He stiffened. “I can’t tell you that. It’s too—”
“Dangerous?” she guessed, letting out a quiet laugh. She squeezed her cards so hard they bent. “If we were really in this together, we actually would be—riskandreward.” She didn’t want to be the forgotten face in Levi’s legends. Being partners was a pretty thought, but if it wasn’t meant to be, then she would rather become a legend on her own.
“You’re right.” He put his hand on hers and pried her fingers away from the cards. She hadn’t realized she’d been trembling. “Why don’t we leave? I don’t want anyone to overhear.”
That proposition seemed dangerous in its own way, but even so, Enne nodded and let him lead her out of the party. They crept down the corridor into an empty room, one that was still uncleaned and coated in broken window glass. Levi closed the door behind them, silencing the music. A breeze from outside swept through the room, sticky and smelling of the sea.
“I didn’t want to tell you this. Because Viancacan’tknow.” Levi paused. “This is the part where you agree with me. That you’re too easily compromised. That I shouldn’t tell you.”
“No, I think you should,” Enne said indignantly. She blew a sweaty strand of hair out of her face.
Levi sighed and walked toward what remained of the windows. Enne measured the distance between them and took a step back to make it wider.
“The morning after the Shadow Game,” Levi started, “I met Harrison Augustine, and I made a deal with him.”
Enne’s thoughts returned to Worner Prescott’s party that afternoon, how Vianca had trembled under the scrutinizing, judgmental gazes of everyone in the room. Levi was playing with fire.
“So that’s why there aren’t any whiteboots in Olde Town?” she asked. “That’s why the bridge was already cleared?”
Levi nodded. “I didn’t want to tell you because—”
“Because it’s another secret to keep from Vianca,” she finished. Admittedly, that was a worthwhile reason. If the tables were reversed, she wasn’t sure she’d have behaved any differently. “But...if shedoesfind out...” A shiver of fear ran down her spine. Maybe—as irritating as it was to admit—he shouldn’t have told her after all. “She’ll kill you, Levi.”
He snorted. “Vianca would never kill me.”
“You didn’t see her today, since Harrison’s candidacy was announced. She was humiliated...and furious.” All that belief in legacy, and her legacy had betrayed her.
“Even so, we won’t need to worry about Vianca forever. Harrison intends to kill her.”
Enne’s eyes widened. It felt wrong to wish for murder, but Vianca Augustine was an exception. “When?”
“After the election, should he win,” Levi said. He leaned against the wall, his gaze fixed out the window. “I can’t be the one to pull the trigger, but I’ll help him...in whatever way I can. It’s not just about my freedom—it’s also about yours. I want to make that right.”
“I don’t blame you for introducing me to Vianca,” she murmured. “You know that.”
His expression told her he felt otherwise. Despite everyone in the museum toasting his triumph, Levi looked ill. His eyes were sunken, and his voice weak.
“You were sent to the Shadow Game for no fault of your own, but I wasn’t,” he said. “I’d cheated half the city. And I can’t take back the things I did to you, or to Chez, or to Reymond, but Icanmake penance.”
She’d had no idea Levi felt that way. Maybe she’d been too harsh with him. It’d been hard not to look at this party and the silver card in his pocket and assume his fame had gone to his head.
“I don’t think you made that many mistakes, Levi,” she told him, joining him beside the window. The cool air made chills creep across her skin. “You’re just punishing yourself. I was at the Shadow Game for hurting Sedric Torren—and not just because Vianca made me. Because Iwantedto hurt him.”
Levi shook his head. “I found out this morning that Chez died from the wounds I gave him. Sedric deserved to die—Chez didn’t.”
Enne stilled. “Do the Irons know?”
“Everyone knows.”
“But...the party... I thought Chez used to look after them.”
“He did.” Levi’s voice was distant, somewhere else. “For months at the end of the scheme, I was paying my way out by stealing from the Irons. And I’m scared there’s nothing I can do to make up for that.”
Enne could never imagine stealing from her friends, but Levi had been desperate. Before she’d come to New Reynes, he’d suffered Vianca alone.
“Did Chez know?” Enne asked.
Levi shook his head. “He would’ve tried to kill me much earlier, if he had. Mansi found out, and now she’s gone. I don’t blame her.”
