The meeting with Felix happened in a safehouse in the north of the city that smelled like old paint and careful neutrality, the kind of space that had been furnished to contain difficult conversations without adding atmosphere to them.
Aria was not in the room.
This had been Damien's condition, stated without cruelty but stated clearly: he needed to hear Felix without her presence as a variable in the dynamic. She had agreed. She had spent the hour in a car in the building's secure underground parking with Marco, who had brought coffee from somewhere and offered it without comment.
She drank it.
She looked at the wall.
Marco said: He'll be fair.
She said: I know he'll be fair. I'm thinking about what fair looks like if Felix's information is insufficient.
Marco was quiet for a momen
