ghosts that strong. Not on Ravnica, anyway. You're safe.' 'Until you turn us over,' Kallist hissed.
Liliana sighed. 'I sought you out because we have a common problem, and I thought we'd be safer watching each others' backs. That's all.'
'If you know me,' Jace said carefully, deliberately, 'then you know there's an easy way to prove what you say.'
'Jace…' Kallist began, but an upraised hand silenced him.
Liliana blanched but nodded. 'I've no interest in fighting you. Too much attention. It doesn't hurt, does it?'
'Not as far as I know.'
'All right. Do it.'
A moment of intense concentration, and Jace was inside the mind of Liliana Vess. For a moment, he felt the urge to turn away from the intensity. This was a powerful mind, one of the most potent he'd been in since Alhammarret's own, and a confusing one. A love of life but a fascination with death, contentment mixed with ambition; a passion easily ignited, for good or ill.
Stranger still, though, was what lay beyond-the foundation of Liliana's mind. It had… No words existed to match precisely-a texture? A flavor? A contour? Something about the feel of her mind was different, unlike any Jace had touched before.
But then, Jace had never delved so deeply into the mind of another planeswalker. And whatever the case, Jace sensed no deception in Liliana's mind-not about the topic at hand, at any rate-nor any hostility toward him or Kallist. He considered delving further, to learn why she was hiding from the Consortium or to unearth some secret that he might use if necessary, but he refrained. He feared she might sense if he took too long in her mind, and the last thing they needed was another enemy.
Slowly, Jace opened his eyes. Liliana blinked once, then shook her head.
'Was it good for you?' she asked with a grin. Then, as Jace fumbled for an answer, she rose. 'Well, I'm glad you're here. It'll be nice to talk to someone about something other than fishing and how far the swamp's expanded this year. I'm quite certain I'll be seeing you both around.'
And just like that, she vanished into the crowd, with two separate stares-one flummoxed, one suspicious still-trailing in her wake.
CHAPTER TWENTY
'Good morning, Kallist. Or have you decided on a new name yet?'
Kallist spun, hand dropping to his sword, before he recognized the form behind him as Liliana's. The sun was still low in the east, casting a cobweb of shadows over the breadth of Lurias, and the air smelled more of dew than of the baked cobblestones and packed throngs that would come later. The streets were largely clear, so soon after dawn, but filling swiftly as humans, elves, viashino, and others set about their daily labors-or perhaps to grab a plate of breakfast prior to said labors.
'Morning,' he said gruffly as she fell into step beside him. Then, reluctantly, 'Ah, Jace told me that we should trust you.'
'But you don't.' It wasn't a question.
Kallist shrugged. 'Well, I'm not about to stab you on principle anymore. But Jace-Jace is a weird one. He uses people he should trust, trusts people he should avoid, and avoids people he could use. So no. No, I don't trust you yet.'
Liliana smiled softly. 'You're wiser than he is.' The expression faded. 'I've heard a lot about you two. Less in recent days, obviously, but… He's dangerous, isn't he?'
'Very,' Kallist nodded. 'And not just to his enemies,' he added with more than a touch of bitterness.
With surprising gentleness, she placed a hand on Kallist's forearm. 'It was kind of you to take him under your wing the way you did. I don't think a lot of people would have.'
Kallist shrugged once more.
'You two weren't…?' She let the question dangle.
'Lovers?' Kallist laughed. 'Uh, no. We were friends, partners, maybe even brothers. Nothing more.'
'Were?' she asked with a raised eyebrow.
'Are. I said 'are.''
'You said 'were.''
'I meant 'are.''
'Of course,' she said with an enigmatic smile. 'Try the marketplace if you're looking for work. A lot of the merchants are hiring private guards. Best of luck!'
Kallist watched her as she turned and walked away, wondering what he should be thinking. His arm continued to tingle where she'd touched it.
When they ran into each other again that evening-or when she sought him out, he wasn't certain which- Liliana had suggested they stop for a bite to eat. Kallist, frustrated by his day, agreed. They sat in an open-air cafe that was little more than a few round tables with parasols, and a shack from which you could order anything at all, as long as it was some variety of bread and either fish or reptile.
But then, they weren't here for the food. Nobody was. Located near one of the few stretches of coastline not already built over, the patio faced squarely west. From here, each evening, a few dozen of the district's citizens gathered to watch the gold-and-azure gleaming of the setting sun glinting off the waters and shooting like arrows between the taller structures nearby.
Kallist tried to appreciate it, thank Liliana for showing it to him, but his heart wasn't in it. The third time she caught him stirring his fishy stew and grumbling under his breath, Liliana actually stamped her foot.
'Spit it out,' she insisted, 'before you choke on it.
This wretched stew's hard enough to swallow on its own.'
'I'm not supposed to be here,' he told her.
'And we are? You think I like living here? You think he does?'
'It's all very well for the two of you,' Kallist snapped. 'You can walk between whole bloody worlds! You don't like your life? Hey, go find another one.'
'If you truly think it's that simple,' she breathed, and suddenly her voice could have frozen the nearby sea itself, 'you're the biggest fool I've met on any world.'
'All right, maybe,' he replied, moderating his own tone somewhat. 'But my point is you're used to being uprooted, to seeing everything you know fall behind you. I was supposed to be with the Consortium for the rest of my life! I liked it there! And then Jace…' He shook his head. 'He drags me into a mess deep enough to drown in and he won't even take responsibility for helping me make the best of it. He owes me, Liliana. He owes me a life! But try getting him to see it!'
'It was my understanding,' she said, turning so that the reflected lights flickered like a lover's touch over her face and hair, 'that he brought you along because he was trying to do the right thing.'
'The right thing.' Kallist scoffed. 'We were assassins, Liliana. Since when did that matter? But yeah, Jace has gotten really big on doing the right thing-for Jace. If he stopped to give two seconds' thought as to whether it was the right thing for anyone else, well, that'd be two seconds more than he's ever done before.'
Smiling, Liliana put a hand on his. Kallist couldn't begin to decide if it was just a friendly gesture or something more. 'This place isn't that bad, Kallist,' she told him seriously. 'If you give it some time, I think you'll find-'
She stopped, her gaze suddenly rising over Kallist's shoulder and out into the street. 'Ja-ah, Darrim!' she called to the newcomer, who had been making his way toward the same patio, then slowed his pace as he saw who was waiting there. 'Come join us!'
'Liliana,' he greeted her with a smile, sliding between the neighboring tables. 'I was just looking for you. It's a fantastic view, isn't it? I'm sorry I missed most of it.' He pulled up a chair and glanced to his right, his smile fading like the last of the daylight. 'Hello, Kallist,' he said more quietly, to be certain he wasn't overheard.
'Jace. Or Darrim, if you'd like. We were just talking about you.'
