“I guess we have open membership now,” Priya said dryly.
Ames snorted. “Yeah, well. Hi. I’m Carter Ames. And I’ve been hating Lehrer since some of y’all were in primary school.”
It was true. She’d hated Lehrer even before Dara did. Back when Dara still made excuses for him, still covered the bruises and told himself pride was a small price to pay for Lehrer’s affection. The first time he confessed to Ames that he and Lehrer had slept together, grinning, cupping that secret close like it could keep him warm—she was so repulsed. And he’d been angry with her. Thought she didn’t understand, didn’tget it. Wouldn’t speak to her for months.
But when that paper castle burned to the ground, she’d been there. She didn’t care he’d pushed her away. She just hugged him tight and said,We’ll fucking destroy him.
Dara didn’t see that now. When she looked at him, he could see her flinch every time—if not outwardly, then inside. Invisibly. He didn’t need telepathy to know her. He’d always known her.
“Come on,” he said quietly, reaching for her hand and tugging her deeper into the bar. “It’s okay. Sit wherever. Leo will make you a drink.”
He led her to the counter, made her take the stool by him. She showed Leo her ID and ordered a beer, but her hand lingered on Dara’s wrist, fingertips brushing right over the pulse point.
“You look thin,” she murmured.
He met her gaze, but there wasn’t a right answer to that. It wasn’t even a question. He shook his head, very minutely, and drew his hand out of reach under the guise of drinking his soda.
Noam was watching them both. Dara felt his eyes burning like twin coals at the nape of his neck. He dragged a self-conscious hand through his hair, but it was too short now, the gesture not nearly as satisfying as it once was. He kept forgetting.
“Let’s go ahead and get started,” Claire said, clearly making the executive decision to let Ames stay. Maybe it was the combined endorsement of both Noam and Dara—or maybe it was just impatience.
Less than two months left until Independence Day.
“We need to talk about Texas,” Noam said immediately, voice gone flat. “That’s the real threat. If they attack before we’re ready to make our move, Lehrer won’t hesitate to use war as an excuse to consolidate his power. And then even if we leak all this info me and Dara have been collecting from Lehrer’s apartment, it won’t matter—fighting Texas will make Lehrer look even better. Between Texas and Atlantia, public fear will be strong enough everyone will be only too happy to sacrifice liberty in the name of national security.”
“That’s why Lehrer was made king in the first place,” Dara said. “When Carolinia was founded. In uncertainty, people want centralized power—even if it’s dictatorship.”
Noam nodded, visibly relieved to have Dara agree with him about something. He shifted in his chair, facing Dara a little more fully. “He hasn’t said so explicitly, but I know him well enough for that. It’s the same play he made last year during the coup.” Noam shrugged. “At least he’s predictable.”
Only Lehrer wasn’t predictable. Dara frowned, gaze drifting toward Ames—who still watched Noam, as fixated on him as if he were the only person in the room. If Lehrer seemed predictable, that just meant they weren’t paying attention to the right things.
“What’s his plan for Texas?” Leo asked, grabbing Noam’s empty glass to refill it at the sink. “Invade first, ask questions later?”
“I don’t know.” Noam shrugged. “I asked him last night. That’s what he said.”
“He’s lying,” Dara said.
“Oh, you think?” Noam snorted. “Of course he’s lying. But he does have reason to worry. Texan antiwitching tech is really fucking good. If we aren’t prepared when they come for us, then Calix is right—we’re screwed.”
That name shot through Dara’s chest like a bullet. He saw the exact moment Noam realized what he’d said: the color drained from his face, and their gazes met, Noam’s wild and wide as a trapped deer’s.
Dara’s mouth twisted in a macabre grin, and he put out his cigarette with one sharp jab into the ashtray.
“We need those antiwitching tech schematics,” Claire said, and if she noticed the sudden tension in the room, she barreled right past it. “I’m an engineer; I can probably build a prototype. Of course, maybe we won’t have time to use it before—” She broke off, gaze flicking over to Ames; even with Noam’s endorsement, Ames clearly hadn’t yet passed the test. “Anyway,” Claire said after a beat. “Enemy of our enemy is our friend. We gotta talk to Texas.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Leo said, “but all of you are witchings. Except me. Any envoy Texas sends us is gonna come with six bullets—one for each of us.”
“Then we control the terms of engagement,” Noam interjected, finally tearing his gaze away from Dara. “Meet somewhere public. It doesn’t even matter if they trust us or not—if I can get ahold of a Texan phone, one connected to Texan servers, I can figure out how to hack them the old-fashioned way.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Priya said—it was the first time she’d spoken all night since Ames came in. “Claire was born in Texas; she has contacts down South. We’ll get in touch, see if we can arrange a friendly rendezvous. They know us. They’ll take it serious.”
“Too right,” said Claire with a short nod. “Okay, that’s settled. Noam—we’ll be in touch once something’s planned.”
Ames turned back to Dara almost immediately, finishing off her beer in one long swallow. “So,” she said. “You gonna show me where you’re staying now, or what?”
A small, weak smile flickered across Dara’s mouth. “You don’t want to see it. Trust me.”
“It can’t be any worse than mine. Every time I go back home, I’m just rattling around in this massive fucking house by myself. If you thought that place was depressing when my dad was alive, well, somehow it got worse.”
