Page 55 of The Star's Sword

“How does she have time for this?” I asked, holding Samael’s hand in one hand and Zadis’s in the other now. I could feel both of their bonds joining me, strengthening me. Knowing they believed in me made me feel a bit better, but it was still an almost scary thought to realize that a huge group of people, or vampires, could be so sure they knew me even when they knew nothing but lies.

“She’s gaslighting everyone about who is real,” Cayne said. “But why? She won’t be able to pass the trials like this.”

“If enough vampires vote for her, won’t there be no trial?” Zadis asked.

Cayne cracked his knuckles. “There will be a trial for Cleo, even if I have to make her the only contestant in the voting.”

Samael smirked, clearly agreeing with the idea, but Zadis sighed.

“I think we just need to start getting dirt on Vasara,” he whispered, as we crossed through the small hedge maze that led toward Simon’s human project and home. “Shouldn’t Simon know something? Those two have been getting closer lately.”

“I’m not sure,” Cayne said. “Simon never does anything without a purpose. But as far as I know, he always entertains celestials when they come to his keep. He may not be that close with her.”

“They’re dating,” I blurted out.

Cayne stopped short. “What?”

“He told me to say they were,” I said. “So I think they’re pretty close.”

Cayne was paler than I’d seen before. “Dating? Simon is datingthat?” He shook his head. “He would tell me.”

“He told me to tell you,” I said. “He also wants to feed on me.”

“I’ll be damned,” Cayne said. “So maybe he will have some secrets. Regardless, if he wanted to tell us about it, he would have by now. I know him well enough to know how stubborn he can be.”

We entered the gate that led to the human dome, since Cayne had the password, plus a key to Simon’s home.

We were all settled inside, with Cayne getting juice for us out of Simon’s fridge, when a knock pounded on the door, followed by Simon walking in, looking exhausted.

He slammed the door behind him, wiping a small bit of what looked like blood from the side of his mouth as he gave me an apologetic look. “Again, Cleo. I’m so sorry. They can be stupid sometimes, but if I’d known the vampires were going to be this easily fooled, I never would have involved them.” He wrung his hands. “If what Selis feels is correct, we’re best just abandoning the vampires as allies.”

“No,” Sam said abruptly. “If there is any way to have allies and save Cleo’s strength, we need to take it.” He looked at Zadis, who was drinking a glass of purple juice and sitting on one of the teal-cushioned chairs. “Zadis, you’re the diplomat, what do we do now?”

Zadis looked at his juice, darkly. “Kill Vasara?”

“No,” Sam said. “Something else. There has to be a way. If they can be convinced one way, they can be convinced the other.”

Zadis shook his head. “Once most creatures believe they are right, once they have formed an opinion, even if on shaky ground, their brains will do anything to defend it. They will literally ignore anything that doesn’t confirm their view.”

“Oof,” I said.

“Plus you can’t underestimate the influence of social pressure,” Zadis said. “Even if you could convince some, no one wants to go against the crowd. Especially with an eighth realm celestial at the head of it.”

“Is that high?” I asked. “I thought the powers were exponential.”

Zadis folded his arms. “To most, any celestial is somewhat terrifying. To the vampires, the idea of a celestial who is also a vampire like them is charming. The fact that she moves among them wins them over. They don’t understand her ulterior motives, or that since she doesn’t care about saving the world or feeding starving vampires all she does is for her own gain only, and for attention.” He slumped slightly, looking defeated. “I’m not sure what we can do.”

“We have to try,” Samael said. “Come on, think. Simon? Cayne?”

Cayne opened his mouth, but Sam glared. “And don’t say kill her.”

“I mean, we could have Cleo confront her, publicly. See if she doubles down.”

“I wouldn’t,” Simon said. “It will just look like Cleo is attacking Vasara, and back up all of Vasara’s lies.” He shook his head. “I thought if I kept her busy, she wouldn’t have time for nonsense like this. I don’t know what to do.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I’m at a loss. Knowing so many of my thralls are willing to believe lies about my friend. I will lose many in my settlement.”

“You’ll throw them all out if they don’t vote for me?” I asked.

Simon folded his arms and sat in a chair, frowning. “I wouldn’t have, if they had waited to form an opinion and given a fair vote. After all, I have held back from lobbying for you so as to not appear biased. Honestly, we need to look into the blood issue. How your blood could be mislabeled as hers.”

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