Page 40 of Ties of Deception

The words made my throat tight, and I swallowed thickly. I hid the note in the thigh strap of my sandal and slipped the plain gold band onto my wrist. I might have imagined it, but its weight seemed familiar.

I’d been trying not to think about Ethen too much in case I let myself get distracted or carried away when I needed to be behaving perfectly today. But it looked like that was a lost cause. He was everywhere.

I left the rest of the jewelry untouched in the boxes and stood to give Flavia a nod to show that I was ready. Together, we entered the corridor to the petitioners’ room.

You fought until the end. And you won. Always.

This god had such unshakable faith in me, and now Flavia did too. Even when everyone else doubted that I could do this. They both gave me strength.

I twiddled the bracelet and smiled to myself. I would fight, and I would win.

I nodded to Flavia and strode into the room. I remembered the joy of all the people I had Blessed who truly needed it. And I would Bless these people who had come today—not for me or to save my own skin. I wouldn’t even think about the empress anymore. I would Bless these people for themselves, for their happiness mattered as much as my own. That would be my focus.

“So we needto find out how the priests are stealing souls from the Unseen Lands, giving them the powers of Ismara, and changing their bodies.” I popped a grape in my mouth as I sat opposite Ethen. He was in a particularly distracted mood this evening, though his eyes would soften every time they flicked to the bracelet around my wrist. He had come to congratulate me on my first day of successful petitions.

He took a sip of his wine and leaned forward in his chair, propping his elbows on his knees. “I have a plan, and it’ll work best if we work together. All the people in the palace are naturally cautious around me and aren’t about to spill their secrets near somebody they see as a borderline enemy. However”—he grinned at me, his face full of mischief—“if you can gain their trust, and if they believe you are nothing more than something they can use, you could find out many things I can’t. Secrets. Clues. Anything. There must be several people in the court who know at least some of what is truly going on. Meanwhile, I will do everything I can to keep you safe.”

I chewed on my lip as I thought. “The prince has been showing an interest in me. Maybe, if I go along with it, he will give me a way into the palace, an excuse for being there. Especially if I want to access areas not normally permitted. If I’m accompanied by him, I would be allowed to go almost everywhere.”

Ethen grimaced. “Be very, very careful with him, Purity.”

I couldn’t help a teasing grin and raised my eyebrows. “Is he making you jealous?”

His scowl deepened. “Of course he will make me jealous if he’s trying to seduce you. But it’s more than that. From what I have seen, he enjoys courting every goddess he can and doesn’t care about the consequences. He seems to have a taste for pretty women and stealing their Blessings. And of course he gets away with it since he’s the empire's prince. I…don’t like him.”

I kept my knowing grin in place. “I’ll be careful.”

He continued to scowl into the middle distance. “See if you can get closer to Constance too. She seems willing to take you under her wing. She is very clever. In fact, we think she may have been here for over a century. My father thinks he might have even met her when he was the Aidis and visited Atos, but that’s only going by my description. There have been multiple goddesses for each name, so we can’t be certain. Either way, she is sure to have noticed things she turns a blind eye to.” He looked back at me and raised a finger. “But becoming a good player of this game is learning that Constance is just as dangerous as Charity. The two of them will stop at nothing to become the next empress.”

I nodded. There really was nobody I could trust here. I wanted to trust Ethen so I could have a rock in this confusing, unforgiving place—a perspective to see this world by. But for now, I kept at least some of my guard up against him too. I was useful to him after all, so he had a self-serving motive to involve me.

A sudden thought struck me, and I raised my head to look him full in the eyes.

He gave me a wary look and leaned his head back. “I know that look. Whatever you’re about to say is not a good idea.”

I opened my mouth in indignation. “How dare you say that when you haven’t even heard what it is yet!”

He sighed. “Well, I expect to be proven right within the next thirty seconds. What is it?”

I folded my arms. “I thought we were meant to be a team that supports each other.”

He grinned at me. “Yes. In that we support each other in wise courses of action that will result in us both—, well, surviving.” He rotated his hand at the wrist. “Come on. Out with it.”

I frowned at him and raised my chin but continued. “Your plan relies a lot on luck. There is one sure way I could find out the information we need to know.” The tension in his face betrayed that he knew what I was about to say. I continued anyway. “If I am chosen to be the next empress, I will be givenallthe information. Gaining Graces is essential to how the empire rules after all.”

Ethen’s expression was stony. It was strange how his face could change so suddenly—humorous and teasing one minute, hard and serious the next. “You’re going to marry Prince Sebastian?”

“No, no, no. I’ll merely go as far as getting into this contest his mother is organizing for his hand. Somehow.” I waved my hand. “We can discuss how later. Anyway, I have no intention of actually marrying him. But I’ll be in the thick of things in the palace, and the empress will be obliged to share some things with me if I become Sebastian’s first choice.”

He shook his head slowly. “To do so would put you at great risk. Every Grace would have a motive to target you. Not to mention you would be under huge scrutiny by the empress herself—she already doesn’t like you. And then there’s the prince. He would need to choose you as his potential bride. You would have to act as if you’re happy to be with him. Flirt with him.”

I nodded, though the enormity of what I was suggesting was only just starting to sink in. “You can help me beat the other goddesses. And as soon as I know the empress’s secrets, I’ll leave.” At his uncomfortable expression, I felt the need to repeat myself. “I wouldn’t actually marry Prince Sebastian. Or kiss him. Or…anything. I’ll tell him I only want to kiss after marriage or something. It will make me different from what he’s used to. Hopefully intriguing.”

Ethen’s expression remained heavy. “It still carries enormous risks of you being harmed or even killed. And if you’ve been reborn once already, your soul doesn't go to the Unseen Lands a second time—you cease to exist. Besides, the empress might not share the information we’re looking for with you until you are indeed married to Sebastian. Maybe even years later.”

My mind was racing, thinking about all the possibilities. “But I would still be their confidante. I would be privy to huge amounts of information. And I bet Sebastian’s tongue is looser than his mother’s, especially if he was trying to impress me. I could work on him until he told me.” The more I thought about it, the more this seemed like the best way of getting the results we needed. “The empress has given Sebastian a list of suitable Graces. It suggests she wishes for him to choose a wife soon.”

Ethen still looked very unhappy about the idea. I touched his arm and he startled at the contact before relaxing into it. I gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be careful. I have no intention of letting him get too close to me. And if everything goes wrong, you will be able to take me out of this place at a moment’s notice, won’t you?”

---