They weren’t evil, or even mean women, they’d just heartlessly send a god to their death if that was what was needed in their minds and in their plans, regardless of morality. Lianne seemed enamored of Sara for setting her up with me, the man that would finally appreciate her for who she was. What Lianne didn’t get was that wouldn’t stop Sara from sending her to her death, if that was called for in their grand design.

  That said, there was a real level of paranoia in the whole thing. Not all of their interference ended in tragedy, not nearly even most times they interfered, did that happen. If it did, then no one would ever listen to their advice after all. But it did happen sometimes, and to gods that they seemed to like and even admire. So in the end it was like playing roulette, and if it landed on one you were dead, but the odds were kind of stacked in your favor. Still, no one liked to risk their lives on a bet, not the gods anyway, not even with thirty-six to one odds against it.

  On the other hand, Nate had paid with his life for not following Sara’s advice. Him taking Amber away had been the pivotal event that led to his downfall twenty-two years later. Which just kind of made it impossible to know which way to jump. But then, normal people and shifters lived their lives that way all the time, and I trusted my instincts. Plus, I felt grateful as well, she’d already saved my life once, by sending Lianne to me at a time and moment that would’ve ended my life under Steven’s power.

  I got up and headed that way myself, exiting the mansion to Lianne gushing thanks at Sara, who looked bemused and happy enough at the whole thing.

  Sara was five foot five, with straight midnight black hair and warm brown eyes. She had a classic beauty of face which was quite stunning, dark tanned skin, and an athletic body with generous breasts. She was also Mark’s long-term lover, so not an option that way.

  “Thank you as well, Sara, for my life. What brings you by?”

  Sara smiled, “Are you sure you’d have died, if I hadn’t sent her? Maybe I just sent her so that you’d listen to me now, a second or two before you’d have escaped on your own.”

  I snorted, “Now you’re trying to make me paranoid? You must have bad news.”

  Sara laughed, “Fate humor.”

  “Come in for a drink, or are we not friends this time around either?”

  She giggled, “A drink would be nice.”

  Right, I didn’t really think she’d let on. If she said yes, it would be too telling on how long I lived this time around, which could change things with foreknowledge. A no would also tell me if she betrayed me with her advice, since I kind of favored her at the moment only a betrayal would change that.

  And that’s the exact kind of circular thinking that got Zeus and Nate to make mistakes with fate. So I decided to just treat her like everyone else, trust and verify, until shown they couldn’t be trusted. Just because I couldn’t see her plotting, and she did have a plot, but that didn’t mean it was against me.

  “Lianne?”

  She smiled, “I’ll go get it, come on in.”

  The three of us headed into the house, and into the living room, where she headed over to the liquor cabinet.

  Lianne asked, “Bourbon, or I have a few other choices.”

  Sara said, “Bourbon is fine, thanks, Lianne.”

  I waved at the couch while sitting on the love seat, and Sara sat down there.

  Sara said, “Your home is lovely, Lianne. Warm, like your energy.”

  Another point in her favor, seeing what I saw in my golden-brown haired goddess. Or, another manipulation to make me trust her. I shook my head in amusement, there was no knowing until it played out, or she showed her hand.

  Lianne gushed, “Thanks. I love your shoes.”

  Sara laughed warmly, and then winked at me.

  Lianne joined us, sitting against my side, but all of her attention was on our guest, where it should be. We all took a sip of bourbon, and I hated feeling awkward, but I really did, having no idea why she was here. It was a weakness, I hadn’t been a god all that long, and had twenty-one years of experience and shifter instincts to fall back on. That I was having trouble doing that annoyed me, so I stubbornly pushed through it until I sensed the truth.

  It was my mantel of rulership, telling me I couldn’t trust someone without fully knowing their motivations. But I could, her scent indicated she hadn’t told one lie, wasn’t shading the truth, or being manipulative. I had other advantages, and once I saw the real trap, my mantel, it was far easier to see around. The world around me was screaming the truths I was able to sense and scent, just like always.

  I asked mock cleverly, “So, have you pulled out of oil stocks yet?”

  Sara laughed, “Nice try, a lot more subtle than most, and you weren’t even really trying. I suppose I should get to the point?”

  “At your discretion, I wouldn’t mind getting to know you first, as much as you can afford to allow. That must suck, at times.”

  Sara’s lips twitched, “It does, but it also has its compensations. Anyway, I’m here to tell you to take the reins, if you don’t, or if you fail, things will get… messy.”

  I blinked, “You’re telling me to take over the rulership of the gods from the council?”

  Sara nodded, “Yes, and not over the long-term. As quickly as you can.”

  I blew out a breath. I’d already decided earlier today it was highly unlikely, even impossible perhaps, in the short term. But the truth was I’d been avoiding plotting and running my mind through the usual avenues. Maybe I’d find something if I did. Especially finding out what Gary’s real issue with me was, knowledge I hadn’t really cared to know. Since really, that was the greatest avenue to give the best chance of success.

