Page 82 of The Tenth Muse

Regret laced my words. She hadn’t thought of the reason I could never have stolen the book on my own, but she would figure it out eventually. Selene was smart, and when she puzzled things out on her own, she would have questions about my intentions. I hated knowing it would hurt her. I couldn’t see a way around it, though. We had this opportunity, and we needed to take it, one way or another.

“Tonight,” she agreed with a smile I didn’t deserve.

nine

. . .

Selene

It had takenme a week to reconsider my stance on things when I got the news that Lysistrata Endymion was coming to town for a lecture. TheBook of Hourswas Aurelia’s ticket into a world she’d have had to fight for years to climb into otherwise. I knew, because my family had fought tooth and nail to get into the position we were in now, how hard that could be. I could change things for us, for the Monas, in other ways, but this might be Aurelia's best chance.

I had been willing to let her have the book, knowing full well that she might reject me and run off with it. Her response had been a pleasant surprise. Now all I had to do was wait for sunset. Lysistrata Endymion’s lecture was over at ten, and my source at the Palace said she had a ticket booked back to Nuva Troi for the midnight train.

We had plenty of time to get the book, give it to Lysistrata, and have a celebratory dinner. Inside the cottage, the phone rang, and Mother answered. Absently, I turned the page in the magazine that I pretended to be reading on the porch. The afternoon was over-warm, and being in the house was nearlyunbearable. I closed my eyes and relaxed into the hammock. A nap was just what I needed.

“Darling,” Mother said, coming out on the porch. “That was Belle Wyndsal. Geyrion took ill in Nuva Troi. Isn’t that terrible?”

My heart thumped at the sound of Belle’s name. She was Geyrion’s great-niece, and a piece of work. “Terrible,” I agreed.

“He’ll recover,” she added, blithely. “Anyway, she’s down for the week and has invited you and Aurelia to a party tonight. We can’t go. We’re off to that lecture I told you about.”

The same lecture as Lysistrata would be at, on the effects of celestial bodies on sorcières who had not yet manifested their talents. Belle’s little party was a snag in my plan, but we could work with it.

“Wonderful,” I agreed. “I’ll send a note to Aurelia.”

“You’ll go?” Mother asked, her eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. Typically, I had a little speech about the ways Belle had wronged me when we were children. I ought to have given it.

I shrugged, smiling. “Sure. One can’t stay mad forever, now can they?”

Mother shook her head. “I’ll never understand you, Selene.”

That was probably true. I launched myself out of the hammock and followed her into the house. I had a message to send Aurelia about our change in plans.

Four hours later, we arrived at the party. Aurelia was gorgeous in her tuxedo, but she’d been quiet on the cab ride over. As we stood in the villa’s driveway, the Nea Sterlis night turned chilly. Overhead, the stars danced above us, and in almost any other circumstance this might be a wonderful evening.

But something was obviously wrong. Even if I couldn’t read what it was from Aurelia’s expressions, I could sense something was troubling her. I fussed with the skirt of my gown, nervous.

“You look beautiful,” she said.

Her words were wistful, and the way she stood back from me had me worried, my thoughts shooting ahead of me. Perhaps she’d rethought her stance on things. Or maybe she’d talked to someone about me. I was rather unpopular with the society set. All she’d have to do was read back issues of theTimes, and Section Seven, to see that.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

She sighed. “I never could have taken the book on my own, Selene.”

I glanced around, making sure no one else was in earshot. There were bound to be plenty of immortals here with keen hearing. I wove threads of magic around my fingers in a quick muffling spell. “What do you mean? Of course you could have.”

Aurelia swallowed hard, not meeting my eyes. “I could havetakenit, yes. But Lysistrata would never take the word of someone like me that it wasn’t stolen.” She met my eyes now, defeat evident in the rounding of her square shoulders. “You always had to be a part of this. Your family is respectable, and mine isn’t.”

If only I’d seen this sooner, figured it out on my own. I shook my head. “So, what? You’re just using me?”

“No,” she said. “I’m not.” Aurelia sighed, scrubbing her face with a worried hand. “But you’ll never know. You’ll never be sure.”

It was, of course, possible that this was all a part of the con. That Aurelia was testing me one last time to make sure she got her way. Or she was truly worried that I would spend the rest of our lives wondering if she really wanted me. I knew whatmy decision was. It was a bit unconventional, but pairings were made in stranger ways.

“You’re right,” I answered, my heart racing with the thrill of righteous subterfuge. “I’ll never be sure.”

She nodded, raising her hand to hail another cab from the line forming in the driveway, dropping off guests. No one paid us an ounce of attention. A cab pulled away from the curb, heading straight for us. Everything was so easy with Aurelia, and I had been taught that relationships were hard. That a woman of my particularly difficult nature would have to prepare herself for an unhappy pairing.

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