"Are we alone?" Shay asked, a few minutes into our journey.

I scanned my surroundings. Thanks to Van Lagos, the Quarter had been untouched in the battle for Steeltown. Its large, rustic homes of distressed wood and stone sat safe behind tall, black iron fences. No bodies silhouetted their large windows. No guards patrolled the wide dirt street I walked along.

I poured will into my jacket and waited for my consumption to spike.

Nothing…

I dropped the enchantment.

"We're alone."

"Finally!"

The lavender sack writhed out of my hand, falling to the street and unfolding into the familiar form of the Immortal Tailor. He stretched to his full seven-foot height, working the knots out of his back.

"Ah, fresh air!"

"You don't breathe, Shay."

"Right..."

He looked around.

"Well, first things first. Totus."

I tensed at the use of the First Magic, reaching for the cane on my hip.

"Relax! You have nothing to fear from me, child."

"What did you do?!"

Shay sighed, half amused, half bored.

"Look down."

I did.

The hole in my jacket from a spear wound was repaired. That, along with every scratch and scrape on my jacket from yesterday's battle.

"That's been bothering me since our wagon ride back into Town."

I relaxed.

"Thank you… For everything."

Shay smiled, wrapping a hand around my far shoulder and pulling me forward to Kateen's estate. His will flooded into my jacket—hiding us from view.

"I should be the one thanking you. You've been full of surprises."

"What do you mean?"

Shay's smile widened.

"You stood up to my Apprentice. That takes impressive will."

The mention of Reed made me hollow. It took everything I had to stand upright and not curl up into a ball or crawl back to the Inquisitor on my hands and knees.

"See?! Impressive," Shay said.

I panted from the effort.

"What's happening to me?"

"Longing. You yearn for her like a baby yearns for its favourite blanket. The feeling should pass… eventually."

I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Is that how she does it? Seduce men to make them loyal to her?"

"No. They are loyal to my Apprentice because she is loyal to them. You… You she liked."

I gave the revenant a suspicious glance.

Why was he telling me this? Was this another one of Reed's plans?

"Are you sure you aren't talking about yourself? I've seen how she likes to carry you around."

Shay let out a disgusted grunt.

"Don't remind me. I'm still wringing breast sweat out of my robes.'

I snorted.

"That doesn't sound so bad."

Shay scoffed.

"Of course, you say that. Breasts are overrated. They bring nothing but back pain and the stares of pustulated young boys."

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I glanced at Shay's chiselled, bare chest.

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"I do. Renaming can change many things about a person."

I blinked at Shay until realization made my eyes go wide.

"Oh…"

I turned away, blushing from embarrassment.

Of all the things to change about yourself.

I glanced back, tilting my head up to avoid looking at his exposed torso.

"Do you ever miss it?"

"What? Bleeding out every month and pretending it's normal."

Shay smirked, shaking his head.

"No. This… This is perfection," he said, taking his free hand to gesture at his lean, sculpted body.

I needed to change the subject and fast.

"If it's not Reed's magic, why do you take orders from someone you call an Apprentice? Why did you make her your Apprentice?"

"Well, that's simple. She intrigues me."

"Intrigues you?"

"I want to see if she can achieve her goal. When you're a revenant my age, novelty becomes essential."

"You take orders from her because you're bored?!"

Shay sighed.

"Conviction is such a fickle thing. It comes and goes whether you want it to or not. For decades, my desire to clothe the people of the world was enough to survive. But then that child walked through my door and told me what she was planning."

He grinned.

"Now, I've never felt more alive."

It frowned at the Immortal Tailor. He was speaking in riddles.

Conviction? What did it have to do with Reed?

Realization hit me like a punch to the face. My jaw dropped.

"Reed's goal became the source of your conviction. How is that possible?"

Shay looked down at me and nodded.

"Clever boy. I see why my Apprentice likes you. As for your question, it's simple. She spoke to my desires the same way she spoke to yours.

He grinned wider.

"She is hard to resist."

A goal big enough for a centuries-old revenant? Spirits below.

"What's she planning?"

Shay raised a threaded eyebrow, amusement creasing his face.

"If I recall, you threw away your chance to know that."

He got me there.

