Chapter 23

23

SELENE

T he blood moon dripped its red light onto Hera’s skin. I shuffled back a few steps, bracing myself. Hera’s cheeks bloomed a mottled shade of red. Her eyes went wild, and she threw her shaking hands to her face, feeling the burn.

And then she screamed. It was a horrible, gut-twisting sound that cut through the night like a monstrous knife. The other monarchs began to shout, fleeing from the center of the arena to the safety of the shadows. But Hera remained, her face turning more crimson with every second that passed.

Heart clenching, I stared down at her, my shoulders thrown back. Wind whipped the cloak around my makeshift trousers and sprayed chilling mist into my face. Hera trembled as she gazed up at me, that pitiful scream eking from her clenched teeth. A lick of fire curled up the side of her face.

“Help me,” she whispered, her outstretched hand rising toward me like a serpent from the sea. Flames engulfed it instantly, and another horrific scream tore out of her.

I knelt before her, mud seeping through my clothes at the knee. Now that the other monarchs had fled to the shadows along the broken wall, they wouldn’t be able to hear our conversation. “I will get you to safety, but you must swear you’ll release the mortals you hold in captivity.”

Her eyes slightly widened, the skin around them puckered and red. “No. I could never—”

“You will release them.”

Hera laughed, a harsh and biting sound that turned into a choke. Flames tore up the side of her, engulfing her cloak. Gasping for breath, she toppled to the side, her face slamming into the ground. Her body shook, and smoke billowed an acrid stench into the air. She stared up at me, mouth open in a wordless scream.

I didn’t move.

I didn’t even flinch.

Heart pounding, I watched the blood moon’s glow consume her. Gray covered her face and exposed skin, and soon, ashes flecked off and joined the smoke. I merely stood there, witnessing the first death of an Olympian. If she would rather fall than demonstrate even an ounce of morality where humans were concerned, then so be it.

I would watch her burn.

It took longer than I expected. The moments inched by, as if Erebus truly had deemed her guilty and wanted to stretch out her agony for as long as possible. But at long last, the smoke cleared and the flames died. Only flecks of ash remained, the wind scattering them across the muddy ground of the amphitheatre.

Silence descended. Bracing myself, I turned to face the other Olympians, unsure how they would respond to the death of one of their own.

As my gaze landed on Zeus’s shrouded form, I realized something had changed in me during that fight. I’d come to the Isle of Aiaia to do my duty and protect my people. And I would. That would always be my greatest aim in life—to be a shield for those who could not shield themselves. My mother and my advisors had done their best to prepare me for that role, and I’d been more than willing to embrace it.

But they wanted me to do it calmly and quietly. Keep the peace. Obey the Archon. Never do anything to attract attention. Follow the orders of the Thirteen.

Fuck that.

I might be able to go on like that for a few months, but it would never work in the long run. My mother had tried that option for decades, and she’d ended up dead. This shit had to end. No more Thirteen Crowns. No more Archon Zeus. The mortals of Troy needed to be protected, yes, but so did all the rest of them. Every human on the continent of Hellas deserved freedom.

I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I would.

From the shadows, Zeus lifted his hand and beckoned me.

I smiled and raised my voice so he could hear it across the length of the arena. “Declare me innocent in the eyes of Erebus.”

Even though I couldn’t see Zeus’s face, I could feel him scowling. He’d expected me to lose. He’d wanted it. Instead, Hera was dead. And now he had no choice but to let me walk free, or else he’d have to endure the wrath of his precious god. What was more, he had to stand there in the darkness, hiding while I freely stood in the luminous red light over the ashes of his ex-lover. The blood moon, when not hidden behind dense clouds, was nearly as dangerous to him as the sun.

I’d kept that to myself for as long as I could, but now he knew. Now they all knew.

“Very well. Erebus has declared you innocent, and he’s concluded that Hera was guilty. You will endure no punishment and you will remain a member of the Thirteen Crowns.” His booming voice echoed across the crumbling walls.

