“Oh, shut up,” Zada said with feeling. “Give me the Applicator.”
Daphne attempted to jerk away but Zada only tightened her hold on Daphne’s wrists. Daphne tipped her head forward and clenched her jaw, staring down the short distance between their faces.
“Or what?” Daphne murmured. “What are you going to do? Will you have me killed? Extricated?”
Zada gritted out, “I’ll call for help.”
“Nobody will hear you over the din of Dobson’s search party.”
Zada’s eyes cast around the room, which was safer territory than Daphne’s face anyway.
“I’ll wave a hand at one of the motion detectors,” said Zada. “They’re monitored in real time. Someone will come running.”
The slightest flicker of doubt flitted across Daphne’s features before her mouth curved into a sly grin.
“Oh, but you might get in trouble,” said Daphne softly. “You don’t have the guts for that anymore, do you?”
Daphne’s gaze darted away to the pitch-dark ceiling above them, and then, unaccountably, down to Zada’s lips, as if checking the truth of Zada’s words.
“As if you’ve ever faced a minute of repercussions for anything in your entire life,” said Zada, feeling suddenly verytired.
“Can’t face repercussions if you don’t get caught,” said Daphne. “You used to know that.”
Zada shook her head. “Daphne, just hand it over,” she said at last. “Even if they never find the Applicator, they’ll just program another one. At best, you can put off this marriage for a week. But it’s still going to happen. And what’s a week compared to the rest of their lives?”
A shudder went through Daphne’s body. Zada was crowding her close enough to feel the reverberations.
“Daphne, are you okay?” Zada asked again.
“No,” said Daphne, low and hollow, her face so close that Zada could count every dark eyelash. “I’m not okay. I haven’t been, for as long as I can remember.”
“Hey,” said Zada. “Deep breaths, remember?” She didn’t realize she’d loosened her grip until Daphne broke free, darting away. Zada tensed at the sudden loss of warmth. She expected Daphne to run or toss the Applicator down the chute or make a snide remark about boring little rule followers who couldn’t even maintain their guard.
What Daphne actually did was let out a huge, defeated sigh. “No amount of breathing will untangle this knot, Zada. I suppose you’re right,” she said, with a trace of a sad smile. “There’s no hope for me. I’ve lost.”
“I didn’t say—” Zada interjected, but Daphne was on a roll now.
“It’s too late,” she went on. “I’ve been outmaneuvered.”
“In your quest to ruin Flora and Aiden’s happiness,” put in Zada.
“Sure,” said Daphne with a shrug. “Let’s call it that.” Shehanded over the Applicator with a sarcastic bow, their fingers just barely brushing.
For a split second, Zada hesitated. She’d never seen Daphne give up without a struggle. Zada felt like an untuned instrument, incapable of producing a single worthwhile sound. She watched wordlessly as Daphne turned to go.
“Give my regards to the rest of the celebrants,” said Daphne, not looking back. “I’m afraid I’ve lost my appetite.” She paused, the line of her shoulders tense through the jacket. “I suppose you’re going to snitch on me?”
Zada wet her lips. “I haven’t decided yet,” she said to the back of Daphne’s dark head.
“Right,” Daphne said, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Right.” She ducked out of the room, and then she was gone.
Zada stood in the middle of the sea of blinking lights, carefully inhaling and exhaling. Daphne was right about this much: Breathing alone did not suffice.
But none of that mattered. She had a wedding to save.
Chapter ThreeA Dance, a Misstep, and an Engagement
For Zada, finding her way back to the wedding was a matter of following the sounds of complete pandemonium. Overturned benches littered the gallery, Lieutenant General Dobson’s search party feverishly circled the room, Aiden’s grandmother had recovered from her fainting spell in time to loudly announce to nobody in particular that these mistakes simply would never have happened in her day, and Flora blinked her glassy eyes as her parents interrogated Aiden on the last time anyone had seen the missing tool.
