Page 43 of Ties of Deception

My heart was thudding so hard, I didn’t dare to meet his eyes, so I continued staring at our entwined fingers. “Do you care that I look different? You must miss being with the real Snow. And I imagine I don’t act completely like her either since we don’t have the same memories or experiences.”

He squeezed my hand in reassurance. His voice was rough and earnest. “I would recognize you in any form, in any lifetime. I’m sure of it. Even if we weren’t Fated, you are still you. Nothing else matters.”

We sat like that in silence and the seconds seemed to rush past. Neither of us wanted to break the spell we were under, bringing us close and uniting us as one, while the confusing emotions of past and present crashed down around us. But nothing could break the warm fuzziness that occupied my chest. Nothing could overwhelm the comfort from his hand.

At last he sighed, breaking the moment. “I’ve been in Fierro, in the palace. If you still want to go ahead with your plan to join the contest, we need to move quickly. The empress has written to the list of people she wishes for Prince Sebastian to consider as his bride, and she has invited them to join her in four days. If you wish to enter, you need to be there, and you’ll need to do something that forces her to consider you too.”

I ran a finger over my bottom lip. “But I need an excuse to go back to the palace. Nobody expects me to ever set foot there again, and Drusella would be devastated if I leave just when petitions are starting to work well. Not to mention I won’t be able to Bless the people of Yienna.”

Ethen squeezed my hand once more. “You can’t take on the weight of the whole world all at once, Purity. We need to focus on our goal and then do what we can.”

I stared down into space, saying the words I’d worried about ever voicing aloud to him. “If we stop Graces being born, everyone here will suffer.”

“Not necessarily. We need to find out the whole story first. If what is going on is wrong, we have to stop it. We can find other solutions to help the people of Atos. Graces are immortal, remember, and there are currently almost forty on Atos. If the system was made fair, those that remained could still Bless the whole island if their attentions were redirected.”

I thought about it for a moment longer. If people were being reincarnated against their will but given happy lives of luxury—was that so bad if it made a whole country prosper? The Graces couldn’t even remember their past lives.

But then I thought of Serene and what she must have faced. The monster Charity had become. The way goddesses were so vulnerable and forced to believe whatever their families told them. The unfair way they used their power to Bless. And then Ethen’s comment about Grace’s souls being destroyed…

I looked at the god who was watching me quietly, studying me. “What happens to goddesses when they’re retired?”

He looked away with a sour expression. “I’ve had men watching this for the last two years. They simply disappear. They never leave the temple where they attend the retirement ceremony. We’ve searched for them even beyond Atos and Hassia, but they’re never seen again.”

I shivered. Did that mean they were being killed? Or locked up beneath the temple? I rubbed my forehead. Things just seemed to be getting more and more unpleasant while the stakes grew higher.

He pulled our entwined hands onto his thigh and used his free hand to trace my fingers as if to memorize every curve. The gesture was so distracting that all of my other questions fled. “I have arranged an excuse for you to visit Fierro, if you’re willing to go ahead with our plan. But I want you to know that, if you prefer to stay here and focus on Blessing the people of Yienna, that is also fine. Both are important.”

I pressed my lips together. “No. I’ve decided to do this. I can’t know this much and not know the rest. You’re right. If the Graces are being treated in an immoral way, things shouldn’t continue like this. I want to help you.” It would also be a good excuse to get to know Ethen properly and truly see what he was like when it wasn’t just me and him in a calm villa.

He nodded and ran a fingertip over the edge of one of my nails. I didn’t move an inch, transfixed.

He tilted his head, his eyes still on my hand. “I have arranged for Drusella to receive a proposal for Priscilla. Drusella is currently eager for her daughter to make a good match, especially now you have elevated their social standing. A very influential family in Fierro is about to ask Pris to join them for two months in the city to be a companion for their daughter. They also have an eligible older son. Pris would meet a lot of people through this arrangement as well as be out of her parents’ hair. Drusella and Hermon will leap at the opportunity.”

I frowned. “What has that got to do with me?”

He grinned. “The condition of the letter is that you accompany Pris for the first week. They say they would like to meet you. Though you will be allowed to stay at Drusella and Hermon’s villa rather than living with their family.”

My frown didn’t drop. “How did you arrange this?”

“I’ve lived here for three years now. I’ve made connections. They owed me a favor of a slightly embarrassing nature and will be discreet about it.”

“But a week won’t be long?—”

He squeezed my hand. “If you pass the first test and the empress lets you become a potential daughter-in-law, there would be absolutely nothing Drusella and Hermon could do to bring you back to Yienna until the empress is done with you.”

I let out a long breath. It sounded like he had thought of everything. I was really doing this. In four days I would be plunging straight into the thick of their games.

“You can always change your mind,” Ethen murmured.

I stood, releasing my hand from his. “No, I’m ready.”

And on a sudden urge, I strode to the little bird stuck it in its tiny cage so it could sing songs to those around it and unlocked the door. When it hopped onto my hand, I took it to the pillars and lifted it up to the moon. It spiraled into the gardens in a smudge of crimson, singing pearls of excitement into the night.

Chapter

Seventeen

Having met the family Pris was staying with yesterday, I was now left to my own devices at our villa in Fierro. I had only taken Flavia with me, wanting to maintain some degree of privacy. And Flavia was the one I trusted the most.

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