They were more than a little late. Nim pinned up half of Alia’s braids in a crown and wove a gold chain through them, then chose a garnet-colored jumpsuit for herself that she paired with terrifyingly high heels. She picked a strapless, midnight-blue gown for Diana. The fabric was of a fine quality, but it felt stiff around the waist and hugged her hips too tightly, as if it had been constructed with little thought to comfort.
“It looks good,” said Alia. “Elegant.”
Diana frowned. “I wish it had another slit up the side.”
“One is classy, two is trashy,” said Nim.
“One is pointless,” replied Diana, wondering what refuse had to do with it. “Two would make it easier to run in.”
“Pretty sure there’s no red-carpet obstacle course,” Alia said as Nim tossed Diana a slim silver bag.
“I’m going to need something larger.”
“Why?” said Nim. “That clutch is perfect.”
Diana removed the lasso from the plastic bag. “I need something for my things.” Meyers and Perez would transfer the rest of their belongings, including her leathers, to the jet, but there was no way Diana was parting with her mother’s lasso or the heartstone.
“What is that?” Nim said, reaching for the golden coils. “What is it made out of?”
Diana hesitated, then let Nim run her fingers over the glimmering fibers. “It’s kind of an heirloom.”
“I mean, it’s gorgeous, but you can’t carry it around like you’re going to hog-tie the DJ.”
“It will definitely attract attention,” said Alia.
“Wait,” Nim said. “Give me that.”
Diana frowned, hesitant. “What are you going to do?”
“Eat it,” Nim said with a roll of her eyes. “I’m not going to hurt it; just trust me.” She laid the rope on the desk and turned her back to them, making little humming noises as she worked. A moment later, she hopped onto the desk chair and held up an open-work capelet of shimmering knots. It was somewhere between a shawl and a shrug. “Turn around, you magnificent tree.”
Diana let Nim help her into the glittering creation and looked at herself in the mirror on the back of Alia’s closet door. The lasso felt cool against her skin, its weight light over her shoulders, but it glinted like gold when she moved, as if her arms had hooked a field of falling stars.
“Perfect,” said Nim with a happy sigh.
And it was. Bolder and more whimsical than anything she’d ever worn before. It was fun. She had always let her mother dictate what she wore, let her desire to belong, the wish to look like an Amazon make her choices. But tonight she could look like anything she wanted. A laugh rose in her throat, and she spun in a circle, arms out, watching the gold flash at the corner of her eye. She felt transformed.
“Nim,” said Diana happily. “You’re a genius.”
“Guilty as charged. But the hair is going up. This look needs more neck.”
Nim pinned Diana’s hair into a twist, and then they were racing down the stairs.
Meyers and Perez were waiting to escort them to the car and rode in the backseat with them the short distance to the museum.
“There it is,” Alia said, pointing through the dark glass.
Diana glimpsed the outlines of windows, high and arched, glowing with light in the gathering dusk.
Dez continued on, and Diana realized he was circling the building so they could enter away from the main doors. When they stopped, Meyers and Perez spoke briefly into their sleeves. It took a moment for Diana to understand they were wearing communication devices. They exited the car first, and Diana saw more guards at the door, but she kept close to Alia anyway. She wasn’t about to trust these men just because Jason did.
They entered a shadowy, high-ceilinged hall. In the distance, Diana could hear voices, the swell of music. She remembered being a little girl in the palace, falling asleep as the sounds of Amazon revels continued in the courtyard below. The museum felt a bit like that now, as if the adults were having a party while the rest of the building had been put to bed.
She saw two men approaching and shifted her stance so she could block their path to Alia.
“I said eight o’clock,” said Jason’s voice as he stepped into a well of light. “You—” His voice broke off abruptly as his eyes locked on Diana. There was that strange look she’d seen on male faces all morning: gaze stunned, mouth slightly ajar.
“What did I tell you?” murmured Nim. “I know what I’m doing.”
Jason had changed since they’d seen him that afternoon. He still wore a suit, but it was sleek and black, and its lapels looked almost like burnished metal. He seemed to remember himself. A scowl broke over his face. “You’re late.”
Nim shrugged. “It takes time to look this good.”
“You can work as hard as you want,” said Jason’s companion, a gangly boy with dark brown skin and hair that stood up from his crown in exuberant twists. “You’ll never be as fine as me.”
