Stars Rise

IX. Cristo And Nova, And Candra

Cristo burst through the crowd to catch Nova, and out of the corner of his eye, in the last second before he darted in front of her to stop her in her tracks, he caught a blurry image of bright pink, a figure charging toward Potestas on the stage. Not Lien Cassus, though; his instructions had been clear that the assassin had worn black when she fired the fatal shot at the boss.

He should double check on the figure in pink momentarily.

Candra Satiri, perhaps? He didn't really care. Getting into Nova's way, Cristo said, "Aurelian Nova, funny bumping into you tonight. Here." More than one head swiveled around to listen, he noticed.

"Do I know you?" she said.

"I thought the masquerade ball line was, 'Do you know me?'"

"I don't," said Nova. Her eyes in the holes of the mask flicked over his features as if she had never seen his face before. With or without the fox mask, that was impossible.

He lowered the volume of his voice and said, "Want to tell me what you're doing here?" She didn't. Dropping all pretense of politeness, as if she thought he was a crazy person, she tried to duck past him. Trying not to cause a scene, Cristo stepped backwards, moving with her, hoping the steps looked something like a dance move.

"How predictable," he said, and he continued over her feigned protest of "Pardon me?"

"Except that I never expect you to be predictable. So it was unpredictable that you predictably tried to run away to get out of answering me. Nor do I expect you to tell me what you're doing here tonight, but if there ever was a time to be unpredictable, this is it. How about it?"

More and more eavesdroppers shamelessly turned to watch, many of whom shouldn't have been able to hear his quiet words. That made the interrogation difficult. Did any of them have hearing enhancement spells? Was that possible yet? Cristo didn't know, so he chose his words carefully. Which meant he had to be vague. Which was not an interrogation strategy up to Nova's prowess.

What he wanted to say was, "Did you follow me back from the future to stop me from saving Ilan Potestas's life and prevent the reelection of Gaia Solin?" You know, specifics. What he said instead was, "Why are you here?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she of course insisted. "Excuse me, I have to meet someone." Again she attempted to push past him, and he stepped back further with her, without getting out of her way.

"Oh good," he said, "this is as much a waste of your time as it is mine."

"You must have me confused with someone."

He put a hand on her shoulder and pressed close to her. "Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Yes," Nova said, but Cristo didn't stop talking. Lowly. "Did you forget to invite Exequi Marius to your party?"

Nova talked over him and said at the same time, "I don't know who you are."

"Some other aristocrat you haven't said hello to yet?"

"Excuse me?"

"Or do the assassins need you for something?" he said, close to her ear, his voice almost silent.

His words hit her hard. Her tongue tied in a knot, and she was speechless.

"I know you," he said.

Nova found her voice and kept it low too. She whispered back, "What are you talking about, assassins?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Her face changed again. As if Cristo could read her mind, he felt as if he knew she had decided he was insane. Which was impossible, because she was only pretending not to know him. Shit, she was convincing. Stars damn it.