Stan nodded once. The weight of that sentence settled between them and stayed. He put both truths in the same place: the girl in the Velaris window, the vampire in the city ahead, his other girls, the sister in his passenger seat holding a knife that could become a sword. Responsibility, not romance, was the thing that made his hands tighten on the wheel.
Sacha turned her face toward the glass again. Inside, her ordinary map of the world kept tearing and restitching. Vampires. Contracts, Qi. Her brother speaking of all of it as if it were a logistics problem. She chose, not for the first time, to stand where he stood. Fear of losing him did the rest.
The scenery changed as they got to the boundary of the two big cities Inksea and Velaris...
Stan focused fully on the road. They fell silent
They crossed the boundary and into Inksea tighter lanes, older trees giving way to blocks with pretty interesting names all came into view the light a little harder off glass and signage.
