it’s okay. This is your life we’re talking about.”
He closed his eyes for a heartbeat, shaking. Finally, he pulled away from her and looked down at the email.
“If you send this . . .” His voice caught. “Pat will be in as much danger as me. If the mobs find out we’re related, even just that she knows me . . . it paints just as much of a target on her back as on mine.”
“Not just as much,” Nita said, though she’d thought something similar when she’d first crafted this plan. Perhaps that was the real reason she hadn’t talked to him about it—because at its core, it endangered his sister, and Kovit wouldn’t want to do that, even to save his own life. “It’s still a crime to hurt her. Many people won’t want to deal with murder charges.”
“And many won’t care about the consequences.”
“Perhaps.” Nita met his eyes. “But Pat can take care of herself. And besides, she’s your sister. Do you really think she wouldn’t do anything she could to help you?”
He bit his lip. “We can’t make that decision for her.”
“She’s already said as much. She said she’d do anything to help you when I spoke to her.” Nita inclined her head slightly. “But you know her better than me. Do you think she’d take this risk?”
Kovit hesitated, then looked away. “She would. I know she would. But that doesn’t make it right. I can’t . . . I can’t let my sister share my fate.”
Nita let out a long breath, then grabbed Kovit’s chin and turned him to face her. “Kovit. You’re going to die if we don’t discredit the list. We can hide, and we can fight, but we won’t make it. We can’t go small. We have to go big. You’ve already admitted Pat would do this to save you. I’d do anything to save you. Why won’t you let us help you?”
He blinked watery eyes and gave her a soft smile. “Because I’m not willing to trade my life for yours or hers.”
Nita made a frustrated sound. “Please, Kovit. It’s not a trade. It’s just a risk. She hunts unicorns, for fuck’s sake. You really think associating with you is more dangerous than unicorn hunting?” Nita arched an eyebrow. “High opinion of yourself, huh?”
He snort-laughed, then was quiet for a moment. “Do you really think this plan will work?”
“I don’t know.” She tilted his chin up with one finger. “But I’m not going to sit here and let you die. And I think it has a chance, so I damn well want to at least try.”
He pulled away, and stared down at his fisted hands, his whole body still shaking from fear or adrenaline or someone’s pain on the street, Nita didn’t know.
Finally, he whispered, “Okay.”
“Okay what?”
His voice was heavy but firm. “Send it. Let’s try.”
Nita’s body slumped in relief, and she put her hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed. “You’re making the right choice.”
“No, I’m making the selfish choice.” His smile was small and bitter. “But I don’t want to die.”
Her chest tightened.
“You won’t,” she promised, but she was scared she was lying.
Kovit held out his hand, scrolling through the email, taking one last look at the pictures included in it. All of them taken by Nita as insurance when they were in Toronto. Kovit and his sister hugging in the train station, the two of them smiling and laughing as they chatted. A link to the CBC news segment of the café’s anniversary, with Kovit and Pat figuring obviously in the background chatting. And also the pictures of Kovit’s sister talking on the news, the banner underneath advertising her status as an INHUP agent. And lastly, just now, Nita copy-pasted the link to Kovit’s entry on the Dangerous Unnaturals List.
She didn’t say what their relationship was, didn’t draw any conclusions. Just commented, interesting that an INHUP agent is so friendly with a zannie.
Finally, his finger rose, hovering above the Send button. He held Nita’s gaze for a moment, and she saw the fear and guilt battling there together for a moment before the resolve won out and he pressed the button.
She let out a breath as he put the first nail in INHUP’s coffin.
Twenty-One
THEY SAT TOGETHER for a little while, backs against the concrete barrier as Kovit tried to gather himself, wiping his eyes ferociously, as if he could wipe away all the evidence of his humanity. But the more he swiped at them, the redder they looked,