it can get worse."
"It can always get worse," Starling muttered, though she wasn't sure anyone heard her.
Jacek pushed off the wall. "We'll try and find out who the witness is."
Ridge nodded, pushing his palms into his knees where he sat on Cade's bed. "But be fucking careful. We don't leave a trail, we don't raise flags, and we don't act without a full plan."
The room settled again into silence, heavy with unspoken tension. Starling's eyes flicked from face to face - Alis biting her lip, Ledo staring into nothing, Jacek wearing that bored smirk like armour, Vasha ready to pounce, and Ridge carved from stone.
The silence didn't hold.
"Let's just find the witness," Jacek said, stretching his arms behind his head. "Then decide what to do."
"That's not a plan," Ledo snapped, sharper than usual. "You think we'll all just agree once we find them? We're already splitting down the middle."
Brin frowned. "We don't have a lot of time to not agree."
"I'm not going to kill someone just because they might talk," Alis said. Her voice wavered, but she didn't look away this time. "What if they don't even know who we are?"
"They saw something," Vasha said coldly. "They were there. They can connect dots. That's enough."
"We don't know that," Tenna argued. "And killing another Crow asset is suicide. It's not just wrong; it's stupid."
That word hung in the air - stupid. A line drawn.
"You want to confess instead?" Vasha said. "Maybe send a fruit basket with your signed confession to Caterina? That'd be smarter?"
Alis flinched.
Ridge cut in, trying to keep control. "Enough. We are not going to confess. And we are not going to start killing each other."
He looked at Alis and Ledo. "We're not doing it your way."
Then at Vasha. "And we're not doing it your way either. No executions."
Vasha rolled her eyes. "So we just sit on our hands? Hope the witness dies in their sleep?"
"We find out who they are first," Cade said, firm. "Then we decide. Maybe there's another way to keep their mouth shut. One that might be a little less suicidal."
But no one looked convinced. Not really.
Starling felt the first real split tear open then - not in shouting or threats, but in looks. Cold ones. Mistrusting ones. Alis was staring at the door like she might bolt. Ledo looked ready to punch something. Vasha's eyes flicked to Alis in a way Starling didn't like at all.
This wasn't just stress. This was the kind of tension that could break bones. They weren't a team anymore.
Not really. Now they were just ten knives in a locked room, trying to pretend they weren't already drawing blood.
--
The Hall was humming with noise and motion - young Crows sparring, lounging, whispering in corners as they always did. But Viago's eyes had landed on her the moment he walked in. The way she stood, arms loosely folded, eyes sharp as a blade edge, her weight shifted just slightly forward on her toes. Tension in the body. Control in the face.
He'd seen that look before. Just not often on her.
He moved to her side with the kind of easy, fluid silence that always seemed to unsettle people. But not Starling. She didn't jump or jolt, just flicked her eyes sideways and offered a half-smile.
"You're watching them awfully hard," he murmured, nodding to where Jacek and Alis were locked in some kind of low-voiced exchange.
Starling didn't take her eyes off them.
"Should I be jealous?"
A smirk curled her mouth. "Always."
Maker, he loved the way she said that - dry, wry, like every syllable was dipped in smoke and secrets.
"Those two look like they're having an intense discussion," he added, studying them now. Alis's shoulders were drawn tight, her mouth tight with restraint. Jacek was standing just a little too close, voice low, hands twitchy. Not threatening. Not yet. But close.
"Lover's quarrel," Starling said breezily.
But Viago wasn't fooled. The casual tone was a mask, one he'd seen her wear dozens of times. She could say the most chilling thing with a honeyed voice and still look innocent doing it. But her eyes betrayed her. Too focused, too sharp. Watching like a hawk, not a girl idly speculating.
"Mm," Viago hummed. "Doesn't read like a lover's quarrel." He let his voice stay soft, his posture loose. No challenge. Just truth.
That earned him a sidelong glance, careful, unreadable. So he pivoted.
"Come to the estate tonight."
She hesitated, just a flicker. "Aren't you busy?"
"Never too busy for you." Truth again, no honey needed.
She finally gave a little nod, but said, "I'll be later though. Don't worry about feeding me. I have to go."
And before he could say anything else, she turned on her heel and left him. No kiss, no touch, not even a clever little parting jab.
Just... gone. Viago stood there for a long moment, watching her disappear into the crowd. That smooth, confident gait. That unmistakable aura of someone who didn't want to be followed.
