Blackhearted Betrayal (12 page)

She gave a heavy sigh. “Haven’t you wondered
why
she suddenly changed her mind about hating politics after the debacle where she lost the election to Ekaterina, only to go after a Conclave seat again once freed from captivity?”

“Couldn’t the same be asked about your changing
your
mind about politics?”

A calm expression came my way. “I have little interest in the Moerae’s seat, Marissa, and more concern in bringing a traitor to justice.”

I couldn’t hide my frown this time. “Traitor? The Moerae?” I’d suspected her of that very thing myself, blinded by my loyalty to Stacia and innate dislike of Ekaterina, a mistake I would
not
easily repeat.

Nan nodded gravely. “Aye, the Moerae.
She
gave your mother and me the information leading us to Me—Medea twenty years ago.
How
else could she have such intimate knowledge of Harpy identities and locations if she weren’t in collusion with the nasty creatures herself? Your mother and I found Medea—along with several other Harpies waiting in ambush—exactly where
she
said we would.”

I blinked at that revelation. Mom had never let that tidbit slip; but, then again, barely a year went by before she disappeared, and I’d been too young for her to share
many of the details with. “So you think that—what—Ekaterina set you up?”

She nodded again. “Wholeheartedly. She and Stacia—” Her words cut off when I gave a jerk at the unexpected mention of my mentor. “You didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“That Ekaterina and Stacia were—lovers—before Medea became involved with Stacia. Ekaterina never got over her jealousy; she did everything in her power to break the two apart.”

Her words—though unexpected—had the ring of truth in them. I didn’t necessarily believe everything she was saying, but I
did
buy Stacia and Ekaterina having a romantic past. The Moerae was openly bisexual, and it would clearly explain why she later grew to so resent Stacia—and by extension, me. Before, I thought it had just been the fact that she and Mom had once vied for the same Conclave seat, but now …

“That still doesn’t explain why you think something is wrong with Mom.” Or, as sudden paranoia had me realize,
why
she’d tracked me down here at the PD to discuss her concerns, alone. Or
was
she alone? I pulled in the tiniest hint of magic and enhanced my physical senses. Sure enough, I could now hear the softest of foot scuffles and rustles on the flight of stairs below, enough to make me think there were at least three or four people concealing themselves. Concern for Trinity pricked, but then I registered that I had heard the fire door on the next landing open and close and knew they’d let her leave before rushing in.

Nan didn’t catch on to the sudden tensing of my body—or my infinitesimal use of magic. “I believe Ekaterina is manipulating her, has been since her return.
If you’ll just return to the Palladium with me, I’ll show you the proof.”

Oh, for the love of gods. Now I had to worry about
family
abductions? She’d obviously brought the backup below in case she couldn’t persuade me to go along quietly. I didn’t have time to accommodate her, either. Time was a-ticking, as the insistent Mandate buzz in the back of my brain reinforced. My mind whirred, trying to come up with a feasible plan to get rid of Nan and her goon squad without bloodshed (mine) or breaking my cover. I could easily shift to Nemesis form and take on all of Nan’s friends, but that would ruin the element of surprise. If they
were
all working for Anubis—as now seemed likely—and saw me in Nemesis form, they’d warn him, and he’d reach the logical conclusion: The Triad was gunning for him. He’d find out soon enough, of course, but I at least wanted to get through that portal before he did.

I decided to go with one of the things I did so well: BS. “I find it hard to believe …Okay, okay, I guess it’s only fair to hear both sides of the story.” I made a show of glancing at my watch. “But I have some loose ends to tie up here. I’m meeting several mercs in my office to go over some work for the PD. How about I meet you tomorrow morning?”

She fell for it—not that Nan had any reason not to. When she’d last dealt with me, I’d been a younger, more biddable version of myself. Not to mention a preadolescent not yet dealing with Fury Rage way worse than any PMS. “You can’t cancel this meeting?”

