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It’s about an hour later when the door swings open, and I look up to find Jubilee there with Merendsen She looks ragged in a way she hasn’t since theMerendsen barely glancesfor a table full of trodairí, but Jubilee freezes for the tiniest instant when she sees edness was for er She starts to head for the bar, but Molly casually steps in between us and she stops, looking up at hi, burning moment of hesitation, she nods She turns her back on me and slides in to sit beside Tarver Merendsen
The trodairí vie to buy hi it Despite the heavy dread in the air since the Fianna attacked and hostilities resumed, Merendsen eases the at his stories Mostly at his own expense, though a couple are about a younger Jubilee He spends a good twenty h that all she could taste for weeks was dead rat, ood at this You’d never knoas in her quarters an hour before, whispering the darkest of secrets
Jubilee is different, though Her laughter co her eyes She lets Merendsen take over, take the lead, relieving her of any need for a response She nurses her drink longer than they do Her eyes fade in and out of focus, gaze growing distant, though it never shifts to seek lasses in a room full of people ant to kill me? Damn it
But I can see the way her raceful readiness that’s hers alone, her body still tense She’s reeling like I ao to her I want to…I have no idea what I want to do
As the night wears on, the other soldiers drift away until the only ones left at the table are Jubilee and her old captain A few late drinkers line up along the bar, and Molly tallies the till as I clear up Jubilee’s tracing a design into the spilled beer on their table, knotwork It’s Irish I wonder if she knows
I can’t slon hts, which won’t stop turning, won’t stop reaching for Jubilee Then I look up, and she’s standing a few yards away, speaking to Molly I drop the glass I’, and it shatters on the floor Molly frowns at o
Jubilee slips through the door not long after nize her silhouette in the half darkness, and I ainst a stack of crates My head’s swi her in the rooh I don’t know if it’s wanting or anger or soled I can’t think
"Molly says you can stay here in the back room" She sounds tired, at least as tired as I a as the cousin of a three-hundred-pound Chinese man would be beyond even Sofia’s talents "I don’t--"
"Molly’s an orphan, like me He was adopted Off-world, families who aren’t blood-related happen all the ti into silence, she leans against the stack of beer crates opposite ht and uncertain She just stares at ht shout to break the quiet, until finally she blurts, "Are you trying to get yourself arrested out there, breaking glasses and drawing attention?"
Frustration takes the lead a emotions, and I co behind the bar for hours, under the sa my face to the whole--"
"Because you stormed out! If you’d stayed, I would’ve been able to plan our next ure this out"
"Hide h e that she wasn’t the killer I could touch her now and not hate myself But she’s still a trodaire--I can’t let myself think this way
I search for words that will push her away, put some distance between us so I can’t reach for her "So you think I’ to hide somewhere safe and trust you to fix this while I’m sidelined? You and your old captain have it under control?"
"Sidelined?" she snaps, incredulous, though there’s relief in her gaze too Her eyes rake over me, unable to look away Neither of us can talk about how everything is different now that Jubilee’s innocent Anger is easier "Da you here I’ it for the right reasons," I offer, but I know for Jubilee, the words ring hollow
"I know," she replies tightly "I know that And I’d do it again I just--I never thought I could ever in a thousand years be here, in this spot" She turns away, twisting the heel of her hand against her eyes for aon Verona But I didn’t tell you that it wasn’t even rebels who killed the the rebels People like me"