“What a surprise,” said Nim. “Theo is with Jason. It’s almost like he doesn’t have something better to do with his time.”
“Can we not start this tonight?” said Alia.
“That’s right, Nim,” Theo scolded. “Show some maturity. I don’t want you poisoning the new girl’s mind against me. Hi, New Girl.”
“Theo,” Jason said warningly.
“I just said hi! Not even hello! I kept it to one innocent syllable.”
Theo Santos was a little shorter than Jason, and far leaner. He wore a snug suit of dark-green fabric with a showy sheen, and an open expression that made him look far younger than his friend.
“I stand corrected,” Theo said, jamming his hands into the pockets of his trousers and rocking back on the heels of his pointy-toed shoes. “You guys are almost as gorgeous as I am.”
“Weak,” said Nim. “We’re going to need a higher caliber of compliment.”
“If I must,” Theo said as they started toward the noise of the party bracketed by Meyers and Perez. “Nim, you look like a delicious confection, a walking, talking—probably poisonous—petit four.”
“In that case,” said Nim, “bite me.”
“And you—” he said, looking at Diana. “You look like a star-spangled slice of hell yeah. Who are you, anyway?”
“She’s one of Alia’s friends, so leave her alone,” said Jason.
“Don’t mind him,” said Theo. “He’s just bitter because he got stuck with me as his date.”
“I’d think he would be pleased to escort the most gorgeous among us,” said Diana.
Theo barked a laugh. “Oh, I like her plenty.”
“What about Alia?” said Nim.
“Shut up, Nim,” Alia said under her breath.
Theo glanced over his shoulder and gave a cheerful thumbs-up. “Alia looks really nice, too!”
“Gosh, thanks,” Alia muttered.
They entered a vast room teeming with people and echoing with sound. It was an extraordinary chamber. The far wall tilted at an angle like the side of a pyramid and was comprised entirely of windows that showed night falling over the park beyond. Partygoers sat at the edge of a rectangular reflecting pool bordered in slate stone, and others clustered around tables set with white orchids and glimmering candles. But the focus of the room was what Diana realized were ruins: a vast stone gate that she suspected had once led to a courtyard and the columned temple itself, covered in hieroglyphs.
My mother is older than these stones, she thought as they joined the swarm of guests. In the mortal world, my people are the stuff of museums and myth. Legends. Artifacts. Hippolyta and the first Amazons had vanished from the world long before this temple had been built. Diana looked at the partygoers, drinking, laughing, lifting glasses of wine to their lips. Lives like the wing beat of a moth. There and then gone.
“This room was designed to mimic the place where the temple was originally located,” said Nim, eyes sparkling, as they made their way to one of the tall tables. Heads were already turning at the sight of Jason and Alia, hands lifted in greeting, beckoning them over. “The pool represents the Nile, and the windowed wall echoes the cliffs.”
“You know what no one asked for?” Theo said. “Trivia.”
Jason glanced at Theo. “Go find yourself some champagne.”
Theo saluted. “That’s my kind of ultimatum.”
“Good riddance,” Nim said as he loped off. “I don’t know what it is about that guy, but I constantly want to shove him down a flight of stairs.”
“I have a pretty good guess,” murmured Alia.
“And he couldn’t even be bothered to pay you a proper compliment,” said Nim, her glare tracking Theo as he wended his way through the crowd.
“It’s fine,” said Alia, but Diana didn’t think that was true.
“I appreciate that you made an effort,” Jason said stiffly. His gaze touched briefly on Diana. “You look nice. All of you.”
“Very smooth,” said Nim. “You’re lucky you’re rich, or you’d never get any action at all.”
Diana waited for Jason’s sharp retort, but instead that broad grin reappeared, his dimple flashing. “You’re forgetting how good-looking I am.”
Alia rolled her eyes. “Can we just get this over with before I have to find a potted plant to throw up in?”
Jason straightened his cuffs, his sober demeanor returning as quickly as it had vanished. “Yes. But that’s the last eye roll for the next hour, deal?”
“Wait, I need one more. You can’t just cut me off like that.” Alia rolled her eyes theatrically. “Okay, I’m good.”