I let a smile touch my lips. “Yeah, cause it’d be
such
a good idea to drag badass arcane mercs to the PD this late at night only to cancel on them.”

She smiled in turn. “Fair enough. Then I will look forward to seeing you tomorrow, lassie.” Gods,
who
used to call me that? “Just ask to be shown to my quarters when you arrive.”

My turn to nod, then—because it would be weird for me not to—I reached forward and hugged her. It felt stranger than when I’d first embraced Mom after her unexpected return. Nan didn’t hug me back initially, which didn’t help the sense of awkwardness. After several seconds, she patted my back slightly, as if we were mere acquaintances. I was seriously picking up on the same
off
vibes Mom had. Something was wrong with Nan; and as soon as I got done laying down the smack with Anubis, I’d find out
what
.

ONCE I GOT RID OF NAN—PRETENDING ALL
the while to be unaware she had been prepared to abduct me if I hadn’t given in gracefully—I hurried to my office, half-fearing another ambush or catastrophe to waylay me although I made it unaccosted. Charlie and Sahana sat around the table shoved against one wall while Mac lounged in my office chair, doing gods knew what to my desktop. The shiny new computer he and David had set me up with had gone a long way toward making me
not
loathe computers with every fiber of my being as I once had. Not that they would ever replace Jack D in my heart.

I shot Mac a pointed look. “Comfortable?”

“Extremely so. And you’re late.”

The door slammed behind me when I kicked it, inspiring Sahana to jump and Charlie to raise an eyebrow. “Problems, darling?”

Besides apparently brainwashed grandmothers willing to kidnap me if I didn’t do what they wanted me to?
I activated the room’s spell against eavesdropping with a quick touch of magic. “You have no idea. Okay, so, I’ll make this short and not so sweet. Mac: You at all familiar with Nemesis?”

He pushed slightly away from the desk. “You mean, like your snake?”

Good thing they both were in tat form since people kept calling them
snakes
like they were ordinary creatures—and now they could verbalize dissatisfaction when that happened. “Same name, different story. I’m talking Nemesis as in the immortal version.”

“Ahhh, you mean those Furies chosen by the Triad to hunt down immortal criminals. Yeah, Mom told me all about them when …you know.”

When he was still under Stacia’s brainwashing and Mom was held captive by the mortal scientists—back before Mac busted her out.

“Yes, exactly. Well, long story short, the Triad chose Mom and me to serve as Nemeses because one of the lesser gods has been a very, very bad boy.”

Mac blinked several times, then stood, disbelief in his expression. “Wait—whoa—what? I thought you and Mom just had to do a little housecleaning in the Sisterhood. Are you saying that an actual
immortal
is behind all this?”

“Afraid so. Well, at least we think it’s all connected. Nan’s awakening, her refusing to speak with Mom, her challenging the Moerae, the split within the Sisterhood …The Triad believes one of the Death Lords is making a power play, swearing Furies to himself individually, not to mention other lesser gods.”

Charlie let out a piercing whistle. “What’s he trying to do, start a war?”

“Pretty much. There’s no other logical explanation, really.”

Mac frowned. “So,
which
Death Lord?”

I looked him straight in the eye. “Anubis.”

He let out a sharp breath. “F-uuu-ck.”

“My sentiments precisely.”

Mac understood why this sucked so bad on a personal level in a way no one else could. “Gods, Riss, no wonder you didn’t want me to say anything to Elle.”

Charlie cleared his throat loudly. “Ah, correct me if I’m wrong, Riss, but didn’t Anubis threaten to kill you if you stepped near him again?”

Damnation. Of
course
Charlie knew about that. I must have confided to him after the first time we’d saved each other’s lives. Too much postadrenaline Jack Daniel’s.

“Death is the last thing
I
have to worry about now; I’m a Nemesis, remember? Full-on demigoddess while working for the Triad.” At least for the next three days.

