Stars Rise

LXXVIII. Nova Takes Her Time and Stephen Squanders It

Tony didn't exactly know why he was telling everything to this woman he didn't know, Nova Dasilva.

All night, he supposed, or for the hours since the sun set at least, he had been drowning and he had been drowning long before that but now it was in the certainty that something was wrong with Cordelia that he was drowning.

An unfathomable ocean on a planet worlds away from him, her mind was a forest at the bottom of an ocean worlds away from him, and he would never reach her again. He couldn't reach her mind and he couldn't touch her, he reached for her shoulders and she slipped away before his fingers could land. "Everything is fine," she had said on the way to the link to Potestas Tower. She hadn't smiled.

"I'm happy," she said, but as soon as they came out of the elevator she lost him to talk to someone else, dissolved into an opening in the crowd that closed around her, and he was alone again, which didn't feel very different from when she had been there.

"She knows," he moaned to Nova Dasilva. "It's the only explanation. She already knows and she's pretending not to. We're both pretending."

Nova Aurelian nodded sweetly with wide eyes almost watering with tears. She was almost crying for him. A tiny hand patted his arm, understanding, encouraging.

"She already knows everything," said Tony.

Those wide teary eyes changed. She tossed her head like she was shaking off a mask and suddenly the face underneath was cold and sharp, like everybody else's. The round eyes narrowed to sharp slits and Tony had the instinct to lean away on his stool.

"Tony, you're not going to want to hear what I have to say," she said. "But she does know. She knows about the affair that never happened. And that's a good thing, because now no one can use it to control you. Your marriage may be ruined, but you can elect whoever you want for president of Constellation.Just relax, enjoy your drink and the—"

The party around him was melting together and away, the colors, lights and noises swirling together into his vision a kaleidoscope of moving patterns with Nova's face the only shape, an eye here, an ear there, and her disjointed words, "music" and "crepesculum" and "free" and "marriage."

Tony brought his hands to his face and fell into them, pressing his fingertips until the colors of the kaleidoscope melted together to brown. He wasn't sure if he could see or hear, but he could speak.

"How could you possibly know that," sputtered through his lips in a shout right over her quiet venomous voice. "How could you possibly know that. You don't know me and I don't know you. I'm not free to vote for who I want to be President of Constellation. You don't know anything. First them and now you. How do you know, how does anyone know? How does she know. Come to think of it, I want to know did you tell her? Answer me, are you the one who told her?"

"No," said Nova Dasilva. "I didn't tell her."

Tony's vision came back into focus, the muddled fog receded and Nova's face was back together, and he glared at it.

"Someone told her so no one could use it to manipulate you. It didn't happen to be me, but I would have. What happens to your marriage is your problem, but this election is important, and you should make your own choice. Carefully. I assume that the attempt to blackmail you and destroy your family will factor into your decision making process. Don't vote for Justin Marius. Don't you dare."

Tony started to laugh. He laughed in her face and she shrunk back, but he didn't bother to get himself under control until he was choking and sputtering.

Finally, chest heaving, he talked between chuckles. "You don't want me to vote for Justin Marius." He slapped the bar in front of him and sucked in air when he could. "Because he blackmailed me. That's hilarious." He broke out in more laughter. "You're a sweet girl. Fucking stupid, but sweet."