Persona by Genevieve Valentine Read Free Book Online

passed. Was one of them the person she was looking for? What if they hadn’t heard the news, hadn’t sent someone to the regroup point? What if they’d decided to get rid of her?
    What about Daniel?
    (Not your problem, she thought. He can deal with the consequences. That’s a worry that doesn’t touch your other worries.)
    A familiar awning came into sight—the street felt strange in three dimensions, but there it was, just like the postcard. She felt a weight off her shoulders. Daniel was looking at it with all the disgust someone who stole designer peacoats could muster in the face of a tourist trap.
    â€œCan we just go pick up a holographic Eiffel Tower for you to take home? There would be more dignity in it.”
    Touristy was the point. It took no notice of strangers.
    â€œThis is your last chance,” she said, looked him in the eye. “Keep walking, and you don’t have to worry about any of this.”
    Please, she thought. Be smart enough to run.
    He dragged his bottom lip through his teeth and looked at the restaurant sidelong.
    â€œThere’s nothing in there for you. This is handling a hazard of the trade, that’s all.”
    Something flickered over his face—fear, doubt.
    â€œI’ll watch your back on the way in,” he said finally, straightened his shoulders, and glanced behind him.
    She felt a pang, just for a second, looking at him. (If he meant that, if his lie was a small one, if she could trust him at all, that might be a fine thing.)
    Then she moved past him and stepped inside Café de Troyes.
    â€œAt least we can eat,” Daniel said behind her.
    â€œYou can. I’m vegetarian.”
    â€œOf course,” he said, gave her a face.
    But she hardly noticed. The riot of decor and voices faded as her focus narrowed to the small table in the back corner where a couple was sitting. The woman was facing the door; on her white sweater was a brooch shaped like a jaguar. And as soon as Suyana walked through the door, the woman was watching her.
    Suyana’s heart pounded, but she put on her best blank face, met the woman’s eye only for a moment before she asked the host for a table.
    He frowned at his bookings. “I’m sorry, but we have no tables, unless you’d care to wait?”
    â€œNo, thank you,” she said. “We’ll try again.”
    She turned to go a moment before Daniel could react, and she lifted her bad arm out of habit before she could remember.
    Before the pain could really hit her he was holding the door; he followed her into the little courtyard beside the restaurant and hovered beside her when she sagged against a wall, safely out of sight of the street.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he started.
    She shook her head. Sometimes she wished she smoked. Hakan had decreed that was something for later, when she’d aged out of being a Face and moved into handling. (“Too easy to give yourself away if you get nervous,” he’d said. “Use them when you really know how to use them.”)
    She put her palms to the wall behind her back, where she couldn’t fidget.
    â€œAny plans to tell me what just happened?”
    She looked up, said as discouragingly as she could, “No.”
    He shrugged, turned to face the far door of the courtyard. Whatever he was doing all this for, she hoped it was worth it.
    She tried to guess how long she had to wait. Two minutes felt like ages when you were waiting for this, your legs shaking and no watch to go by.
    â€œSomeone’s coming,” Daniel said, a moment after she saw movement from the corner of her eye.
    Her lungs went tight. “Stand back,” she said, and to her surprise, he slid a few feet into the shadows without argument.
    â€œWho is this?” he asked, voice tight and low. The last word shook.
    She said, “Don’t talk unless I talk to you.”
    It was the last thing she had time for before the woman reached