He turned his gaze back to Jacek and Alis, but they were already parting ways. Something about the whole interaction made his skin itch.
Not jealousy. Not really. Not even suspicion yet. Just a slow, cold coil in his gut.
Something was going wrong. And if it touched her... Maker help whoever started it.
--
The wine in his glass had gone untouched. Lucanis stood at the wide balcony doors of the estate, the city spread below him in soft twilight, the rooftops dyed in violet and gold. Somewhere out there, Starling moved like a shadow in a sea of secrets - and he didn't know if she was running from something or toward it.
Behind him, Viago's chair creaked softly. "She said she'd be by. Just… late," Viago said.
Lucanis turned slightly, one brow arched. "She said not to be fed?"
Viago nodded once. Lucanis didn't answer right away. He stared out at the city again, jaw tight.
"Is she pulling away?" He asked finally. "Or is she genuinely busy?"
There was no accusation in his tone, but the doubt scraped at his chest.
Viago sighed, quiet but pointed. "She was watching a rather heated exchange. Jacek and Alis. Didn't look friendly. I said something, and she brushed it off, said it was a lover's quarrel."
Lucanis snorted softly. "Charming. And vague."
"Mm."
Lucanis set his wine glass down without sipping, the crystal landing with a soft tap. He crossed the room, slow and thoughtful, brows furrowed in a rare show of uncertainty.
"She wouldn't be so stupid," he muttered.
But the words didn't hold the conviction he wanted. They hung there, limp and unconvincing. He hated that. Because Starling was secretive. She had always been secretive. She tucked away parts of herself like a child hoarding stolen candy - too careful, too polished in her lies. And the mischief? It made it harder to see the edges. A clever mask, one she wore even with them.
Lucanis ran a hand down his face, eyes narrowing as his mind began drawing lines - connecting things he didn't want to.
The witness had seen four Crows that night. Four dark shapes, hooded. No faces. No names. But the timing. The silence. The tension rippling through the Hall.
Jacek. Alis. Starling. That was three. And the fourth?
He looked at Viago, who was watching him now with those hawk eyes, silent. "Could the fourth have been Elihu?"
Viago tilted his head slightly. "It's possible. He's still missing."
"Then why did he run, and they stayed?"
That part didn't make sense. If they'd all been in on it, why not disappear together?
He chewed the thought like gristle, turning it over again and again, but the answer wouldn't come. His mind kept looping back around to the same dead ends. It didn't fit. The timing, the patterns, the shadows in the hallways. Starling, always slipping away lately. That distant look in her eyes, like she was building walls even as she smiled. And yet - no clear reason why.
He clenched his jaw. From his place across the room, Viago finally spoke, his voice calm but careful.
"We don't know anything for sure," he said, folding his arms. "It could be unrelated. The argument. The distance. Even her absence tonight. Could be nothing."
Lucanis looked up, searching Viago's face. "It's a lot of coincidences."
"It is," Viago agreed. "But we tread carefully. Not just because it's Starling. Because we don't spook prey we might still save."
Lucanis frowned at the word. "She's not prey."
"Then let's make sure she doesn't become it."
Before Lucanis could answer, a soft knock sounded. The steward entered quietly, as always - respectful but unobtrusive. He wasn't leading anyone in behind him. Just a folded note in his hand.
"From the Hall," he said.
Lucanis took it, unfolding it with quick, practised fingers. His eyes flicked over the words, and something cold pressed against his ribs.
Something came up. Can't make it. Sorry.
He read it again. And again. No name. No apology beyond the bare minimum. No explanation. His jaw tensed, and he crushed the note in one fist.
"Problem?" Viago asked, already straightening slightly.
Lucanis didn't answer right away. He stared down at his closed fist, the paper crumpled tight in his hand. There were two possibilities. She was part of something she shouldn't be. Or she was fucking someone else.
He hated that both felt like betrayals - and that he didn't know which would be worse. He opened his hand, stared at the ruined paper, then let it fall to the floor.
"She said she'd come," Lucanis muttered. "Now she won't."
Viago said nothing, but Lucanis felt the weight of his attention.
"If she's fucking someone else…" Lucanis trailed off, lips pressed in a thin line. "Let's just hope it's not that."
Because if it was, it would mean everything she'd let them believe - what few walls she'd slowly let fall - had been a lie. A manipulation. A game. And Lucanis did not like being played. Not by anyone. Not even her.