to swear oaths of fealty must mean one essential truth: He is no longer a
lesser
god at all.”
Mom let out a hissing breath. “So you believe he has made the transformation from lesser god to greater.”
All three Deities nodded although Ala looked distinctly sour at having to do so.
Kamanu gestured with the Defender’s shield. “By our laws, if he is still a lesser god, then he has not
technically
broken any precepts and cannot be punished for swearing others to himself. If, however, he has broken some other precept—such as gathering an immortal or arcane army with the intent of using it against other immortals—or if he
has
made that transformation from lesser god to greater, then he must be brought before the Triad to answer for his crimes.”
Those were an awful lot of
ifs
. Especially if—ha—they planned to send us out into the world as Their Nemeses. Surely they had something more concrete to go on.
“If, for instance, the Prime Tisiphone now refuses to serve as Voice for the Triad and, in fact, has not answered any summons for the past several weeks, and it can be proven that she has pledged to serve this particular immortal individually, we would have all the proof of wrongdoing we need to make him answer for his crimes.”
This inspired another shocked glance between Mom and me.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
We knew that things hadgotten tense among the Sisterhood; suspected some in our own class had manipulated Nan into challenging Ekaterina, the current Moerae; and knew that Maylin had blatantly refused to appear before the Conclave. But to hear that she had actually had the audacity to refuse a summons from the
Deities
Themselves boggled the mind beyond belief.
I found my voice but kept it calm and respectful. “The faction split in the Sisterhood. You believe it is this lesser god pledging Furies to himself much as he has other lesser gods?”
Kamanu nodded.
Whoa to infinity, then. Mr. Lesser God may have found a loophole allowing him to pledge other gods to himself lawfully, but
all
immortals, whether lesser or greater, were forbidden to pledge Furies to themselves individually. For him to do so meant he was either batshit insane—rare, among immortals and arcanes (except Furies who Turned Harpy)—or he was damned sure he stood a good chance of winning against all other comers. Starting, but not ending, with the Triad, which meant he had a whole hell of a lot of power, magically and politically speaking, and most likely
had
made the transformation from lesser god to greater.
But the Triad still has to
prove
that or some other crime, thus why they need us.
Ancient tradition dictated that Furies were the ones to track down immortal criminals to bring them before the Triad for Reckoning, in large part because only
we
could both channel magical Rage and draw upon the powers of those immortals who bound us to them through a Mandate. These two facts gave us a tremendous advantage against our quarry, notto mention the fact we were the seasoned investigators and enforcers of the arcane world.
Ala shot her husband a pointed look. “Tell them about the portals. They must know exactly what they are up against before they agree to serve as Nemeses.”
I suspected she was more concerned with not recruiting weaklings who would wuss out on Them later than with our delicate sensibilities, but still, I always appreciated full disclosure.
Kamanu complied. “Around the same time that the Prime Tisiphone fell out of communication with us, several Death Lords reported that another Lord’s sections of the Underworld had become closed off from the areas under their dominion. They attempted to bring us proof that this Lord had turned traitor, but this proved impossible. Not long ago, a group of priests sent by one of the lesser Death Lords vanished after journeying into his territory to investigate the portal failures. Those closed-off areas have only increased over
lesser
god at all.”
Mom let out a hissing breath. “So you believe he has made the transformation from lesser god to greater.”
All three Deities nodded although Ala looked distinctly sour at having to do so.
Kamanu gestured with the Defender’s shield. “By our laws, if he is still a lesser god, then he has not
technically
broken any precepts and cannot be punished for swearing others to himself. If, however, he has broken some other precept—such as gathering an immortal or arcane army with the intent of using it against other immortals—or if he
has
made that transformation from lesser god to greater, then he must be brought before the Triad to answer for his crimes.”
Those were an awful lot of
ifs
. Especially if—ha—they planned to send us out into the world as Their Nemeses. Surely they had something more concrete to go on.
“If, for instance, the Prime Tisiphone now refuses to serve as Voice for the Triad and, in fact, has not answered any summons for the past several weeks, and it can be proven that she has pledged to serve this particular immortal individually, we would have all the proof of wrongdoing we need to make him answer for his crimes.”
This inspired another shocked glance between Mom and me.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
We knew that things hadgotten tense among the Sisterhood; suspected some in our own class had manipulated Nan into challenging Ekaterina, the current Moerae; and knew that Maylin had blatantly refused to appear before the Conclave. But to hear that she had actually had the audacity to refuse a summons from the
Deities
Themselves boggled the mind beyond belief.
I found my voice but kept it calm and respectful. “The faction split in the Sisterhood. You believe it is this lesser god pledging Furies to himself much as he has other lesser gods?”
Kamanu nodded.
Whoa to infinity, then. Mr. Lesser God may have found a loophole allowing him to pledge other gods to himself lawfully, but
all
immortals, whether lesser or greater, were forbidden to pledge Furies to themselves individually. For him to do so meant he was either batshit insane—rare, among immortals and arcanes (except Furies who Turned Harpy)—or he was damned sure he stood a good chance of winning against all other comers. Starting, but not ending, with the Triad, which meant he had a whole hell of a lot of power, magically and politically speaking, and most likely
had
made the transformation from lesser god to greater.
But the Triad still has to
prove
that or some other crime, thus why they need us.
Ancient tradition dictated that Furies were the ones to track down immortal criminals to bring them before the Triad for Reckoning, in large part because only
we
could both channel magical Rage and draw upon the powers of those immortals who bound us to them through a Mandate. These two facts gave us a tremendous advantage against our quarry, notto mention the fact we were the seasoned investigators and enforcers of the arcane world.
Ala shot her husband a pointed look. “Tell them about the portals. They must know exactly what they are up against before they agree to serve as Nemeses.”
I suspected she was more concerned with not recruiting weaklings who would wuss out on Them later than with our delicate sensibilities, but still, I always appreciated full disclosure.
Kamanu complied. “Around the same time that the Prime Tisiphone fell out of communication with us, several Death Lords reported that another Lord’s sections of the Underworld had become closed off from the areas under their dominion. They attempted to bring us proof that this Lord had turned traitor, but this proved impossible. Not long ago, a group of priests sent by one of the lesser Death Lords vanished after journeying into his territory to investigate the portal failures. Those closed-off areas have only increased over
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