But even as he spoke those warnings, his gaze still fixed on her lips. Still, this wasn’t desire, she realized. It was defeat.
Enne pushed herself away from him, and he staggered back. “You’re unbelievable. Did youlikeknowing that I wanted this? That you could go home with whoever you wanted, and that I would still be here waiting?”
He cringed. “No. Muck, no. Of course not—”
“Then you must be terribly thick.” Enne swallowed. She was working herself into tears, but she didn’t care. “If Vianca asked me to save you again, right now, I would. If she hurt you to get to me, then it would work. Wouldn’t it be the same for you?”
“Of course it would.” He started to reach for her, but Enne swatted his hand away.
“You donotget to touch me.” Tears finally spilled down her cheeks. She didn’t care how broken he felt tonight—he couldn’t use her as a weapon for his own self-destruction. “Your promise was useless from the start. Only now it’s worse, because if Vianca used you to manipulate me, it would still work, but I would hate myself for it.”
Levi flinched as though she’d slapped him for a third time that night.
“I’m glad you have your gang back,” she said, reaching up to wipe the tears away. “I’m glad Jac came here with a girl and looks so happy.”
“YouknowI’m not happy,” he rasped. “I don’t deserve any of their praise up there, but I’m trying so hard to be better. I just don’t know how to be better if I don’t keep this promise to Jac.”
“Fine,” she snapped. “Then I’m glad we’re both miserable.”
She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her so he wouldn’t follow. When she returned to the party, she immediately made for Grace, who was dancing with an Iron boy. Grace took one look at Enne and pushed him aside.
“That bastard,” she muttered. “What happened?”
“We’re leaving,” Enne answered. “Tell Lola.” While Grace hurried to find their friend, who’d abandoned her music with Tock so they could dance to someone else’s, Enne retreated to the edge of the room. The last thing she wanted was to run into Jac right now.
Lola stormed over, Grace behind her. “Are you alright?” she asked.
Enne wiped away her smudged makeup with the back of her hand. “All this time, I’ve felt like a thickhead, but then he told me that he made a promise to Jac not to...” It felt pathetic even to say it.
“That’s a muck promise,” Grace snapped, “and we’ll kill them both.”
Grace grabbed her dagger necklace, and Enne thought, for a moment, she would actually have to tell hernotto murder the Iron boys. But then Grace drew the blade across her palm. Blood spilled on the floor.
“Tell me your real name,” she said.
Enne knew what this was. And she also knew from the fierceness in Grace’s dark eyes that she had earned it. It was the only thing Grace could’ve given her to make her feel better, to make her feel powerful once more. So Enne whispered her true name into Grace’s ear, and Grace spoke the words. “Blood by blood. Oath by oath. Life by life.”
“Thank you,” Enne said when Grace finished.
Grace wiped the blood off on her dress, which was too black to show the stain. “Let’s build our own empire.”
6
“Sometimes they call them the Bargainer. Sometimes the Devil. I guess it depends on who tells the story.
“Legend goes that either the Bargainer approaches you, or you have to summon them. Some people claim you need to stand at a crossroads. Others say to make a sacrifice. But all of them are wrong.
“The only thing that summons the Bargainer is chaos.”
—A legend of the North Side
JAC
Jac stared out the black-tinted window of the motorcar as they passed over the Brint. He’d only visited the South Side a few times, and he always felt dreadfully out of place. Jac wore the suit Enne had bought him—with a checkered shirt and leather shoes worth more than a week’s salary at Liver Shot—and even though it fit perfectly, it still felt like a costume.
Levi sat across from him, reading today’s copy ofThe Crimes & The Times. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, like he hadn’t slept all night. Jac wanted to ask about it, but then he remembered how Enne had returned to the party yesterday in tears. How Levi hadn’t returned at all.
Sophia was the first to speak. “You don’t like this,” she said to Levi.
