Page 36 of Ignition Rites

They don’t go far, because nobody at these things ever really leaves when there might be something better to watch later, but it’s enough for Lo’s shoulders to drop half an inch.

We stand there quietly until she says, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.”

Her jaw is tight.

“But I wanted to.”

“I could’ve handled it.”

“I know that too.” I lean back against the rail without crowding her. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna stand there and watch when I can make somebody shut up for free. That’s excellent value.”

That gets the smallest breath of a laugh before it disappears again.

“They said cult.”

“I heard.”

“My mother spent half her life running from one, and now people are standing ten feet away joking that I signed up for another because the men are hot.”

There isn’t a joke good enough to put over that.

“Yeah.”

She stares toward the track. “And the fucked-up part is I can’t even tell myself they’re completely wrong.”

“About the cult part?”

She looks at me.

“Rafe.”

“Right. Bad time.”

“Very.”

I rub a hand over the back of my neck.

“I’m not gonna tell you nothing’s happening to you, because that’d be bullshit and you’d know it. The Reaping is real. The rankings are real. Alistair turning people into positions on a board is real. I told you that already.”

Lo’s arms tighten around herself.

“What I mean is I don’t want whatever happens between you and me to become one more thing somebody else gets to decide for you. That part has to be yours.”

Her gaze comes back to mine.

“I don’t know what this is either,” I say. “I know it isn’t a punchline. I know you aren’t one.”

She watches me for a long moment.

“That’s the first time anyone’s defended me like that,” she says. “Out loud. Where people could see.”

“Get used to it.”

“That’s a big statement for a guy who won’t even tell his own best friend what’s going on.”

I wince. “Okay, rude.”