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He scoffed "Of course not It was a piece of bullshit He made it up"
Mae was floored "Why would you say that?"
"Because it was too well rehearsed Couldn’t you tell? There was no spontaneity whatsoever No emotion He’s told that story a hundred ti from notecards Besides, think about Dominic…aka Mr ‘I don’t like cities’ Can you picture hio, and he’s just incorporated it into this fairy tale"
She didn’t knohat to say to that right away Leo’s story had certainly sounded thorough, but she never would’ve guessed that it was because he’d made it up The circumstances he’d described hadn’t sounded that contrived either People certainly h
"Why would Leolike that up?" she finally asked Justin was so frustrating, but the inner workings of his clever
"That’s the question, isn’t it?" Justin adopted an overly mysterious voice "Maybe it’s a secret OrIt could’ve just beento ask hi"
So they were back to the arrogance and self-assuredness She was starting to think she’d iined those brief moments of sincerity in the hospital At least his interest in Leo had distracted Justin from his speculation on her own rouarded in her heart, and there was no way she’d put up with Justin’s analyzing that volatile roller coaster of a relationship Leo’s story--true or not--was tame compared to the drama-filled epic of how she and Porfirio had met
A lot of that night’s s stood out in perfect, crystalline clarity But then, that was how ree worked As one of the few intoxicating substances the ied inconsistently throughout the prætorian body
Cohorts on city duty soe private parties, since drunken prætorian antics in public didn’t always go over so well The one out of its way to fix the ree loophole, but everyone knew too ht eventually draw the research department’s eye The Maize cohort was responsible for the party in question that night, and it had done its best toso far as to rent out a hall with a live band and bartender There were about a hundred prætorians there, pretty much anyone ithin a day’s travel of Vancouver
Mae spent ht at a round corner table with Val and several other prætorians Val and an Azure naht back a card game they sas the Most Fun Ever Unfortunately, there were a couple of probleame in and of itself, and neither of them could remember all the rules Co drunk, the whole thing was kind of a h She was afloat on a ree buzz and able to roll with just about anything--or so she’d thought
"That’s truht told Mae as she started to play a card He’d been particularly solicitous in tutoring her "Save it for the next round"
Val’s brow furrowed in thought "No, hearts are truht it was spades?" asked some Criht was an extreuy and didn’t have a proble an arm around the back of her chair as he looked at her hand "That one, then," he said, pointing
Mae, as pretty sure everyone rong and that diamonds were trump, played the card without protest Nor to take an instructive role toward her, but Albright did it in such a friendly and laid-back way that she didn’t find it threatening or overbearing She also discovered she was liking hi;torian , and she wondered if ht be a sound choice to invest in
"That’s bullshit! I know someone who could clean the floor with you!"
Mae and Val both looked up at the same time as a loud, familiar voice carried over to them from several tables away Even in a noisy, crowded roo His back was to them as he stood near a table of what looked like Violets and Indigos Without unifor was clearly worked up about so ree cocktail and spoke to someone Mae couldn’t see
Val shook her head ruefully but didn’t look particularly concerned When you mixed volatile soldiers with intoxication, conflict was inevitable "I leave him alone for five ?" That was to Albright
"You just said hearts were trump," he reminded her patiently He was the least drunk of all of the one of the least obnoxious ht then
Mae took a sip of her own drink, enjoying the heady rush it brought She had recently returned from a trip of her own, in the Asian provinces, as backup to the EA After sorateful for this reprieve "He’s right, Val"