“Unify. Destroy.” At a loss, I look around at the world I’m apparently going to make crumble. “It’s not the same thing.”
Griffin challenges me with a stern look. “Poseidon brought us together so we could do this. Origin magic.” He lightly taps my chest. “Alpha blood—which youtook, multiple times, and not only blood.” He winks and taps his own chest.
“You’re not Alpha.” Only he is.
“It’s just a word,” Griffin says.
“Words are important in a prophecy!”
“Fine. I hereby declare myself Alpha Sinta. I’ll send Egeria a scroll.”
I laugh. I can’t help it.
Griffin lifts his hands and pushes my hair back from my face, holding the fluttering strands against the sides of my head. “The scourge isn’t just your mother. It’s everything. The way the realms are run, what the Alphas have become. You broke the mold, you and Eleni, when you refused to take part in the race for power.”
My nostrils flare. “I ended up on top. What’s worse than that?”
“Stubborn to the core,” Griffin mutters, pressing his fingers into my scalp. “You defended yourself. That’s all.”
I open my mouth to argue but then snap it shut. Nothing I did was ever to gain power. I’ve always run from responsibility, which makes what Griffin is saying even scarier. If we succeed, I won’t just have Fisa to deal with, I’ll have everything.
“Youarethe Harbinger of the end of the realms. We’ll destroy them. We’ll break down borders, create a new kingdom, and make it a place worth living in again—for everyone, if we can.”
“Your idealism is nauseating.” But something foreign and bright streaks through me.Optimism?It’s nauseating, too.
Griffin looks more certain than ever. “The Gods created us forthis. The Fates wove the threads of our lives aroundthis.”
I stare at him. “You can’t know that. We don’t know.”
“Iknow.” Lit by moonlight, Griffin’s steady gaze tells me a story of devotion—and utter conviction. “You should trust me. Trust me, Cat.”
Trust me.I swallow. One breath. Two. My stomach flips over and then crashes through a tangle of nerves. “Okay.”
Griffin’s eyebrows fly up. He abruptly straightens, dropping his hands from the sides of my head. “Okay?”
I smile at his obvious shock. “Yes, Your Persuasiveness.”
“Good.” He nods once. “When a crumbling house reaches a certain point, there’s no fixing it. You tear it down. You clear the rubble, and then you build something better.” The silver linings around Griffin’s irises draw me like a magnet. “You may be the Harbinger of the end, but do you know what else you are?”
I shake my head, half dreading the answer still.
“You,agapi mou, are the new beginning.”
CHAPTER 16
PANOTII LOOKS PUT OUT ABOUT BEING LEFT BEHIND ANDdogs my steps as I stow his tack under the deep overhang on the south side of the wizard’s hovel. There’s plenty of grass here, water at the lake, and it’s not that cold yet, despite the shift in seasons. If the rains start before we get back, the horses can take shelter under the overhang. I’m not worried about them wandering off. Not one of them has stepped outside of the large makeshift corral of God Bolt pits since we got here.
“You can’t come with us,” I tell him. “It’ll be cold and slippery. And big monsters will want to eat you.”
He tosses his head, snorting.
“Really big monsters. There might be Dragons. And the Hydra. And I can’t vouch for the friendliness of the Ipotane toward regular horses.” I blow gently into his nose. Panotii chuffs back. “You’ll be safe here, and if anyone tries to steal you, Grandpa Zeus will throw down a thunderbolt.Boom!No more horse thief.”
“Zeus may have better things to do than babysit our horses,” Flynn says, stowing his own equine gear next to mine.
I glance northward toward the Gods’ mountain home and speak loudly. “In that case, I’m announcing right now that I’ll make an Olympian stink if anything happens to my horse.”
Flynn looks nervous and moves away from me like he’s expecting a God Bolt to come thundering down.
