EMBER’S POV

“Ember—”

“No. No. You want me to walk into the most dangerous room on the continent, in front of a room full of rogues who read lies off your skin, and sell that I’m there to—to violently edge a bloodthirsty street-fighter while pop-quizzing him on car parts?!” I gesture wildly. “Why does it have to be that? Why can’t I just be a bored heiress who wants to gamble? Rich people gamble! That’s a whole thing rich people do!”

“Because gambling gets you the ground floor,” Nathaniel says patiently. “And the ground floor doesn’t touch Devika. The floor she runs — the floor where the real secrets get...