Of course, Jac was allowed to be on edge—as anyone would be, with all this curfew business—but that didn’t stop Levi from examining him. He checked the circles under his eyes—dark, but not too dark. He stared at Jac’s pupils, undilated. At his fingers, untrembling. Those were all good signs, but he still had a vicious cut across his lip from fighting. Altogether though, Jac probably looked better than he did.
“All done?” Jac gritted through his teeth. Levi cleared his throat. He wasn’t trying to be rude—he was trying to be a good friend. “I’ve been wanting to talk.”
“So have I,” Levi said. “I’m glad you came.”
But then a terrible thought occurred to him, sitting in this bed. Enne’s aura still clung to one of the pillows, making his sheets smell faintly of coffee. Levi changed places for his desk.
“You don’t look glad,” Jac said.
Levi had rehearsed his words to his friend over the past few days.I’m sorry I broke my promise, he’d say.But I’m sorry I made it. I know I asked—
“I need your help,” Jac told him.
Levi glanced at the stacks of ledgers in front of him. He wasn’t sure he was in a condition to help anyone. “My help? With what?”
“I think Charles is going to kill Sophia.”
Levi should probably have considered his words before he spoke them. And he might have, had he had another seven hours of sleep. “Hasn’t that been a concern from the start?”
“Of course,” Jac snapped. “But we met with him yesterday for the first time, and—”
“Youwhat? Why would you—”
“Because we needed to know what we were up against. I never met Sedric, but I swear, this one is worse.” Jac shivered. “Sophia is—”
“Sophia knew the risks, and so did you.” Levi tidied up his papers just to have something to do with his hands, tossing nearly all of it into the waste bin. He didn’t mean to be so frustrated, but the past two days had been far from easy. “Harrison is depending on this. If the deal is compro—”
“It’s about more than the deal, Levi,” Jac growled, now pacing around his bedroom. Levi winced as Jac leaned against the exact spot on the wall where he and Enne had kissed. “This isn’t just business.”
“Of course it isn’t just business!” Levi said, then cleared his throat. He shouldn’t raise his voice. “You need to get out before you get hurt.”
“What about the election? What about the deal?” Jac asked.
“My biggest priority is making sure that you’re all right.”
“Since when?” Jac asked, making Levi wince. “This hasalwaysbeen about your freedom. You don’t get to pretend like this is suddenly about keeping me safe.”
Levi’s mouth went dry. Was that what his friend really thought of him? “I never should’ve asked you to do this, but I never asked you to stay there. This hasn’t been about me for a long time. It’s been about you and her.”
“Am I supposed to just not care? You know what the Torrens did to me. Are you upset that it isn’t all about you?”
“I’m upset because I don’t want to see them destroy you all over again!”
Levi stood up. He didn’t want to have this argument with Jac. He was too frustrated about the volts for Vianca’s party, about the Irons, about the city. He was holding so much together that Jac’s words threatened to make Levi say something he didn’t mean—or worse, something he did.
So Levi walked toward his door, trying to come up with an excuse to speak to Tock or the other Irons, but then he stopped and turned around.
“What help did you need?” he asked, his voice strained.
Jac crossed his arms. “I need volts—and men.”
“What about the volts Harrison gave you?”
“I don’t think outplaying Charles is the best strategy anymore. The only way to end this is to kill him. Sophia doesn’t agree with me, but she wouldn’t need to be involved. It would only take—”
“So you’re acting alone now? Are you shatz?”
“I’m doing what needs to be done.”
