“It’s not official.” Everly pointed at Rowan. “No one’s announced your ended contract yet. And you!” She pointed at me. “Everyone has shipped you and the Architect together. Do you really want to bring additional hate down on Rowan by humping him in the middle of The Royal Mile?”
Two men in plain brown tunics stared openly, but the rest of the crowd ignored us, unless someone watched from the buildings above, out of sight.
“She’s—” Rowan started to say and clamped his mouth shut.
Oh, I badly wanted him to finish. But not here. Everly was right. Cayden slipped between Rowan and me. Our little group started walking again, and I let myself drip until I had complete control over my rushing hormones once more.
“No Intentions still, right?” Everly asked, already knowing the answer. “I know ours went out. Erick said his family sent one.” Everly snorted. “I bet it arrived in a Nike shoe.”
I scrunched up my nose.
“The Architect’s keeping them from you, and that’s not going to go over well at his Mixer,” Everly continued. “Even if he doesn’t cough them up, we’re going to make sure you look absolutely edible and very available. I want your stack of Intentions to be taller than you by the end of it.”
“How many families are there?” I asked, trying to picture that.
“Plenty.” Everly clapped. “Options, babe. If I can’t have them, you will.”
That sobered me. Though Everly charged forward toward a colorful building painted like an Easter egg, her frustration vibrated the air. She had less than nine months left of her year of freedom to do everything she wanted, when she should have the rest of her life.
We filed into what turned out to be a dress shop.
“Flurr, I’m here!” Everly called.
A short woman with curly carrot-orange hair bouncing around her shoulders skipped out of the back. Two attendees came shortly after her. The sound of bottles of bubbly liquor popped, and someone pushed a glass into my hand.
“Make all of us look our best, even the Lawson.” Everly grinned. “On me, of course.”
Cayden and I exchanged a look. We’d both come ready to chip in. My best friend studied his glass of bubbly critically before taking a sip. “Camel Valley Brut, their reserve, I believe.”
Everly sighed. “I wish I could hate you for knowing your wines so well.”
The two tipped their glasses.
“Open the rosé next. Quinn will like the sweetness,” Cayden told Flurr.
He always put me first, and little moments like this filled me with warmth.
It took us several bottles to get Brit through a dress fitting, and by the end, even the guys had been measured up for whatever counted as formal wear in this time.
Much tipsier than we entered, we left and roamed The Mile.
The farther down we went, the more husks of cars appeared, and the fewer restored buildings stood. A metal barrel had three gruff men standing around it, who stopped talking to take our measure before seeing our escort and returning to their conversation. Between buildings,narrow closes—which just looked like narrow alleys—dropped down toward lower levels we couldn’t see.
We came to a stop at a massive wall made of chicken wire, with rocks, rubble and who knew what else piled behind it. Two guards with metallic hair and dull-orange uniforms stood on either side of a massive structure that, to me, looked like a garage door. A bleached skull stuck out of the wall, as if trying to unbury itself from the rubble.
Being in Xan’s castle, with its hints of technology and quiet peace, made it easy to forget how rough the world had become.
“The New Palace is behind these walls,” Rowan pointed. “The Abernathy’s territory. They’re our allies.”
A cold shiver ran down my back. They didn’t look like anyone’s allies from here.
Instead of letting fear take me, I reached across Cayden, stole the bottle of bubbly we were still nursing, and took another swig.
“About face!” Everly commanded, turning on her heels. “We have plans for tea in less destitute surroundings.”
Halfway back up The Mile, Everly pulled us into a little bakery, guarded by at least five men in the dull orange I now knew belonged to the Abernathy family. Finger sandwiches and cakes were added to accompany our drinks.
I lost track of the afternoon as we swapped stories of parties from different times. Cayden piped in with a weird one about some ceremonial dance to the Sun God to welcome warmth back into the world each spring.
