Niv scoured the airwaves for a while, but all the news was awful. Only an hour had passed, since the synchronized explosions all over the city. Dozens of people were injured; each side was blaming the other; spontaneous street demonstrations turning into brawls. Fires were burning out of control. All the mammoth-drawn trolley lines were out of commission for the foreseeable future.

The city was in a state of raw panic. The Shield himself phoned in to speak with one radio station, his voice sounding eerily young and cheerful.

These terrorist atrocities are not our doing, he said. This is just another example of criminal elements in the othersider community attempting to discredit us.

Police Commissioner Bahrr was on the radio as well. Demanding the queen take action immediately, to make magic illegal, to mandate that all othersiders wear an identifying mark on their clothing, to establish a curfew.

“He’s been demanding she do all that for years now,” I said. “He knows she won’t. So why keep asking?”

“Because every time she refuses, the press hammers her over it,” Niv said. “Says she won’t keep her people safe. Some even call for her to abdicate. Very smart of him, actually. He knows he can’t attack her directly—she’d fire him. But he can play the press against her. The constant media attacks have diminished her popularity, the past couple years, and made him more popular.”

He switched the radio off. We sat on the floor with our backs against the bed, side by side, knees touching. Connor snored from the top bunk; Ash slept silently on the lower bunk, right behind us. Only a couple of hours had passed, since the queen’s speech.

I pulled two tatamis out from under the bed, and unrolled them.

“You sleep,” he said. “I should stay awake and . . . stand guard.”

Sirens sounded, from outside. He turned and looked at Ash, her noble sleeping profile, and then he reached out to touch her arm. As though he was convincing himself she was real, she was alive, she was safe. For the moment.

“Don’t be an idiot,” I said. “You’re exhausted. I can see it in your face.”

He started to protest, but I put a hand over his mouth. I felt him smile. When I took my hand away, he yawned.

“See? Get some rest. We’re safe here.”

I blew out the lantern. Niv lay on his back, and I lay down beside him on my side. Facing away. Six slim inches separated our mats. I could still feel the heat of him. People said firesiders and lightningsiders had abnormally warm bodies, but I was pretty sure that was faulty folklore masquerading as science.

“They’ll kill me for this,” he said. “For running away with her. Kidnapping her, essentially.”

I opened my mouth to say, Of course they won’t, but of course they would.