I stood over Ghost Fist's fallen body as the silence stretched out. While I was glad I had won it wasn't what I was thinking about. My meridians were screaming with the excess ki and I could barely focus on anything else. I had to release that ki fast before it permanently damaged my cultivation.

  With a controlled exhale, I channeled the remaining ki from Raging Tide out through my Sea Gate Meridian. The loss of the energy left me drained. I had pushed my meridians dangerously close to rupturing, but they had held.

  A tremor ran through my legs, and I fought to lock my knees. Intact I may be, but I would need hours to recover. Sheer will kept me from collapsing, but I knew that I couldn't show vulnerability before the mob. And this extended silence did not bode well.

  That silence held for one more heartbeat, then an random stranger in the crowd let out a yell. That broke the dam, and The Broken Mast erupted into cheers.

  The referee raised my hand and, somehow, I managed a circuit of the ring to acknowledge the crowd. I scanned the room as I did so and two faces stood out. The first was Lian leaning back in her chair, giving me a slow, deliberate hand clap. Her lips quirked in that sardonic half-smile I was beginning to recognize.

  The other was Ironjaw. He stood in his booth and was watching me, his metal jaw catching the lamplight. His expression wasn't angry, worse, it was speculative.

  As I headed out of the pit the crowd surged around me, slapping my back and grabbing my shoulders. In my current state, if they weren't so densely packed, their congratulatory gestures would have been enough to knock me to the ground.

  I made my way through the throng, accepting my plaudits with nods and half-smiles. My body ached everywhere Ghost Fist had connected, and without the ki enhancing my muscles, each step felt like wading through mud. All I wanted to do was rest.

  By the time I reached our table, Lian had vanished. I looked around but could find no trace of her in the crowd.

  "Taros." She materialized at my elbow, her fingers digging into my arm. "We have to go." Her usual teasing tone had evaporated, replaced by a tense urgency. "Right now."

  Before I could respond, a skinny boy in a stained apron pushed through the crowd.

  I heard Lian's breath catch. "Too late."

  "You. Fighter." The boy pointed at me. "Master Jiang wants to see you in his booth."

  I considered refusing, but Lian's hand gripped my forearm.

  "Don't even think about it." Her voice was a hiss. "Look around."

  I did. The burly enforcers stationed around the edge of the room had all turned in our direction, their expressions flat and expectant.

  "Go willingly," Lian said. "If you don't, they'll make you."

  * * *

  I followed the boy, feeling Lian's presence at my shoulder. I was utterly drained after that fight, but there was no way that I could show it. I forced my posture to remain straight and even put a little strut into my walk.

  Ironjaw's booth sat at the far end of the pit. As we approached, I noticed he wasn't alone. A woman sat beside him, her black hair pinned high with bone needles. Her face was a careful mask, but her eyes tracked our progress with an intense focus. I recognized her. She had stood in the shadows silently observing the coins and chits that changed hands at the bookmaker's tables.

  Lian made a small noise beside me. I glanced over and caught her wince.

  "What's wrong?" I murmured.

  "That's Madam Rui," Lian said in a low voice. "She runs all the gambling in here"

  Ah. The money handler. If she was responsible for signing off on our winnings, no wonder she looked displeased.

  "Sit." Ironjaw gestured to the bench opposite him as we reached the booth. Two hulking enforcers emerged from the shadows behind us. This was not a request.

  I settled onto the bench and Lian slid in beside me.

  Ironjaw reached for a ceramic bottle and poured amber liquid into four small cups. He pushed two across the table toward us.

  "To unexpected victories," he said, raising his cup.

  The last thing that I wanted to do was to have a drink, but to turn it down would not be politic. I lifted my cup and drank. It was rum and decent at that, it burned on the way down in the best possible way. I only wished that I was in a state to be able to appreciate it properly.

  Ironjaw set his cup down and reached into his vest. He pulled out a small leather pouch and tossed it across the table. It landed with a heavy clink in front of me.

  I opened it and stared at a pile of silver fangs gleaming in the lamplight.

  "The prize pot," Ironjaw explained, noticing my confusion. "For beating the champion." His metal jaw clicked as he laughed. "What? You thought I'd cheat you?"

  In an odd way this was worse than if Ironjaw had tried to avoid paying out the prize pot. There was no way that he had called us over here just to give me coin.

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  I hefted the pouch of silver, I couldn't deny that had a certain satisfying weight in my palm. "Thank you for being so fair, Master Jiang. If that's all, I should really be on my way." My body ached from the fight, and the Raging Tide technique had left me weary. I really hoped that there was nothing more to this. "I've got work in the morning."

  I started to rise, but the enforcers' heavy hands landed on my shoulders, shoving me back onto the bench. The wood creaked in protest.

  "Unfortunately," Moutai said, his metal jaw catching the dim light, "that's not all. We seem to have a problem."

  There it was.

  He leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "Two tears, seventy-eight fangs, and thirty-one petals worth of problem, to be precise."

  I frowned, genuinely confused. "I don't understand."

  Madam Rui's soft voice cut through the background noise of the pit. "That's what your little friend just picked up from one of my men after she bet on you." Her jade rings clicked against her cup as she set it down. "Bet on you at some very favorable odds, I might add."

  She gestured toward Lian, who shifted uncomfortably beside me.

  "That's the largest payout The Broken Mast has made in over a year," Rui's voice was devoid of emotion. "And even then, it was to a drunk noble who had already lost several times that amount and proceeded to lose his winnings again before the night was through."

