Terena’s face was sickly pale, lips parted and trembling as her eyes raced to every corner of Soros’s tent. Settling the cypher on the ground against the captain’s cot, Rydon drifted closer to Ren and waited for her to acknowledge him.
She lifted both hands, covering her face before she shook her head once and dropped her hands. Her eyes looked at him owlishly.
“False death betrays love.”
Rydon frowned, tilting his head and waited for her to continue.
A moment passed in silence, then another, the seconds sliding past as he waited for her to go on. If she expected him to understand her meaning from that sentence, he could not think why.
“The prophecy,” she added, hands splayed. “The prophecy Pytho told me. Those are the first words: false death betrays love. Lerek’s death was false! He didn’t die, Rydon. Isher did.”
Rydon’s eyes widened to the point he feared they might drop out of his skull. “What are you saying? That wasn’t Prince Isher?”
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “That was Lerek. A scout found him. Lerek was traveling with Xoran.Thatwas Xoran’s surprise! And according to Lerek, the only ones who knew who he really was before Xoran found him were the Spartans.”
Rydon’s lip curled into a sneer. “That lying bastard?—”
“Aye,” Terena said in a voice filled with disdain. “I’ve a mind to head straight to King Altos and bash his head in.”
“I meant Daris Antonius.”
Terena’s gaze dropped away as she scowled. “Him, too, I suppose. Although he might be forgiven since he was following orders.”
“Here we go,” Rydon muttered, raking a hand through his hair. He turned away from her, pacing the limited space with hands on his hips.
“Believe me, I’m still angry at the commander.” Terena reached out and wrapped her fingers around his arm, squeezing gently. “But he is as much a pawn as the rest of us when it comes to the games of sovereigns.”
“Aye, that is true, althoughyouare no pawn. You never were. From now on, if they take advantage of you, it’ll be because you allow it. You have the knowledge of who you are now to aid you in putting down your foes. With Hermes and Sonah, when we find her, we’ll be unstoppable.”
“I’m worried,” Terena said, before chewing at her nail. She wagged a finger a moment later. “Now we know Lerek isn’t dead, it must mean he’s the part of the prophecy about falsedeath. Don’t you see, Rydon? He betrayed me, he betrayed our love, letting me think he was murdered. It has to be what Pytho meant.”
“What’s the rest of it? Do you recall?”
Terena made a face, her features darkening as she thought. “Aye. That it would forge Athena’s Weapon. I don’t know what that means. Hermes told meIwas Athena’s Weapon.”
“Could mean that because of Lerek’s death and your arrest, you decided to fight back? Become her weapon in truth?”
“No.” Terena shook her head, popping her finger back in her mouth to nibble at the nail. “No, she said false death betrays love, andthenAthena’s Weapon is forged. So that means…”
Rydon crossed his arms, waiting.
“Fuck!”
Terena’s outburst didn’t surprise him. She was wound up so tight before Lerek’s return from the dead, he worried she might be close to her breaking point. Her eyes raced back and forth and the nervous way she chewed on her nail—gods, was that blood at the corner of her mouth now? Had she chewed so far down the quick she’d drawn blood? And she didn’t seem to notice either, which made Rydon nervous for her.
“Terena,” Rydon dropped his voice to a low murmur, leaning forward to force her to meet his gaze. “You will not solve it in your current state. And what is your plan for the prince?”
“He stays with us.”
“Why?” Rydon spread his arms. “What’s that gain us except another target on our backs? Xoran will have to tell the emperor who took his son, and we’ll have all of Heylisia converge on us!”
Terena remained silent, her eyes on the ground. Rydon released a rough exhale, rubbing his hand up and down his face before waving it at her.
“What about him?” Rydon added, motioning to the cypher sitting on the ground. “Why did you have me bring him here?”
As if seeing the man for the first time, Terena started, her eyes widening. After a beat of silence, she turned to Rydon. “Ask him what powers the other cyphers Solon has in his ranks can wield.”
Rydon crouched down next to the cypher and spoke to him in Ostan. The man regarded her in silence before turning back to Rydon. He spoke fast, pausing every once in a while as he thought. When he was finished, Rydon’s expression turned pensive.
