"What?!" Noah's palms hit the table. "Aurelius would never help Arthur!"
Nobody argued.
That was the worst part. Noah stood there breathing hard, waiting for someone to push back so he'd have something to push against, and nobody did. Sophie looked at her hands. Diana held his eyes and didn't blink. Miss Brooks set the remote down on the table, very carefully, the way you set something down when you're done using it for a while.
"We know," Sophie said again, quieter.
"You don't know. You can't know, because it doesn't make sense." Noah pushed off the table and turned in a half circle, like the answer might be somewhere on the walls. "He hates Arthur. Arthur's the reason half the families won't sit in a room together. When we went after Arthur the first time, Aurelius sent ships. He sent ships! He didn't even ask us what we were paying."
"I remember," Diana said.
"So why would he turn around and..."
"I don't know, Noah."