  Her dark eyes bored into mine. "But you're not nobles, are you? And you certainly haven't lost any money at my tables."

  "I don't see the problem," I said. "We bet, we won." My tone was innocent but inwardly I cursed my lack of subtlety. It's not as if sandbagging was even a particularly novel scam.

  Rui's lips thinned. "The problem, boy, is that you lost to a novice then miraculously defeated our unbeaten champion. All while your little friend places an unusually large bet on an improbable victory in your second fight, but sits on her behind during your first." She tilted her head slightly. "Do we look like fools?"

  She was right. This didn't look good at all.

  * * *

  I reached forward to take the bottle from where it sat next to Ironjaw and poured myself another tot of rum. Then I leaned back in my chair and smiled. Even that small movement hurt but I ignored the pain. The table between us might be about to become a battlefield, but I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing my exhaustion.

  I needed a moment to think. My legs trembled beneath the table, muscles spasming from overexertion. Even the simple act of lifting the cup had sent bolts of pain through my forearms. Fighting wasn't an option. I was going to have to talk my way out.

  "I'm glad my plan worked," I said, my voice casual. "I was worried there for a moment."

  I raised my cup in a salute and took an appreciative sip. "You know this really is a very nice rum, I'm not usually a fan of spiced, but this is great."

  I had no idea what I was going to say next.

  Moutai's eyebrows shot up while Rui's expression remained carefully neutral. From the corner of my eye, I caught Lian's flash of horror before she smoothed it away.

  "Your plan?" Moutai echoed.

  An idea came to me. Grapes to grapeshot.

  "Of course." I gestured between them forcing a confident grin onto my face. "I've heard the stories of your powers of observation and your attention to detail. Why do you think I'm here rather than any of the other fight clubs in Shuilin? I knew you'd see through my grift immediately. That was the point."

  "Was it now?" Rui's voice dripped with skepticism. Fair.

  "Absolutely. An unsubtle audition, I grant you, but I needed to show you what I can do. Because I have a proposition for you both." I met their eyes in turn. "A mutually beneficial proposition."

  Moutai barked a laugh that made his metal jaw click. "This ought to be good."

  I leaned forward, lowering my voice. "I can guarantee to win or lose any fight I participate in here at The Broken Mast. "But the true skill, the art if you will, is in making either outcome appear authentic, even to my opponent."

  I let a smile play across my lips." That's why chose to lose against Wen. And I made sure that I did it in a way that didn't raise alarm bells with either of you. Tell me honestly. If I can dismantle your champion in less than a minute, do you truly believe I would struggle against a blacksmith?"

  Rui's eyes narrowed slightly as I spoke, the first real reaction I'd seen from her. There you go. I'd laid my bait. All I needed was for them to take it.

  I laughed and tipped my cup at Ironjaw. "To be honest when you tried to stop me from fighting again tonight I thought that I had done too good a job. I didn't plan on showing all of my skills by beating little Ghost Fist, but it served its purpose. You know for a fact that he didn't throw that fight"

  I glanced over to where Ghost Fist sat, still dazed at the side of the room. "If I can take him down, I can take anyone you throw at me. Legitimately. Or, as I say, I can lose. All without their knowing. As someone who makes the odds, Madam Rui, I'm sure you appreciate how useful that knowledge could be."

  Moutai sneered, his metal jaw catching the light. "That's sounds great, but it could also be a desperate story from someone who lost one fight to a halfwit, and won another with a lucky punch."

  I shrugged. "Test me. This time on your terms. Give me a selection of fights tomorrow night. Tell me what outcome you want and I'll prove it. And make it precise. As you know, the bet for my fight against Ghost Fist was for me to beat him within a minute. I took 53 seconds. I know what I'm doing."

  "If I let you go, there's no way you'll be back tomorrow," Ironjaw growled.

  "I'll leave all my winnings here, both from the fight and the bet. As good faith." I spread my hands. "Besides, I've lived in Shuilin my entire life. I'm well known, maybe for the wrong reasons, but I'm known. It's not as if I can go anywhere you wouldn't find me."

  Ironjaw leaned back, his chair creaking under his weight. His eyes narrowed as he studied me, jaw clicking softly as he worked through the risk and the opportunity.

  Madam Rui's hand settled on Moutai's forearm, a subtle gesture that seemed to calm him. She turned her attention to me, her voice smooth as silk.

  "If what you claim is true, then such a service wouldn't come without a price." Her jade rings caught the light as she folded her hands. "If we were to agree, and I am not saying that we will. What, exactly, do you want in return for this...arrangement?"

  I drained the rest of my rum. They were nibbling at the bait, but I needed them to bite down on it. Time to stir the pot.

  "Remuneration that reflects my value." I set my cup down with an exaggerated click that echoed in the sudden silence between us. Then I leaned back with an arrogance that I didn't feel, linked my fingers over my belly, and met each of their gazes in turn.

  I allowed the silence to stretch, then spoke. "What, exactly, I want, is ten percent. Ten percent of the house's take on my fights."

  Moutai lurched forward, his metal jaw snapping. "Ten percent? You insolent whelp. That's daylight robbery!" His fist crashed against the table, making the cups jump. "Two percent. Not a copper more."

  I put an outraged look on my face, although inwardly I allowed myself a sigh of relief. If we were haggling over percentages then we were almost done.

  They were on the hook. Now it was just a case of reeling them in.