Min frowns. “I know you’re unhappy about your brother getting involved in this Hann investigation,” she says. “But he’s the closest link we’ve gotten in a year.”
“We’ll find another way,” I say. “We got a sighting of him, didn’t we? We’re hunting down more info about the race itself too. Hann’s going to show up again if there’s another race.”
“Not if your brother’s not there,” she replies. Then she turnsher entire body toward me. “If we get a lead, I expect to see your brother cooperate.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“I think you’d prefer that he does,” Min says. “This isn’t a request, Daniel. This is an order.”
I lean over the side of the walkway and stare down at the dizzying height. “I don’t do well with personal threats, Director,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Good, because neither do I.” Min starts to walk away. “So let’s make sure it doesn’t come down to that.”
I watch her go, feeling a sense of helplessness that I haven’t felt since the Republic was at war.
The rest of the guests seem like they’re starting to stream inside the hall, but I stay where I am, in the solitude and the rain. At least I’d had Tess on my side when I used to live on the streets of Lake. Here, I feel alone.
“You’re not heading in?”
June’s voice comes from one side of the walkway. I jump, straightening, and look over to see her approaching.
My words jumble in my throat and fail to come out. Tonight, she’s in a floor-length gown of scarlet and black, the skirt billowing with floating fabric in a fanlike pattern. Whenever she walks, she looks like she’s gliding on air. Crystal drops sparkle on her ears.
I realize that she’s still looking at me, and force myself to stop gaping and turn back toward the main Hall of Philosophy. “I thought I’d get some fresh air before I had to head in,” I say. “What are you doing out here? Isn’t the Elector expecting you inside?”
She comes to stand beside me and gives me a brief smile. “He’s deep in conversation with Faline,” she replies, nodding toward the hall. “I think he’ll be fine on his own for a while.”
June, who always seems like she’s put together and has everything under control. I give her a tight smile, wishing I could feel the same way, instead of this awkward sense of uncertainty around her.
“Something’s bothering you,” she says after a while.
“Is it that obvious?” I reply.
She glances sidelong at me. “Well, I like to pride myself on how well I can read the details of everything around me.”
I laugh a little at that. “Yeah, I seem to remember you having a knack for it.”
She smiles, then turns serious. “Care to share any of it with me? You look like you could use someone to hear you out.”
And again, there she goes, predicting me. I hesitate, wondering whether I should embroil any more people I care about into my business. “Work’s been rough lately,” I finally decide to say.
“Rough like how?”
I sigh. “I think I’m starting to understand why you acted the way you did when I was first getting to know you. When you worked as an agent in the Republic. Working for a country you didn’t agree with, staying loyal even if the cause was imperfect. It was almost easier to be from the streets. At least all the right choices were obvious there.”
June’s silent for a moment. Rain pours down the sides of the archway above us, forming a makeshift waterfall. “It’s not easy being in a gray zone,” she finally replies. I notice with gratitude that she doesn’t ask me the sensitive details of what I’m involvedin. “Maybe you should think about a line of work in something less dangerous. Finance, perhaps.”
“Why?” I straighten the lapels of my suit and puff out my chest. “Is finance a hot look on me?”
She raises an eyebrow. “I thought we were talking about making the right decisions.”
We smile a little, then lapse again into silence.
“Not here,” I whisper after a moment. “It’s too sensitive to talk about in public.”
June’s expression never changes. She smiles like I’d just murmured something intimate to her. But when she replies softly, she says, “My place, then, after most of the festivities are done.”
It’s almost midnight by the time we finally leave the gala.
