Smoke and Ceremony

Talia POV

"Trust me," Lucius said.

"Every step," I said.

He went left.

I went right.

We didn't look back at each other.

Which was harder than it should have been.

I heard Rhea before I reached the preparation room.

"No. FEWER pins. The entire point is that it looks slightly wrong. Adding more pins makes it look right. Do you understand the assignment?"

I pushed the door open.

She turned.

I looked