Chapter 4

4

SELENE

M y voyage home was fraught with loneliness and pain, even though Hector did his best to comfort me. The ship took two weeks to reach the shores of Troy, and it gave me far too much time with my thoughts. My memories. My regrets. I should have listened to my gut and stayed with my mother. If I had, we might have been able to fight Zeus together.

She might still be alive.

When I stumbled onto the docks, the familiar snowy mist engulfed me, soothing away a weariness unlike any I’d ever felt. It was soul-deep, bone-crushing exhaustion. All I wanted was to crawl into my rooms inside the palace and stay there for days. The idea of speaking to anyone, let alone an entire court who had loved their High Queen…

Orpheus, my mother’s closest advisor, stood waiting for me as I disembarked, his thin hands clasped before him. His knuckles were white, and the lines between his brow were deeper than they normally were. I’d sent word ahead from the ship, so he already knew. Still, my heart clenched when I tried to conjure the right words to say to him.

He had been with her from the beginning, when the other Titans had roamed this world. Back before Zeus had led the Olympians in a revolt to gain power. Tall and reedy with burning crimson eyes, gray skin, and a hunched back, Orpheus had the look of a decaying vampire. He didn’t feed often enough, not since he’d lost his mortal lover, Eurydice. I didn’t know how he would cope with losing someone else.

“Orpheus,” I began, my voice cracking.

He merely shook his head and clasped my hands. His eyes welled with tears, but only a few trickled down his cheeks. Like me, he’d spent his life burying his emotions. In fact, this was the only time I’d seen any evidence of sadness from him, other than when he refused to feed.

“I’m so sorry, Selene,” he said, his voice papery and thin and snatched away by the wind. “Are you all right?”

“No, but it doesn’t matter. Tell me what I must do.” I lowered my voice, glancing around to make certain the sailors didn’t overhear my next words. Most had already left the ship, vanishing into the dense mist. “Do we need to prepare for war?”

Orpheus’s eyes flared wide. He shook his head, wetting his lips. “Oh no, Your Majesty. We cannot make a move against Zeus, no matter how deeply I wish we could. He would call upon the armies of his allies, and they would take his side. It simply cannot be.”

“He murdered the High Queen of Troy,” I hissed between clenched teeth. “And then his little minion tried to kill me.”

“You speak of Ares?” Orpheus asked, surprised.

“He came after me. That’s how I discovered what happened.”

He nodded, his eyes growing distant. “Right, well. There’s been a letter.”

“What?”

“Zeus sent a letter.” Orpheus pressed a folded piece of parchment into my hands. His own were shaking. “We will spend the next three months preparing you to attend Nekros. I will accompany you, of course. After that…well, we will find a way to make this right. This, I promise you, Selene.”

I took the offered parchment, recoiling even though I hadn’t read the words yet. Nekros was an annual meeting of the monarchs, where they proved their dedication to Erebus through a series of blood sacrifices. My mother had attended every year as a part of the peace treaty with the others. And if Zeus had sent a letter about it now… that could only mean he expected me to attend.

After he’d killed my mother.

Dearest Selene, the High Queen of Troy,

You are hereby summoned to Nekros, the annual gathering of Olympian monarchs on the Isle of Aiaia, where we swear our loyalty to Erebus and sacrifice blood in his honor.

Every member of the Thirteen Crowns must attend to commit to our continued peace. To withdraw from the ceremony states an intention against all other realms.

The Kingdom of Troy’s place within the Thirteen Crowns is of utmost importance. Your previous monarch’s alliance faltered, but we will not hold all of Troy accountable for one wretched Titan’s disloyalty, so long as their new queen demonstrates fealty.

We expect your arrival promptly on the fifth of Avgusto, the Eve of Haima.

The Archon of Monarchs,

Zeus

I crumpled the paper in my fist. Burning red bled through my vision, making my teeth ache. If only I could look into the face of my enemy now, I would tell him exactly what I thought about his fucking treaty.

“Selene,” Orpheus said, wrapping a hand around my shaking fist. “I know what you must be thinking. I’m thinking it, too. But you must go to Nekros.”

“What he did to my mother should be considered a declaration of war.” My voice was flat, but every emotion imaginable clutched me by the throat.

“He would say the same about your mother’s actions. When she agreed to join the Thirteen, she vowed to abandon all worship of Gaia. Somehow, Zeus discovered she was still doing it in secret. We must be thankful he doesn’t know most of Troy does, or else he would invade.”

“That’s what Ares was talking about? He thought my mother’s worship of Gaia was some kind of plot against the Olympians? That is ludicrous, Orpheus.”

“And yet I’m afraid it’s in the treaty,” he said quietly. “It’s considered treason.”

With a frustrated sigh, I turned away. “I can’t believe you, of all people, are happy to continue on as if nothing has happened.”

“I am not .” His grip tightened on my hand. “Tell me this, Selene. Why did your mother take you to Olympia? What was she trying to tell you about Zeus?” He paused. “Put your emotions aside. What is your duty? ”

My eyes burned. “To protect Troy.”

“And how do we do that?”

I gazed at the looming shapes beyond the docks, barely visible through the mist. All those buildings. All those people. “Put my head down and fall in line. Go to the island. Perform the sacrifice and show Zeus that I am no threat to him.”

The tension around my hand loosened. Orpheus heaved a sigh and stepped back. “That’s right.”

And now I understood what my mother must have always suspected, why she’d spent so many hours educating me on the workings of the kingdom, showing me the secrets in the tunnels beneath the city, and quizzing me on the names and faces of every important person scattered throughout the thirteen realms. Most of them I’d never met. Most of them didn’t even know I existed…although I supposed they did now. And yet, I knew so much about all of them.

Deep down, my mother had always known they’d come for her eventually. And then I would be the only one left standing between the people of Troy and Zeus.

I couldn’t let this kingdom fall into his hands. The mortals needed me to do whatever it took to protect them. If that meant shoving aside my own vicious desires—to stab a stake into the depths of Zeus’s blackened heart—then so be it. For now.

I would do my fucking duty.

Until I found a way to kill him.