“I would focus onfundingareas the Société hasn’t explored yet in order to… to… tap into a new market?”
Chantal nodded. “A little less robotic, but that works. Right, Nik?”
Heat burst through his cheeks at being caught, again, and it only burned hotter when Elara looked his way, a tinge of red blurring her freckles. The memory of her body in his grasp yesterday morning was still too fresh. The way she looked up at him and smiled, face open and trusting.
“I made tea,” she said lightly. “And there’s a fresh baguette with cinnamon butter.”
The hope in her voice would ruin him.
“Thank you,” he muttered. “I have an appointment.”
Coward. What a coward.
“Wait!”
Elara chased him into the hall, but when he turned, she shrank back.
Afraid?
No. Nervous.
“What is it?” he asked.
She chewed her bottom lip, an incredibly distracting coping mechanism.
“I… have one more secret,” she said, and his stomach dropped. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to get angry. I was a different person then, and… well, I think it might help you with Lafontaine.”
His brows perked. “What about him?”
“Promise me first.”
His nostrils flared against the unknown, but he nodded. “Promise.”
She removed a slip of paper from her pocket and pressed the crisp edges against her chest, smoothing them repeatedly. Whatever it was, she couldn’t meet his gaze.
“I was at the Exposé as a cover for my ex.”
His mind went blank. A canvas erased.
She rushed on. “The plan was for me to enter the contest under a fake identity and distract the Counseil long enough for him to steal something.”
The canvas filled with clouds of black, angry smudges and smears.
“I had no idea what he was after. I just wanted him out of my life.”
“What. Did. He. Take?” Nik punctuated every word.
Elara offered the paper. “This.”
He snatched it. His father was right. Perhaps his distraction had really led to letting a viper loose among them. Just not the one Lafontaine thought it was.
He stole a glance at the contents, which didn’t clarify his confusion or anger in the slightest. It was a chemical equation. Except it was wrong. All wrong. There were compounds that didn’t belong together. What could a thief want with this?
“He said it’s something terrible,” Elara said. “And I thought of what you said about Lafontaine not wanting peace. I… I’m not trying to put a wedge between you two, but I think you deserve to know the truth. Whatever it may be.”
Nik waited for fury to explode from him just as it had when he’d learned of Plouffe’s work with the rebels or when he figured out Elara’s true identity. He peered over the paper, expecting to see a murderer and a thief and to feel nothing but disgust for her. He should. By all rights, she’d admitted to stealing from his father right under their noses.
And yet… She was just Elara.
