We Set the Dark on Fire (We Set the Dark on Fire, #1)(23)

It had been war, until Medio got wise. Under the leadership of Mateo’s father, who had risen quickly to the rank of military strategist, they’d stopped focusing so much energy on the border itself and started rooting out sympathizers to the cause. The hint of a whisper that you were working with the rebels was good for a one-way trip to a solitary cell. Families were dragged in and questioned. Even the innocent were forever tainted with suspicion. Soon enough, the informants all but dried up. No one wanted to take the risk.

The government had effectively removed La Voz’s eyes and ears—the main source of their power. They never quite recovered, though they never stopped recruiting, either. In the border towns, they were almost as feared as the military themselves.

Now they had come to Dani’s door. To collect on a favor she never should have accepted in the first place. And the worst part was, she wasn’t entirely sure she was unhappy about it.

Behind her, she felt rather than saw Sota trailing her, like the darkness just outside a candle’s protective circle. But whose darkness was it? His or her own?

Finally, on the south side of the house, she saw a small, sandy path leading into the trees. It was all the privacy she was going to get for now. Sinking into the part of the curious new Primera out for a walk, Dani peered into the leaves. The key to being in control of yourself, her maestras had taught her, wasn’t in ridding oneself of emotion but in concealing emotion. To conceal a particularly strong emotion, you sometimes needed to layer another on top of it. Intentional expression was always preferable to unintentional.

She stepped onto the path, moving into the shadows, listening for any footstep heavier than a spider or a swallow.

None came. Not until Sota, his gardener’s boots impossibly light on the path behind her, made his presence known.

The sound of a babbling creek was near enough; Dani could only hope it would mask their conversation. It was here, in the safest place she could find on short notice, that she turned to face him at last, determined not to let him know she was anything but furious.

Her anger was an intentional one, layered over her curiosity until nothing showed but fire. She prayed to the gods in the leaves around her that it would be enough.

“What in the salt and sea are you doing here?” she asked, resisting the urge to pinch his arm like her mama had done to her when she’d been naughty as a child. “Do you even know how much danger we’re both in right now?”

“Relax,” said Sota, yawning. “They won’t see us. Nice digs, by the way.”

“What are you doing here?” Dani repeated, refusing to let him placate her with his easy demeanor. “And I swear to every god I know it better be good.”

“Feisty today, are we?” he asked, mischief dancing around his narrow mouth. “I have to admit I was hoping for a warmer welcome.”

This time, Dani didn’t have a clever retort. She just stood there, her mouth opening and closing without sound.

“Tough room . . . ,” Sota muttered. “Look, you seem to be a straight-to-business girl, so I guess I’ll come right out with it. I need a favor.”

“No,” Dani said. “Is there anything else?”

He actually laughed. “Hold on there,” he said. “I wasn’t finished yet. And if you’ll notice, it wasn’t technically a question.”

“It didn’t have to be,” said Dani, adrenaline making her bold. “I never agreed to do anything for you.”

“Ah, but you took my gift,” he replied. “Some might say that you owe me one.”

“Some might,” Dani bit back. “But I don’t.”

Sota’s eyes weren’t smiling now. “I’m sorry, but it’s not exactly up to you. Not if you don’t want to give up all this.” He encompassed Dani’s entire life in one sweeping gesture.

She said nothing.

“Good, quiet. That’ll make this easier. You’re going to a dinner party tonight. It’s very exclusive, as I’m sure you know, and I have reason to believe one of the little birds we’ve been speaking to is going to sing a very interesting song there. One we’d rather she didn’t sing.”

Dani stayed silent. He seemed determined to say his piece, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of admitting that she was curious about what he had to say.

“She’s a new Primera, like yourself. Been married just a year. Her parents are hosting the party. It’ll be the first time she’s been in the same room as her parents since we got in contact, and we believe she’ll attempt to come clean about our . . . relationship, to either her se?ora or her mama. Our intel says she’s close with both.”

“So you want me to, what, kill her?” Dani asked, her mouth getting the best of her in a way it hadn’t since before her training. With Sota, she felt like that little girl from Polvo again. The one who could beat all the boys in races and leave her fingertips longest on a hot stone.

“Observe her,” Sota said with an eye roll. “Listen in on any conversations she has with her se?ora or mama, especially in private. Then remember the details and be ready to pass them along at a time of our choosing.”

Dani was silent again, but Sota was the more patient one. He didn’t have a house full of people who would skewer him for speaking to her waiting just up the hill.