Jason’s mouth pulled up at one corner, as if he was fighting not to grin again. “I expect smiles and an attempt to look like you’re happy to be here.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Alia—”
Alia threw her shoulders back and pasted a cheerful smile on her face. “Better?”
“Slightly terrifying, but yes.”
“Hold on,” said Nim. “You need powder.”
As Nim touched up Alia’s makeup, Diana took the opportunity to murmur to Jason, “I saw the armed guards posted at the eastern and southern doors, as well as the entry.”
“But—”
“They’re spaced too evenly against the wall.”
“I’m not a fool,” said Jason. “There are members of the security team dressed as partygoers as well.”
“Two by the buffet, one by the musicians, and at least three near the western perimeter.”
Jason started, his surprise evident. “How the hell did you spot them?”
Diana frowned. It was obvious, wasn’t it? “I can tell they’re carrying weapons by the way their clothes hang. And they hold themselves differently than the other guests.” Jason’s eyes scanned the crowd, and she wondered if even he could tell where his people were. “Just stay alert,” Diana said. “If I can spot them, our enemies may be able to as well.”
She was prepared for a rebuke, but Jason simply nodded.
“Um, and you guys may want to keep moving,” Diana said as a nearby waiter shoved another waiter, knocking his tray of food to the floor. “Don’t stay in any one spot for too long.”
She still didn’t understand the limits of Alia’s power or how it worked. It could reach across worlds, but proximity did seem to matter.
“Understood,” said Jason.
“Are we doing this?” said Alia. “ ’Cause I’m thinking about drowning you in the punch bowl and just making a break for it.”
Jason nodded and offered her his arm. Under his breath, he said to Diana, “Keep us in your sights.”
“I’ll try not to get in your way,” she murmured.
He stiffened and then she saw the corner of his mouth twitch again. Still an imperious bully, but at least he could laugh at himself—and maybe he’d begun to realize she was an asset. She didn’t want to fight him every step of their journey to the spring.
Diana spent the next half hour drifting through the partygoers with Nim, making sure to keep Alia and Jason within view. It wasn’t easy. The room was crowded, and the way voices bounced off the stone set Diana’s teeth on edge. She also felt like she was trying to read too many signals at once. She’d successfully picked out most of Jason’s security team, but the party itself felt unwieldy.
On the surface, it didn’t look radically different from the celebrations on Themyscira. Though the clothes might be cut differently, it was still a collection of people in silks and satins, glasses in hand, some bored, others eager. But there was something odd about the way the crowd separated and then re-formed. The men would step forward to greet each other as their female companions hung back, then a moment later the women would engage, shake hands, possibly embrace. Power moved in its own way here, driven by unseen currents, and it eddied and flowed primarily around the men.
I don’t belong here. The thought echoed loudly through her head, but she wasn’t sure if it was her voice or the Oracle’s that spoke with such conviction. She shoved the thought away. In an hour, she’d be on her way to Greece. By this time tomorrow, they’d have reached the spring and her quest would be at its end. For these few moments, she could let herself enjoy the newness of this place.
She noticed Nim murmuring names under her breath. “Do you know everyone here?”
“No, but I know who they’re wearing.” She reeled off a series of Italian-sounding names.
“More trivia?”
“Information. Design is all about conveying information. This whole room was built to convey messages you don’t even know you’re receiving. The sightlines, the way the tiles are laid into the floor.”
“You see the world differently.”
“Seeing is easy. The hard part is being seen. It’s why I’m always trying to get Alia to go out more.” Nim plucked a skewered shrimp from a passing server. “When I started at Bennett, it felt like everywhere I went people weren’t seeing me. I mean, they saw me. Boy, did they see me. But I was just the short, fat Indian kid who brought weird food for lunch.”
“What changed?” asked Diana.
“Alia. She was the first person to look at my designs and tell me they were good. She even wore one of the first dresses I made to a dance. It was truly hideous.” Diana had to laugh, but that did seem like something Alia would do. “She’s always been the one to prop me up,” said Nim, “and make me stick with designing.”
“What about your family?”
“Please. They have to tell me I’m a good designer. That’s their job.”
Diana thought of her mother saying, I didn’t expect you to win. “Not necessarily.”
“Oh man, do you have one of those tough-love families? I just don’t buy into that.”
“Why not?” Diana asked cautiously.
