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“No, you’re not, and I’m not sure that you should be,” he said, stabbing a stray piece of chicken. “I really screwed things up, didn’t I? I screwed them up all over.”
Lila didn’t know how to answer without sounding like an ass.
“Now who’s not arguing?”
“It’s a good plan. The one tonight, I mean.”
After a few awkward moments, the pair turned back to their earlier conversation. They spent the rest of their meal trying to recall more constellations from their night on the Victory Tower. When their memories failed, they started making up new stories, both pretending they saw stars among the little flecks on the stucco ceiling.
Her palm vibrated in her pocket. An alert had gone off, but not an alert for the Prolix identity. She had set this alert to capture something else entirely.
“What is it?”
A news story opened on her palm. Corruption and Highborn Betrayal: The Heir Who Favors Black Hacks into State Database.
Lila skimmed the article, fearing the worst.
She was not disappointed.
Chapter 26
At nine o’clock, Lila and Tristan trudged downstairs and joined the assembling group, threading through the jumble of cars, the truck frames on blocks, and discarded machinery. At least a half-dozen of Tristan’s people had gathered in the garage, all talking at once as though they attended a cocktail party with guns.
For the first time, Lila was glad that a mesh hood covered her face, leaving her eyes invisible to the world. She’d let Tristan read the article, but hadn’t been able to talk about it. There wasn’t anything she could say. Zephyr had posted his suppositions on some anonymous server. It was out there, perhaps being read by any number of people, and she didn’t have time to hack into it and delete the story.
The only bit of luck was the page stood alone, not part of any larger website, seemingly disconnected from the online world. How would anyone find it? Few people had the sort of programs she’d used to capture it.
It was out there, though, waiting to be discovered, and it would remain so until they trapped Zephyr and brought him back to Bullstow. Only then could she hack into his server and delete the file.
She couldn’t even get Toxic to work on it while they dealt with Zephyr. She didn’t trust anyone with such a secret.
Except for Tristan, apparently.
She joined Dixon by the front window. He stared out into the night through a small gap in the plywood. His eyes had unfocused, and he didn
’t move when she called his name.
“Are you okay?” she asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.
Dixon startled at her touch. He nodded quickly and poked at the plywood hole.
“No, you’re not. What’s got you so jumpy?”
He shook his head and refused to take out his notepad to chat. Lila didn’t press him. Since she had no idea what to say, she put her arms around his waist and hugged him as hard as she could. It was what she would have done for Alex or Pax, had either of them been upset. It was what Lila would do when she finally returned to the Randolph estate and faced her friend.
Perhaps Lila needed a hug, too.
Dixon wrapped his arms around her, holding on to her so fiercely that she thought her ribs might break. His hands trembled on her back.
“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered into his ear. “I won’t let anyone take you. Even if they do, I’ll buy your mark at auction, no matter the cost. I’ll send you some place pretty, and Tristan and I will break you out the same afternoon. You’ll be back by dinner.”
She felt him nod, and the shaking lessened.
Lila only hoped she’d be able to keep such a promise. Zephyr might not be the only one in a holding cell by the end of the night.
There was a rustle behind them, and Toxic giggled. “Hood, are you sweet on Dixon?”
“Who isn’t?”
