Chapter 13

In Berenice’s carriage, Sancia stays quiet with Clef hidden and a binding still on her ankle. Gregor realizes Berenice planted a tracking button on his carriage under Orso’s orders. Berenice explains the assassins likely followed her instead and shows their carriage roof pierced by bolts. Fearing a rooftop breach over warded walls, she has Sancia trigger a twinned plate to message Orso.

At the Hypatus Building, Orso receives the plate, sees the word “Run,” and discovers an assassin on his ceiling. The killer steals Orso’s incriminating accounts, leashes him, and drags him out the window using a gravity rig, hauling him to the roof to stage a suicide.

Berenice, Gregor, and Sancia arrive and spot Orso being dragged onto the roof. With the stairs too slow, Sancia orders the carriage close, climbs the building, and tackles the assassin. The killer gains the upper hand and starts to choke Sancia while Orso dangles from the edge.

Sancia twists the assassin’s belly-mounted device into a fatal state; the rig detonates, killing him in a bloody blast. She hauls Orso back onto the roof. Gregor is still finding the stair access as Sancia introduces herself and vomits from strain.

Weakened by the night’s exertions and a searing headache, Sancia helps Orso toward the tower door, then hides Clef in her boot before blacking out on the rooftop.