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
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