“Because the whole world loves to tell us what we can’t do, that we aren’t good enough. The people in your own house should be on your side. It’s the people who never learn the word impossible who make history, because they’re the ones who keep trying.”
The very air seemed to crackle around her as she spoke. Diana considered telling Nim she’d make a great general, but opted for “Alia is lucky to have you as a friend.”
“Yeah, well, we’re both lucky. I don’t know many people who would put up with me.”
Alia caught sight of them by the reflecting pool and separated herself from the couple she and Jason were speaking to, scurrying over to them as if afraid Jason would snatch her back.
“Please kill me,” she moaned. “My cheeks ache from smiling, and my toes are throbbing in these shoes. I swear this is the longest hour of my life.”
“Boohoo. Big party where everyone wants to meet you,” said Nim. “And don’t you dare speak ill of those shoes. They’re perfection.”
“I can’t tell if your brother is pleased,” Diana said, glancing over at Jason, who was listening intently to someone and nodding his agreement. He seemed at ease, his posture relaxed, but Diana could see the tension in his shoulders. He held himself as if on guard, unsure of where the attack might come from, but certain it would come nonetheless. “He doesn’t like these parties, either, does he?”
“You noticed?” Alia said, scanning the crowd. “I hate who he becomes at these things. It’s like he’s an actor in a play. He smiles and chatters, but I know he hates every minute of it.”
“Speaking of hating every minute,” Nim said, her expression turning sour. Theo was headed their way. “I cannot take his nonsense right now. I’m going to go ask Gemma Rutledge to dance.”
“Is she gay?” asked Alia.
“Who cares? She’s wearing Badgley Mischka. I just want a better look at the dress.”
“Aw,” said Theo as he approached with two full flutes of champagne, “I chased Nim off. Such a shame. I swear that girl gets worse and worse.”
Alia pursed her lips. “Leave Nim alone.”
“Will do. All alone.”
“And what are you doing with champagne? None of us are old enough to drink.”
Theo took a big gulp from one of the glasses. “Don’t tell me you’re going to send me packing, too.”
Diana followed Theo’s gaze to where Jason had moved on to a group of young men, all of them with summer tans and artfully shaggy hair. Their raucous laughter, the way they took up the space around them, reminded her of the businessmen on the train. And there was something in the way they surveyed their surroundings….“They look at the room as if they own it.”
“You don’t say,” said Theo.
“Some of their fathers are on the board,” said Alia. “Jason’s just doing his job.”
“By joining the Legion of Bros?”
“Are they a club?” asked Diana.
“Pretty much,” said Theo. “And Jason’s hoping if I’m not around they’ll forget he’s black and teach him the secret handshake.”
Diana took a longer look at Jason, remembering what Alia had said about how the world saw her. Maybe Jason had good reason for the wary way he carried himself.
“Think of it like this,” Alia said. “If Jason waved you over, you’d actually have to make conversation with those guys.”
Theo shuddered. “They’d probably make me talk American football.”
“And how much they love the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”
Theo hissed. “Stop it.”
“And Dave Matthews,” Alia said ominously.
Theo threw his arms over his head. “You monster.”
Alia waggled her fingers at him. “And how they once saw Jimmy Buffett live at Myrtle Beach!”
Theo flopped across the table as if he’d been grievously wounded. “Save me, New Girl,” he rasped. “You’re my only hope.”
Diana had no idea what they were talking about, or the names of the demons Alia was invoking, but she moved one of the candles out of the way so Theo’s sleeve wouldn’t catch fire. “There,” she said. She nodded toward Jason, who had detached himself from his friends and was heading toward them. “I’m afraid your reprieve may be over, Alia.”
“Quick,” she said, “stuff me under the buffet.”
“Too late,” Theo said, righting himself and taking another gulp of champagne.
“Have you come to drag me back already?” Alia asked Jason.
“You made a commitment.”
“Alia!” said a booming voice, and Diana saw Theo flinch. A barrel-chested man with a salt-and-pepper beard approached the table, with another man in tow. He swept Alia into a hug, then stepped back to look at her. “It’s been too long. Jason said you had summer travel plans.”
Alia smiled. “I didn’t want to miss the chance to meet some of the Foundation donors.”
