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The hallway was empty.
They went into Eliana’s apartment. Lady Luna took off the coat and scarf and laid them across the sofa and then stood with her hands clasped in front of her, her eyes sca
“My bedroom’s this way,” Eliana said. “You can pick out some clothes to wear. I don’t have anything fancy—”
“I don’t need anything fancy.” She smiled, and in that moment she couldn’t have been more different than the hostess at the cocktail party, or the woman who’d come into Eliana’s office two weeks ago.
Eliana’s bedroom was messy, as usual, her bed unmade and her dirty clothes strewn across the floor. She tried not to think about it. She flicked on the lamp and pulled her closet door open.
“Pick out whatever you like. I still have some coffee, but I think there’s some Hope City tea in the cupboard.” Could Lady Luna even drink tea? No, of course she could—she’d been drinking at the party—
“Tea would be lovely. Thank you.” Lady Luna stared into the closet, her face illuminated by golden lamplight. Eliana left her, closing the bedroom door, and went into her kitchenette. She was exhausted, and it was cold in here, since she’d turned the radiator off when she’d left that morning.
She filled the water kettle and set it on the stove.
Lady Luna emerged from the bedroom five minutes later, wearing one of Eliana’s simpler sweaters and a pair of black cigarette pants. “Is this all right?”
“Sure, you can borrow whatever you like.”
“I promise to return to it.”
“I know.” Eliana smiled. The kettle steamed, and she poured a cup for Lady Luna, dropping in the tea strainer. No milk, of course, but she brought the last of her sugar into the living room along with the teacup.
“Sugar,” Lady Luna said. “That’s hard to come by.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been careful with it.”
“I prefer my tea unsweetened anyway.” Lady Luna sipped at her cup, and Eliana wondered if she really took her tea unsweetened or if she was being polite or if she just felt sorry for Eliana.
She wondered if Lady Luna was afraid Eliana would turn her in to the authorities.
“So what do you want to do about your house?” Eliana said.
“I’m sorry?”
“You said you weren’t sure if Cabrera would be staking it out or not. I’m guessing you don’t want to go to the police—”
“I avoid the police whenever possible, yes.” Lady Luna set her teacup down on the table. “I’ll speak with my maintenance drones. I’m sure he didn’t destroy all of them.”
“Your maintenance . . .” Eliana’s voice trailed away. “You can talk to them.”
Lady Luna wouldn’t meet her eye. “One of the perks of being what I am, I suppose. I’ll have to find one of the contact stations. You needn’t worry about it.”
“A contact station? You have access to those?”
Lady Luna looked up, and her eyes glittered in a way that struck Eliana as nonhuman. Not inhuman, though. Not exactly.
“Technically,” Lady Luna said, “I do not.”
“Oh.”
“I suppose I’m not giving you much reason to trust me.”
Eliana thought about Diego.
“It’s fine,” Lady Luna continued. “That’s why human beings are so terrified of cyborgs, isn’t it? Because we bridge the gaps? But I’m just as human as you are. I survived the cold longer, but I couldn’t survive it forever. I can starve, I can die of dehydration, I can bleed to death. I can do any number of things you can do, all equally unpleasant.”
Eliana’s cheeks flushed. “I’m s-sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t mean to imply— I just— I’ve never known a—someone like you.”
Lady Luna picked up her cup again and stared down at it. “I suppose you haven’t.”
“I don’t mind.”
Lady Luna smiled, still looking down at her teacup. “That makes you a rarity. Even those who have tolerated me still minded.”
Eliana forced out a laugh. “I live in the smokestack district. You learn tolerance pretty fast out here.”
Lady Luna looked up at her. Studied her. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
Eliana gri
Lady Luna didn’t say anything, but Eliana thought she seemed calmer, less on edge, less falling apart into pieces. And she was glad for that. She was glad Lady Luna didn’t feel uncomfortable around her.
“Look,” Eliana said. “When you go talk to the maintenance drones, if you find out Cabrera’s still around, you can come back here, okay? You can stay here as long as you want.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
Eliana shrugged. “Hey, you said you’d pay me for my discretion. You’ve paid me twice what I usually make anyway, and you introduced me to all those people at your party. I already solved one case for Mrs. Quiroga, and I’m working a second for someone else.” Eliana didn’t mention Mr. Gonzalez.
Lady Luna blinked. She almost looked confused. “Of course.”
“Besides,” Eliana said. “How often do you get to help somebody famous?”
“Famous?”
“Sure. You’re in all those advertisements. The lovely Lady Luna and her agricultural domes.” Eliana stopped. Fu
Lady Luna laughed. “I hate those things. The advertisements, I mean.”
“So does everybody else.”
Lady Luna finished her tea and set it aside. Then she stood up. “You really do have my utmost gratitude, Miss Gomez.”
“Eliana. Nobody calls me ‘Miss Gomez.’ ”
Lady Luna smiled, and it was that sad smile from earlier. “Plenty of people call me Lady Luna,” she said, “but you don’t have to.”
Eliana blinked. She felt oddly touched.
“ ‘Marianella’ will be fine.” Lady Luna gave a short nod. “I really should be going. I have some matters to attend to before I check on my house.”
“Are you sure?”
“Quite sure.” Another smile. “Thank you for everything.”
Then she turned and walked out of the apartment. When the door clicked shut, Eliana took a deep, shuddery breath and collapsed on the sofa. Marianella Luna was a cyborg. And Diego—
Eliana had always known that Ignacio Cabrera murdered people. Diego had even warned her about it, like with Sala. But that was the difference. He’d told her about it. But she’d actually seen Lady Luna covered in ice. It was the first time Eliana had come close to Cabrera’s violence. The first time she had actually seen the effect of that violence.
And it was the first time she’d truly considered the possibility that Diego may have been involved.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MARIANELLA
Marianella rode the train into the amusement park. The overhead lights flickered as the train roared through the city. Marianella wanted to fall asleep, and that concerned her, especially given how her thoughts had guttered on the edges of her consciousness when she’d been with Miss Gomez—no, Eliana. She’d asked to be called Eliana.
Marianella may have survived the night outside the dome, but she doubted she’d escaped without internal damage.
She still couldn’t believe she’d gone to Eliana’s office instead of Araceli’s place in the park. Stupid. Araceli could repair any damage the ice might have inflicted. But Marianella had been in a haze when the maintenance drone had finally opened the door for her, and she’d been stu