Chapter Thirty-Two
Harpoc grins, draws a finger to his lips, then starts tapping like he’s want to do. “What mysteries from this morning can I illuminate for you, oh curious pupil?”
“Well, Professor Rose,” I say, playing along, “Zeki and you talked about hiding his secret.”
Harpoc nods. “Sealing it, yes.”
“What’s that mean, exactly?”
“What can you infer?”
It’s not an answer and my inner voice objects. Whoa up, Pell, don’t let him slip the noose.
No chance, I’ve got this bull by the balls.
“I infer that you somehow keep the truth from Turkish government officials for a price. But that’s not my question.”
Harpoc chuckles. “Okay, my little harpy, what is your question?”
I snicker at the endearment despite my concerns, because, yes, I’m damn ferocious when I want to be, like now, although he doesn’t know it yet. “You ‘sealed’ Zeki’s secret?”
“I did.” He grins, and despite my resolve, my innards flutter.
Don’t let him flirt his way out of this, Pell.
I roll my eyes at myself. I’m such a sucker for his charms, and he knows it.
But I’m also a scientist, damn it. I refocus. “What all’s involved in ‘sealing’ a secret?”
Harpoc takes a sip of his drink, and I fear he’s going to clam up, with the thoughtful expression he assumes. He uncrosses his leg and sets his drink on the end table, then turns toward me, and my stupid heart beats a little faster.
“You really want to know who I am don’t you?”
I can’t stop my head from jerking back. I’m glad I’m sitting. I only barely nip a snarky retort—No, Sherlock—because he might just take me literally if I say it.
I clear my throat. “Yes, yes I do.”
He slides down the couch so our knees touch, then takes my hand, and—those beautiful gold and silver eyes—our gazes connect.
I clutch my beer tight.
“Pell, I am the god of secrets, and my empire manages the secrets of every known realm.”
God of Secrets?
A god?
There’s such a thing? Or person?
This is definitely not what I expect, and my heart picks up pace.
A god?
I nearly drop my beer. I’m tempted to think he’s pulling my leg, but there’s no humor in his eyes, like there’d be if he is.
A god?
He’s still staring into my eyes, like he can read my thoughts. If he’s a god, maybe he can. But then his Adam’s apple bobs, and I realize he’s not sure how I’m taking the news.
“You’re a god?” My pitch rises.
My mind’s a whir. A god, a god, a god.
OMG. I bite my lip.
He leans in. He portrays the picture of calm and confident, but his shoulders are tight. I can see it in the way his tailored shirt hugs his arms.
“I am.” He’s unusually still.
“You’re a god.” I say it again.
Like duh, Pell, he just said it.
He smiles.
“You’re… like a god come to Earth.”
“I am.” He chuckles.
“But…” I furrow my brows. “…why?”
My brain’s about to short circuit with all the electrons firing at the same time. Until today, I think Stonehenge and Easter Island are the greatest mysteries known to humans, but they’re nothing compared to… a god?
He drops my hand and slaps a leg, laughing. “You’re just too cute.”
I force a frown, but he laughs all the harder for it.
“Allow me to explain.”
He’s going to tell me more? Why’s he being so transparent all of a sudden?
Don’t question it, Pell.
Right, right.
“Please.” I’m trying my best to not totally lose it, but he’s a freaking god! My brain is scrambling to assemble the five-bazillion-piece Harpoc puzzle.
I sit up, clutching my beer. Condensation’s making it slippery, so I wipe some off on my cargo pants and take a sip.
Harpoc leans back and stretches his arms across the back of the sectional again, clearly relieved, why, I’m not sure—that I didn’t laugh in his face, that I didn’t scream, that… who knows what.
“Why did I come?” he asks.
I bob my head.
“There is a leak.”
“A leak.”
“Several of the secrets I’ve sealed are somehow being leaked, and I’ve been unable to identify the source. When I detected that the sphinx’s secret had been exposed and she’d been brought back, I thought it might be my first lead, so I came immediately.”
He’s speaking but the words aren’t registering. “You… have a leak.”
A corner of his mouth hitches up. “Yes. Imagine the problem if beings discover the Empire of Secrets might accidently leak their sealed secrets. Instability would erupt everywhere.”
“Empire of Secrets.”
“Yes, Pell.” Harpoc smiles.
I take another sip of my beer and swallow hard.
He spoke, just now, about the secrets he sealed that are leaking. He included the sphinx’s among them.
My brain starts sprinting through the time I’ve spent with him, in light of this and his ‘god’ revelation.
And my skin starts to tingle.
Harpoc knew the sphinx’s secret; he recited it verbatim when he’d only briefly glanced at the scroll.
I draw in a quick breath.
He also spoke to her… in a tongue they both knew. My stomach hitches. Like that maybe existed way back 4600 years ago.
The next thought piles on. He also said that screech was Zephyr when there’s no way he should have known… unless he’d met her before.
My breathing labors.
Zephyr existed in the time of Jason and the Argonauts of Greek legend.
My mind’s sprinting full out.
And he called Midas a “batty old geezer.” His words had come out soft as if he knew and liked the guy.
In fact, Harpoc dipped us dramatically in flight when I accused him of knowing the king—primary schooler. And he’d covered