  I mean, he’d given everyone else a pass for their past mistakes, he’d even been willing to let Nate continue to rule while they were a watchdog, in their original plan before Nate’s murder, and Nate was the one that had truly wronged him. So why the hell didn’t I get the benefit of the doubt, when he’d have worked with Nate and had already given Nadia a pass for Tatiana’s murderous actions. Easily handing over one of the most powerful portions of the government to the newbie. I’d have to look into it later.

  “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me why?”

  Sara shrugged, “A part of you already knows. You’ve already asked yourself the right question, and the answer is not long in coming.”

  I snorted, “Thanks, totally cleared that up.”

  Lianne patted my leg.

  I asked, “More fate humor?”

  Sara shook her head, “It will help you make the connection when it’s needed. For now, it will probably just drive you a little crazy, but if I just give you the answer then too much will change that cannot change.”

  I laughed, “Fair enough, I suppose. I don’t suppose I can blame you for this, when they cry about it, whine into their cups, and ask me why I’m so evil?”

  She giggled, “Feel free, but you know they won’t buy it.”

  I snickered, “Tell me one thing at least, your sisters are onboard? I mean, I won’t be facing opposition there and moving chess pieces. I know you three don’t always agree on the best future to beckon.”

  Sara tilted her head, “We are one in thought on this matter, yes. I can tell you that much.”

  “That helps, thanks. Okay, I’ll do it.”

  Lianne bit her lip worriedly, and I caressed her leg in comfort. She was worried about me, what would happen, but fear had no place in the things that had to be done.

  Sara finished her drink, stood, and then said, “Thank you for the hospitality.”

  I quipped, “Not friends then?”

  Sara smirked, “You never know. I might crash your next night out dancing.”

  “For me that’s true, we’ll walk you out.”

  We all got up and headed for the backyard, while I used a mental command for Misty to text Cerise. She was out shopping, and we had some plotting and game planning to do…

  Chapter Fourteen

  The room was a little tense as I came out of the information flow. Any good plan or plot required gathering intelligence, and while I’d been checking for plots against me, I hadn’t been doing data gathering to support my own plots, which had been non-existent for the most part until now.

  I was also annoyed. I’d been mad at Natasha for not setting Gary straight, for moral cowardice, but now I knew why she couldn’t since she was central to Gary’s issue with me. It was something Gary needed to work through on his own.

  I snorted violently.

  “Alright, first off Gary’s not being a dick to me because of Nate or what Nate did to him. It’s actually about me specifically.”

  Lianne frowned, “How does that make sense, he doesn’t know you.”

  I sighed, “I think I overplayed my hand with the whole Steven incident, and Natasha overplayed hers to compensate. Between Natasha’s actions and me acting the part of a letch toward Kaya, it had a result I didn’t anticipate. In short, she was a little too admiring of me when telling Gary that I was nothing like Nate. To put it simply, Gary is jealous and sees me as a rival, which is ridiculous, but he has this whole dark possessiveness thing about his family. Which is why Natasha hasn’t set him straight, she really can’t, any psychologist knows that kind of problem has to be solved by the person experiencing it, not fixed through logic or by an outsider.”

  Cerise asked, “So how can we fix it then, and why do we have to?”

  I waved, “Second part first. Winning over the love and darkness trio would end up with me ruling by fait accompli. There are eight on the council, that’s half of it, and I’m betting Freda would side with us, and Teresa would follow Freda’s lead. They know the council isn’t what they had intended or envisioned. Bruce’s high handedness is bothering them, but he’s not too obnoxious about it and laid back, so they’re letting it go because it’s still working as far as governing, so they’re sticking with it. Except of course something is going to happen soon that will make the petty games and foolishness going on either shatter the council or just backfire. At least, that’s what I’m assuming will happen, if all three fates are backing me to rule something very bad is coming.

  “At least in potential.”

  Cerise said, “Or, the potential threat is one that only you can deal with competently.”

  I pondered that, then nodded, “That’s possible.” Really possible, given that history was an open book to me, I’d have insights through past experience the others lacked.

  Lianne asked, “Then how can we fix it?”

  I sighed, “He needs to work through it. We can’t fix the root of the problem, but we can force him to work with me anyway. All we have to do is convince him the stakes are high enough. We all have worked with others we don’t like, even those we were jealous of, because of necessity. He just sees no necessity right now to work with me, or to curb Bruce’s pettiness toward me, which he is probably enjoying on some level.”

  Lianne asked, “If we fail?”

  I nodded, “Plan B, because if I fail to convince and recruit Gary then he’ll tell Bruce I’m being ambitious and planning to take power, and those two will probably try to kill me. Plan B are the gods themselves, if I recruit all the tier twos and most of the rest it’s a power block that can’t be ignored. That could get messy, and start a civil war, but I’ll try hard to avoid it. Plan C is… something Nate would’ve done, so it’s not really an option.”

  Lianne looked at me curiously.

  I shrugged, “Kill Bruce, set up Nadia to take the fall. It wouldn’t end up in my rule, but it would force them to let me to step into Bruce’s position, and I’d have our warriors under my absolute command. Gary would be stuck as spymaster again too. Then it would simply be a matter of working behind the scenes. None of the rest of the council wants to rule, so as long as I don’t make corrupt suggestions, they’d be likely to follow them. But I’d never do it that way.”

