The green room was small and overlit and smelled of coffee and someone's anxiety, and both men arrived in it within thirty seconds of each other.
Lila was already there. She had walked off stage at a pace that said controlled exit rather than retreat — a distinction she had cared about even in that moment, even with Damian's words still ringing through the summit hall and two thousand phones already pulling up search engines. She stood in the middle of the room with her arms folded and waited for the door to open.
Kane came through first. His face was the face he wore when he was containing something large at considerable personal cost. He looked at her and the look said everything — are you all right, what do you need, I am here — without any of it leaving his mouth, because Damian was