As I nodded and walked toward them, several murmured voices rose, clearly objecting to Zeus’s decision. It was mostly Poseidon and Artemis. The others were silent, nothing but their crimson eyes visible in the darkness.

Zeus held up a hand, and they quieted. “We serve Erebus, and he made his decision clear. Hera was guilty. And she has paid for what she has done.”

E ventually, the clouds returned to the sky, blocking the moonlight once again. No one spoke a word to me on our return walk to the palace, not even Dionysos or Athena. In fact, they all gave me a wide berth and furtively glanced at the sky, as if I carried a sickness that might be catching. As if the blood moon would burn away the clouds and kill them just for being near me.

When we entered the palace’s torchlit halls, I was relieved when no one insisted on sharing dinner in the megaron. Blood and mud seeped into my clothes, and the air was thick with tension. Poseidon cast me a venomous glance, then stomped off down the corridor, muttering to himself about Titans and wicked gods. The others soon followed, one by one. Ares lingered, but eventually, even he drifted away. Zeus, Hermes, and Athena were the only three who remained.

Achilles, in his plated armor, appeared before us. Zeus ordered him to fetch Hera’s things. He would take everything she owned—and her kingdom of Arcadia—as his now. Athena looked on, her expression tight. I could tell she wanted to put a stop to this, but there was nothing she could do. Not unless she wanted to risk Zeus turning his ire upon her. But with two kingdoms under his rule, he truly did have more power than the rest of us now. It was an unfortunate consequence of letting Hera die, but a necessary one.

Because one by one, these crowns would fall.

After Achilles hurried off, Zeus turned to me. He gave me a considering look, and I could tell by the weight of it that he was really seeing me for the first time. “It looked like you and Hera were talking just before she died. What did you say to her?”

“I told I would take her to safety if she yielded,” I said. That was close enough to the truth.

Zeus curled back his lip, exposing his canines. “And she refused?”

“Until the very end.”

He shook his head. “She’s always been too stubborn for her own fucking good.”

“You knew that was going to happen,” Hermes interjected, shoving Zeus aside and stabbing my chest with his finger. “That wasn’t Erebus’s doing. It was yours.”

“No, I didn’t know it was going to happen. I have seen a blood moon in a clear sky before, and it burned bloodborn vampires in Troy. But it didn’t hurt me. So I thought it might be the same for all of you.”

I had certainly hoped it would burn them, though.

Hermes snarled, grasping for my neck, but before he could wrap his hands around my throat, Athena hauled him back.

“She knew,” he spat. “She knew!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Athena said, moving between us. “If Hera had been innocent, Erebus would have protected her from the blood moon. He is the ruler of the night sky, so he cleared the clouds. And what’s more, he left Selene unharmed. So let it be, Hermes.”

He ground his teeth, glaring at me. “I’m glad Hera didn’t debase herself by yielding to you. Fucking Titan.”

“All right.” Athena steered him toward the corridor. “Time to go cool off in your rooms.”

He stumbled forward a few steps, then squared his shoulders and stormed away. Zeus followed him, patting him on the back. Together, the two sucked up all the space. One with a tall and mountainous frame, and the other with wicked horns that cast long and sharp shadows across the floor.

As soon as they were out of sight, Athena wheeled toward me, her lips thinned. Out of all of them, she seemed like the most level-headed, the most intelligent, and the least vicious. The least likely to torment mortals and delight in it. And the most likely to see through my perfectly constructed mask.

“I had no love for Hera, but her death will have repercussions I don’t think you’ve anticipated,” she said.

I frowned. “You say that as though it’s my fault she died. Zeus was the one who insisted on that trial. I realize I was his target, not Hera, but—”

“No.” She shook her head. “I think Zeus wanted Hera gone. She pushed his buttons too many times, and then she went too far by killing his mortal lover. I’m sure Zeus is thrilled she’s dead. His greatest antagonist is gone, and he has a second crown. All without breaking the peace treaty.”

My stomach turned.

