Page 30 of Ties of Deception

I turned and stared at Ethen. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because he is the sort of person who a Graceshouldsee instead of spending all their days making pretty flowers in the palace gardens. I wanted to pick somebody deeply in need.” He looked at me with a knowing smile. “You’re about to change the course of fate for his entire family.”

I swallowed. “I am?”

He nodded. “You are. Because you’re a Grace, and you have come to visit him. You are so, so powerful, Purity. Don’t let them think you are small.”

I imagined those six children crying for their father. My breath shook. The clay mug smashed, scattering the flowers.

I expected an admonishment, but Ethen’s voice remained calm and steady beside me. “I know. It’s all right to be sad. It’s all right to weep, Purity. Don’t be afraid to feel it. If you shut out their pain, you will lose the will to help them. And if you only focus on your own happiness, they will lose theirs.”

A tear rolled down my cheek as I nodded. His words made so much sense. I didn’t want to become self-absorbed and caught up in dangerous petty games like many of the Graces I had met in the palace. I wanted to behere. Helping. Really helping.

I walked over and laid a hand on the man’s arm. His skin was so cold and clammy that I feared he had already passed away, but his lips twitched in his sleep. A tear dripped from my chin onto his arm. I pictured those six children again, but this time happy because their father had come home. I imagined his pregnant wife crying tears of joy and relief because her love had returned and she no longer had to provide for her children alone.

I smiled through my tears, and the world seemed to become a better place. The man’s skin grew warm beneath my hand. He gasped in a huge lungful of air and opened his eyes. He no longer appeared thin. His eyes met mine, and I stepped away. He stared, his lips parted but unable to make words.

I smiled at him. “Go home to your family,” I whispered.

Behind me, others were stirring too. One was excitedly pulling bandages off his arm. Another stepped out of bed, telling everyone to wake up and look at his leg.

I raised a hand to my mouth. A room that had been full of so much suffering was now full of even greater joy.

Ethen leaned close to me. “Quickly, we should head to the women’s ward before we get kicked out for waking everyone up.”

I followed his lead, but we didn’t even have to walk between the women’s beds, before the occupants were also waking up in amazement and calling for the others to see their healed wounds or exclaiming that they could breathe easier than they had in years.

Ethen chuckled and lowered his lips close to my ear so I could hear his soft words over the increasing noise. “I think it’s time we left.”

We headed for the door, trying to sneak away, but the matron from earlier caught my sleeve, her eyes round and shining.

“I know what you are, my lady. That is clear. We cannot repay you. Thank you. Thank you. Nobody of importance has ever visited us here before. Tell us where we may come and make an offering of thanks.”

I shook my head. “You don’t need to thank me. I merely walked around. You are the ones who have been working so hard with so very little. You deserve the thanks of all the people in Yienna.”

Ethen stepped up to the woman, suddenly his normal looming, intimidating self. “Don’t tell anyone she was here. We need to keep her safe. Let people think the individual patients becoming well was the result of your hard work and not piece together how many have been made well tonight. I trust the patients can be somewhat discreet, even if there are two dozen of them. Certainly don’t give them our description. If people keep spreading the news that a Grace was involved, don’t give away any clues which one.”

The matron bowed. “We’re in a deprived area, my lord. I suspect little of our gossip reaches important ears, but I will implore the patients to keep tonight as secret as possible.”

Ethen nodded and spirited me out the door.

Chapter

Twelve

The hospital might have been in a poorer area, but Ethen seemed quite content to let me choose whatever path I wished as we wandered around the claustrophobic alleyways. His sword was back on display, and quite a few people scurried away from us, including drunks staggering home from a late night out drinking.

My mind raced. “I just don’t understand. I’m a new Grace, so it makes sense for them to want to keep me sheltered until I can control my emotions. But many others are so powerful. If it really is that simple for goddesses to improve people’s lives, why is there still suffering in the city? Why were these people so grateful for my visit? It’s not hard to walk around Blessing people. If anything, it will make us happier and so make our districts more prosperous.”

Ethen didn’t reply straightaway. He pushed back his hood and ruffled his hair. “Many goddesses start off trying their best to help their province and their people. Often the third to ninth months of their stay are the most fruitful for their sponsors. Then they get distracted. Most people only expect their Grace to be profitable for three or four years.”

I spread my arms. “Distracted by what? How can anything be more important?”

The god of death gave a small shrug. “Politics. Games. Each other. You see not everyone wants everyone else to be happy. And sometimes becoming happy means sacrificing others. Many of the goddesses want to make powerful marriages. And of course, the empress likes to stick her hand into everything… though I’m still not sure what her reasons are for much of what she does.”

I licked my lips. “Drusella was very worried when I was summoned. And…she was right. Both of my trips to Fierro have been disasters.”

He gave a curt nod. “I’m not surprised Drusella is worried. For all she knows, this is the end of your focus on her district as you realize there is a big wide world out there. You have no official obligation to stay with your family. She doesn’t want you to get distracted, and she doesn’t want you to get hurt.”

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