of garlic, expensive wine, and secrets. It was a neutral ground, often used by

for my father. She waved when she saw us, the pearls-my mother's pearls-shimmering aroun

uys could convince Elena to come. I ordered for everyone, I hop

ssing against hers in a way that was far too famili

eyes I hadn't seen since he was sixteen and infatuated with a pop star. I was releg

ing as if she'd just solved world hunger. "It's their house specialty. I t

alcove instantl

hand halfway to

wine for Sofia, stopped, the

y k

a weakness I hid from the world. A weakness only my sworn protectors knew about, because part of their duty-a duty they had performed hundreds of times-was to taste-t

aw panic in their ey

ched them m

g over into a mask of casual indifference. He took a sip of water and gave Sofia

ring her wine. "Yeah, good choice. I'm

the ulcer. It was from the nauseating, g

ng to ignore the truth to avoid upsetting her. The

us, angry red, practically glowing with chili oil and flecked with a blizzard of red pepper flakes. The s

a practiced innocence that made my skin crawl

portion onto Sofia's plate, laughing at somethi

o his fork, his attention fixed on Sofia with

gnated

shi

dhood f

ison and were encouraging

d steady despite the tremor in my so

gh a mouthful of pasta, pointedly ref

at this table that wasn't trying to kill me. I watched them la

ting their dinner. And for the f