Therasia didn’t dislike doing recon work. Still, as a rule, she never talked about it. After all, she thought there was value in people not knowing. If you were, say, a spy, then you’d hardly go around flaunting it. If your fingers were as sticky as Therasia’s, you wouldn’t flaunt it. That was how people learned to keep their possessions safe. And besides, there were just some things that Riel couldn’t do, so she had to. They’d met in circumstances she’d call good....

Lycoris was on a quest! Well — Lycoris was always on a quest. This one, however, was a little different. She shuffled around the brush, then sniffed the air. Her beloved pendant was safe on her neck, but she wasn’t transformed. As much as she loved it, her humanoid form was still a little hard to control, and for this, she needed the practised precision of a hunter. She stopped to listen — no sound. Just as well. The prey she was hunting made no sound at all. Lyco...