“I had no idea you kept such tight tabs on her schedule.”
Coralia’s coral lips spread into a saccharine smile. “It was a good thing someone was keeping tabs on her. After I noticed those missed dates, I grew suspicious. So I sent one of my people to spy on her. His name is Hunter. He found her with the rebels. He took the photograph.”
“I’d like to speak to him.”
“I’m afraid you’d find that conversation decidedly one-sided. As part of his sworn oath of secrecy to me, Hunter cut out his tongue.”
Ew.
“If only Saphira had chosen an Inquirer who possessed the magic of telepathic communication. Any other soldier here would have done.” Coralia looked across the gods and goddesses before she turned her haughty gaze back on me, searing smile and all. “But then, Saphira never was all that clever. No intelligent, self-respecting goddess would ever be caught dead with a bunch of rebel scoundrels.” She placed the back of her hand on her forehead in a melodramatic gesture. “And rebels in Lord Eros’s territory, no less. I suppose the wedding is off. For shame. I was really looking forward to seeing Lord Eros in a wedding suit.”
So Coralia was not only trying to discredit Saphira; she was also trying to steal Saphira’s fiancé—and all his influence and supporters too. The woman’s ambition obviously didn’t concern itself with morality.
“You might not be able to speak to my Hunter, but you can speak to Saphira’s bodyguard Calix. Talk to him. He knows the truth. He knows Saphira is really a traitor.”
I walked away from Coralia with a decidedly foul taste in my mouth. I knew she was trying to knock Lady Saphira out of the Choosing. But then why was she sending me to Saphira’s most loyal supporter? Coralia was up to something. And I had a sinking feeling that my talking to Calix would play right into her hand.
But I did it anyway. What else could I do? I had no other leads, and I’d already spoken to almost everyone else at the party.
“Lady Saphira’s travel itinerary is none of your concern,” the stony-eyed bodyguard declared.
“So she did go somewhere she should not have gone?” I replied.
“Lady Saphira is a goddess. She may come and go as she pleases.”
“Your stubborn refusal to answer my questions is not helping her case. Everyone else answered my questions.”
Mostly. Except for Coralia’s absent, tongueless lackey. But even if the mysterious Hunter could have talked, I knew the only words that escaped his mouth would have been the ones Coralia had put there. Anyone who cut out his own tongue to please his boss was not a freethinker.
“My Lady has done nothing disreputable,” Calix told me. He was only partially paying attention to me; his eyes were tracking Saphira from across the room.
“Surely, you don’t watch her every second,” I said.
“Are you familiar with what a bodyguard does?”
Was this god bantering with me too? My time with Heaven’s Army had forced me to reevaluate my belief that humor was a gift beyond the all-knowing gods’ understanding.
“I have been Saphira’s bodyguard since she was a child. I know what kind of person she is.” His expression darkened. “And I know what kind of person Coralia is.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly helpful. It was, however, not surprising. Coralia couldn’t be the only god who’d sworn her people to secrecy. She might just be the only one of them who made them cut out their own tongue. I didn’t even want to think what you had to do to make sure an immortal god’s tongue didn’t grow back.
If I really wanted answers, I had to go to the source. I had to speak to Saphira. I could feel Calix’s gaze following me as I cut through the crowd on my way to her.
“Lady Saphira, time is short, and the gods are impatient, so I’m going to get right to the point,” I said as an opening.
“Please do.” Her tone was even, her hands folded serenely before her. She didn’t even look aggravated by my abruptness.
“Coralia has spoken of gaps in your schedule, missed appearances at a few of the Lords’ Galas and the like,” I said. “She believes you were in secret meetings with the rebels during those times.”
“She would think that. Coralia always has to see the worst in people.” Saphira sighed, as though Coralia’s character flaws truly saddened her. “Yes, I was in secret meetings during those absences, but not with the rebels. I was meeting with several other lords and ladies, trying to gain their support in the Choosing.”
“Sometimes for weeks at a time?”
“Making friends takes time, and a friendship is the key to gaining loyal allies.”
“Apparently, they weren’t so loyal after all.” I glanced at a whispering cluster of gods watching us from the other side of the large water fountain.
“They did not denounce me at once when Coralia showed that photograph. Were I not a friend, they would have.”
“That’s a rather bizarre take on friendship.”
“Gods are not human, Leda. Most of us understand friendship in a very different way than humans do.”
“And do you understand friendship in a very different way than the other gods?” I asked her.
She chuckled softly. “What a bold way to speak to a god.”
“I’ve never been very good at behaving myself.”
“Yes. And no.” She considered me carefully. “You don’t always follow the rules, but you always follow your heart.”
“My heart hasn’t led me astray yet.”
“But it has gotten you into a lot of trouble.”
“It’s much easier to fight your way through trouble than through a guilty conscience.”
Her dark brows drew together. “Are you quite certain you are Faris’s daughter?”
“So they tell me. As for me, I keep waiting to wake up and learn it was all a bad dream.”
“We don’t all follow in our father’s footsteps,” she said. “You are writing your own destiny.”
“Trying to, but all these gods and demons and Guardians keep getting in the way. And it doesn’t help that trouble seems to follow me wherever I go.”
“Oh, trouble isn’t following you, Leda Pandora,” she told me. “You are following trouble. You followed it here, to the Lords’ Gala. Luckily for me, you seem to have an uncanny knack for sorting out trouble.”
“You picked me to be your Inquirer because you believed I could sort out your trouble.” I glanced at the gossiping gods. “But to do that, I need your help. Tell me the truth. If all you were doing was making friends with other gods, why keep those meetings a secret?”
“Look around,” she replied. “Most of these lords and ladies do not trust one another, let alone can stand being in the same room with one another. To secure their friendship, I must be subtle. I cannot very well tell one of my existing allies that I am meeting with a god that happens to be their sworn enemy. And so I must sometimes make alliances in secret.”
“But surely your old allies eventually find out about your new allies.”
“Eventually, perhaps. But by then they’ve moved on. Their enemies are different now.”
“If the gods are in constant flux between friend and foe with one another, then at any given time, at least some of your allies aren’t getting along.”