Diana was impressed with how smoothly Alia lied, even as she realized how easy it must have been for her to pretend she intended to visit the spring with Diana or to toss the cell phone into the bag, knowing her brother would use its signal to track them. Remember that, she warned herself. For all the dresses and the laughter and the ease you feel, remember how little you know these people, how easily deception comes to them.
“I’m delighted you’re here and taking an interest,” said the bearded man. “You should have seen your brother at the board meeting earlier. He’s a natural.”
“I had a good teacher,” Jason said, though he looked pleased.
“Dad has always been great at telling people what to do,” said Theo, taking a swig of champagne. Dad. So the bearded man was Michael Santos, Theo’s father and Alia and Jason’s godfather. Next to him, they looked impossibly young.
Michael chuckled easily, but the mirth didn’t reach his hazel eyes. “I can always count on Theo to keep my ego in check.” He turned away from his son. “Alia, Jason, this is Dr. Milton Han. He’s doing fantastic work in environmental remediation, and I think he could take Keralis Labs in some interesting directions.”
Dr. Han shook Jason’s hand. “I knew your father at MIT. He was one of the smartest and most creative thinkers I ever met.”
“I can assure you we’re continuing in that tradition.”
“I was just reading about some exciting work in biofuels,” said Alia. “Is your research focused primarily on the use of bacteria for waste disposal or conversion?”
Dr. Han seemed to startle, as if he was actually looking at Alia for the first time. “Ideally conversion, but that may be a long way off.”
Theo laughed softly and said under his breath, “Do not test Alia Keralis, Girl Genius.”
Diana remembered what Nim had said: The hard part is being seen. She wasn’t sure what Theo saw when he looked at Alia, but he was certainly paying attention.
As Alia and Jason fell into conversation with Dr. Han, Diana heard Michael mutter to Theo, “Getting a quick start, I see.” He glanced at the two glasses in Theo’s hands.
Theo’s smile faltered, but he just said, “Aren’t you always telling me to apply myself?”
“What are you doing here? This is an important night.”
Theo downed the glass. “Jason wanted me here, so I’m here. Shocking, I know.”
“You will not embarrass us tonight,” Michael whispered furiously. “Not when so much is on the line.”
“Have you met Diana?” Theo said. “Diana, this is my father, Michael Santos. The savior of Keralis Labs. He’s quite the strategist, but not what I would call a lot of fun.”
Michael ignored him and offered Diana his hand. “A pleasure. Are you one of Alia’s friends from Bennett? She’s usually with that pudgy little Indian girl.”
“I’m not sure who you mean,” said Diana, feeling her anger prickle. “I’ve only met her friend Nim, the brilliant designer.”
Theo beamed and held up his remaining glass of champagne. “How about a sip to wash the taste of your foot from your mouth?”
“Just make yourself scarce,” hissed Michael.
“I would,” said Theo loudly, stepping past his father. “But I promised Alia a dance.”
Alia looked over. “You did?”
Theo snatched her hand and bowed theatrically. “You’re not going to change your mind, are you?” He dragged her after him to the dance floor. “My fragile heart couldn’t take it.”
With a nervous glance at Dr. Han, Michael laughed again. “Spirited boy. If he would just apply himself the way Jason does.”
But Diana wasn’t listening; her attention was focused on Alia vanishing through the crowd. Her gaze met Jason’s, and he held out his hand. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Han,” he said. “But I have the uncontrollable urge to dance.”
Diana’s brows shot up. Maybe not all mortals excelled at subterfuge.
She took Jason’s hand, and they wended through the partygoers to the dance floor. Diana allowed herself a small sigh of relief when she spotted Alia and Theo swaying together in the spangled light. Alia was laughing and seemed to be all right, but Diana didn’t intend to lose sight of her, no matter how many guards Jason had posted.
Jason led her onto the dance floor, sliding his hand beneath the golden fall of the lasso shawl as he drew her closer, his fingers brushing the bare skin of her back. She stiffened, then flushed when she realized he’d noticed.
“I have to touch you if we’re going to dance,” he said, sounding bemused.
“I know that,” Diana replied, bothered by the edge to her voice. “We don’t dance like this where I’m from.” Alia laughed again, and Theo spun her beneath his arm and into a dip. “Or like that, for that matter.”
