“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.”
&nbs
p; 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.”
Wonder Woman: Warbringer Page 18
