I look at her. I take my time with this. “You’d be surprised.”
Silence. She uncrosses her arms. “That’s a very confident thing to say about someone else.”
“I’ve known Archer for seven years. I know exactly what he’s like when he stops being suspicious of something and starts being… the other thing.”
“The other thing?”
“The other thing,” I repeat. “Which I am not going to describe because certain matters are better left to exploration than pre-explanation.”
The carnival hums beyond the maze. The area is dim and she is still very close to me. The partial bond is still running its frequency and I am making what I genuinelybelieve is the right call and it is costing me considerably.
“You’re serious,” she says.
“Completely.”
“And if I say no? If I say I don’t want Archer, I want you, right now?”
“Then I’ll revisit my position. Because I’m making a suggestion, not a rule. You don’t follow my rules.”
“No,” she agrees. “I really don’t.”
She looks at the maze wall. At the carnival beyond it. At me. “He’s going to be insufferable about this.”
“Probably,” I agree. “He’s going to be insufferable in a very specific and reportedly worthwhile way.”
“Reportedly,” she says. “By who?”
“The pack bond has no privacy settings. That’s all I’m saying.”
She stares at me. “You are unbelievable.”
“Yes,” I agree.
A pause. Long enough to be a decision being made.
“Fine.” One word. Clipped. With the energy of someone who has assessed a situation and chosen their position and is committing to it. “Archer. Tonight.”
My heart pounds heavily in my chest, partly from relief and partly from the ache of doing the right thing when the right thing is not the easy thing.
“Good,” I reply.
“Don’t look smug about it.”
“I’m not smug.”
“You have the smug face.”
“This is my regular face.”
“Those are the same face,” she says.
She steps out of the area and back into the carnival. I watch her go and I think: Archer has no idea what’s coming. I consider, briefly, whether to warn him.
I decide that some things should be discovered rather than briefed.
I follow her out into the carnival light.
Chapter 12