Athena nodded, as if sensing my dread. She’d likely heard the uptick in my heartbeat. Then she glanced around, leaned in, and put a hand on my arm. “I understand why you hate him.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I parroted, as if by instinct.

She gave me a knowing look. “He murdered your mother, Selene. And while you have crafted an impressive ice sculpture of a face—most of the time—I can see the anger burning in your eyes.” She held up a hand when I started to object, cutting me off before I got a word in. “You are a vampire. You love deeply, especially your family. Of course you hate him. But I know you have come here to do your damndest to keep the peace. Likely to protect Troy from him. So just remember that next time something like this happens. Don’t be so eager to hit Zeus where you think it will hurt him. Because you’ll more than likely be giving him what he wants.”

For a moment, I said nothing, the only sound my thundering heartbeat. It didn’t seem like she held much love for Zeus, either. She was trying to warn me about him. But Hera had done the same, and she’d turned out to be no better than he was. Still…there was something different about Athena. And I wanted to trust her.

I was starting to realize I truly did need an ally. Maybe even two or three. And I certainly didn’t count Ares as one, despite what he’d done that day at the cove.

Eventually, I found my voice. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“Because of something the Fates once told me.” Her expression turned grim as she turned toward the archway leading outside. A soft crimson light coated everything, seeping through the thickening mist. I followed her gaze and breathed in the scent of petrichor. It reminded me so much of home. Of my mother. Of everything I’d come here to protect.

Athena was right. I’d jumped at the chance to take out an Olympian without the risk of being strung up on a wall and tortured eternally, like Prometheus. But the mortals of Arcadia, Hera’s kingdom, were no closer to freedom than they’d been before. And now Zeus held two crowns instead of one.

Still, with one dead, I was one step closer to my goal.

And for that, I could not regret what I’d done.

“The Fates certainly do like to tell a lot of people a lot of things,” I mused.

A slight smile crested Athena’s lips—perhaps the first one I’d seen her wield. “They’re an odd little trio. Atropos, in particular, is one of the few beings in this godforsaken world who makes me feel…uneasy.”

Atropos, the cutter of the thread of life. She knew when someone would die or murder another. Out of the three, she handed out prophecies the most. She seemed to delight in letting people stew in tormented thoughts of their deaths.

“Yes,” I said carefully. “I’ve met Atropos.”

Athena turned to me, brow raised. “She gave you a prophecy?”

“That’s right. Did she give you yours?” I tried not to sound too eager in my question, but if Atropos had given Athena a prophecy relating to Zeus…that could only mean she might have an idea of when and how he could die. And that was the kind of information I was desperate for.

Athena smiled again. “Nice try, but I’ve already said too much. Just…be careful what you do here. As unlikely as you might find it, I hold no ill will toward you or your mother. Not unless you do something to cause Nekros to fail. Do you understand?”

She said it with strong conviction without tipping over into sounding domineering or harsh, like Zeus would have with those very same words.

“Yes, I understand. Has anyone ever told you that you’d make a better Archon than Zeus?”

She cocked her head at me, then laughed. “A few. Unfortunately, I’m only Third Crown…well, I suppose I could be considered Second now that Hera’s dead. Things are going to change now that there’s no longer thirteen.”

“Second isn’t particularly far from First,” I told her.

With a sigh, Athena strode from the archway and started down the corridor. I fell into step beside her. “Zeus would never agree to it. If you haven’t noticed, he’s quite fond of power.”

The torches flared to life on the stone walls, lighting the path ahead. I didn’t respond. What was there to say? Zeus enjoyed being in control, and while Athena was clearly the better leader, he’d never yield to anyone other than his god. Not that it would matter in the end. Another Archon wasn’t the answer. The end of the Thirteen Crowns was.

Athena slowed outside a door along the west wing of the palace. “This is where I’ll bid you good night. I suggest you get some rest. Tomorrow is my night, and I’ll do my best to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible. It’ll still be tense, though.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Athena. For being decent to me.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank the Fates.” And with that, she pushed inside her room, leaving me alone with the roaring torches and the thunderous sound of my own thoughts.