A Change of Heart

Afternoon of Thursday March 4, 1490

Before I could slink my shame-faced way home from the Parthenon (for the second time this week — this trend really had to end now), I happened to glance into one of the suites of rooms near Leona's and was arrested by the sense that it belonged to Thanos. This time, betrayal felt less like an assassin's blade and much more like heartbreak. What was that Solificati traitor doing at House Bonisagus? How could Thoren have invited him to take up residence here? I nearly spun around and ran back to confront Thoren, his meeting be damned, and I might very well have if I hadn't caught a glimpse of Thanos himself conversing with a group of Adepti under the grand statue of Athena Promachus. Knowing his presumption, I thought bitterly that he'd picked that location specifically so it would seem that our patron goddess supported his plots.

My wind disk had been a miserable failure, but surely I could manage a simple eavesdropping Effect? Leaning back casually against a column, I carved a swirl that might have been a stylized breeze and pulled the sounds of his conversation towards me.

All I received was a rush of ancient Greek — too fast to understand — and the impression of an roguish wink. Thanos had not only detected my attempt to pry but also shaped an individualized ward against me, calibrated to my interests. And he had the temerity to wink!

Dropping any pretense of subtlety, I shoved the carving back into my pocket and stormed up to him. Of course, the wretched master of Ars Temporis already knew what I intended and had dismissed his coterie long before I stomped across his ward circle.

"Good day, Adepta Marina bani Criamon," he greeted me courteously.

I was not in the least appeased. "Thanos!" I snapped, doing an excellent Tessa impersonation. "You! You tricked us! You lied to us!"

"I did?" He cocked his head inquiringly. "When did I lie to you?"

"When we helped you with the ritual! You — "

He spoke over me smoothly, "You're going to accuse me of dividing the Paradox unfairly two mornings ago, when you assisted with the ritual to freeze the Tower of the Winds, and you're going to blame me for the backlash that destroyed your library."

I stopped, fuming.

"Is it not just that you should share in the cost of the ritual?"

I floundered, trying to regain my momentum. "Well — yes, but you divided it unfairly. You split it equally — "

"And so I did. As the main wielder of the Effect, I should have borne the brunt. But I chose not to so I could remain — relatively — unscathed and assist in saving the city. Is the salvation of Athens not worth some unpleasantness to you young ones?"

When he phrased it that way, it was difficult to argue with him. Surely there was some hole in his logic somewhere. "We might have agreed to it anyway," I admitted. "But you should have asked us first. It would have been more fair."

"And so it would have. But you have learned a valuable lesson, have you not?"

My temper flared. "What lesson?" I asked sarcastically. "Not to trust strange mages who claim they're saving the city?"

He smiled at that, a sardonic smile like a stab in the ribs. "Funny you should mention that. And what were you doing twenty minutes ago?"

Twenty minutes ago I had been with Thoren and we had been — did I have no privacy? Did Thanos have no decency? "Thoren's been here for five years," I snapped, trying — and failing — to gore him with my glare. "He's hardly a stranger."