Immortally Ever After by Angie Fox

“You didn’t seduce him, did you?”
    “What? No.” Marc had walked in before I could. I tried not to wince, focused on the obvious. “Did you see his injuries?”
    It wasn’t as good of a protest as I’d hoped.
    Horace wasn’t in the mood. “He promised me he’d be gone in a day.”
    And Galen had promised he’d find a way to be with me forever. We could all see how that had worked out.
    Jeffe snarled from the doorway to Kosta’s office and my heart gave a little lurch.
    “What are you doing in there?” Horace snapped.
    “I am under orders to guard this room,” Jeffe snarled. The sphinx turned his attention to me. “I saw Galen on the way here. You stay away. He is too good for you.”
    That might be, but, “I have to warn him.”
    “Galen knows about the investigators in camp. He saw before you did.” The sphinx bristled. “Whatever you did made him very sad,” Jeffe lectured.
    Yeah, well, I didn’t need any opinions from a guard sphinx when it came to my love life.
    “Hah!” Horace snarled. “You see? You’re rolling your eyes. What are you two doing?”
    I felt my face redden with the memory of that kiss. What I’d give for five minutes, consequences-free, with Galen of Delphi. “I don’t roll my eyes,” I reminded the sprite. Especially over Galen. I was a professional.
    Horace’s wings beat hard, scattering papers at my feet. “Spare me. It’s disgusting. You get that exasperated infatuated look about you whenever he’s around. I’ve watched you for seven years and it only happens around Galen.” He crossed his arms over his chest, as if daring me to contradict him.
    Yeah, well, I wasn’t getting into that debate. Besides, we had bigger problems. “Where are the investigators?”
    “Setting up in the visiting officers’ quarters.” Horace frowned. “They look mean.”
    Naturally. Okay, we had to get a handle on this. “Are they after anyone specifically?”
    They might be forcing Shirley to put together a list of names.
    Horace’s eyelashes fluttered a mile a minute. “I don’t know, but I’ll bet they question the entire camp. I’ll never hold up under questioning. I’m too beautiful for torture.”
    “Nobody’s getting tortured,” I said, at an absolute loss as to how to prevent it. “Here’s what you do. Keep an eye on that tent.” Horace could blend a lot better than I could. “When Shirley comes out, get her alone. Ask her what she knows. They’re not going to do anything around here without going through Kosta first.” An early warning from Shirley would be our one shot to know what the hell was up.
    Horace wrung his hands. “Kosta can’t stop them. They have power from the gods.”
    “True, but we can at least try to get the drop on them.”
    Kosta might be one to follow orders, but if they were going to hurt anyone in camp, I was betting the colonel would be able to hold them off with rules and procedures, to at least buy some time while he tried to wheedle some sanity out of HQ.
    Meanwhile, we could get Galen and Leta to make their escape.
    It would be a clean break, like ripping off a bandage.
    Horace planted himself outside, near the main message board, where he had a straight shot at the visiting officers’ tent.
    “Let’s keep what you find between you and me,” I said, as he scanned the bulletin board, which was jam-packed with official notices from HQ detailing correct and committee-approved ways to sheath a sword, avoid hell vents, and chew gum while walking.
    Too many people knew our little secret. There was Jeffe, who couldn’t bluff to save his life. Holly. I wasn’t so worried about her. Horace, who was starting to panic.
    We were losing control and putting more people in danger.
    I gave one final glance back at Horace before heading south toward a maze of low-slung tents that made up the officers’ housing.
    My hutch was dark when I made it back home. Rodger was snoring. Marius was on shift.
    I reached for the door and about had a