The sound of horse hooves pounding on the ground pulled my attention away from Shay. We were in the middle of an intersection of two wide streets. The sharp corners of fences pointed at us like arrows on bows drawn taut.

"Get down!"

I pulled Shay to the corner of a fence on our right and crouched. Shay shrank down behind me, his body folding into himself until he was at my level. A few moments later, four men in long, brown coats rode past us at a gallop. I waited another few heartbeats before standing up.

"We're getting close," Shay said, patting the dust off his robes with his free hand.

"Let's go around in case more of them come riding this way."

"As you wish… Now, where was I?"

"You were telling me what Reed is planning."

"Funny, but I will answer your other question."

I checked over my shoulder, continuing down the street on our right.

"I had another question?"

"Yes. You asked me why I made her my apprentice. That's also simple. Inquisitors don't receive training in the First Magic. I knew that teaching her would help us achieve our mutual goal. We're allies… for now."

I raised an eyebrow at the implications of his last sentence. It was easy to get lost in Shay's flamboyant nature. It was a mask for something old and powerful.

"Who are you, really?" I asked.

He looked at me as if I had swallowed a thimble.

"I'm Shay," he said in a playful tone.

"What's your last name?"

"I don't have one—at least one that I remember. I follow the old ways—the Elven ways. Do you have a last name?"

I paused mid-step.

No, I didn't. I gave myself one a month ago but before then… no. I hadn't thought it was strange until now. Was it because I was an orphan or because of my Elven heritage? Come to think of it, Sin didn't have a last name, either.

"Well?" Shay asked.

"Sin. My last name is Sin, for the woman who adopted me. Have you heard of her?"

"No."

I searched Shay's face for signs of deception, but there was only a mask of mild amusement. I turned away. It was silly of me to think he would know anything about-

"But..."

My head snapped in his direction.

"What?!"

"Sin... This word is familiar. It reminds me of… sinistra. The High Elvish word for left."

My left hand twitched.

"D-Do you know anything else?"

"No."

"Oh...'

Shay patted my shoulder with his free hand, sensing the disappointment in my voice.

"How about I tell you a little bit about myself? I did promise you during our wagon ride to the mountains."

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that.

"I am what the Guild was before we became obsessed with money and power."

"You were a Sanctifier?"

Shay smiled.

"I was one of the founders."

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"You were a founder of the Sanctifier Guild?"

Spirits below...

"Yes... We were scholars in the beginning. Pioneers unravelling the tapestry of reality. Our greatest achievement was figuring out how to translate the First Magic into a written form."

Shay nudged me forward to walk again.

"It's harder than you would think. So much meaning is lost when transcribing spoken language to the page. Yet, we did it, and I was one of the first experiments to prove our hypothesis."

"Sounds dangerous."

"It was. That's why I volunteered. I was an old woman with no children to mourn my passing. And the chance to rid myself of my 'natural' body was too good to pass up. Unfortunately, it worked. I became a revenant and was forced to watch my Guild become a shell of its former self. Our curiosity was replaced with greed. Our drive to understand the world became a need to control it. Even I wasn't immune from the corruption. I was ordered to turn my… considerable talents to assassination. I became so skilled my superiors gave me a nickname: The Silk Garrote."

My eyes went wide. I knew that name. It was a fairy tale told to misbehaving children in the orphanage. The Silk Garrote was a monster that would slip under your door and strangle you in your sleep without leaving a trace. No wonder Reed chose him for this mission.

"If you hate what the Guild has become, why do you still obey them?"

Shay shrugged.

"It was a clause in my contract. The Guild did not want to create a revenant they could not control. At the time, I agreed with them. We do love our checks and balances."

"What about now?"

Shay smirked to himself.

"Now? Now, I make sure that my Apprentice achieves her goal."

I turned away from Shay, hiding my face so he didn't see my reaction.

The final piece had fallen into place. I knew what Reed was planning.

She wanted to take over the Sanctifier Guild.

Shay pulled me in close. My body tensed, realizing who was beside me—the Silk Garrote: a mythical assassin and a master of the First Magic. He bent down and whispered into my ear.

"Lady Kateen's estate is around the corner. Now, the fun begins."

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