It was comforting to focus on Alia and Theo instead of the scrap of distance between her body and Jason’s. Why should standing so close to someone make her pulse jump? Was it simply because he was a male? It’s a novelty, she told herself. Or maybe it was because, poised this way, her hand clasped in his, their bodies separated by a breath, felt almost like the moment before an embrace. Or a fight. Why couldn’t they just wrestle again? That had been easier. And she would win.
Jason pressed his hand firmly to her back, and she nearly lost her footing.
“What are you doing?” she asked, more irritably than she’d meant to.
“I’m trying to lead.”
“Why?” It was hard enough to manage these strange movements in new shoes and a borrowed dress without him jostling her around.
“Because that’s the way it’s done.”
“That’s a lazy answer.”
He huffed a small, surprised laugh. “Maybe it is,” he said. “This is how I learned. I guess I don’t know how to do it any other way.”
Diana felt something in her relax. “I like it when you’re honest,” she said, realizing the truth of the words as she spoke them.
“When I make my case like a human?” he said, a grin in his voice.
She let herself yield to the pressure of his hand, the tilt of his body—for now. Dancing might not be quite like fighting, but you still had to be careful when someone stepped into your guard.
“Better,” he murmured. “Next time, you can lead.”
What next time? she wanted to ask.
Alia’s laugh floated over the crowd, and Jason swung Diana around gracefully, cutting through the other couples so they could keep Alia and Theo in view—they were laughing, breathless, hands clasped, spinning in a tipsy circle. Theo’s style of dancing was definitely more theatrical than Jason’s.
“I don’t hear Alia laugh enough,” Jason said.
“I suspect she’d say the same of you.”
His shoulders lifted slightly in a shrug. “Maybe. She needs to meet more people, have more fun, but with the danger…”
“She’s having fun now.”
“Well, I don’t want her having too much fun. Not with Theo.”
Given the display with his father, Diana wasn’t sure Theo was the best thing for Alia, either. Even so, it was hard not to think of what Theo had said about Jason not wanting him around. “I thought you were friends.”
“We are. But Theo isn’t exactly…steady. He falls in and out of love like a kid on a waterslide. Falls hard, hits bottom, wants to go again.”
“His father seems to agree.”
Jason winced. “I know. He’s too rough on Theo, but I understand his frustration. Theo’s brilliant. He can write code, hack pretty much any security system. He just seems to want to spend all of his time gaming.”
“Is that so bad?”
“He could make a lot of money at it, if that’s what you mean.”
“It isn’t,” Diana said, annoyed.
“I just think he could do a lot of good, if he wanted to.” Jason lifted his arm, his other hand pressing at Diana’s back so she spun in a tight circle, the lights of the room whirling past. “But Theo doesn’t want to listen to me any more than Alia does.”
“No one likes to be told what to do. You’ve chosen a future. Alia deserves the same chance.”
“She isn’t ready. She trusts too easily. Case in point, you.”
This again. Jason’s wariness was understandable, but his assessment of his sister was so wrongheaded. She pulled back a little so that she could look at him. “Alia didn’t trust me because she’s naive. She leaned on me because she had to.”
“And now you’ve conveniently gained access to our home and a party full of some of the most powerful people in New York.”
“There is nothing convenient about this for me.”
Jason hissed in a breath and Diana realized she was clutching his hand like a vise as her anger rose. His hand gripped her waist, drawing her closer, his gaze fierce.
“What brought you here, Diana Prince? How do you fight the way you do? How did you identify my security team?”
Part of her wanted to pull away, but she refused to retreat. Instead, she leaned in, so close their mouths were almost touching. His eyes widened.
“Do you really think you’ll get the answers you want by trying to bully me?” she asked.
He swallowed, then seemed to regain his composure. “I tend to be very good at getting what I want.”
Diana’s chin lifted. “I think you’ve grown too used to people saying yes to you.”
“Have I?”
“But you have no idea how much I enjoy saying no.”
The corner of Jason’s mouth curled, his dimple flashing briefly, and Diana felt an unexpected surge of triumph.
“You think I’m a bully,” he said, shifting his weight with ease, using his momentum to guide her.
“Yes.”
“A jerk?” He took another smooth, sure-footed step, his thigh brushing hers as they glided through the crowd.
“Yes.”
“A budding tyrant?”
That seemed a bit extreme, but she nodded anyway.
