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“Lila—”
“I’m back to Lila now? You don’t seem to understand. I said goodbye to my militia career a month ago. I believed that I’d never set foot on any Randolph estate again. So, be careful what you wish for the next time you make an ultimatum like this, or you will end up dying alone.”
Her mother swallowed in the quiet. “Pax will—”
“Pax will leave too if you try to keep him from becoming a surgeon. Agreeable or not, he wants it too damn much. He made a promise, a promise he will keep. He will figure out a way to make it happen with or without you. Never try to stop him. You’ll only get hurt.”
Lila stra
ightened and tugged her gray coat around herself more tightly. “As for my dividends? Shove them up your ass for all I care, but you’ll return my hospital and militia salaries. I earned every credit. Don’t make me get the courts involved. They’re getting a fair bit tetchy lately with highborn who hire hackers.”
Lila said goodbye to her father, then padded across the parlor to the door. The floorboards creaked as she withdrew.
The clock in the parlor ticked on quietly in her wake.
Chapter 9
Lila brushed past Dixon’s bench. The grackles sprang into the air, fleeing her predatory mood. The scattered senators around Falcon Home did the same, most bundled in long burgundy coats and scarfs to fight the chill. Only their eyes followed her, a strange and welcome deviation from the norm.
Dixon closed his notepad and stuffed it into his pocket, following along beside her. She said nothing when they reached the truck. She just slid inside when he started the ignition and turned on the heat.
She ignored Dixon when he pointed at her seatbelt.
Ignoring him became a bit harder when he snatched the clasp, pulled it across her chest, and belted her in. The shoulder strap crossed uncomfortably over her chin.
They dropped the charges, right? That’s the rumor. Apparently there will be a press conference this evening.
“Yes.” Lila finally adjusted the seatbelt as he backed out of their parking spot. While he drove through the downtown traffic, she recounted a highly abbreviated version of what had been said in the courtroom, leaving out La Roux and the fact that she’d still be working for Bullstow and the prime minister a little while longer. After all, Dixon might turn the truck around, drive back to Falcon Home, and punch her father in the nose once more.
They slipped onto the highway in silence, threading through the occasional patch of traffic. The exit for Shippers Lane slipped past.
“I’d almost forgotten that we’re not going back to the shop,” Lila said. “I do need to fetch my car, my laptop, and my other bag, though. Thanks for letting me leave them in your room.”
He shrugged.
“I’m not in any hurry to retrieve them, anyway. I have my clothes and toiletries. Just give me a minute to think, okay? I need to figure out where you can drop me.”
Dixon shook his head.
“What? I’m broke, and I don’t have anywhere to go, Dixon. I’m not saying that to worm my way into another night at the shop. I heard Tristan loud and clear last night. He meant what he said, just as much my mother did this morning.”
Dixon drew a few circles in the air. If he’d had a free hand to scribble on his notepad, he would have asked her to explain.
“She wanted me to return to the compound. She said if I refused, I was not to come back at all. Ever. I’m not even sure what I told her, but the general intention was that she could go fuck herself. I suppose that makes me an exile now, just like you.”
Dixon smiled a lopsided grin. She’d never seen the expression cross his face before.
Lila sank into her seat, her mind dwelling on where she might stay. The lack of a destination didn’t seem to bother Dixon—he kept driving down the highway, past the scattered diners, old tire shops, gas stations, corn fields, and the occasional pasture. Barbed wire corralled herds of cows and bored horses. Their tails flicked in the cold air.
“I could go to Max’s place,” Lila said at last. “He’d give me a place to stay until I figured things out.”
Dixon’s jaw dropped. Earlwell? he mouthed.
“Yes, that Max. He’s a good friend. We grew up together. I just need to get my things from the shop. I need the oracle’s transcripts, too. I haven’t finished reading through them.”
Dixon shook his head.
“I didn’t say I’d go inside. Tristan made himself clear. I’ll stay in the truck. You can—”
