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I straighten and take a step back. I’m not surprised she’s still angry, but I secretly hoped she would be over my recent disappearance.
“Not the warm hello I expected,” I say.
She rolls her pretty eyes. “You’re lucky I haven’t tried to electrocute you yet.”
“With what, your electrifying good looks?” I shouldn’t push her, but I can’t help it. Seeing her pout is almost as entertaining as seeing her laugh, and there’s no chance she’ll laugh anytime soon.
“With this.” She takes a taser out of her long winter coat and waves it in front of her.
I hold my hands up in surrender. “In my defense, I could have just watched you silently from over there, but I’m here now.”
She shakes her head, her white-gold hair moving like a waterfall with the motion. I’ve dreamed of running my hands through the strands so many times, I’ve lost count. And on the nights I was braver, I imagined her under me, a fist in her hair, pulling down so I could observe her heart-shaped face.
“Not good enough.” Tanya’s words pull me back to reality. A reality where she’s not a fan of me. A reality that sucks.
“What’re you doing out here littering anyway?” I walk to the piece of paper she discarded a few minutes ago. Ivo once told me that changing the subject to something light would dispel the tension.
Tanya’s face strains so hard, I realize I’ve failed spectacularly.
“Give me that.” She extends an arm toward me.
I smoothen the crinkled paper in my hands. A flyer for Rad Red Ron, the orphanage that is probably still burning courtesy of my recent handiwork.
I try not to frown while I speak. “Are you involved in this?”
She steps forward and reaches for the flyer. I stretch my arm toward the sky, flaunting our little height difference in her face, taunting her when it’s clear I should cut it out. But she’s so close and I can now smell her white iris perfume. I know it’s white iris because I remember the day she bought it and the long talk we had about it. In those few difficult years, our chats were the only thing I looked forward to when I went to work. I miss them so much. I miss her.
“You have no right.” She jumps up, trying to reach the flyer. On her way down, her chest brushes against mine. A pleasant wave of heat washes over me and I relent, allowing her to steal the crumpled paper from my fingers.
“Do you know the place?” I ask, hoping I didn’t just burn something that’s important to her. As far as I know, it was owned by Comet International, a mutual enemy to the Arcana and Sophie and Damien’s new gang. And Tanya is their person. No conflict of interest, right?
“None of your business.” She squishes the flyer in her fist and puts it in her pocket.
“I know that place,” I say. Will she take the bait?
Tanya stares at me, her blue eyes boring into mine with insane intensity. It’s like she dares me to do something, but I can’t tell what. It’s either to say more or shut up.
I’ll need to risk it.
“It’s in Arcana territory, and the Empress wanted it gone.” My words are an olive branch. I’m not supposed to be saying things like that to a member of another gang.
“What about the children?” she asks.
“The children are safe. Social services and the Russian embassy will be both involved. I don’t know what life they will lead after being a part of that place, but it will certainly be better.”
She shakes her head. “You have no idea what that place is, do you?”
“Was,” I say in an overly-excited voice, glossing over the fact that she’s right. Was it actually a cult, like Ivo said? I shake my head. With the Arcana, the less I know, the better. Granted, it has gotten me into heaps of trouble before.
“Is it gone already?” Tanya’s eyes widen and it’s the first emotion on her face tonight that’s not negative.
“Yes. It’s being cleaned up as we speak.”
“You did it? Killed them all and set it on fire?” She raises a perfect eyebrow, disbelief mixed in with hope.
“Oh no. You know I don’t kill. I just made sure the building and the bodies can’t be traced back to the Arcana.”
She takes out the flyer and smoothens it again. The crinkles on it are so deep, I can barely make out the picture at the top. She points to the man in the middle.
