Without a moment to rethink it, Ariana hurtled herself to her feet.
“Lexa!”
Every single person in the room turned to look at Ariana. Lexa’s eyes flicked past Conrad’s shoulder and widened when they came to rest on Ariana’s panicked face. And then she looked down at the floor.
“I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” Lexa said. “I have to go.”
Then she dropped Lillian’s form on the floor and ran out, letting the doors slam behind her.
“What was that about?” Rob said.
Instantly, everyone started talking. Tahira got up and nudged Ariana. “What the hell was that? Why did you yell at her?”
“I . . . I wanted to make sure she was okay,” Ariana said off the cuff. Her fear was already beginning to subside, leaving behind the clarity of what she had just done. The oddity of her actions. “Was I that loud? I didn’t realize.”
Tahira simply shrugged, watching the mayhem as the meeting deteriorated around them.
“Maybe I should go after her,” Ariana said.
“No.”
Palmer’s voice filled the room. He was right at her shoulder. A chill went down her spine as his directive brought all conversation to a halt.
“No one goes anywhere,” Palmer said. He squeezed Ariana’s hand, then turned to the circle. “I want to see the execs right now. The rest of you hang out until we’ve had a chance to talk.”
Palmer planted a comforting kiss on Ariana’s temple, then walked over to an indentation in the wall, just behind Lexa’s headstone. Conrad, April, Soomie, and Rob followed. Ariana watched them closely. She knew they had to be discussing Lexa, and she had to find out what they were saying.
“Hey,” Jasper said, appearing at her left shoulder. “Anyone ever tell you you look hot in that robe?”
Ariana narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t you mean Soomie looks hot?” she said.
Then, leaving him with his mouth gaping open, she walked away from him and Tahira and joined Maria, who was closest to the confabbing exec board.
“Okay. What do you think is going on with Lexa?” Ariana whispered.
“I don’t know,” Maria replied under her breath.
“. . . acting crazy . . . ,” Rob said.
“She’s just under a lot of stress,” Soomie defended.
“So are the rest of us,” April put in, clearly hurt and pouting over it. “You don’t see any of us freaking out.”
“She really hasn’t been sleeping at all,” Maria added. “The other night I woke up at three A.M. and she was in the bathroom, scrubbing her hands. I mean, what’s that about? It’s like she’s suddenly gone all OCD on us.”
“Weird,” Ariana agreed, swallowing back a new thump of dread. She was right about the imaginary blood. She knew it. She tilted her ear toward the group behind her.
“. . . know I love the girl,” Conrad was saying, “but this is unacceptable.”
“He’s right. We have to look out for Stone and Grave’s larger interests,” Palmer said.
“You guys, what’re you saying?” Soomie asked fretfully. “You can’t mean—”
“And then her mom called at six o’clock this morning,” Maria said, drowning out Soomie’s words. “I mean, the woman knows she’s not sleeping, so she calls at the crack of dawn? What’s that about?”
Ariana’s fingers curled into fists over having a vital bit of the conversation spoken over, but she knew it didn’t really matter. Because she knew in her heart of hearts what the execs were talking about. They were talking about removing Lexa as president of Stone and Grave. They were saying that if she didn’t get her act together, she was going to lose her position of power.
Which meant that, as Lexa’s best friend, she would lose any power she had in Stone and Grave as well—before she ever even got the chance to find out where that power could take her.