Jason laughed. “You may be right.” He took advantage of her surprise to spin her. The lights of the room whirred around her, and she felt the swell of the music rise up through the floor as he drew her back into his orbit. “I know what people think of me. I know I’m not fun the way Theo is or charming the way my parents were. None of this comes easy to me. But I also know I’m fighting for the right things.”
She envied his certainty, the conviction in his voice.
“How can you be so sure?” she asked.
“Because I know what it would mean to lose them. Alia wants me to let Michael do more of the work, enjoy myself. She doesn’t understand how fast we can be on the outside of what our parents created, with no way back in.”
Diana thought of her mother sitting at the table in the Iolanth Court, speaking to one Amazon after another, the long meetings and debates and dinners, Diana waiting, always waiting for a moment of her time. I can never be seen to be shirking my duties, she’d said. To the Amazons, I must always be their queen first and your mother second. Diana hadn’t really understood, hadn’t wanted to. Can’t Tek do it? she’d asked. But Hippolyta had only shaken her head. If Tek does the work, then the Amazons will begin to see her as their queen, and rightly so. It must be me, Diana. And one day, when I grow weary of this work and this crown, it will be you.
“What?” said Jason. “I can see you want to say something, so spit it out.”
Diana met his eyes. “When you ride, your mount learns the feel of the hands that hold the reins; it gets used to responding to those commands. There’s danger in letting someone else take the reins for too long.”
A troubled expression passed over Jason’s face. “That’s it exactly.” He spun her again, and this time, when he drew her back to him, there was a hesitancy she hadn’t sensed before.
“What is it?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at Alia. “Is something wrong?”
“She’s fine,” said Jason. “Everything’s fine. It’s just, you’re the only…” The muscles of his shoulder bunched beneath her hand, and he gave an almost-irritated shrug. “Everyone always just tells me to relax.”
Uptight. High-strung. Alia and Diana had both used those words to describe Jason. But maybe he was so focused because he couldn’t afford not to be.
“Michael must understand,” she ventured.
But Jason’s frown deepened. “My parents trusted Michael implicitly. Sometimes I worry they trusted him too much.” He cast her a guilty glance, and she realized how dangerous a dance could be. The music, the glow of the lights, this half embrace. It was too easy to speak secrets, to forget the world waiting beyond the last note of the song. “That isn’t fair. He’s done a lot for our family. Still…”
Diana looked over at Alia and Theo and saw him give her another wild spin. “Still?” she prompted.
“There were a lot of people with a lot to gain from my parents’ death. Michael didn’t buy into the conspiracy theories. He made sure there was a full investigation, and there was nothing suspicious. The roads were wet. My parents were arguing.”
“But you think there’s more to it.”
“You don’t understand.” He took a long breath. “They’d been arguing more and more.”
Despite the heat of the room, a chill settled over Diana’s shoulders. “You think that Alia was the reason?”
“I don’t know. If her power—”
“You seem immune to it,” Diana protested. “Your friendship with Theo has thrived. You and Nim spar, but you seem genuinely fond of each other.”
“But what if our mother and father weren’t immune? What if…what if they weren’t fighting because of problems at the lab or because they’d fallen out of love? What if…I don’t know.”
“Sure you do,” Alia said. She was standing right next to them in her dress of gold scales, Theo beside her, his hand still at her waist. Her dark eyes were wide and startled, the pain in them a palpable thing. “You think I killed them.”
“Alia, no, that isn’t what I meant—”
“Then what did you mean, Jason?”
Diana hated herself for being so thoughtless, for losing herself in the questions Jason had posed.
“I—I only—” Jason stuttered. “I didn’t—”
“That’s what I thought.”
Alia turned on her heel and fled through the crowd.
Theo shook his head, looking at Jason as if he were a stranger. “Why would you say something like that?”
“It’s complicated,” Jason bit out. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Theo flinched as if Jason had struck him.
“Probably not,” he said with an attempt at a disinterested shrug.
“I need to go find her,” Jason said. “She’s not—”
“No,” said Diana. “I’ll go.”
“I’m her brother—”
And I understand what it’s like to feel like your crime is just existing. Diana turned and hurried through the crowd before Jason could finish.
“Alia!” she called, wending through the partygoers.
Alia stumbled but kept moving. When she reached an empty corner near the back of the room, she leaned against the wall and shucked off her shoes, collecting them in one hand. With the other, she batted at the tears that had begun to fall.
