"She's killed before. And I make her a lot of money. She'll kill again. Someday, when I stop being useful, it'll be me."

"She will. And she'll have two reasons, every time."

"Two?"

"One for why she wants to, and one to justify it as selfish. You're alive because she trusts you."

"Trusts me?"

"Swear to Dog. And she doesn't trust easily. She trusts me, too. And that's... about it."

"Not Marco? Her lieutenant?"

"That prick? Absolutely not."

Thea raises an eyebrow.

"First night I met him at a ritual, Tes asked me what I thought of him, I told her he was dangerous, and she was delighted I saw it immediately. He was a mistake. I help limit the damage."

"And he's her right-hand man anyway."

"Can you imagine the stink he'd make, and get his harem to make, if she acknowledged anyone else as her right hand? Not that she's eager to. The one she wants isn't even in the coven."

Thea just stares, her eyes narrow.

"You don't mean Anoush."

"Can we please talk? Privately?"

"...Okay. Portal to a safehouse pocket?"

She scoots closer to Thea and extends a hand. And then she's elsewhere.

The space looked like an empty penthouse on a skyscraper, looking out over what might have been Hong Kong. The lights and decorations on the walls, even the flooring, said 'ritzy luxury apartment,' but the furniture was nonexistent and half the lightbulbs were dead.

"I trust the security here. It's not secret, but it's not compromised either."

"Can you keep a secret? Mostly from Marco, but from the rest of the coven, too, so it doesn't get back to him?"

She snorts. "If I think I should."

"No fear. She's been planning how to get rid of him for a while now. I'm helping. She doesn't have a right hand woman, but she has a left."

"You're her left hand? Anybody who wanted to challenge you would send you to the river in seconds. She's flattering you."

"Oh, I'm much better than I look, though I don't get up to rank five like you. Rank four true oracle, among my other tricks. I'm just good at playing the part."

"Prove it."

"What do you want? Blind parry with foresight? Spontaneous predictions about your next two days?"

"There's a lot of other ways to do that."