Henley chuckles. “You wish you looked this pretty.”
He feints, then comes at Xavier with a left hook that snaps the other man’s head back.
“Dick.” Xavier huffs out a breath, but he’s clearly fighting a laugh.
They look like they’re enjoying themselves—so of course Evlynne chooses that exact moment to enter the gym. She’s in tight blackshorts and a gray sports bra, her midriff flat and rippling with abs that make me a bit jealous.
Her step stutters when she realizes who’s sparring. “Are you fucking kidding me, Hen?”
The fight stops, Henley’s golden head swiveling in her direction. Nobody misses the anger flashing in her eyes.
“Don’t make it more than it is, Ev,” he calls back.
She looks from him to Mako, then Saint, who’s still pummeling his punching bag, unbothered by the escalating tension.
“He’s a Prime! And he’s in Silver Block,” she growls, staring at everyone in disbelief. “How are you forgetting that?”
“He stopped being in Silver Block when he deserted,” I remind her, but that only pisses her off further.
“Fuck off, Darlington. Don’t get me started on whetheryoubelong here.” Her incensed gaze swings back to her friends. “How are you so calm about giving a Prime open access to our base?”
“Would you ease the fuck up for once in your life?” Henley retorts, startling me. “Not everything has to come down to Mod versus Prime.”
She gapes at him. “Yes, everythingdoescome down to that. Nothing is more important than securing our rightful place on this Continent.” She jabs a finger toward Xavier. “He’s the reason for the Silverblood Purge.”
“Hey, Elaine?” Xavier says. “I wasn’t even fucking alive for the Purge.”
“I’m talking about peoplelikeyou, and you know it.” To Henley, she says, “Whatever, Hen. You want to spar with Primes? Work with them? Go ahead. You’re the one who’s gonna get screwed in the end.”
With that, she turns on her heel and marches out of the gym.
Evlynne’s outburst puts a damper on the fun. The fight comes to an end. Xavier uses his shirt to mop up the sweat glistening on his chest. Mako joins Saint at the punching bags, while Henley saunters toward a rack against the wall and grabs a towel. Wiping his own chest, he strides back to Xavier.
He slants his blond head, though not quite in challenge. “You won’t win Evlynne over,” he says.
Xavier snickers. “Wasn’t trying to.”
“She hates Primes,” Henley continues. “She’s nice to the ones in the valley, but nobody’s naïve enough to think she’d ever put their lives ahead of a Mod’s. Ev’s a Severnist to the core.”
For some reason, it didn’t even occur to me that there might be Severnists at the Dagger, but I suppose there must be. The philosophy didn’t just die when President Severn did; I’m sure there are plenty of Mods who still subscribe to it, who still believe that Mods are a superior race and therefore deserving of a higher place in society.
“I’m sure she’s not the only one,” Xavier says, speaking my thoughts. He rolls his eyes at Henley. “Are you going to pretendyou’renot?”
Henley’s voice loses its cavalier drawl as he displays a rare moment of sincerity. “I’m not. Both my parents are Primes. And trust me, neither of them is inferior to me. They don’t deserve to be treated as less than because they don’t have psychic powers. That’s absurd.”
Xavier sheds some of his own bravado. “Huh. All right.”
“Our issue with you isn’t that you’re a Prime. It’s that you served under General Redden. You were loyal to the Command. Men don’t switch loyalties overnight.”
“This man does,” I say, hooking my thumb at Xavier. “But that’s because he’s only ever been loyal to himself.”
Xavier smirks. “She’s right. I’m a proud member of Team Stay Alive.” He pauses. “Although I suppose nowadays, I’d like Darlington to stay alive, too.”
I beam at him. “Aww, thanks.”
“Anyway,” Henley says, shrugging. “Thanks for the sparring session, Lieutenant.”
As he joins his friends across the gym, I link my arm through Xavier’s and stand on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear.
