Page 94 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

“Why?”

“More important things,” I answer.

“Well,” he gestures to the book on the desk, “universal relations are more important.”

“Depends on priorities.”

“Hm,” he nods, “what happened?”

“A few things. Could use a distraction.” Azaire gives me a look that leads to me telling him of the new discovery of the weapon, then Desdemona.

“It was made for the Arcanes?” Azaire repeats to me when I’ve finished.

“Yes.”

He nods. “Be careful, Luc.”

I smile, mostly for him, while tucking my chin to my chest. “I will.”

“What about Desdemona? How are you?”

“If anything more happens with the corenths, I’ll know who to question.”

Azaire smiles. “No, I mean… I saw you with her at the Gerner. I’m kind of surprised you haven’t told me about her.”

I shrug and cross my arms. “There’s nothing to tell.”

He turns back to his desk, resting his forearms atop his book. “It didn’t look like nothing.”

Lusia must have thought the same.

Desdemona and her gold dress and my eyes that betrayed me—-unable to let go of the sight of her.

I ball up a dirty shirt from his floor and throw it at his face.

“Oh, bro, this is Yuki’s!” Azaire shouts, throwing the garment back at me. “You smell that!”

“Smells like roses,” I say mockingly.

“Nasty.”

“So,” I say, “party?”

I have a desperate desire for a distraction.

I have a question to answer, a girl who’s hiding something from me, and feelings I’m hiding from. A night of fun is due before the rest.

He looks back at his book like he’s going to miss it, then back at me with a nod. “Party.”

* * *

We enter the ballroom and I pull a bottle of vesi from my shirt. It looks rather empty—bigger with only the small lot of us.

“Lucian!” multiple people call at once. Breck, Jermoine, and Yuki get up and walk to me, grabbing my hand and hitting my back.

“Yo, Zaire!” Breck says, doing the same with him as he did me. “Where’ve you been!”

The others start shouting his name, high-fiving him, etc.

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