Miranda’s French had improved noticeably over the years. The Blade of Bane had spent many centuries inert and waitingin France, from the Middle Ages to the Napoleonic era, and from what she’d told me, spoke with the accent.
Bob was also of discerning taste, so that was quite the compliment.
I straightened my shoulders, deliberately calming my body. I needed to be steady, to project control. The weight of my responsibilities pressed down like the centuries I had walked this earth.
“I’m still not sure your presence is a good idea,” I said to her.
Before I could answer, the tap-tap-tap of claws striking the marble floor brought my attention down to Assirak. He sat dutifully at my side and looked up at me.
“Alright, if you say so,” I answered the reaper.
Miranda’s brows quirked.
“Assirak says I need all the backup I can get tonight.” I gave Assirak a little scratch behind the ears, more for me than him.
Miranda stared down at what must have looked like empty space underneath my hand. “Smart pooch.”
I would have corrected her underestimation of the reaper, but Assirak simply opened his mouth in a happy grin, his tongue lolling out. The reapers seemed to find it a joyful lark to play “dog,” as it were.
I extended an arm to Miranda, leading her out of the private suite and to the main room. We were just below the lobby of the hotel, on a private floor.
Dark onyx marble floors and airy, bright ceilings with palms that thrived without access to the sun echoed the design of Sinopolis’s decor. At the center of the room was a large silver pool of water, sunken into the floor.
We ascended the few short steps to the edge of the pool. Miranda eyed the water suspiciously. “If my dress gets wet, these gods will get more than an eyeful of what I got underneath.”
“Isn’t your significant other a water god?” I asked pointedly.
She smacked my arm. “Was.Wasa water god.” Then she murmured as she skeptically examined the pool, “But he does know his way around a pulsating showerhead with what seems like inhuman dexterity.”
Assirak let out a small, curious woof at my side.
“Don’t ask,” I cautioned, then turned back to Miranda. “Trust,” I said simply.
I stepped forward.
The water closed over my shoes, cool and electric, climbing my calves, my knees, my waist without getting me wet. For a moment, the world inverted. The ceiling became a lake of light. The chandeliers stretched and elongated, turning into distant stars.
I felt the old pull, the one that existed long before elevators and hallways and discreet entrances for gods who no longer wished to be worshipped openly.
Then gravity corrected itself.
I emerged at the top of the staircase of the ballroom that I had created on a different plane of reality earlier today. A tiny pocket of time and space so the immortals could meet in assured privacy.
I released Miranda’s arm now that she was on firm footing.
The Convergence unfurled beneath me in a vast, breathtaking sweep of space and power. The ballroom stretched impossibly long, its ceiling lost to a night sky threaded with slow-moving constellations. Chandeliers floated untethered, massive rings of gold and crystal rotating lazily, each a different planetary body. They all aligned, mimicking the universal order in space.
Thick columns rose in clean, deliberate rows, pale stone etched with hieroglyphs that glowed faintly blue along their grooves. Carved lotus flowers bloomed at the tops of the pillars.
The walls were carved with overlapping symbols of gods, stars, and planetary paths, our stories layered into the stone. Small points of light were set into the walls, mimicking the pattern of stars.
It was ancient design dressed in excess. I allowed a small moment of pride for what I had created. Grim never cared for the frills, but I always felt there was power in ambience, embellishment, and design.
This was undoubtedly my turf, my style, and I intended for every immortal present to feel my power.
As I descended the first few stairs, the guests turned as one.
Every god. Every goddess. Every demigod who had been summoned by the alignment and the oaths it demanded.
