Chapter 16 Cas
CAS
“You’re sure?” The tall blond grimaced as he took in the surroundings. “I mean, I’m really not kicking you out, and there’s plenty of room.”
I nodded, staring out the window.
From the seventh floor, I had a good view of Ares and Poseidon’s temples on the dining room side, and most of the city from the bedroom’s balcony.
The Hall of Truce seemed like a stone’s throw away.
Beyond, the opposite temples were Apollo and Athena’s.
Surrounding buildings blocked the others, but it was a good strategical point.
The penthouse also had a small rooftop garden that could come in handy.
The apartment had seven bedrooms—which meant enough space for the snake who slithered by my side to roam around. The largest, I could turn into a sparring area.
“It’s perfect.”
“It has lavender wallpaper.” Gideon pointed to the wall. “Moldy lavender wallpaper.”
I hadn’t even noticed.
In truth, while often surrounded by riches, I didn’t technically need much. My formative years had not prepared me for opulence or style. A roof and enough space were all I needed. Not to mention, I rather liked the neighborhood.
“I’m sure I can get someone to redecorate. It’s available now, and the owner’s happy to fast-track the sale.” Elona Travis’s children were more than eager to sell the house in order to pay for her expenses in southern Italy.
“Are you sure you need to buy at all?” Gideon asked. “I mean, you just arrived in town. Do you plan to stay long enough to bother investing in an apartment?”
I tried not to smile at his obvious probing. He thought himself subtle, but his interest in my affairs was just as obvious as Silver’s, if a little more polite.
Not that I could blame either of them.
“I’m not a renter.”
“You really could stay at my place,” he insisted.
Where I’d be watched closely day and night.
“I don’t want to intrude.”
“But—”
“I’m buying this place,” I stated. “I have a good feeling about it.”
I took the next day off in order to arrange everything.
The paperwork was wrapped up halfway through the next morning, the right amount of gold transferred to Elona Travis’s account, and I moved in that evening.
In actual fact the whole thing took maybe an hour, as I let the magical law expert handle it, offering enough gold to speed up and streamline the process.
The rest of the day, I used to explore.
I had memories of Highvale, all of them ancient, from a time when only the underground used to exist. My instincts demanded I familiarize myself with the rest, but I refrained. The underground was my primary interest here.
I checked every door, rode the tram the full circle, took in the layout, the buildings, the layers of magic protecting institutions.
I sighed as I spotted the runners observing me from afar, so bloody obvious I was half tempted to wave.
I was rather surprised Silver hadn’t come herself.
I ate in the town circle, stopped to buy myself clothes in Spider Avenue, bought wine in Life Avenue, and made my way back up to the vale at nightfall.
Rather than heading home to the empty penthouse with lavender wallpaper, I rang the 27-1B again.
Eris Delcour smiled, unsurprised to see me again so soon.
“Hello, neighbor.” I lifted the bottle of wine up. “I bought the penthouse.”
Eris grinned. “Good, good! Come in. I’m making fish pie if you’d like some.”
I followed her into the tidy room, humming in appreciation at the smell that wafted from the kitchen.
“Yes, please. You’ve certainly improved in the kitchen,” I told her, taking the corkscrew she handed to me.
“One of the many habits I took up recently. I also knit,” she added proudly.
“You make for a convincing human, sister.”
Eris wasn’t strictly speaking my sister, but we’d been linked enough times through the ages that we referred to each other as such.
Technically, I’d also never actually met her, but thousands of memories said otherwise.
“I wasn’t sure you’d recognize me in this form,” she replied, her wrinkles melting as she grinned at me.
“Right back at you.” She’d interacted with the god whose energy I claimed twelve decades ago, and he’d looked nothing like me.
He’d been taller, more tanned, his hair, brown, not black, and his eyes, red like fire.
Yet at the core, when we listened to our instincts, no matter what form we took, immortals always knew one another.
I would have been surprised Silver couldn’t identify me, if she weren’t so very repressed, refusing any knowledge that came from her deeper instincts.
She was so busy trying to deny who she was, she walked through life completely blind.
It might get her killed some day.
I filled two glasses and we ate her delicious dish in a silence neither of us was eager to break.
I was glad she went first. “I won’t ask what you’re doing here. If anything, I’m surprised you didn’t come sooner. This is just our kind of place.”
“Good. I can’t tell you.” I grinned.
I saw what she meant about Highvale. The city was a little world unto itself, filled with so many people who hated and envied each other. Any god would have found it rife with opportunity.
The immortals stopped paying attention to the doings of humans, bored with their short lifespans, but here, the majority of the population lived long enough to be worth placing bets on. No wonder Zeus wanted access.
“But you won’t get in my way,” Eris stated, rather than asked.
“I won’t get in your way,” I assured her. “From what I can tell, whatever you’re doing isn’t affecting any of my directives.”
“Well, let me know how I can help.”
“You could put me in touch with your interior decorator.” I wrinkled my nose. “Lavender wallpaper isn’t my thing. And what can you tell me about the major players in town?”
She rubbed her hands together. “Oh, I have all the dirt. We’ll need more wine for that.”