When they were alone, Terena turned on the woman.
“You sent him and his men to attack me? And before you ask, no, that’s not the fucking question I came here to ask. I’m annoyed I have to keep saying that, too.”
The woman’s mouth pinched and Terena could see from the narrowing of those weird eyes the woman was not happy with her.
“I will make allowances for your behavior because you are confused, and because—as I said—you are important. Never use that language in this room, in the presence of Apollo. You will anger him.”
“How is he going to be angry if he’s not even here?”
“He sees through me.”
Terena opened her mouth to say something, but the woman raised a hand to stop her. “First you will listen. And then once you’ve understood, you will ask your question.”
Terena heaved a sigh and gestured to the woman to continue.
“I am Pytho. I am the last oracle in this realm of the great god Apollo. I am here to guide you, Terena Luca.”
Pytho took a few steps closer and dropped down until she sat next to Terena. “I am telling you this because I want you to know you are not alone. You will be the one to usher in the golden age of mankind.Or you will not. The Morai—the Fates—are watching, but your choices are your own.”
Terena looked as if she might speak, but Pytho reached out and laid her hand on Terena’s forearm. “Before you ask your question, I want you to think about what I tell you.”
She opened her mouth and closed it, then opened it once more before looking Terena in the eye. “It is not the question you think you want answered. Not that which started you on this journey, Terena. You may believe it is, but there is another question that drives the dreams you have at night. The visions you have are not what you think. They’ve led you this far, but they come from within you.
“You already know how to find your parents. The knowledge has always been inside you. I want you to look within yourself now and ask the question you’ve come to me to have answered. The question that sits deep within, creating the reality that seeks treasures and secrets long buried.”
Terena’s mind was a whirl of thoughts overwhelming her for a few minutes. The silence stretched as she thought on Pytho’s words. She sensed the truth of them.
She turned away from Pytho and looked at the marbled Apollo. Realization dawned on her slowly, and when it did, her eyes stung. Shedidknow how to find her parents. That’s why she wasn’t worried about them being dead. She wasn’t even worried about when she’d find them.
And the Shroud of Faybhen was the key. That’s why she’d been drawn to Agraboda and why she’d given Duke Aurora a fake. Her visions?—
Her visions…
What had the Magi at Agraboda said about the shroud?
If you take it, it begins again.
She looked up at Pytho and for the first time in her life, she understood. Her visions were not some external force guiding her to clues.
“The visions are memories,” she whispered.
Pytho smiled. “What is your question, Terena Luca?”
Terena became lightheaded. She’d done all this before. Her visionswerebreadcrumbs, but ones she’d left for herself. But why? Why was she doing this all again? To what end?
To what end…
Terena’s lips parted, the blood roaring in her ears as she looked at Pytho and asked, “How do I break this cycle?”
Pytho’s shoulders jerked and her eyes widened. She opened her mouth, pausing a second before she composed herself, once more folding her hands together in her lap.
When she spoke, her voice was not her own, but a terrible, powerful voice frightening Terena. The ebony leeched from her eyes like veins, surrounding the skin of her lids to her cheeks in inky black.
“Seven circles complete and the eighth is aligned at last. False death betrays love, forging Athena’s Weapon. From the ashes of gods, the Heir of War rises, leading the gods to glory. The fate of man is for the Weapon.”
Terena’s mouth hung open. She waited for Pytho to say more and when she didn’t, Terena sprang up. “That’s it? Are you fuc—are you kidding me? I came all this way—I have lost?—”
She shook, her hands balled at her sides, and she wanted to scream. “So I ask you a question, and all I get is a riddle?”
