Zada stared at her. “Daphne, what are you doing?”
But Daphne didn’t seem to hear her. She gestured, skipping to the bottom of the file, and inhaled sharply. “It’s the wrong name.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s the wrong name,” Daphne repeated. “The man my mom had an affair with was named Nigel Roberts.” She gestured at the bright lines of code before them, which ended with “match=Everett,Septimus.”
Nothing was making sense. “How do you even know his name?”
Daphne was in her own world still. “Maybe I’ve got the wrong file,” she muttered.
“It’s not,” said Zada.
“Or we have the wrong version,” said Daphne in a rush.
Zada shook her head. Soon, she would become Mrs. Arnoth, a rising politician’s wife. She would have children with Buford, and she would need to pretend for their sake. A lifetime of faking smiles for Buford Arnoth. A lifetime of faking that she didn’t know the truth about the Core. A lifetime of faking everything.
“I knew,” said Daphne. “I always knew my father wasn’t her soulmate. And he wasn’t. He’s not. But why—” She sank to the floor beside Zada. “How could she cheat on him with someone who wasn’t even her destined match? Why would she risk everything like that for someone who wasn’t—” She groaned,burying her face in her hands. “Shit. It was all for nothing.”
“It was—” Zada turned to face Daphne, tried to make out her face in the library’s dim light. “I thought you were helping me. But were you really just after your mother’s Heartsong match?”
Daphne glanced up. “Zada,” she said, “no, I did want to help you. It’s just—”
“This was your true aim from the very beginning, wasn’t it?” Zada said in a low voice. “You told me you’d lend a hand because you needed me to get you into the Heartsong program.”
“I—”
“You had a grand plan, and you wanted me to execute it for you. Just like old times,” Zada said bitterly.
“No, I wanted to help you, truly,” Daphne said. She closed her eyes. “But I wanted to uncover the truth about my mother, too. You know how it’s always eaten at me.”
“Oh,” said Zada. It stung to hear that Daphne hadn’t been helping her out of renewed friendship—or love. That Daphne had her own motives this whole time.
She felt so foolish. The signs had all been there. Daphne had been openly skeptical of Heartsong from the start. Of course she hadn’t been helping Zada out of some pure-hearted belief that Zada deserved a grand and passionate love story.
But it hardly mattered anymore, did it? She knew the truth of it. She didn’t deserve that kind of romance. The algorithm had weighed her and found her wanting.
“Well,” Zada heard herself say, “we have our answers. I should get back. My wedding is in two weeks. I’ll need to prepare.”
Daphne’s eyes snapped open. “That’s it? You’re not going to fight it?”
“There’s nothing to fight,” Zada said, suddenly and completely depleted. “And please don’t pretend to care. I was just your pawn.”
“I had to know,” said Daphne. “Can you really blame me? I had to know, and anyway, why would you trust me, the friend you cut off without a thought? I had no reason to want to help you, and you knew it!”
“I trusted you because I had nowhere else to go,” hissed Zada. “I was scared and desperate—”
“You’re still scared and desperate,” said Daphne. “You don’t have to go through with this. We can still—”
“It’s over, Daphne!” Zada had to fight to keep her voice from climbing. “This is the end. There’s nothing I can do but marry my match, and there’s nothing you can do but accept that your mother ended her marriage for someone else, someone who wasn’t even her soulmate. We have to face reality—”
Another chime, but this time the note was higher, more shrill. The SmartGem intoned, “Location trace incoming.”
“Shit! Zada, we have to go.” Daphne reached for Zada, then maybe thought better of it. “They’ll be here any moment.”
From outside the door came the thunder of heavy footsteps. The library was enormous, with tall looming shelves, but they were out in the open, still lit by the glow of the Core navigation menu.
“Gem, shut—” Zada said, but it was too late.
