The car lurched dangerously, swaying from side to side.

Gripping the steering wheel, her heart thundering, Rito wondered if one of the tires had been hit.

She swerved to avoid an oncoming truck, muttering obscenities under her breath.

Her mother’s stern admonishment buzzed in the back of her head, and for the first time in hours, Rito laughed.

“I’m glad somebody’s getting a kick out of this,” Fasih intoned from the backseat.

Rito rolled her eyes. “And I’m glad Maganti didn’t manage to kill us. Spending the afterlife with you would’ve been so annoying.”

“Something you wouldn’t have had to worry about if you hadn’t come barging into that dank hellhole with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball.”

“It’s not her fault,” Milli piped up, leaning in to touch her face, as if she couldn’t quite believe that Rito was real. “She came for me. Because I sent her that picture. God, Rito, you shouldn’t have. You could’ve been killed.”

“As could all of you. How is my death so much worse than any of yours? You really thought I’d sit back and do nothing, once I knew? Besides, you’re one to talk.” She grabbed a crumpled pamphlet from the dashboard and threw it at the two men in the back. “I called both of you as soon as I had Milli’s location. But of course, you morons were too busy getting kidnapped and tied up by darling Rinisa.”

“Not like you fared much better, is it?” Jehan quipped.

“Is it true that you stole Amven samples from the QRI for Rinisa?” Abhijat asked quietly.

Rito froze. “Who–” She threw another crumpled pamphlet, this time aiming for Jehan’s head, her eyes on the rear-view mirror to make sure she didn’t miss her target. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“In my defense, at the time I was pretty sure I was gonna die. Keeping track of the intricate web of Shian family secrets wasn’t exactly at the top of my list of priorities.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I was blackmailed,” Rito said, pressing down on the brake as the car skidded on a stray piece of rock. “And I didn’t actually manage to steal anything at the end of the day, so it doesn’t even matter.”

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Jehan chuckled. “You realize that says more about your incompetence as a thief than your moral integrity, right?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Abhijat said, abrupt.

Rito glanced at the rear-view mirror to see him gazing out of the window, his eyebrows furrowed and shoulders tense.

“I should’ve known she’d try something like that after what happened in Weritlan,” he murmured. “I should’ve–”

“You should’ve what? Seen the future? Read Rinisa’s mind?” Rito swallowed, forcing herself to stay calm. “This was as much my fault as yours. There’s nothing you could’ve done to protect me. But you know what’s more important? It isn’t your job to protect me. Not anymore. Damn it, Abhi. I’m not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself.”

“Which is more than can be said about your brother,” Fasih interjected through a massive yawn.

“Will you shut up–”

“No, he’s right,” Abhijat said, before Rito could finish her tirade. “You’ve no reason to trust me, after what I’ve done.” He sucked in a shuddering breath, then continued. “He’s right, Rito. I messed up. Horribly. None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t fallen for Rinisa’s goddamned lies.

“I thought...I called Maa and she...” he sighed, shaking his head. “Well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. What matters is that I almost got all of you killed. I trusted Rinisa when she said that Fasih had betrayed us–”

“And why wouldn’t you?” Rito snapped, stepping on the accelerator. The car felt cramped and suffocating all of a sudden. “Jehan never trusted you. Or any of us, for that matter. Not unless he had no other choice. And even then, he never once told us the whole truth. And if you never trust anyone with anything, you don’t have any right to expect they’d trust you when the time comes.

“We aren’t mind readers, are we? How the fuck were we supposed to know Jehan was trying to keep Amven out of Maganti’s hands, when he never bothered to fucking tell us? I mean, good intentions are great and all, but what’s the point if no one knows you have them?

“But of course, asking for help isn’t an option when you fancy yourself a loner alpha wolf, or whatever.” She scoffed. “He thought he could outsmart everyone, do everything on his own. And come out the other end unscathed.

“Well, it backfired. Surprise surprise!” She glared at Jehan through the rear-view mirror until he ducked his head. “Life isn’t one long game of chess where you have to capture every pawn until you’re dead or the board’s empty. It’s a fucking team sport.

“And if you spend all your time manipulating everyone within a hundred feet radius, they’re going to return the effing favor first chance they get.”

She swerved, sending them all crashing into each other. “And if our so-called prodigy can’t get that through his thick skull, that’s no one’s fault but his own.”

The silence, while it lasted, was deafening.

Rito had expected many things, including being told by Jehan that he’d have her arrested as soon as they landed in Qayit.

What she hadn’t expected was for the prime minister to break into a fit of giggles and flail around helplessly, next to her wide-eyed brother.

“Well,” Jehan huffed, after a solid minute of hiccup-y laughter, wiping tears from his eyes. “I’ll be damned. If they ever write a biography of me, I’ll be sure to give them your number. I don’t think anybody’s ever given me a more succinct psych evaluation than that.”