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I followed her, cutting her off just seconds before she would have stormed out of the room—and probably hunted Faris down. “Wait.”
“Faris must answer for withholding this information about the demons. He will answer for it.”
“Let’s not lose our heads.”
“Get out of my way, Leda,” she hissed. “You cannot protect Faris. Not from this.”
I didn’t move. “I’m not protecting him, but, much as it pains me to say this, have you considered that Faris might have had a good reason to withhold this information from the other gods?”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Such as?”
“Such as not throwing the god-demon alliance on the fire. An alliance I so painstakingly arranged, and which is, by the way, our only chance of defeating the Guardians.”
Saphira’s arms dropped to her sides. “If the council learned that a god-killing demon is behind the attacks on our worlds, they would dissolve the alliance,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, they would,” I agreed. “Which would be really, really bad. We don’t even know who this demon is. Or whether he’s a demon at all. Remember, this Solarian guy is arming humans with god-killing batons. Who’s to say he didn’t also arm them with god-killing armor?”
“You think it was humans who decimated our armies?” Saphira’s voice was level, but her eyes were on fire.
“I don’t know who decimated your armies,” I replied. “Or who this Solarian guy even is. Maybe he’s a god or a demon. Or something else entirely.”
“A Guardian?”
“The thought certainly crossed my mind,” I admitted. “This is exactly the sort of thing the Guardians would try to do: weaken the gods and demons and turn them against one another.”
“But you have no proof?”
“Not yet.” I lifted my frown into a smile. “That’s where you come in.”
“I knew you came bearing chaos.” Saphira sighed into her hand.
“Not chaos,” I told her. “A plan.”
“The best laid plans of gods and demons dissolve to ash when the Angel of Chaos bursts onto the scene.”
“You’d better hope that the best laid plans of whoever is trying to make you guys self-implode will dissolve to ash when the Angel of Chaos bursts onto the scene,” I countered.
“Indeed,” Saphira replied with a hard, determined laugh. “So, what do you require from me, Leda Pandora?”
“To start, I need you to talk to Faris. I need you to convince him to tell you who this Solarian guy is. And don’t let him tell you he doesn’t know. I know he does.”
“And then?” she asked.
“And then bring that information to me. If I’m going to take this guy down, I first need to know who he is. I need to understand how he works. And in the meantime, you need to get the other gods talking openly about the worlds they’ve lost.”
“That won’t be easy,” Saphira warned me. “Nectar is life. Nectar is magic. And without it, we have nothing. So no god wants to admit they’ve lost a single drop of that precious magic.”
“They must realize this is too important to cover up out of pride,” I said. “We all need to work together to get the Nectar back—and defeat those who seek to destroy us.”
Saphira frowned. “You’re right.”
“So you’ll help me?”
“I will.” She clasped my hands in hers. “Once I’m sworn in, I will convene the council and force a discussion of the issue.”
“Thank you.” I glanced at the clock. “Now let’s get you to your ceremony!”
15
