Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1)(61)

Diana looked over at Alia and Theo and saw him give her another wild spin. “Still?” she prompted.

“There were a lot of people with a lot to gain from my parents’ death. Michael didn’t buy into the conspiracy theories. He made sure there was a full investigation, and there was nothing suspicious. The roads were wet. My parents were arguing.”

“But you think there’s more to it.”

“You don’t understand.” He took a long breath. “They’d been arguing more and more.”

Despite the heat of the room, a chill settled over Diana’s shoulders. “You think that Alia was the reason?”

“I don’t know. If her power—”

“You seem immune to it,” Diana protested. “Your friendship with Theo has thrived. You and Nim spar, but you seem genuinely fond of each other.”

“But what if our mother and father weren’t immune? What if…what if they weren’t fighting because of problems at the lab or because they’d fallen out of love? What if…I don’t know.”

“Sure you do,” Alia said. She was standing right next to them in her dress of gold scales, Theo beside her, his hand still at her waist. Her dark eyes were wide and startled, the pain in them a palpable thing. “You think I killed them.”

“Alia, no, that isn’t what I meant—”

“Then what did you mean, Jason?”

Diana hated herself for being so thoughtless, for losing herself in the questions Jason had posed.

“I—I only—” Jason stuttered. “I didn’t—”

“That’s what I thought.”

Alia turned on her heel and fled through the crowd.

Theo shook his head, looking at Jason as if he were a stranger. “Why would you say something like that?”

“It’s complicated,” Jason bit out. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Theo flinched as if Jason had struck him.

“Probably not,” he said with an attempt at a disinterested shrug.

“I need to go find her,” Jason said. “She’s not—”

“No,” said Diana. “I’ll go.”

“I’m her brother—”

And I understand what it’s like to feel like your crime is just existing. Diana turned and hurried through the crowd before Jason could finish.

“Alia!” she called, wending through the partygoers.

Alia stumbled but kept moving. When she reached an empty corner near the back of the room, she leaned against the wall and shucked off her shoes, collecting them in one hand. With the other, she batted at the tears that had begun to fall.

Diana thought of Alia emerging from the bathroom in her golden mail, shoulders back, head held like a queen, and felt that something lovely had been lost.

She approached slowly, afraid Alia might take off running again. She said nothing as she took up a place against the wall beside her, and for a long while, they stood in silence, looking out at the partygoers, hidden by shadows broken by slices of colored light. She hesitated, unsure of where to start, but Alia spoke first.

“Why didn’t they send me away?” she said, a flood of fresh tears coursing over her cheeks. “If my parents knew what I was, why didn’t they send me somewhere I couldn’t hurt them?”

This at least was a place to begin. “You don’t know that you caused the accident.”

“Jason thinks I did.”

“Jason was just talking, trying to ease his own mind. He doesn’t blame you. He loves you.”

“How could he not blame me?” A sob caught in her throat. “I blame me.”

Diana struggled for words that might soothe her, and the only ones she found were those she’d whispered to herself when the island had felt too small, when Tek’s barbs had felt too sharp. “We can’t help the way we’re born. We can’t help what we are, only what life we choose to make for ourselves.”

Alia gave an angry shake of her head. “Tell me some part of you doesn’t wish you had never saved me,” she said. “You and I both know I should have died in that shipwreck.”

Hadn’t the Oracle said much the same thing? Diana had almost believed it then, but she refused to believe it now. “If you’d drowned that day, if you died now, it would only be a question of time until a new Warbringer was born. If we reach the spring—”

“So what if we reach the spring?” Alia said furiously, then lowered her voice as a woman in a black taffeta gown cast her a curious glance. She pushed off the wall and turned to Diana, dark eyes blazing. “So what if it fixes me or purges me or whatever? It won’t bring Dr. Ellis or Jasmine or the crew of the Thetis back. It won’t bring my mom and dad back.”

Diana took a breath and placed her hands on Alia’s shoulders, desperate to make her understand. “My whole life…my whole life people have been wondering if I had a right to be. Maybe I don’t. Maybe neither of us should exist, but we’re here now. We have this chance, and maybe that isn’t a coincidence. Maybe we’re the ones who were meant to break this cycle. Together.” Alia held her gaze, and Diana hoped her words were reaching her. “Your parents thought there might be a way to turn your power, the legacy of the Warbringer’s blood, to something good. By going to the spring, you’re fulfilling that promise in a different way.”