Dozens of feluccas, schooners, and brigantines bobbed in the harbor, their masts and sails rising high and reflecting the silver glow of the moon. We were the only idiots enjoying the view in the middle of the night, exhausted and nervous. Well, I was exhausted and nervous. Inez had that gleam in her eye that struck terror in my soul. It somehow communicatedthat she’d pursue her goal, no matter the cost to her life. Come what may, she would see it through to the end.
“Have you paid the driver?” Isadora asked in her cool voice.
I barely heard her. Inez tapped her foot, gazing impatiently across the water, as if she wanted to conjure her mother into existence, standing at the base of the lighthouse. The sea air teased her long hair, whipping it across her face. She didn’t seem to notice, every part of her focused on getting to that island. We had gone through Turkish Town, and though we could have continued by land, I thought it best to go the rest of the way by boat; it was harder to follow after us. Isadora had been helpful with navigating the tight turns through the city and had provided several shortcuts on the way to the coast.
I turned to look at her, and she raised her brows expectantly.
“The driver?” Isadora prompted.
“How did you know the quickest way through Turkish Town?” I kept my tone nonchalant, but my mind repeated Inez’s earlier words when we argued in front of the bank. If Isadora knew the city as well as it certainly looked like, then she could have easily beaten us back to the hotel after warning Lourdes.
She stared at me, hand on her hip, all the appearance of outrage. “Peopletalkto me.”
“And?”
“And I’ve made a few acquaintances at the hotel,” she said. “I’m good at collecting information.”
“If that’s all it is, then why are you angry?”
She took a step toward me, jabbed her index finger in my chest. “Because every time you speak with me, every time you ask me a question, it always sounds like an accusation.” She inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring. “And it’sannoying.”
“I won’t apologize for it.”
“Of course not,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But do you want to know what I think?”
I waited, hoping my silence would goad her. People talked more when they were upset, or under suspicion.
“I think you see qualities in me that you yourself possess.” Her voice dropped to a pointed whisper. “And youhateit. I’d bet everything that I own, all my money, that you can’t stand parts of yourself. The eternal distrust, the cynicism, a mind always calculating how to utilize people for your own benefit.”
“I don’t—”
“You do,” she said firmly. “It’s what makes you good at your job. We’re survivors. By definition, we’ve done things to avoid hurt, to stay alive, one step ahead of everyone else. We get our way by any means possible.”
Every word grated. Because she was right.
“And when we care about someone, we become protective,” Isadora said in the same hushed whisper. “We will move heaven and earth to help them, to save them from themselves. Because there are only a few people in this world whom we love, and we’d damn anyone to hell who would dare to hurt them.”
She flicked her gaze to Inez, but I didn’t follow it. I kept my eyes on her.
“I can see who you are as easily as I see myself,” she said. “Now. Back to the matter at hand. Have you taken care of the driver?”
I looked away from her, wishing I didn’t agree with her. It was easier to think of her as an enemy. Easier than recognizing all the ways we were similar, and how that didn’t stop Inez from trusting her. Because then I’d have to sit with how Inez could no longer stand the sight of me.
A headache bloomed from the sudden emotion that settled over me. Anger, frustration. Grief, too, if I would let myself really feel it. I had no one to blame but myself.
I rubbed my temples, never wanting a cup of coffee more. Our carriage driver waited, yawning hugely, the horses grunting softly. Even they protested the early hour. I gave the lad a handful of francs. “Would you mind waiting for us?”
He looked around, frowning. “Here?”
“Yes,” I said, pointing behind me to the island of Pharos. “We want to see the lighthouse.”
The driver nodded, though he still seemed perplexed. “At this hour?”
“I don’t make the plans,” I muttered, giving him more coins.
“You ought to send him away,” Isadora said. “It’s rude to keep him waiting.”
I ignored her and addressed the lad. “We’ll be right back. Don’t leave us.”
