“We rule in the spaces between. Life and death. Crossroads. The paths not taken. We guide the traveler on their journey.”
“Elus has overreached himself and needs to be brought back under control. In order to do that, I took mortal form, in the body of your Mitera,” she said. “So in a very real sense, I am her. From a certain point of view.”
“So why did you bring me here?” I asked, my head still spinning.
“Because you have a choice,” she said, seating herself beside me again. “Unlike Elus, We believe in giving people choices. If you choose to help Us save your people, it will give them a fighting chance. But that’s all it is, Elex, a chance.
“There are no guarantees that we will succeed, but without your help, there is almost no chance of success,” she continued.
“Wait—so you are saying I’m the child of a goddess?” I asked, my voice rising in incredulity.
She nodded.
“You are a Son of Hecate. In olden days, we referred to humans like you as demigods,” she said smiling softly. “There are many demigods amongst men. You all have remarkable powers and potential, but by a longstanding agreement of the Pantheon, we had mostly locked those powers away from use,” she said. “However, Elus’ actions have violated that agreement, so we need to act to restore the balance. Elus has thrown his support behind the family of the Alexi, the leaders of the Alexandrians.”
“My father…” I said.
She nodded. “Your mother would have died when her village was attacked by the Alexandrian troops had I not intervened. I was able to offer her some protection,” she said.
“You call that protection?” I yelled, vaulting to my feet. “He made her a slave. He beat her! He raped her! What the hell kind of ‘protection’ is that?”
“I gave her all the protection I could. I hid within her mind and protected her by taking on those moments myself. Every blow was on me. Every violation, mine,” Kate said her voice harsh, her eyes green once more. “She did not suffer, Elex, my little defender. I made sure of that.”
I gasped as the endearment my mother had often used slipped from her lips. I remembered how she would act oddly when she came back from the king, as if she didn’t quite know where she was.
“I gave birth to you and your twin in the hopes that you could someday set things right. But Elus figured out what I haddone and interfered, again. Fates had set you and Erix to be Elusian. We’d intended for you to take over from Cyrius and halt the war, restoring balance, but Elus withdrew his power from you and your brother. The only thing I could do was grant you my own power and hope that we could find a Soma strong enough to match you.”
“… Helios,” I said, pieces falling into place.
She nodded.
A horrible thought slipped through my mind.
“Did you kill Orion?” .
“No. That was Elus,” she said. “But we did give Orion a choice. He could have survived the blast, but it would have doomed his people. He chose to give his Bonded the chance to fix this mess.”
“We are offering you the same choice. Before you answer, you must know the price, though. You and Helios will be Bound together. Your life forces will merge. If one of you dies, you both die. He has suffered at the hands of Elus as much as any. We offered him the same choice, and he chose to help us.
“Wait, Helios knows about you? Why the fuck didn’t he tell us about you?” I demanded, the betrayal twisting a knife in my gut.
“He isn’t hiding anything from you, Elex,” she remonstrated. “He doesn’t remember his conversation, just like you won’t remember yours. At least, until the time is right.”
She held her hand out to me.
“He was brave enough to risk his life for the future we want to help build. Will you do the same, Elex?”
“Fuck my life,” I whispered, shaking my head.
???
When I woke only a few moments seemed to have passed, some bit of memory of a woman fleeing my consciousness. I saw Skyla standing over us, flames wreathing both her hands.
“You’ve already felt the Fotia’s kiss, haven’t you, beast man,” she said, a demented smile on her lips. Her fingers traced the scars on Hel’s face. His eyes were open, but I saw him swallow hard as the heat of her hands seared him, sweat beading his brow. Her fire was now shimmering over her entire body, little licks of flame caressing all her limbs.
I tried to focus, tried to summon my magic, but the pain in my head made me nauseous and it was all I could do to stay conscious.
“Well, we’ll see what the Tagmatarches has to say when I not only bring back the medallion from their scary ‘beast’ but tell them about the little rebellion you’ve been fomenting here,” she said, smiling evilly. “I’ll be the toast of Alexandria!”
