"I'm sorry," he said, his lips twitching as he hugged me again. I thought I'd lost you.
I'm not so easy to do in, I said, kissing him back when his lips found mine. Ow.
How badly are you hurt?
I doubt it's anything major. I wouldn't want to ravish you on the spot if it was, would I?
He chuckled in my mind. The desire is mutual, you know. What happened to you?
I ran into a couple Hashmallim.
You what?
"It would appear you have passed the fifth trial," Disin said as Theo helped me to my feet.
I brushed off bits of grass and dirt, straightening up slowly. Other than an ache in my chest and knees where I'd struck the ground, I seemed to be relatively unharmed, which was amazing considering the fall I'd taken. "So I gather."
It was small of me, I know, but I found satisfaction in the fact that Disin looked nonplussed.
"This result is not what we anticipated," she continued. "We will discuss the ramifications."
The three mare leaned together. Around us, the crowd was oddly hushed, the expressions on most of the faces present making it clear that few people had expected me to pass the fifth trial. I took satisfaction in their surprise, as well.
"What did the Hashmallim do to you?" Theo asked, brushing a strand of grass from my hair.
"Other than almost scaring the pee right out of me? Nothing. Oh, there was the fact that they returned me to the Court a good forty feet above the ground, but that point pales in relation to the fact that I didn't die from the drop. Why wasn't I more seriously injured? I'm not immortal yet, am I?"
"Not in so many words. You bear the gift of a virtue, though, so that makes you more or less an immortal candidate. You have a bit more stamina than you had before."
"I'm not going to bicker about that," I said, pressing carefully on my ribs. Already the pain was diminishing.
"We have come to a decision," Disin said, gesturing toward me.
I took Theo's hand, my fingers twining through his.
"Child, come forward." Irina, the white-haired mare, nodded at me.
Disin had her mouth open, as if she was about to speak, but she snapped her teeth closed at Irina's words.
Theo and I walked to the old woman.
"You are too tall. Sit." She waved a hand gnarled by arthritis toward the grass at her feet.
We knelt before her. She took Theo's face in both her hands, peering intently into his eyes. I felt a jolt of surprise in him at her examination.
What is it? I asked.
Before he could answer, Irina nodded at Theo and released his face, only to take my chin in a surprisingly strong grip. She tilted my head back so she could look deep into my eyes.
The impact of her gaze on mine shook me to my toenails. If was as if she was seeing everything I was, stripping away all the layers of societal mores and pretenses, of protective layers, exposing my true core to her faded eyes.
"Child, you are lost," she said, still examining me. I felt like a squirming beetle pinned to a board. "Your path is hidden. You have much to do to find it, but I believe you will. You will be released to do just that."
Irina released my chin, using both hands on her cane to push herself to her feet. I wobbled forward for a moment, almost dizzy with the relief of having the soul-stripping ended. Theo grabbed my arm, and pulled me up to my feet.
The other two mare stood as well.
"It is decided that the mortal known as Portia Harding will be released," Disin said in a loud voice, her eyes cold as she turned to me. "The Hashmallim have deemed your being pure, thus you will not be held. Your behavior in this place, however, is beyond tolerance. You are hereby banned from the Court of Divine Blood."
A hundred whispered comments rippled the air behind us.
Thank them, Theo ordered.
"Thank you for your generosity," I said, trying hard to keep any trace of the sarcasm I felt from lacing my words. I turned to leave, but Disin stopped me.
"You may have passed the fifth trial, Portia Harding, but you have not satisfied us that you do not have some involvement in the death of the virtue named Hope."
"I haven't…" I shook my head, confused. "I don't understand. Doesn't passing the test prove I have a pure heart? How can I have a pure heart and have murdered Hope?"
Disin's lips tightened. "Even purity is subjective to interpretation. What we call a heartless murder, you may truly believe is for the better good. Thus, it is entirely possible that in your mind your heart is pure."
"But…"
"If you did not kill Hope, the onus is upon you to prove who did," Disin interrupted. "Should you fail to do so by the new moon, you will be stripped of the Gift given to you, and banished from the Court forever."
When's the new moon? I asked Theo, more than a little stunned by the mare's demand.
I'm not sure. A week, I think. Perhaps two.
Like we don't have enough to do, now we have to figure out what happened to Hope?
I'm afraid we're not going to have much of a choice.
"I am a physicist, not a detective," I told Disin. "Don't you people have some sort of a police force that would be better suited to investigate her death? Aren't those Hashmallim guys your security people?"
"If you are not responsible for her death, then you are in the best position to determine who did cause it," Disin said dismissively.
"But I have no experience finding murderers—"
"You summoned Hope and accepted her position. With that goes responsibility."
I felt like screaming. Did no one else see the error in her logic? "I understand that, but it doesn't follow that I'll know how to find out who killed her."
Portia, do not continue. It will do no good; they've made up their minds.
But I don't know the first thing about detecting!
Then we will learn. Thank the mare.
They're using me as a scapegoat, you know.
I know. But we have no choice.
He had a point.
"Thank you again for your generosity," I said, hoping that the sarcasm which laced my thoughts wasn't evident in my words.
Disin inclined her head, and left the park with the other two mare.
The officious little man who had started the hearing bustled up to us as the remaining crowd dispersed to their various destinations. "You must leave the Court now. I will escort you to the exit."
"We can find our own way out—" I started to say.
"I will escort you," he said with a meaningful look in his eye.
We suffered his presence in silence as we walked through the cobblestoned streets to the wooden doorway that led back to the normal world. I stepped through the doorway, back to the small, unused office, and with my return, the weight of the world seemed to descend upon my shoulders.
"Now what do we do?" I asked, hopelessness welling within me.
Theo smiled and kissed the tips of my fingers on the hand he still held. "Now, sweetling, we find a murderer."
"I don't know the first thing about solving a murder…" I smiled as a thought struck me. "But I know someone who used to write mysteries before she switched to romances."
Chapter 16
"Right, the first thing we need to do is make a list of people who wanted Hope dead." Sarah sucked thoughtfully at the end of her pen, then quickly wrote down my name at the top of a sheet of paper.
"Hey!" I protested. "Didn't you hear a thing I've said for the last hour? I did not kill Hope, which you of all people should know."
"Of course I know it. But all good detectives make a list of all possible suspects, then eliminate them one by one until only one person remains on the list—the killer. What was the name of that man who tried to seduce you?"