Chapter 59
Edam punches Noah in the face and I watch, transfixed, as Noah sprawls out on the pavement for the second time today.
I shove Edam. “What was that for? He tried to save me from drowning!”
“Right after kissing you,” Edam says. “How do you think I found you two? I watched Frederick’s feed until it lost you both, around the time you dove into the East River.”
“You should be mad at me, not him. He didn’t even know who you were.”
Edam inhales slowly through his nose. “But I can’t make myself be mad at you. I just can’t.”
Noah has gotten back up and is holding his fists up in the air. He looks like a 1950s boxer.
I roll my eyes. “Knock it off Noah. Apologize, Edam.”
“I’m not apologizing,” Edam says at the exact same time as Noah says, “The only thing I’m knocking is his head.”
My life has devolved into an Acme cartoon.
I don’t want to deal with it and I’m suddenly both exhausted and famished. I want to tell Noah goodbye properly, but it’s not going to happen with Edam here, so I don’t even try. When I climb into the car, Frederick hands me a new phone. “Yours was submerged, I believe.”
I love Frederick. No punching people and no yelling. He just does his job. Edam should take notes. Noah and Edam are still yelling at each other on the sidewalk.
“What’s his problem?” I ask Frederick.
“He loves you, Your Majesty. It ruins the best of us.”
He can’t possibly love me, not yet, but I get his point. It can’t be easy for Edam to watch me kiss another guy, especially now that I’ve committed to taking his offer. In my defense, the decision is mostly about my otherwise imminent demise. Even so, it’s not entirely about that, which means I need to talk to him about it.
My replacement phone buzzes in my hand with an all caps message from Inara. I WAS WRONG, it reads, and a video file is attached. I stick my headphones in and click play.
It’s grainy and it’s taken late at night. The video is date and time stamped. The person in the corner is talking on the phone just after midnight, less than sixteen hours after I set off the EMP. I turn the volume up as high as it goes, and I can still barely make out what the man on camera is saying.
“But why break things off with her?” the shady guy asks.
A pause.
“Of course I don’t love her, but it took me a long time to get her to trust me this much. She wants to name me as Consort. I put her off to confirm it’s what you want.”
Pause.
“I never wanted to date her in the first place. But I want to make sure that’s what you want before I throw away all that work.”
Another pause.
“Fine, then what’s the new plan?” His voice is muffled, but it sounds familiar.
A short pause.
“You can’t be serious. Yes, I like her a lot more, admire her even, but they hate each other. That won’t ever work.” I know this voice. It’s low, it’s rumbly, but I know it if I can just place it.
Another long pause.
“Your intel better be right, because I’m the one risking my neck. What you’re telling me makes no sense.”
A short pause.
“Yes, okay, I told you that already, but I—”
The shady man goes quiet again.
“Fine, I got it.”
Another pause.
“I said okay. If she’s awake I’ll do it now. If not, I’ll do it first thing tomorrow.” He hangs up and glances around the hall, his face briefly coming into view of the camera before the video cuts off.
Of course I know the voice. I just didn’t want to believe it. The shady guy is Edam.
Inara’s cryptic message —she’s telling me I shouldn’t make Edam my Consort. How could I, after watching that? Who was he talking to?
When Edam finally gets in the car, I shift to face the window. He sits on the opposite side and doesn’t look at me either. I watch as we drive away from Noah, who looks heartbroken. I put my hand to the window and he waves back, as if we’re going to see each other in the morning. Except I know we won’t. It hurts to drive away from one of the only people I know likes me because of who I am instead of my genetic code.
Unfortunately, without any conversation, I have to think about what happened in the past few hours. Someone, almost certainly Judica, attacked me. The fact that it happened hours after I decided to name Edam my Consort can’t be a coincidence.
Only four people knew about my recent decision: Inara, Lark, Alora, and Edam.
This morning I trusted all four of them almost unconditionally. But one of them probably told Judica. The question is, which one? The one who seems the most likely is also the one who makes the least sense. Edam stands to gain a lot when I name him Consort. If he’s sure he can defeat her, why would he betray me? Unless he’s been working for Judica all along. But that video. . . He broke up with Judica the next morning, just like the video indicated he would, which means the odds he’s somehow playing me against her are low. He’s working for someone else.
Edam’s loyalties are split. How did I not see that before?
Could he have killed Mom?
I lean my head against the glass, my heart contracting painfully.
I don’t know who he was talking to, but I don’t think he’s working for my twin. I’ll have to put a pin in the question of who he called for now. One betrayal at a time.
I consider Inara next. She’s the one sending me incriminating information on Edam, as if to cast suspicion elsewhere. Video can be doctored, of course, but it’s hard, time consuming work. And his voice confirmed the face, not the other way around.
Inara stayed behind with Judica. I thought she was risking herself for me, but for all I know, she’s been working against me all along. She’s been sending me videos under the radar, helpful videos, but maybe Judica approved each one.
I think about the videos, their content, and I doubt it.
Inara did follow me to my room immediately after Mom’s death. But if Judica murdered Mom, and if Inara knew, there’s no telling what plan they hatched in advance. My brain scans through thousands of interactions with Inara, all of them positive. Could she really have been hatching plots all along? I can’t keep thinking about it, so I move along.
I see no way that Alora benefits from selling me out to Judica. There are too many angles, and until very recently, I wasn’t even paying attention. I have zero agents, no advisors and not a clue what to do.
I can’t even think about Lark. She has no contacts, none that know she’s alive, and she stands to gain nothing. Judica hates her. Or worse, doesn’t consider her at all. She’s the lowest likelihood of betrayal.
But she can’t help me either, for the same reasons. I drop my face in my hands.
Edam shifts on the seat and pulls me closer, slinging his arm around me. “Relieved isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel about you being okay. I should never have let you go to school alone today. Please forgive me.”
I turn toward him, his arms pulling me even tighter, and I sob against his broad chest the rest of the way home. By the time we reach Alora’s brownstone, I feel better. I shouldn’t let him comfort me, because I don’t know who Edam is, not really, but my body still trusts him. He’s done nothing but protect it. Always.
When I walk up the steps and through the doors at Alora’s, an old friend greets me. She towers over Alora and me both, standing at eye level with Edam. Her skin shines, almost as dark as the color of black calla-lilies. The combination of dark skin and russet hair makes the emerald sparkle of her eyes even more startling.