It’s sweet that he’s concerned, but still.
“I’ve got something in my eye,” I say. He has secrets, so do I.
We both take another sip of coffee, bridging the uncomfortable silence between us.
My mind wanders back to Margo and my original question of why is she pursuing this now? Harpoc probably knows. Although if he told me true, it’s got to be one of his “lieutenants” who has handled her secret because she’s like me, not exactly “powerful.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Harpoc says, setting his cup down on the table.
I nearly snort out a mouthful of coffee. That’s rich coming from him. “Who says I’m thinking anything?”
He chuckles. “Because when you think, you turn away slightly and tap your foot.”
“I do?”
He laughs. “You do. What’s more, if you’re enjoying our conversation, your feet point toward me. If not, you point them anywhere else.”
I let my mouth drop open. “I do not.”
He smiles. “You do.”
I note my posture, then glance quickly at my feet. My shoulders are angled away from him just a little, and my feet point at the privacy screen, nowhere near where he sits.
What do I even say to that? He’s a regular gumshoe.
I straighten my feet, pointing them at him, making us both laugh because we both know that I’ll forget in a second, and they’ll give me away again.
“Fine, I’m thinking about Margo.” I give him the lowlights of my relationship with her and her unfortunate past. “She went through all that, I endured it with her, so I know. Foutsey’s full of shit,” I say, in conclusion.
He sits quietly, listening intently as I lay everything out.
I sigh. “Harpoc, you told me you and your empire keep secrets, ensuring they’re forever hidden.” I look at my coffee cup, held in my hands in my lap, summoning calm to my raging thoughts. “What role did you have in keeping what happened to Margo quiet?” Aka what role did you have in keeping her abuser in power at the group home so he could do it again and again to others? I think it, but don’t give my inflammatory thoughts voice.
Harpoc starts tapping a finger against his lips and more than once he opens his mouth as if to say something, then shuts it again.
He’s considering, that’s encouraging, because he hasn’t shot me down like the first time at Atitamos’s when I voiced my feelings about secrets and the damage they inflict. I was right then, I’m right now.
At length, his hand falls away from his mouth. “In a case like this, the secret can’t be hidden.”
“Really?” My voice rises.
“By their very nature, acts such as rape and incest, cannot be sealed.”
“They can’t?”
He shakes his head. “When there is more than one party to a secret, all parties must be in agreement or there can be no sealing of the secret.”
I give him a long look. I’d hoped he’d just say secrets like that can’t be sealed because they’re despicable.
He continues. “Imagine what would happen if you tried to hide a secret and not everyone wanted it kept. It would be a fool’s errand to even attempt to seal it.”
“Are you saying you’d seal a secret like that if all parties agreed? Is it just a practical matter for you?” My voice is rising.
A fierceness fills his tone. “The empire would never seal a secret like that as a matter of principle. I find what Foutsey did utterly despicable, and I hope he pays for what he did to your friend.”
I look into his eyes. There’s sincerity there.
Relief washes over me, and I exhale loudly.
I’ve been torqued at him and his secret magic for what happened to Margo, but I guess that’s not his fault. So secret magic isn’t responsible for shit like this that’s wrong in the world.
But I’m not letting him completely off the hook because his magic has got to have something to do with crooked politicians, no way in hell it doesn’t.
An amused expression graces Harpoc’s face as he glances at my feet.
I roll my eyes as I note my toes point directly at him.
We both chuckle at that. He has his tells; I guess I have mine, too.
“I’ve been wondering something else.”
“What’s that, my little harpy.” A corner of his mouth hitches as he picks up his coffee again.
I can’t resist smiling at the endearment, because that’s what it is, and I’m just so relieved.
My inner voice groans.
“Zeki’s secret cost him half the earnings of his plantation. What did the sphinx, Zephyr, and Midas pay?”
Harpoc takes another sip. “Does it matter?”
“I was just curious.”
He draws his hand up to his mouth and starts tapping a finger again.
It’s another simple question, and I’m about to be incensed after a minute of his silence, when he says, “I will tell you only because their secrets have been… revealed.”
I grimace. Guilty as charged.
“Lady, that’s all I ever knew her by”—a softness fills his voice—“came to me because she wanted to always be able to guard that temple, and she knew if anyone ever guessed her riddle she, like other sphinxes, would have to kill herself.”
Sadness fills my heart. I get it. All I ever wanted to do was be an archeologist. “So she really was bummed the Temple of Amun no longer exists.”
He nods. “In exchange for sealing her secret, she gave me a male and a female kit from her next litter to guard my palace.”
I give him a disbelieving look. “Sphinxes had litters?”
He grins. “The offspring of the pair still provide security for me.”
My eyes go wide.
