“You don’t need to vote in the Choosing to make a difference,” Stash told me. “We all have our roles to play, and it appears the universe has decided your part is to investigate Coralia’s claim about Saphira.”
“The universe is crazy,” I parried. “Can’t I get out of this?”
“No. A god accused of treachery can call upon any soldier in Heaven’s Army to be the Inquirer. Right now, at this very moment, you are a soldier in Heaven’s Army.”
“Great.”
So instead of standing at the sidelines, once again I was being pulled right into the thick of things. Drama really did follow around the Angel of Chaos like a lost puppy.
“Then I’d better get started,” I declared.
I spent the next hour doing the rounds, speaking to the gods and goddesses at the Lords’ Gala. What I discovered was nothing beyond the obvious. Saphira was universally popular. Everyone loved her. In fact, one of the gods I spoke to, tonight’s event planner, held me hostage for a whole ten minutes as he waxed poetic about Saphira’s sense of aesthetics. He called her attention to detail ‘divine’ and her creative touches ‘heavenly’. Apparently, Saphira had contributed a few ideas that had made it into this gala’s final design. The perfect goddess sure knew how to make friends.
And yet, if the accusations against her did turn out to be true, that Saphira had been aiding this rebellion, then each and every one of the gods who held her in such high esteem declared they’d want nothing more to do with her.
I wasn’t surprised by their attitude, but it didn’t bring me any closer to discovering whether the accusations against her were true.
After escaping the loquacious event planner, I found Lord Eros in the crowd. Saphira’s betrothed looked even more formidable up-close. I counted off another five weapons I hadn’t spotted on him from the sidelines, and at two-arms’ distance, I realized that his evening suit was actually made of scaled armor. Even his green eyes seemed to glow brighter when he was right in front of me.
“Lord Eros, may I speak to you?” I tried to sound polite, which wasn’t easy after talking to members of the gods’ lower nobility for the last hour. Their arrogance had whittled my manners down to my bare, naked nerves.
“Leda Pandora.”
Despite his bright and shiny martial regalia, Eros’s demeanor was reserved. His voice wasn’t loud or impulsive. It was reflective—and packed with quiet power. He did not sound like the kind of person to jump headfirst into things. He seemed to possess the immortal patience I so often failed to see in immortal beings.
“You are the daughter of Faris,” he said. “The one they call the Angel of Chaos.”
“My enemies call me the Angel of Chaos.” I smiled. “But my friends call me Pandora.”
“The Angel of Chaos. Pandora. Those are basically the same thing.”
“And, sometimes, so are friends and enemies,” I told him.
“I’d imagine that your penchant for chaos grates on our King Faris’s sensibilities.”
I shrugged. “Daddy doesn’t like it, but he’s also accepted that demanding I clean up my room is a lost cause.”
His forehead crinkled. “You are a very peculiar angel.”
Eros didn’t appear to have any sense of humor, but at least he didn’t condemn me for mine.
“So were you going to ask me something, or did you just come over to banter?” he asked.
There was something decidedly sardonic swimming in his eyes. Maybe I’d misjudged him. Maybe Eros had a sense of humor after all.
“I need to ask you about Lady Saphira,” I replied.
“Very well, but I must warn you that I hardly know her.”
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I have only met Lady Saphira a few times and only at formal functions.”
“But she’s your fiancée.”
“An impending marriage does not denote a personal connection.”
Since when? The gods and I really did live in completely different universes.
“From what I do know of Lady Saphira, she is every bit the perfect goddess,” Eros told me. “Well-educated, well-mannered, well-spoken. She works hard and is exceptionally driven. That’s why my family decided to ally with hers. Lady Saphira’s star is bright, her future all but assured.”
“Until Lady Coralia’s accusation,” I said.
Eros nodded. “Coralia’s accusation has indeed changed things.”
“Like the state of your betrothal?”
“Not as of yet. We must first wait to see how this pans out.”
“And if I cannot disprove Coralia’s accusations?” I asked him.
“Then my family will dissolve the engagement. I cannot marry a goddess who is nothing like what she is supposed to be. The whole reason for the marriage would be a lie. She would have no allies, no honor, and no chance of becoming one of the Seven.”
It was a cold statement, but it did get me to thinking. Surely, Saphira had not worked tirelessly her whole life to be the perfect goddess, only to throw it all away by aiding rebels. It just wasn’t in character. However, Coralia setting up Saphira in order to steal her allies would be one hundred percent within her character.
“Progress?” Stash asked, as I walked away from Eros.
I scanned the crowd. “I have to speak to Coralia. She stands the most to gain if Saphira falls.”
“Lord Eros is a close third,” he told me.
I glanced back at the stony-faced god. “No, he’s more interested in battle than in politics.”
Stash laughed. “You’ve certainly got him figured out.” He pointed at the fountain with the floating teacups. “Coralia’s over there.”
I hurried over to her before another crowd of new admirers swarmed her. Ever since her declaration, she’d been surrounded by other gods and goddesses. I needed to get her alone.
I ran, managing to cut off a goddess in a gold gown before she reached Coralia. The gold goddess glared at me. I smiled back, pushing my magic down my pale hair to make it glow a shockingly wicked shade of diabolical purple. The goddess’s eyes locked on to my hair. They grew wide, dilated. Then she shook off my enchantment. She shot me a dirty look before she turned and brusquely walked away. I’d been working a lot on my siren magic lately, but obviously I still had a ways to go before I could compel a god.
“Lady Coralia,” I said.
The evil goddess’s mouth twisted into a wide smile. “Leda Pandora, the one who will condemn Saphira for her treachery.”
“You’ve already done a fine job of condemning her yourself.”
Coralia’s giggle was soft, high-pitched, and sounded like she was trying to clear something from very high up in her throat. “Her actions speak for themselves.” She balanced the damning photograph between two fingers and passed it to me.
“You’re giving this to me?”
“Think nothing of it, child. I have many more where that came from.”
I pictured the wall of Coralia’s evil lair covered in copies of that photograph. I probably wasn’t far from the truth either.
“Where did you get this?” I waved the photograph.
“Over the last few months, Saphira has missed several important social obligations. A couple of galas here, a few visits to her allies there.”