  Cerise snickered, “You could do that?”

  “Easily. Shape shifting. I could literally become Nadia, compel Darrell to take Bruce’s head when his guard was down. The rest of the council would extract that memory out of Darrell in the aftermath, or by truth spell. I’d also have to make sure Nadia dies in the process, or when reading her memories they’d discover they’d been misled. One, two, three. In fact, it’s the safest plan of the three, but I’m not that person, and I refuse to be.”

  Cerise kissed me, and snuggled up, “You’re really not. So how do we do that, plan A. I’m not sure telling Gary because Sara said so, will work.”

  I grinned, “It wouldn’t, even if I let him see the memory of her pronouncement of future mayhem if we don’t. I mean, messy isn’t that scary of a word, and could mean almost anything. Sara was being kind of cute about it too, not all doom and gloom.

  “Regardless, my plan A right now is less than a plan and more just a list of the goals and the path that would yield not just success but the best results, also in a moral way. It would put me on the throne, and it would keep the council a viable entity working for me. The plan to get Gary to stand behind me, and lead his two ladies to the same place, is what we need to figure out.

  “Plan B will be to simply have Misty send a text to all the gods, using the information in the database, to meet up. Then I’ll give them a rousing speech about council corruption and the coming danger to us all, and then see where things fall. It could work, but it would almost certainly end up in the dissolution of the council and a fight or two, and the risk of death would be highest as well.”

  Lianne said, “Then we need to come up with a good plan to recruit Gary.”

  I nodded, “That’s why we’re here, any ideas?”

  Cerise frowned, “Council corruption?”

  I said, “Bruce ignored my advice, out of pettiness. I didn’t make an issue out of it, because it felt too petty on my side, but the council as a whole is currently usurping the very powers that they assigned to me in the bylaws. They’re doing whatever they want and thumbing their nose at me. And while Bruce is the lead on that, the others are allowing it.

  “While my authority to appoint positions and delegate authority and powers isn’t much, it would in fact put me on the throne if they were following the rules. So petty, but also a symptom of the larger problem, they’ve grown corrupt in their surety that they can do whatever they please. You don’t think that would extend to other things?

  “Bruce’s force has killed gods, suspects in take downs, because of a shortfall easily addressed. It has also almost killed some of his own people, several times. Do you think his forces would be happy to learn he refused to fix that shortfall out of a petty and arrogant disregard of me? The others at the very least are guilty of moral cowardice in this case, not finding it important enough to defend not only me from the pettiness from him and Gary, but the very rules and laws the council itself laid down as well.

  “Nadia’s been a member of the council for a few hours now, and she’s already plotting against the others which breaks the rules. Them fucking with me is hardly the only indication of corruption either, but on their own none of it is all that serious, save perhaps Nadia’s. But all together it’s an indication the council is a failure, and it’s not standing up to its purpose.

  “They sit on their power and let it run on autopilot. Gary should’ve known two gods had gone missing and were being experimented on by a shadowy portion of Germany’s government. The spymaster has eyes within and without, watching the supernatural races, humanity, but also keeping tabs on our own people. Obviously, those internal checks are lacking.

  “Then there’s Natasha failing to address recidivism when she had all the pieces and even the empathy to do so, she just never considered it. That was less out of corruption than just not really being engaged in government, and focusing on her kids and private practice, because of lack of ambition to rule. But that’s exactly what my position is for, or should be for, to help direct their efforts and guide.

  “Freda’s doing a fantastic job in her bailiwick of the council government, but also failing her other responsibilities to the council and our race as a whole. Lots of little things, that add up to a council doing a fine job, but also failing to uphold the principles it was founded upon.

  “But we’re getting a little far afield, let’s focus on plan A, not B.”

  Lianne said, “What if you use that for plan A too. Kind of shame him into it?”

  Cerise nodded, “That’s where I was going with that question. I mean, that’s your duty on the council, to brace them for corruption and power grabs. They’re guilty of both, if only on a small scale.”

  I nodded, “The small-scale part in that sentence being the key words. I don’t think it would provoke his sense of justice enough to make him work with me through his jealousy. Natasha and Kaya care far more about family than they do the council, or such a small compromise of principle in a world that is full of corruption. In short, they’re going to pick their battles, choose the lesser evil in their eyes, and breaking rank with Gary won’t happen over something so small in their eyes. Or likely at all, ever.”

  Lianne said, “How about Amelia? Insist she be there and deliver a mantel judgement on the matter. She may just shame all three of them to stand and act, lest they lose her respect.”

  I sighed thoughtfully, “That might work, but using their lover against them would also turn them against me on an emotional level, as well as be distasteful. Using someone’s loved ones as leverage was something Zeus and Nate did all the time, and while effective it almost always caused more future problems than it solved in the moment. I’d have to fight for every inch of progress after that, assuming it even works at all, so let’s call that plan Ab, and come up with plan Aa.”