He looked slightly reassured. Sahana and Mac, on the other hand …Not so much. She opened her mouth to speak, but I raised a hand. “It’s a done deal; I have the Mandate, which is nonnegotiable. I get that you guys are concerned for my safety, but here’s the reality: If we don’t nail Anubis’s ass to the wall quickly, war is pretty much guaranteed. Not just among the Furies, either. We’re talking
Clash of the Titans Take Two
without any Hollywood ending.”

Sahana heaved a sigh, then stood with a resolute expression. “How can we help?”

No hesitation. No prevarication. She just calmly assumed that her pitching in was a guarantee. Pretty
humbling, really, especially considering we were mostly colleagues who had just became friends over the past few weeks.

Mac, not to be outdone, stepped around the desk and touched my shoulder. “Yeah, Riss, what can we do?”

My eyes felt a suspicious stinging sensation that I shoved aside for the moment. Plenty of time to get all sappy
after
we headed off yet another looming war.

“Okay, so …The down-and-dirty answer is that Mom’s looking for evidence that Mr. Jackal-Faced
has
sworn Furies to himself, which will probably be all kinds of boring. I, on the other hand, have the much more exciting—and dangerous—task of looking for evidence against him on his home turf.”

Charlie’s eyes got as big and excited-looking as a Goblin in front of a malfunctioning ATM. “You mean …”

“I’m headed to the Underworld, and you all get to come along for the ride.”

After
I made a quick telephone call to my mother, letting her know about my little run-in with Nan. If we got lucky, Mom might be able to corner her when she returned to the Palladium. Hey, a Fury could
hope
, right?

MY CLAIM THAT I HAD TO GET SOMETHING
from Hounds of Anubis before we hit the Underworld—which was the truth, but not the
whole
truth—didn’t faze any of them. They waited out front while I—disguised once more in mortal form—popped into the oversized, block-long building that housed Liana Murphy’s arcane antiquities store along with the Murphy mercenary headquarters. I cornered Scott’s full-blooded
Egyptian Warhound mother in her office next to the store.

“Liana, just the woman I needed to see.”

A sincerely pleased smile crossed her face as she rose from her desk and moved to hug me. She’d made me squirm—just a little—in the weeks after Scott and I reconnected, but she knew we truly loved each other, and that was all that mattered to her. No big surprise, considering she’d given up her rich and snobby Banoub relatives in order to marry Scott’s mortal father, Morgan.

“To what do I owe this unexpected surprise, Marissa?”

“I’m on official Fury business, and I need to ask you a few questions, but I can’t tell you why.”

She didn’t even bat an eyelash. “Ask away, then.”

I let out a breath, grateful that she had granted me the same unwavering loyalty all Murphys showed each other. Of course, I felt a little guilty knowing I would use whatever expertise she shared with me against her personal deity, but I didn’t exactly have a choice.

I’d had time to ponder what strategy might work best for not only proving Anubis’s guilt but managing to capture him on his own home turf, where his powers would be the strongest. Only one possibility immediately sprang to mind.
Every
religion among mortals and arcanes had some sort of belief pertaining to the divine judgment souls would face upon their deaths. I planned to use that fact against old Jackal-Faced.

“I need to know whatever you can tell me about Egyptian Reckoning lore as it relates to Warhounds.” Since they numbered among the few to still worship Anubis almost precisely the way Ancient Egyptians had way back when.

She blinked. “The long version or the short version?”

I glanced at my watch. Just after eleven. “Whatever you can tell me in—say—thirty minutes or less.”

Never one to mince words, Liana proceeded to do just that and gave me precisely the strategy I’d been hoping for.

BOSTON JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT—ESPECIALLY
in the Underbelly—bore so little resemblance to its daytime self that one often felt as if the border between this world and the next had been unknowingly traversed. This was, strictly speaking, an impossibility given the fact that no one, whether mortal, arcane, or divine, could ever
accidentally
pass from one realm to the next. On the other hand, it wasn’t a complete non sequitur, since the thresholds between worlds did become
easier
to cross at certain times of the day and year—thus the timing of our midnight rendezvous.