Page 83 of Queen of Volts

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THE HIGH PRIESTESS

“Regardless of what this city claims,

not everything is worth the gamble.”

Royalist. “The Empires of Vianca Augustine

and Garth Torren.”

The Journey of Reynes

19 Nov YOR 21

LOLA

“Are you sure this girl is the same as the one you told me about?” Arabella asked, smirking and peering over Lola’s shoulder at her copy ofThe Crimes & The Times. A photograph of Enne and Levi at Harrison Augustine’s inauguration dominated the front page, and they were not depicted congratulating the new representative. Lola scowled and slammed the paper down, the image seeming to burn itself permanently into her vision. “All she does is go to cafés and parties with this orb-maker.”

“Their relationship is a farce,” Lola snapped. “Last I saw them, they were barely speaking.”

“I’m not surethis—” Arabella tapped the photograph “—counts as speaking.”

Lola ignored her and sipped her coffee, and the kitchen table wobbled as she lifted her mug. Arabella had found this Factory District apartment several weeks ago, and Lola hadn’t yet grown accustomed to its smells and its racket. The radiators clacked and clattered day and night. The cigarette smoke from the tenants downstairs seeped from their floorboards. The walls rumbled each time the Mole passed outside their windows. She never got any sleep.

Arabella slid into the chair across from Lola, her eyebrows raised. “Did you lie to me?”

“What?” Lola asked, confused.

“In November, when we went to the Sauterelle and I asked you about Enne. Did you lie to me?” Arabella’s voice was cool, not accusing, but shivers still shot up Lola’s spine. “Because you assured me that Enne wasn’t a danger, but...” Arabella cocked her head to the side. “Were you in love with her?”

“What? Muck, no,” Lola said. Lola didn’t even believe in such things. And even when it came to attraction, girls like Enne weren’t her type.

“Then explain to me why you do this every morning. You just sit here and glare at your newspapers. You glare atEnnein the newspapers.”

Lola grimaced. She made her sound pathetic.

“It’s just that I haven’t seen her in over a month, but Iseeher everywhere,” Lola answered. “Whenever the paperboy waves the newest editions ofThe Crimes & The Times. Every time I run to the corner store and there’s the stacks ofThe Kiss & Tellresting on the checkout counter. It’s exhausting. She’s convinced the whole world that all she cares about are roses and chocolates. And all I can think when I look at them is that she was once managing hundreds of thousands of illegal volts in the North Side. How she’s killed people! That she’s Veil’s daughter.”

And more, how Enne had hurther. Even if Lola’s wound had healed, her hearing would never be the same. She still counted herself lucky that Justin was even alive.

Arabella’s expression grew solemn. “I recall youwantingto know about her father. Do you wish I hadn’t told you?”

“No,” Lola grumbled, “but I’m starting to think I need to tell Enne.”

It was unfair to keep the truth of Enne’s father hidden from her, but the idea of facing her old friend made Lola’s insides curdle.

“Then why don’t you?” Arabella asked. “You can do with the information what you’d like. Veil’s shade has no effect on you.”

“I would rather not see her, is all,” Lola grunted, staring nonetheless at the newspaper.

Arabella snapped her fingers in front of Lola’s face, forcing Lola to look at her. “I know what you’re doing to yourself. She hurt you, and you’re letting your wounds fester.”

Lola’s face heated as though beneath a spotlight. “She nearly killed my brother.”

“And your brother left you,” Arabella droned. “I know your stories. But for all you care about him, you can’t even look at Justin now. You’re angrier at him than you were a month ago. You let it build up. Just like you have with Enne.”

At that, music carried in from the next room, loud and wailing. Justin played his flute in his bedroom at all hours of the day, and for someone with a musical blood talent, he knew exactly how to make his melodies sound cacophonous. The haunting minor notes and mismatched harmonies grated on Lola’s one ear, and she cursed, knowing he only did it to annoy her.