“No,” his friend said as he grabbed Croak’s wrist. “No, Croak, it’s not bullshit. It has to be where we find the portal. Terena always thought it’d be in the north. And she is right. The veil to the Olympians is?—”
“A myth! The gods were killed in the Immortals War! There are no gods left!”
Orry swore and pursed his lips. “You and I both know that’s not true.”
Croak hung his head and stared at his boots. “I know.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
Croak snapped his eyes to his friend in disbelief. “You have to ask?”
“Croak—”
“They willkillher if they find out,” Croak hissed, leaning close enough to see the gold flecks in Orry’s brown eyes.
“Not if we find the portal.”
“And you think this new king will help her do that?”
“It can’t be coincidence, Croak. Everything that’s happening?”
“Why now, though?” Croak asked himself out loud.
“What does Ren think?”
Croak pulled a face. “I know you know what she thinks. You two are thick as thieves every time we see you. I’m with her when she writes to you and I’m the one she has run to the Sergeant in every town to send off notes to you on every trinket we find. I sent one off before we left Aurora, so I’m assuming that’s how you knew we’d be here.”
He leaned in and narrowed his eyes, pointing his finger at Orry. “What I want to know is, what does,” he waved his hand and blew lip bubbles, “a thousand year old mystery have to do with my sister’s real parents?”
Orry wiped at his nose. “We’ve always been told the mortals killed the gods. But what if they didn’t? What if they banished them instead, to another realm? A realm that can only be accessed using the Shroud of Faybhen?”
“Why would anyone have lied about that?”
Orry looked at him as if he was dense. “Why else? If anyone knew the truth, what’s to stop someone from bringing them back? Can you imagine having the Olympians reign over mortals once more? I can think of at least one person who would not like that idea much.”
Croak snorted. It had been a millennium since the Immortals War and in the centuries that passed, much had changed in the region, with power over most of it in the hands of Emperor Solon and the Heylisian Empire.
“I’ve found some interesting texts in the archives,” Orry went on, his brown eyes thoughtful. “It seems many were not in favor of outright killing the gods. They feared angering the Titans. I found a journal at the monastery in Mount Athos detailing a meeting between King Justinian and Hekate. She proposed banishing the Olympians into another realm using a portal only she could create. And so Justinian agreed, but had history changed to say the Immortals were killed and that’s what’s been passed down through the ages.”
“Ah ha!” Croak slapped Orry’s knee. “So how do you know the book you read is the truth?”
Orry smiled in that pompous way that grated on Croak’s nerves. “Because a priestess devoted to Hekate, who was present when the bargain was made, wrote the journal.”
“Great. And you just found it, huh?”
Orry shrugged. “Only found it through one of Terena’s visions. Someone definitely didn’t want this particular bit of dirty laundry found.”
“Speaking of dirty laundry,” Croak said and dug inside his jerkin to pull out the oilcloth covered bundle Terena had given him. “Terena said to give you this.”
Orry took the bundle and unraveled it, only to gasp and cover it back up quickly.
“This is the shroud!”
“Aye.”
“Why is she giving it to me?”
Croak’s brows furrowed. “I thought you’d know.”
