cked like a

oud. Me

per that the storm

ll felt like mine. No marble. No mirrors. Just wood, lea

ared pages, remnants of a time when I believ

Empires weren't bui

rbon sat untouched on the

buzzed. J

up with a singl

I hesitated but because I wanted him to

colm

of voice that made people stand

unlit fireplace. I'd once tried to ma

r with greeting

ng's in two week

my tone steady. "It's every

w as an empty vault.

meone who knows

The air between us

ir thickened. "Because you bringing in a woma

"It was a calcu

oane. She came from war money and obedience. Iris Taylor? S

I said, and I hated how

ould feel it th

n't a

on't confuse usefulness with affe

will smell it. Love makes men sentim

said, clipped. "You

rstands the rules. She's not here to feel sa

omes a liability. And you kno

nders," I said. "A

hter flicking. He was always doing something else while speaking,

he was stating the quality of a knife he'd y

e deep down, I hated how

sn't entirely wrong. In our wo

oving on. "And Malcolm... keep your so-called wife close. But

ne wen

gaze drifting toward the ha

yond it, Iris was moving through this house.

lls were the prison. She

l cage

th my father's words lingerin

vy and metallic, echoing off th

only in light but in presence,

she still

l her. I al

er in the

cross-legged, like the world hadn't taugh

ed, edges worn. Something old. Someth

room in the house,

"Figured I'd try the one room th

ing like humor in her tone, b

the sharp edge insid

ing in an h

d once, sl

tch. "You'll have

aightening in her seat, spine l

ng enough for the question to sh

said. "With t

de her

, voice flatter now.

o where I go. And you'

wn carefully. "Do t

d out when y

e to walk into a room full of men I don't kn

the same breath. "I want you to walk in there

f it d

m believe

htly. "You always this g

"Only when the s

he stakes tonig

marriage isn't just a distraction anymore. Not

e the calculations spinning behind

aid. "I'll pl

"And I'll pla

n paused at the doorwa

why they doubted you in the first place,"

lance

n," I added. "Make

her alone in t

he silence didn'

mn small for the wa

s that didn't ask for attention, it c

. It was the kind of dress that didn't flirt with dange

s like someone

omeone who was the

hair, the unapologetic arch of her collarbone, the way the fa

oice low, almost bored. She didn'

e if I should wa

. "Too late

y roll by through the tinted windows. The f

We were headed to neutral territory, the

rheard the kinds of thin

I said. "All of them. So yo

d once. "

s, weapons, blood diamonds if you dig deep enough. He'll f

my words but m

une. Runs most of Europe's shadow tech, surveillance, sabotage

ot

se. "The youngest of us. Quietest to

coming until it's already too late. H

inked,

id the name. "He's the oldest of us. The sha

siness suit. You won't notice him cu

u outright. He'll mak

ow

tending

was storing the information

licking toward mine. "What k

n't a

. It was scalpel-sharp, and

ust them?"

rivals," I said. "But the five of u

ligation. We know each other's sca

d, eyes f

. Strip you down with their eyes and their silence.

"They'll look for cracks and weaknesses to test you.

n do

t her again, sl

dangerou

ghtly as if to respond but she didn't. Inst

bout the stakes. About everything except the fa

to become it. And

wl of the engine fading as w

. No lights. A struct

, didn't speak.

arr

sho