Blackhearted Betrayal (9 page)

She didn’t play any pointless games. “She was to subdue you by whatever means possible—short of death—and bring you to me.”

I noticed her deliberate use of
she
rather than
they
. “Then the explosion—”

Her expression darkened. “Was a traitor working for Anubis. She was supposed to cast a sleep spell when Durra pushed you down the stairs. The goal was never to murder you but to use you as leverage against your mother and grandmother.”

“Nan I understand—she’s obviously being used by Anubis somehow. But why my mother?”

Adesina—weird to have a name for her finally—looked at me like I should know better.

Which I really
should
have. “Mom’s miraculous reappearance from presumed death months before Nan’s equally miraculous awakening made you suspect they
both
were working for Anubis.”

Mom pursed her lips thoughtfully. “A logical assumption, really. Had we both been pawns of Anubis and succeeded in winning Lesser Consensus seats, our influence would have been considerable.”

Adesina nodded. “Indeed.”

All right, so knowing that Durra had meant to injure rather than kill me softened my emotions toward her somewhat, but that didn’t solve our immediate problems.

“So, exactly who else can we trust to get this mission impossible accomplished? Do we only involve sisters, or should we seek outside help?” Much as I loved him, Scott was, for once, not at the top of my list. He was too close to Anubis spiritually for my comfort—and safety.

“Good question,” Adesina said. “I have trusted only those of my class I know beyond doubt remain steadfast with any details, but unfortunately that number is very small; smaller after our sister’s betrayal the other day. I trust Durra and those who escorted her today, and perhaps three or four others, implicitly. The others here today I wish I could wholeheartedly vouch for …but I just can’t.”

Well, at least she was honest; and several trusted sisters was better than none.

“Sounds like we should keep the numbers of our posse small, and we’re definitely going to have to split into two groups.”

Mom agreed. “It would be most unwise to go against the division of labor proposed by the Triad, who no doubt had Their reasons to give us each our assignments. Still, we have to decide where you should begin your investigation in the Underworld.”

They turned their silver-rimmed gazes upon me. I forced myself not to fidget this time. While it felt weird
to have two Elders—one a
Prime
and the other very nearly a member of the Lesser Consensus—look to
me
for direction, it made sense. Neither of them had been involved in active investigations for years, while they had been my bread and butter since just after I Fledged.

“Well, the Triad said we have to find proof that either Anubis has made the power transfer from lesser god to greater, meaning he illegally bound other gods to himself, or that he has sworn Furies to his direct service—also illegal. I say we prove
both
. If we try to prove one—and fail—that means we still have a chance to prove the other.”

They nodded in approval, something that had a flush of pride touching my cheeks. When neither interjected, I took that as encouragement to continue. “I would recommend that you two work together to convince the Alecto Prime to work with us if she
didn’t
fall out of contact with the Triad willingly. Having the three of you working together to confront the Tisiphone Prime will give you a much greater chance of success. Once that’s done, I suggest going after Anubis’s weakest link.”

Adesina tilted her head, curiosity brightening her eyes. “Which would be?”

Mom caught on to my intention. “My mother. Either it’s an imposter posing as her or actually my mother being magically manipulated. In whichever case, she will be much easier to break and interrogate for information. If she’s an imposter, we can threaten her with immediate execution for falsely impersonating a sister with the intention of stealing a Conclave seat. If she’s actually my mother, we stand a good chance of breaking whatever magical spell holds her in thrall and gaining her active cooperation.”

“What if we can’t?”

Mom faced Adesina squarely, fingers clenched but face composed. “Can’t break the spell?”

Meaning, really, what if there
were
no spell to break?

“Then we have no choice but to …treat her as we would any traitor.”

A slight tremble of the voice was the only indication of what that statement cost my mother. Both Adesina and I noticed it but didn’t comment. Me because I felt the same grim determination as Mom, and Adesina out of respect. We three Nemeses had been charged by the gods to
stop
civil war, and we would damn well
do
that, no matter the cost.

Even if that meant losing Nan before we could truly get her back.

Adesina broke the tense silence. “And how precisely do you intend to accomplish your own task?”

“Oh,” I said with false lightness in my voice and a twisted smile, “I happen to be sleeping with the son of an expert on Egyptian mythology. I suspect she’ll be able to give me an idea or two on where to start before I recruit some muscle to accompany me into the Underworld.”

I found myself exceedingly grateful that Mom had no clue about the bad blood between Anubis and me. Well, you know, the
preexisting
bad blood. Once he found out that the Triad had sent Nemeses after his ass, there’d be all kinds of
new
bad blood to contend with.

Mom being Mom, she pointed out the glaring flaw in my plan. “I’m afraid
that’s
going to prove difficult, to say the least, Marissa. Or have you forgotten what Kamanu told us about the Underworld?”

“Not at all. He said that portals between the Divine
Realm and the Underworld had been shut down. He said nothing about those in the mortal realm.”

Adesina made a clicking sound with her tongue. “A valid point, Allegra.”

Mom narrowed her eyes and took a step forward, no doubt intending to intimidate me. Apparently she’d forgotten we were now damned near the same height. “Do not even
suggest
that you use the usual means of accessing those portals.” Her tone suggested that, similar height or no, she could still turn me over her knee if the occasion warranted. I didn’t really doubt her chance of success either—moms can be
scary
.

By
usual means
she meant the method I’d used previously and was glad she didn’t know about: dying. Temporarily dying, to be specific, which was a huge pain in the ass to accomplish without it turning into permadeath. The only reason I’d managed it the last time was because I’d coerced two Oracles into helping me kill myself, then placing my body into magical stasis before healing me, something that took a crapload of magical power and tended to earn negative points on Ye Olde Karma Meter. So
why
had those Oracles helped me? Let’s just say that even mostly neutral, supposedly altruistic healing types have secrets they want kept. Yeah, there’s more than one reason most Oracles hate me.