Diana thought of Alia emerging from the bathroom in her golden mail, shoulders back, head held like a queen, and felt that something lovely had been lost.
She approached slowly, afraid Alia might take off running again. She said nothing as she took up a place against the wall beside her, and for a long while, they stood in silence, looking out at the partygoers, hidden by shadows broken by slices of colored light. She hesitated, unsure of where to start, but Alia spoke first.
“Why didn’t they send me away?” she said, a flood of fresh tears coursing over her cheeks. “If my parents knew what I was, why didn’t they send me somewhere I couldn’t hurt them?”
This at least was a place to begin. “You don’t know that you caused the accident.”
“Jason thinks I did.”
“Jason was just talking, trying to ease his own mind. He doesn’t blame you. He loves you.”
“How could he not blame me?” A sob caught in her throat. “I blame me.”
Diana struggled for words that might soothe her, and the only ones she found were those she’d whispered to herself when the island had felt too small, when Tek’s barbs had felt too sharp. “We can’t help the way we’re born. We can’t help what we are, only what life we choose to make for ourselves.”
Alia gave an angry shake of her head. “Tell me some part of you doesn’t wish you had never saved me,” she said. “You and I both know I should have died in that shipwreck.”
Hadn’t the Oracle said much the same thing? Diana had almost believed it then, but she refused to believe it now. “If you’d drowned that day, if you died now, it would only be a question of time until a new Warbringer was born. If we reach the spring—”
“So what if we reach the spring?” Alia said furiously, then lowered her voice as a woman in a black taffeta gown cast her a curious glance. She pushed off the wall and turned to Diana, dark eyes blazing. “So what if it fixes me or purges me or whatever? It won’t bring Dr. Ellis or Jasmine or the crew of the Thetis back. It won’t bring my mom and dad back.”
Diana took a breath and placed her hands on Alia’s shoulders, desperate to make her understand. “My whole life…my whole life people have been wondering if I had a right to be. Maybe I don’t. Maybe neither of us should exist, but we’re here now. We have this chance, and maybe that isn’t a coincidence. Maybe we’re the ones who were meant to break this cycle. Together.” Alia held her gaze, and Diana hoped her words were reaching her. “Your parents thought there might be a way to turn your power, the legacy of the Warbringer’s blood, to something good. By going to the spring, you’re fulfilling that promise in a different way.”
Alia pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes as if trying to shove back her tears. “Diana, swear to me that if we don’t make it, that if something happens, you’ll end this. I can’t be the reason the world goes to hell.”
Diana dropped her hands. I’m going to need you to kill me. She’d hoped those words had been spoken in haste, that they were the result of shock and Alia would abandon such thoughts. “I can’t do that. I…I won’t commit murder.”
“You pulled me from the wreck,” Alia said, her voice hard with resolve. “You took me off that island. You can’t ask me to live with all the rest.”
A sick sensation settled in Diana’s gut. Making this vow would mean turning her back on everything she’d been taught to believe. That life was sacred. That when it seemed violence was the only choice, there was always another. But Alia needed strength to continue, and maybe this grim excuse for hope was the only way to give her that.
“Then we make a pact,” Diana said, though the words felt wrong in her mouth. “You agree to fight with everything you have to make it to that spring.”
“All right. And if it isn’t enough?”
Diana took a deep breath. “Then I will spare the world and take your life. But I want your word.”
“You’ve got it.”
“No, not a mortal vow. I want the oath of an Amazon.”
Alia’s eyes widened. “A what?”
“Those are my people. Women born of war, destined to be ruled by no one but themselves. We make this pact with their words. Agreed?” Alia nodded, and Diana placed her fist over her heart. “Sister in battle, I am shield and blade to you. As I breathe, your enemies will know no sanctuary. While I live, your cause is mine.”
Alia placed her own hand over her heart and repeated the words, and as she did, Diana felt the power of the oath surround them, binding them together. It was a vow Diana had shared with no one else, one that might make her a killer. But she did not let her gaze falter.
“All right,” said Alia on a shuddering breath. “Let’s find Jason and get the hell out of here.”
That was when the air tore open around them. A loud, staccato clamor filled Diana’s ears. She knew that sound; she recognized it from the vision she’d glimpsed in the Oracle’s waters. Gunfire.