Page 49 of Ties of Deception

Tamel nodded with raised eyebrows. “It was.” He tutted and shook his head as he stared into the middle distance.

Ethen groaned, leaning back his head. “Oh, come on, it wasn’t that bad. Stop exaggerating. We’re trying to trigger her memories.”

Ben leaned forward, ignoring the prince. “I had only seen you from afar at the Erebus races when the Aidis started talking about you soon after. This mortal girl he kept going to meet.”

Tamel blew out a long breath with wide eyes. “You would have thought him seventeen. Not one hundred and five. He just kept on going.”

“Every single day.”

“For weeks.”

Ethen sat up straight, scowling. “She asked you when you met her. Not when youheardabout her.”

Ben shrugged at Ethen. “Well, Ifeltlike I’d met her a dozen times before you properly introduced us.” He turned back to me and started counting on his fingers. “I knew the names of your entire family, every place you’d lived, your favorite foods, even your fashion sense. The details of the disease center you ran. I know less about my own sister.” He looked over at Tamel. “But at least, I don’t have to be embarrassed abouthowwe met.”

Tamel frowned at him. “Embarrassed? Why would I be embarrassed? She simply beat me in a race.”

Ben snorted. “And since when do mortals beat high-ranking Aida in races?”

My lips parted. “I beat you in a race?” Me, who couldn’t even hold my own body weight and struggled to ride a horse?

Tamel nodded, shooting a glare at Ben. “You did. You are…or at leastwerein your last body, very fast and athletic. But most of all, incredibly determined.”

I shrank back a little. “Oh.” I thought about how I had needed Ethen’s help to get over the wall of my villa and how amused he’d been. I’d done no exercise at all since being reborn. Had that changed his opinion of me?

Ben chuckled. “When you set a goal for yourself, Ienar pity anyone who came between you and that goal. Including Tamel in a race.”

Tamel raised one hand as he reminisced. “You wanted the prize money for the disease center you were helping to organize due to the pandemic among the mortals. There was a…what was the disease?—”

“Black cough,” Ethen interjected.

Tamel straightened and pointed a finger back at his prince. “Yes, that was it, black cough.”

Ben grinned. “Absolutely nobody was coming between you and that money. You looked ready to murder everyone who tried to overtake you.”

Tamel clapped his hands in delight. “And then, when you won and explained you would spend it on the disease center you turned to the Aidis—who was watching as a sponsor—and criticized him in front of the whole crowd. And it was abigcrowd.” He laughed. “I think at least half of Erebus was there.”

Ben chuckled. “Poor man didn’t know what to do with himself. I’ve never heard a mortal talk to an Aidis like that. Your speech lasted five whole minutes and nobody dared to intervene.”

I looked to Ethen. “I…insulted you in front of everyone? How well did I know you?”

Ethen grimaced. “We’d never met. You accused me of not doing more to help the mortals who were suffering due to the pandemic.” He spread his fingers and gestured to either side. “You had a point. Though we had already sent several Aida to help with supplies, and we were trying to keep the infected areas quarantined. I was…not expecting such a public tirade. Especially not when I was about to say all these nice things to you about being one of the only mortals ever to win the Erebus race.”

Tamel winked at me. “You said that if the pandemic was being properly financed you wouldn’t have had to go to all the effort of winning the race to equip your new disease center.”

Ethen spread his arms. “So naturally, I gave you the prize money and donated an equal amount to the center you were helping organize. But you didn’t thank me, you just used the prize money to open a second center.”

Ben shook his head. “And that’s when it started. Snow’s doing this, Snow’s doing that. Do we need to set up another pandemic meeting?”

Tamel nodded. “Dozens of Aida were reassigned to work on the pandemic. So many things were halted in the palace.”

Ben sighed. “And the Aidis was constantly sneaking off. Day or night.”

Tamel threw up his hands. “Until—at last—we were properly introduced. I thought then it might become more manageable, but he still talked about you all the time. You were always doing something new or fighting for a new cause. And now you had the Aidis behind you, you had the whole court worrying about what you would want prioritized next.”

I looked down at my hands. Could that have really been me? A young mortal who managed to change the priorities of an entire country? Who organized disease centers and ran grueling races? Who had the courage to criticize a god of death in front of hundreds of people? Snow sounded like she had been an incredible, strong, selfless woman who deserved to capture the heart of the Aidis. She sounded very, very different from me. What if Ethen decided I was too different now I’d been reborn?

I realized Ethen was studying my expression with concern as he abruptly stood. “I think that’s enough for one evening.” The two Aida stood without question, leaving their drinks almost untouched. They both bowed to me.

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