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Then the drunk rolled out from under Naji's foot, grabbed him by the ankle, and yanked hard. Naji stumbled a little but managed to catch himself at the last moment. Even though it was a good sight more elegant than most men could do, I was still surprised by that reminder that he really was just a man.
And then I felt something cold against the side of my neck.
"Oh, hell," I said, dropping my dresses to the ground.
"I'll cut your little friend's throat," the man said.
"How do you like that?" His hands were shaking and his breath stank, and I stood extremely still, my heart pounding. The giddiness of watching a fight got washed out by the fear of actually being in one. I wasn't aware of the gathered crowd no more – the only things I knew were Naji glowering at me and the coldness of the knife and the drunk pressing his body up against me
Naji took a step forward. The knife dug deeper into my skin.
"Don't move!" I shrieked. "Please, you'll get me killed!" I tried to make my voice sound as hysterical as I could so the drunk wouldn't notice my hand slipping into the sash of my dress.
"Aw, you ain't go
I jabbed my knife into his side. The man howled and fell away from me and I raced over to Naji.
"Told you I don't need your help."
Naji glared at me. Then he stalked over to the drunk, who was curled up on the street, one hand pressed against his stomach, redness seeping through his fingers. The crowd was whispering again. Naji reached down and dipped his fingers in the man's blood. The man let out a low, frightened moan.
Naji started chanting.
The crowd lurched away, their whispers turning into a terrified babble. Naji's eyes gleamed blue. The man gasped and keened and then his head dropped back and the entire street was full of silence.
Naji gathered up my dresses and my knife and handed them to me. "Come," he said, yanking on my shoulder, pulling me away from the scene.
The crowd let us go.
"What did you do to that man?" I asked. I tried to pull away from his grip but he wouldn't let go. "Did you suck the soul of his body? Why didn't you just kill him normal?"
"I didn't kill him at all," Naji snapped. "He'll wake up in an hour."
We walked the rest of the way in silence. My neck was still bleeding a little from where the knife had pricked it, and I kept wiping at it and looking up at Naji and thinking about the drunk's blood staining his fingers.
When we arrived at the i
"And… and the lady?" he said, stammering. "Will she have her own room?" I wanted to laugh, him calling me a lady when I had blood on my arms and my dress.
"No," Naji said. "She'll stay with me."
The i
Naji finished the transaction and glided over to the stairs. I went up to the counter, leaned over it, and said to the i
The i
"He won't do nothing," I said, but the i
"Run," he said, in a hoarse whisper. "Get away. I've seen what his type are capable of – what they'll do to an i
I wondered why the guy thought I was an i
"Don't feel the need to defend my good reputation," Naji said as we made our way up the stairs to the room, out of earshot of the i
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "Did you want me to act like your prisoner or something? Slip him a note to send for help?"
"Please don't do that."
"What'd he think you were going to do to me anyway?"
Naji opened up the door to the room. It was smaller than the room I'd had on the edge of the city, and not nearly as clean. I thought of all the Confederation scummies that had passed through here and shuddered.
Besides which, there was only one bed.
"Blood magic, probably," Naji said, and I shut my trap at that, because I'd just seen how that part of the assassin stories was true and blood magic ain't nothing to mess with. Even Mama had warned me off it, before it became apparent my talents lie elsewhere.
"You can sleep on the bed," Naji said. "And you should sleep." He gave me a look like he expected me to sass him. When I didn't, he said, "And no, it's not because of the, ah, the oath. It's because I need you alert tomorrow night."
"What for?"
"I have some things I'll need you to fetch for me, so I can determine what we should do next."
He didn't expand on that, and I figured tomorrow I could make a case for our next step to involve convincing the Hariris not to kill me. I was awful tired, to be sure. I'd hardly realized it until we got to the room. Likely still ru