"Her lover?" he asked, plainly crestfallen.
Sometimes, my brother could be such a child. "Yes," I said, stifling another sigh. We were talking about a man who had a good motive for wanting Neutemoc dead, and all he could think of was that he'd had a rival.
Teomitl walked by our side, not saying anything. In the afternoon sunlight, his skin shone. Seeing him side by side with Neutemoc, it was easy to know what Teomitl's protection spell was: a much stronger version of the one Mihmatini had cast on my brother. Huitzilpochtli's protection, a fitting spell for a warrior. Teomitl's eyes went from Neutemoc to me; but clearly he was still thinking on Eleuia. Not, not on Eleuia – on whomever he'd really been infatuated with.
At the entrance to Mahuizoh's house, no slave tried to stop us. When I'd come with the Duality warriors, they'd been fearful. But to receive a Jaguar Knight in full regalia was an honour, judging by the way they bowed to Neutemoc.
"The master is at home," the slave said. "He'll be delighted to see you."
Mahuizoh received us in the reception room, sitting on the same dais as old Cocochi. He was dressed, not in his Jaguar Knight uniform, but in a simple loincloth, with a cape of white cotton falling down his shoulders. For a man in his mid-thirties, he was still going strong: the flesh of his arms firm, his face almost as smooth as that of a young man.
"I gather some of you attempted to visit me earlier," he said, after I'd introduced everyone. His gaze was curious, not hostile: the hostility was reserved for Neutemoc, who was blithely unaware of it. But I wasn't fooled. Mahuizoh was a clever man. He had to be, to balance both his affair with Eleuia and his belonging to the Jaguar Knights – two utterly incompatible things.
"We were looking for you," I said. "To ask some questions."
"Indeed?" His gaze still didn't reveal anything. And yet he had to know the reason we were here. "If you must."
The only way I'd get something out of this man was by shattering his composure. "We found a body this morning, near Chapultepec. It belonged to Priestess Eleuia."
He stared at me, for a while. Blinked, slowly, very slowly. "I see," he said, finally. And then, more softly, "I see." He was shaking.
"It was suggested that you slept with her," I added.
Mahuizoh looked at Neutemoc, the hatred on his face unmistakable. "I wasn't the only one, was I?"
Near me, Teomitl shifted. "The Imperial Courts cleared Neutemoc of wrongdoing."
Mahuizoh smiled. "I see you're not even brave enough to defend yourself," he said to Neutemoc. "You send pups to sing your praises."
Teomitl went still, one hand on his macuahitl sword, tightening around the hilt. "You call me a pup?" he asked.
"An unbloodied pup," Mahuizoh said. His teeth were as white and as sharp as the fangs of a jaguar. "Anyone can see that."
"I took a prisoner," Teomitl said.
"What a feat," Mahuizoh said, his voice mocking. "One man against… how many of you untrained youths? Four, five?"
It was a deliberate insult, for Teomitl wouldn't have been a Leading Youth unless he had captured a prisoner by himself. His face paled: he couldn't tolerate such an blow to his pride.
"Leave him alone," Neutemoc said, stepping between them with both arms extended, as if to fend off an enemy. "We both know I'm the one you want."
Mahuizoh laughed, bitterly. "Do I?" he asked. I finally realised what he was doing: his anger was all that kept his grief at bay.
"She loved both of us," Neutemoc said. Given Eleuia's propensity to take lovers, that was a singularly foolish thing to say. Mahuizoh didn't fail to rise to it.
"No," he said. "You're wrong."
"Because you had her longer?" Neutemoc asked, his voice shaking in anger.
Mahuizoh smiled. "No," he said. "Because she only loved one person in her life."
"You?" Neutemoc asked, stepping closer – just as I said, "Herself."
Mahuizoh's gaze moved from Neutemoc to me. "You're perceptive, for a priest," he said, surprised.
The "priest" carried the slight tone of contempt warriors always put on it. I said, slowly, not about to be outdone by a proud Jaguar Knight, "But you, on the other hand, loved her."
Mahuizoh was silent for a while. He stared at me; and, when he spoke again, his voice shook. "Yes," he said. "She was the only one who made me feel alive."
"She could be like that." Teomitl still had his hand on his sword. He was still glowering at Mahuizoh.
"You met her," Mahuizoh said. "Whenever you met her, you'd remember. Because there was so much anguish in her, so much desire to live."
I remembered the Quetzal Flower's description of Eleuia: a woman who would do anything rather than know hunger again. I began to believe that Mahuizoh had indeed loved her. He had known her, better than Neutemoc or Teomitl.
"And you couldn't bear the thought of sharing her," I said.
Mahuizoh laughed, a sickening sound. "Sharing?" he asked. "Let me tell you something," he said, turning to Neutemoc. "If she flirted with you, it's because you had something she wanted."
A house of her own. Rooms filled with riches, and a status that would make most men and women envious. All she had to do was take Huei's place, or convince Neutemoc to take her as a second wife.
On the other hand… Mahuizoh himself had all of that. Why hadn't she asked him for that?
"You never married her?" I asked.
Mahuizoh shook his head. "I asked. She didn't want to. She had ambitions, you see."
"Higher than being the wife of a Jaguar Knight?" Teomitl asked.
Mahuizoh smiled. "She wanted her own power, not something that was dependent on a husband."
Hence the drive to become consort of the god Xochipilli. It explained Eleuia's life, but still not why someone was trying to do away with my brother. And not, either, why mysterious men would abduct and torture her. Eleuia's ambition had been unsuitable for a woman; but surely that offence warranted no such punishment.
"Do you know why someone would want to kill her?" I asked.
Mahuizoh shook his head.
"She had a child," I said.
His eyes flicked. "Possibly."
"And you were the father."
He looked genuinely surprised this time. "No," he said. "Wherever did you get that idea?"
"From a reliable source," I said, wondering exactly how much I could trust the Quetzal Flower. No more, I guessed, than I could trust Mahuizoh.
"I didn't father any child with her," Mahuizoh said, curtly. "Whoever told you this was mistaken."
"And you didn't attempt to kill Neutemoc?"
Mahuizoh looked at Neutemoc. My brother wasn't even paying attention, absorbed in thoughts. Mahuizoh's face, for a bare moment, twisted into a mask of hatred so frightening that I recoiled. "No," Mahuizoh said. "I didn't make attempts on his life."
But he had taken far too long to answer. And his jealousy of Neutemoc, in spite of everything he had said, was obvious.