a

om was too br

lver that caught the light like it had been polished by someone with something to prove. Eig

It fits too well. That was the problem. Nothin

. V

, and Nia understood immediately that

a

She was taller than Nia expected, poised like she'd been photographed since birth, and she l

xpected," Zara said. "Kn

dinner was

o arrive." Zara's smile didn't

r beside the head of the tab

" Zara said. "He pre

ot

. The distance felt deliberate. Zara sat at the h

ervous,"

hun

people in your position

ightened. "

ox collects projects. It's sweet, really. He

andelier light. Nia wat

ed almost sincere. "That was unki

nk y

r it is

e walked in last, and the room changed shape around him-posture shif

of the table. Zar

look at

circled people she didn't know and places she'd never been, and every time she o

od with precision. He laughed once, at something Zara s

her looking.

e table turned. "You haven't

down. "We didn'

myste

. I was s

he table coughed into his

w charming. Knox, did you hea

" Knox said, wi

hing, d

him to correct

a again for twenty minutes, and Nia sat there with her hands under the table, counting the se

's arrows. Arrows she could dodge.

ia stepped out for air and found Zara already ther

it personall

m n

"You're not the first project. You're not even the first this year. Knox

hat's

ithout malice. "You

ng. "If you have some

e polish looked thinner-someth

he tell you?

ut w

agree

nths. Confiden

nkind. Almost sad.

me w

ice dropped, quiet enough t

you what you

ropped. "I read

you." Zara tilted her head.

een them. Nia opened

attach

al thing she'd done all evening. "As

and left Nia standing at the railing with her heart poundi