We Set the Dark on Fire (We Set the Dark on Fire, #1)(27)
“Oh, Daniela?” she said.
“Yeah?”
“You’re pretty good.” She winked. “But I still have my eye on you.” And Carmen meandered off toward the east side of the house, leaving Dani to walk the long way around, wondering what on earth she had meant.
She was back in her room, about to lie down and try to forget the world, when she realized she had only an hour to get ready for the Reyeses’ dinner party.
It was already time to don another one of those hundred shades.
This one was as simple as zipping up the floor-length black gown she’d found hanging in her closet. Sleeveless, high necked, it was fashionable without sacrificing modesty. That’s what Dani would have to be tonight. The green Primera at her first social event. The proud girl on the arm of the city’s most decorated former bachelor. The trusted ex-roommate of Jasmín Flores.
She needed something well-executed. Something that would paint a thick layer over the truth: that she was, as of an hour ago, a resistance spy being blackmailed by La Voz.
“Se?ora?” came a voice from the hallway. “The car has arrived.”
“I’ll be right down,” Dani replied, looking at herself in the mirror one last time. The cheeks that still hadn’t given up their roundness. The lower lip that was always fuller than the top—her mama said it was from worrying at it with her teeth so much.
She smiled at the memory, tucked her cropped hair behind her ears, and closed her eyes for a moment. The dutiful Primera, she told herself. Trying to contain her excitement at attending her first society party. Sharp-witted, but prone to a wandering gaze that took in the splendor around her and laughed self-deprecatingly at her own wonder.
A hundred shades of a girl . . . She’d never admit it to Sota, but it had a nice ring to it.
In the entryway, she adjusted her dress, lingering for just long enough to register that she was looking for Carmen. Dani scoffed at the empty room. She only wanted her rival to see her dressed as a perfect Primera, she told herself. To replace the view of her sheepishly exiting the bushes on the heels of a gardener.
But she wouldn’t get the chance tonight.
“Good evening, Daniela,” said Mateo, standing beside the car with her door open wide. “You look . . . nice.”
Dani dropped her hand at the sound of his voice. No fidgeting. No nerves. She belonged in this dress. With the strange weight of the watch he’d given her on her wrist. She belonged with this man, his pale linen suit cutting handsome lines against the night.
Whether he believed it or not.
“Good evening to you as well, se?or.” She took his hand, allowing him to help her into the back seat. “The peach was a bold choice.”
“I’m nothing if not bold,” he said, with a wink that made her want to cringe.
She leaned against the back of her seat instead, focusing on the trees and the purple dusk of the sky beyond, thankful for the quiet.
But too soon, they were pulling up the Reyeses’ drive, their house illuminating the jungle surrounding it. “Are you ready?” asked Mateo, and Dani paused for a moment, as if she were steeling herself. In reality, she was testing the coverage of tonight’s shade. Making sure nothing of the truth shone through.
“Yes,” she said at last, her voice ringing.
“Well, we’ll see about that,” he replied, smirking as though attending a dinner party was something far above her level of qualification.
Remembering Se?ora Garcia’s words, Dani didn’t stay silent this time. “Se?or, with all due respect, I deserve a lot more credit than you’re giving me. If you want me to waste away filing invitations for the rest of our lives, it’ll be your loss as well as mine.”
Something gleamed in his eye, and in the dark of the car Dani couldn’t tell if he was impressed or furious. “Well,” he said, his voice inscrutable, “I guess we’ll see about that, too.”
When he turned to climb out of the car, Dani allowed herself a small smile. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt she had gained some ground tonight.
Inside, they were greeted by a maid, who took Dani’s handbag and escorted her and Mateo into the reception room, where the other guests were milling around with pre-dinner drinks. It was best to arrive slightly late, Mateo had said in the car: to make the room receive you, instead of the other way around.
Dani could feel her training glinting on top of her skin like a set of armor. This was a world she knew how to navigate. Stay close to your husband until you’ve been introduced to everyone new. Make sure they see the two of you together. Break away just after, to show that you’re independent, self-motivated, educated on your husband’s positions politically, professionally, and socially, and ready to speak with his voice should the need arise.
She had only heard about these parties. The ones where laws were unofficially passed, where deals were brokered over wine and appetizers and signed into being the next morning. Where the real currents of power flowed among people who had earned their places at the table.
Together, Dani and Mateo became the crowd’s new center of gravity. He outranked everyone present, and Dani absorbed his status. He’d paid enough for the privilege of her company, after all.
“Oh, what a delight it is to see you finally settled, Mateo!” said their hostess, Se?ora Reyes, when they approached the bar. “And with such a well-regarded Primera. You must be overjoyed.”