Page 76 of Poisoned Empire

“I’m to enchant the lot of them. I may go mad before the end.” Iliana swept her hand across the room.

“I’m not sure I follow. Is this voluntary on your part, or do I need to have a second and final discussion with your… man you intend to keep?”

Iliana didn’t like that Selene was hostile towards Marduk. She supposed it would be a slow process to reintroduce them as friends, like trying to get two angry cats to sit peaceably together.

“Yes, I agreed to this. It’s in case our fathers decide to come with their armies. Wait, did you sayseconddiscussion? What happened during the first?”

“Oh, you know, there might have been some dick measuring, I may have nearly murdered him. It’s okay though, we worked it out,” Selene remarked casually as she ran her hands over the fletching of the arrows arrayed throughout. “But that’s not important. I had a hell of a time finding you, and an equally difficult time getting here. Why are you under lock and key?”

Iliana wanted to scream, just a little. She would have to confront Marduk about this later. She could picture the conversation now.

“So did my best friend try to kill you?”

“Oh that? Didn’t seem like a big deal. Just another day, right?”

“As long as you’re not upset about her homicidal tendencies…”

“Not to worry. It keeps things interesting, doesn’t it?”

Stubborn fiancé. Stubborn friend. She did her best to push those angry thoughts away.

“No one is supposed to know that the arrows are enchanted, or how I do it. The prince wants this very hush-hush. Also, it is not okay that you tried to murder Marduk. I’m going to marry him soon, and I want him unharmed.”

“It’s not like I didn’t have a good reason,” Selene muttered, chastened.

Iliana waited, her arms crossed and her brow raised.

“Okay, okay, I thought he was lying about his feelings and the job at the forge. I figured it’d be better if for him to die than break your heart and stomp on your dreams.”

Selene set her lips in a mulish line, daring her to disagree with the assessment. Maybe Iliana was a touch mad herself, because it warmed her heart a little to know Selene cared as much as she did. She grabbed Selene up in a fierce hug.

“Agh! Ribs!” Selene wheezed.

“You’re so cute sometimes. But he was telling the truth.”

When Iliana set Selene down on the floor, she was given a baleful glare by her friend.

“You know, everyone looks at you and thinks you’re perfectly normal. You want a good job, a good man and a good home. But I know very well you would have made a special dagger with his name on it if he’d been lying. You have patience in spades, but when it runs out, well, you’re scarier than me.”

“And don’t you forget it.” Iliana winked. Very few things made her truly angry. But after losing her mother and stepfather, she simply didn’t tolerate threats to the safety of people she loved and valued. While she might not have killed the strategos had he been lying, she would have been sorely tempted to leave him a few important bits short.

Selene’s swam with guilt as she played with her hair.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you the other day. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Are you going to tell me why?”

“The memory spell I had on me broke and forced me to relive some painful things.” She hugged herself, eyes askance.

Iliana could see her struggling to think of a way to explain it. The dread in her eyes was real. All Selene had ever told her was that she knew she’d had a memory spell placed on herself and she’d done it willingly. Also, she’d warned her not to dig into it. Iliana had speculated about what a woman who personified the saying ‘devil may care’ felt the need to forget, but she decided it was none of her business and a moot point. Now that the spell had broken, she could see the turmoil. For the first time, behind the brashness, there was distinct vulnerability. Loss and grief hid behind that shield of emotional invincibility. Not for the first time, Iliana wondered if the woman she’d come to know had slipped so far into pretending nothing could hurt her that she’d truly believed it herself. At least until something finally came along to shake the foundation of that belief. She reached down and put a hand on her shoulder.

“You can tell me the details some other time when you feel ready. I accept your apology.”

Selene’s anxiety seemed to vanish before her eyes.

“So, what’s this hush-hush business you’ve been conscripted to do?”

“You remember when I toyed with the never-miss enchantment on those darts so we could clean up at the taverns?”

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