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“I wish I could have a look under that woman’s veil,” I said to Nero. “Her voice sounds kind of familiar.”
I reached for the veil, but of course my hand went right through the woman’s head. Too bad. I had a nagging suspicion that this was important.
The woman gathered the artifacts into her bag, then she turned and left the room.
* * *
The doorto the meditation room opened, and Grace looked up into the face of her sister Sonja, the Demon of the Dark Force.
Arina had brought us to the next stop on the Road of Time so smoothly that I’d hardly noticed the change of scene.
Sonja’s eyes dropped to Grace’s belly, which was considerably rounder than it had been in the last memory. Grace cast a spell that had her fully dressed at the snap of her fingers.
“You conceived a child with that self-righteous peacock Faris,” Sonja snarled at Grace.
“Stay out of my business, Sonja.”
“Your business is my business, sister.”
“How did you find out?”
“The how is not important,” replied Sonja. “What’s important is why. Why did you do this? Are you smitten with the god?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Of course not.”
“Good. Because then I really would have had to kill you. The gods are so…” Sonja’s beautiful, immortal face scrunched up “…vile.”
“What do you want?” Grace demanded.
“Don’t take that tone with me, Grace. I’m here to help you. If the other demons on the council found out about your indiscretion…” Sonja clicked her tongue. “They would not be pleased. They’d strip you of your positions and titles. They’d likely kill you too,” she added breezily.
“The only way the others on the council will find out is if you tell them.” Grace shot her sister a hard, accusatory glare.
“Don’t be so naive. You’re really starting to show.” Sonja pulled up the bottom of Grace’s tunic, revealing the bump her clothes had done a decent job of concealing.
Grace knocked Sonja’s hand away and pulled the bottom of her tunic back down over her belly. “I’m not seeing any visitors right now. I’m engaged in meditation.”
“That story won’t keep the others away for long.”
“I don’t have to keep them away for long,” said Grace. “Only for another three months.”
“I don’t know why you’re even bothering with a full pregnancy when you could just have it sped up. Especially, when you want to keep this a secret.”
“I told you to stay out of it, Sonja. I have my reasons.”
“You do realize that I will find out what you’re up to, right? You can’t keep secrets from me, Grace. You’ve never been able to. I always find out. And the others will find out too.”
“Unlike you, the other members of the council have better things to do than barge into my meditation room,” Grace said flippantly.
Sonja ignored her. “And when they do come, they will demand answers. I demand answers.”
“You can demand all you want.” Grace pointed to the door. “From out there. Go away. I’m busy meditating.”
Sonja’s eyes panned across the candles. “This isn’t some spiritual reflection you’ve undertaken. This is ancient magic.”
“Congratulations, you’ve stated the obvious.” Grace planted her hands on her hips. “Now go away.”
Sonja’s eyes narrowed. “What are you really trying to do?”
