Vianca lowered her tea cup and narrowed her eyes. “I see what you’re doing. You’re not usually so...in agreement with me.”
Enne nervously poured most of the sugar bowl into her mug. “What do you mean?”
“You’re hiding something you don’t want me to know.” Vianca smiled wickedly. “Neither of you really could keep it from me. It was painfully obvious from the start. I don’t normally work with girls, but Levi had never brought me a girl before, either.”
Enne took a deep breath. If she was going to sway Vianca, then she needed to rise to a status that she had never before reached.
She needed to become Vianca’s favorite.
Levi might’ve attained the title by resisting her, but Enne understood Vianca. All her life, she’d been trying to measure up to men who’d already deemed her unworthy, and so Enne could give her something she’d never had: solidarity.
“I told him you’d find out eventually,” Enne told her, praying her honesty would pay off.
Vianca let out a horrifying cackle and took another sip of her tea. “I always do. Levi will try to convince you otherwise, but he knows more old world history and manners than half the South Side.”
The thought of sitting here and gossiping about Levi made even Enne’s sweetened rose hip tea taste sour.
“With the curfew, the Irons are losing all their business. Levi says the North Side won’t last. It’s affecting people’s lives. It won’t be long before they riot.”
Vianca’s green eyes lit up. “A riot? Is that what Levi wants?”
Enne swallowed down her conscience. She knew she was crossing a line, but she needed the Irons, and Levi would never agree to her plans otherwise. They were together in a lot of things, but not in this. “Perhaps. How much longer can these conditions last?”
“The monarchists would typically be blamed for a riot, but not if it occurs at the debate. After all, both sides are present. The whole South Side will be there. And if the Irons are running out of business, then surely they’re looking for something to do.” Vianca reached over the table and patted Enne’s hand. “He hates it when I try to help him, but it’ll sound much sweeter coming from you.”
Enne couldn’t believe she’d done it. All it had taken was pretty words to convince the donna it was all her idea. And Vianca would never know that the riot would end with a murder.
“I’ll tell him,” Enne said, biting down a smile to conceal her victory.
Vianca patted Enne on the hand. “We should have appointments like this more often.” Then she gave the tea shop a strangely girlish smile.
LEVI
Levi popped the collar of his black trench coat and snuck down the museum’s stairs, hoping to avoid the Irons so he didn’t have to admit what he was doing. Because it was silly, and because he couldn’t afford it, and because even if he could, he didn’t deserve it. But he’d been so on edge since his argument with Jac three weeks ago that he’d needed a distraction. So in a moment of weakness, he’d made the phone call.
Levi opened the front door, and to his horror, Tock sat on the stoop outside.
“You’re not subtle,” she told him.
He scowled. “I have an appointment.”
“I know your schedule, and that’s a bold-faced lie, but sure, you have an appointment.” She waved her hand dismissively. “There are only whiteboots on every other street corner. What could go wrong?”
“You know, it was just a few months ago that you were looking for a job with danger.”
“It’s not me I worry about,” she grumbled. As Levi slipped past her down the steps, she called after him, “I hope your ego is worth it!”
Levi sighed. As always, Tock knewexactlywhat he was up to, but all he gave her was a nod before he disappeared down the Street of the Holy Tombs.
Enne’s Houssen was parked on the corner. Since the lockdown began, they’d spent every day clinging to the cliff’s edge of ruin. But they’d carved out a place for themselves there, however teetering, and built something good upon it.
Levi slid into the passenger seat and gave Enne a quick kiss. “Thank you for joining me for my appointment with destiny.”
“Funny,” she said. “My guidebook doesn’t show ‘destiny’ on the map.”
“That’s because it’s still being built.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You told me this meeting was important.”
