"Unless he thought it would impress me," she ventured. Neither Cristof nor Viera immediately protested, so she hurried on. "He told me he'd shown Exalted Octavus some evidence about what broken marriages did to the economy, and that Octavus had finally seen things his way. That doesn't sound like a misunderstanding, to me. He even said the attack on the wireferry could have been because the Torn Cards were worried that Caster would convince other decaturs to change their votes."
"Caster didn't change his mind," Viera said, with confidence. "He would have told me, if he had. Clockwork Heart had become something of a joke between us."
"Oh." Taya sank back in her chair, discouraged.
It hadn't bothered her to think that Alister was flirting instead of looking for a serious romance. It hadn't even bothered her very much to think that he might have told her secrets to try to impress her. But if he'd lied to her — that was completely different.
A liar writing a true-romance program. It didn't make any sense.
"Did Caster leave any of his papers here?" Cristof asked, as she brooded. "And if so, may I look at them?"
"I would let you, but his papers are confidential," Viera said with regret. "The lictors are getting a warrant to take all his work away with them, and they won't be happy if I let you go through it, first."
Cristof pulled off his glasses, polishing them and gazing blindly out one window. Taya looked at Viera with confusion. Had the exalted already found out that Cristof was suspended?
Oh.
Viera didn't know that Cristof worked for the lictors at all.
Oh, Lady
, Taya thought with sudden panic.
What if Cristof was lying to me, too?
But no sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Cristof pushed his glasses back up his nose and reached into his suit jacket.
"I know you won't be happy about this, Vee," he said, pulling out a folded piece of paper and handing it to his cousin. "I had good reasons for not telling you. But the reasons don't matter anymore."
Viera unfolded the letter and read it, her eyebrows rising when she reached the end.
"Is this why you left Primus, Cris?" she demanded, handing the document back. Cristof took it, paused, then handed it to Taya.
She knew what it was even before she looked. It was his letter of appointment, confirming that he worked for the Ondinium Civic Police Force.
She read it, anyway. At least this wasn't a lie. She'd seen the lictors’ official letterhead and seal dozens of times on other documents.
"No. I started working for the lictors a few years after I left. I would have said something, at least to you and Alister, but the military thought I'd be more useful if nobody knew what I was doing."
"In other words, they turned you into a spy." Viera's tone was frosty. "That's not a gentleman's profession, Cris."
"I'm not a gentleman." Cristof, too, must have heard her disapproval, because an acid note had returned to his voice. "I never lied to you, Viera. I just didn't volunteer the information."
"That's called a lie of omission, and it's no better than a lie of commission." Now Viera's annoyance was more apparent. "Apparently all my years of defending your character have been in error."
Color rose in Cristof's cheeks, darkening the wave-shaped castemarks on his cheeks.
"I've done good work for the lictors. I've helped them catch smugglers, spies — I was one of the people who figured out Neuillan was selling our secrets to Alzana—"
"All of which would be very admirable if it had been done in an honorable manner. But I'm not going to condone you pretending to be something you're not."
"Like every other exalted in Ondinium?" Cristof snapped, gripping the arms of his chair and half-rising. "Hiding behind masks in order to pretend that they're flawless?"
"Not that again, Cris."
"It's the same thing!"
"If it were the same thing, then you wouldn't have any right to disdain us, would you? A mask of flesh is no different from a mask of ivory. But I think what you're doing is worse — at least people know when you're wearing a mask of ivory."
Cristof made a disgusted noise, dropping back into his chair.
"You and the icarus…. "he snarled. "Neither of you understands anything."
"When I said you were still wearing a mask, I wasn't talking about spying," Taya said, looking from one exalted to the other. Family spats were much more difficult to finesse than merchants’ arguments or foreigners’ misunderstandings. "Exalted Octavus, your cousin has been honest with you today because he wants to find the person who killed your husband and Alister. I'm helping him because I care, too. We can disagree about other things and still agree that the killer needs to be found, can't we?"
Viera nodded, her eyes still narrow as she regarded her cousin.
"Yes, but you and I are going to discuss this matter at greater length in the future, Cris."
"Agreed." Cristof's tone was curt. "In the meantime, do I have your permission to see Caster's papers?"
"Before you say yes," Taya interrupted, "there's something else you should know. Cristof's superiors have suspended him. He says his suspension only applies to investigating his brother's murder and that he's free to investigate a theft from the Oporphyr Tower. Your husband's papers might help him investigate that theft, but they're more likely to help him work on the case he's not supposed to touch."
Cristof shot her an angry look, his lips tight, but he didn't say anything. Well, he could be as angry as he wanted, she thought, but she didn't intend to lie to Viera Octavus for him — not by commission or omission.
"Were you going to tell me that?" Viera asked, turning to Cristof. He bared his teeth in a humorless smile.
"I don't have to tell anybody anything anymore," he said, in a voice like vinegar and honey. "I'll just leave all my talking to the icarus."
"Perhaps that would be a good idea." Viera stood. "I'll show you the papers, for the family's sake, but you can't take them away, and I intend to tell the lictors you were here."
Cristof nodded once, looking grim. They followed her out.
On the way down the hall, Taya caught Cristof's eye and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" he snapped. She decided to let his snide comment about speaking for him pass and asked another question, instead.
"Did your brother lie a lot?"
"I don't know." He looked away from her. "My brother cared what people thought. That can make a man do stupid things."
"I don't like it when people have hidden agendas and try to use me to meet them."
"My agenda isn't hidden." They followed Viera up a flight of stairs. "I want Alister's killer. I'm letting you work with me because you want to and because if I didn't, you'd just get in my way."
"You're ‘letting’ me work with you because you're too bad-tempered to get information out of anybody on your own," she retorted. "I don't know why the lictors thought you might be useful to them. What do you do, stab prisoners with the sharp edge of your tongue until they beg for mercy?"
He gave her an amazed look, then turned away again.
"Here." Viera opened the door to Caster's office. "Keep his things in order, Cristof. And leave Taya alone. Right now, I like her more than I like you. Taya, please make sure my cousin doesn't walk off with anything."
"I will," Taya said, putting her palm on her forehead and bowing. "Thank you, exalted."
"I'm not angry at you." Viera touched her cheek a moment, then turned. "Come again without Cris, so that we may enjoy a civil conversation together."
"Thank you," Taya repeated, as Viera walked back down the stairs. Then she turned. Cristof was already sitting at Caster's desk, his thin face intent as he rummaged through his papers. "You're going to apologize to her, right?"