While temporary death was a workable method, it wasn’t the one I planned to use this time. One (which Mom obviously wasn’t considering): As true demigoddesses, we
couldn’t
be killed. Two: I intended to bring arcane backup this go-round, a couple of Furies and at least three or four others. No way would we be able to find enough Oracles to pull
that
off for that many people. Besides, Furies were easier to heal after temporary
death than any other species. There’d be no guarantees anyone else would survive. Three: Traveling to the Underworld in spirit form made you way weaker than if you went there in body. Last time I’d merely gone there after information, so I hadn’t cared about strength. This time I’d need to retain as much ass-kicking potential as possible. And reason number four: As Nemeses, we could commandeer temple portals for our own use; including, say, the portal to Anubis’s Underworld territory housed in his official Underbelly temple—not too far from our current location.

I reminded Mom and Adesina of those facts, which seemed to satisfy the Megaera but only partially placate Mom.

Mom grimaced as something occurred to her. “I assume you won’t be able to involve Scott.”

My conscience stung at the thought of having to hide something so big from him. “No, and I won’t be able to tell Liana why I’m suddenly so interested in Egyptian mythology, either. For my Underworld expedition, I was thinking about bringing Mac and Charlie, if I can convince them, and possibly one of my people in the MCU who is distinctly qualified in matters pertaining to death and the Underworld.”

Adesina didn’t bother questioning my choices—either because she already knew all about my usual allies thanks to assassination recon or because she trusted me to get the job done.

“Mac you can trust implicitly, and he’s been raring to get involved with …” Mom let her voice trail away and gave a meaningful roll of her eyes toward Adesina. Only Mom and I currently knew what we’d been keeping secret from the Sisterhood for fear someone would try
to cover the truth up before we could ensure his safety: Patrick “Mac” MacAllister was more than just Mom’s half-Sidhe son who had been genetically and magically forced upon her; he was half-something the world had never seen: a
male
Fury. Part of this week’s original plans had been to pave the way for announcing that fact and inducting him into the no-longer-aptly-named Sisterhood.
That
had gone all to hell, pun intended.

Mom hid her near slip by nodding decisively. “Yes, and Charlie will have no particular qualms about taking on Anubis.”

Charlie Andrulis belonged to the race of oversized and superstrong individuals known as Giants. He was also one of my best friends and had helped me with several tough cases in the past. He’d only recently completed a six-month gig pulling guard duty in Gunmetal Alley—the Belly’s version of a black market—so I was hoping he’d be willing to take another freelance job helping me. As a Giant, he held no particular affection for Anubis. That plus his loyalty to me and the fact I paid well should mean he’d agree. The daredevil in him would thrill at the chance to journey to the Underworld at the side of a real-life Nemesis. Not too many mercs (if any) could put
that
on their résumés.

“Yeah, thank the gods (ha) that Giants are very much into earth worship and not particularly fond of Anubis.” Mom seemed more resigned to my proposal, but something on her face indicated she still wasn’t completely sold. I elaborated on my trump card in the hopes of changing that. “The other person I want to bring is a Bhairavi Raga. One of the world’s strongest, actually.”

Her eyes widened. “You mean you’ll ask …”

“Sahana to step outside the morgue finally? I’d say
desperate times call for desperate measures in this case. She may not be able to stand up to Anubis himself, but anyone short of a full-on immortal …Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be in
their
shoes.” I glanced down at my old-school footwear and made a face. “Sandals. Whatever.”

Adesina turned to Mom and arched a brow. “Are you merely concerned that one of us is going to the Underworld alone, or that the youngest of we three Nemeses should go alone, or that the one to go alone is your daughter?”

Nice to have someone
besides
me be the recipient of a chastising tone for once. The Prime made a valid point. While it was only natural for Mom to fear for my safety more than other Furies since I
was
her flesh and blood, it wasn’t okay for her to allow that concern to color how she carried out her duties to the Sisterhood. When Mom clenched her firsts and scowled at Adesina, however, I found myself grateful that
I
hadn’t been the one to point that out to her.

Remember that whole scary-mom thing? Furies most of all.

Mom opened her mouth to make a no-doubt-angry reply, then gave a resigned shrug. “Probably all three. Any one of which would be bad enough, but all together?”

Adesina smiled slightly. “Well, we can share our concerns over our daughters’ being set loose in the Underworld while we make our own way in the Palladium.”

That seemed to settle Mom’s ruffled feathers even further. I felt clueless since I had no idea what the Megaera was talking about. She had a daughter? One who had to be a Fury if she planned to send her with me. But who? …
Oh, no freaking way!
And yet, it made all
too much sense. The age was right, they bore more than a passing resemblance to each other, they shared the same faint accent, and who had Mommy Dearest sent after our family more than once? “Don’t tell me
Durra
is your daughter!”

Mommy Dearest
turned her little smile in my direction. “Whether or not I
tell
you, she
will
be accompanying you to the Underworld.”

Mom nodded, an adamant gleam in her beady little Nemesis eyes. “As will Laurell and Patricia.”

I scowled. “How can they do that while pulling guard duty in—”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Under the circumstances, I believe we can dispense with the goodwill hostages.” Adesina nodded. “While you gather your other allies, I will arrange someone to keep an eye on Cori until we can see her pledged and send Durra, Laurell, and Patricia to you in the mortal realm. I assume you plan to assemble outside the Temple Anupu?”