“Lies!” Eryx spat. “Zeus is our oppressor. Hera is our savior.”
Bellanca’s loathing rolled off her in scorching waves. She took three measured steps forward, holding her flaming hands out to stave off the guards. They backed away from her but didn’t open a path to Eryx. Looking beyond them, she called out, “I challenge you, Eryx Atlantis, to your throne.”
Eryx recoiled, his eyes widening in shock. “You can’t challenge me. I’m king.”
“A throne you’ve bathed in the blood of Atlantian women,” she continued forcefully, ignoring his protest. “A throne you keep with the help of an undeserving goddess who kidnapped Atlantis’s children and killed its oracle. That’s right!” She spun, addressing the crowd. “Eryx is a selfish, unworthy king, and Hera betrayed us all!”
Any noise from the crowd seemed to get sucked straight into the Underworld, and shocked silence rang out just as loudly now.
“It’s true!” A male voice suddenly shouted from the portico of Zeus’s temple. Her gaze snapped to him. It was the soldier who’d found his son in the meadow earlier. He still wore his uniform, and the boy was with him. His voice carried to every corner of the square as he told everyone exactly what had happened with Hera that day.
“Lies!” Eryx yelled again.
“Not lies!” another voice called out, this time from beneath the pillars of Athena’s temple. Pav stepped forward, flanked by four of his men. “We were there, too. Bellanca saved the children, who are all finding their way back home right now. She saved us.” He looked straight at her. “She’ll saveyou.”
Gratitude exploded in Bellanca’s heart. She stood tall, her voice strong. “Hera doesn’t care about ending Punishment for you. She just wants the glory of it. Zeus wants to restore Atlantis to magic and to the real horizon—above the waves—but he refused to do it with a leader like Eryx on the throne. He sentmeto reignite magic and take Eryx’s place. Zeus brought me acrossworldsfor you. I’m a Thalyrian princess. I’m Magoi. I’m the Firebringer, and Atlantiswillrise again!”
The crowd erupted in wild cheering. But not everyone rejoiced. Her eyes tripped over Theophania and Spiro again, their horrified faces bloodless, tear-streaked, and stunned. There was no way they didn’t understand that their only child was on a sacrificial altar because Bellanca had come into their lives, and they’d helped her. Her chest folded violently in, crushing her burning heart. Yes, she was the fake they’d been accidentally harboring. She was no second daughter.
The cheers turned deafening, and she swung back to Eryx. He’d have to answer her challenge now. It was too public to ignore. She’d planned on restoring magic before this fight, but with Lilika’s life on the line, she didn’t have a choice anymore.
Fury and hatred screwed up Eryx’s features as he stared her down. His lip curled, and she waited for him to step around the altar and fight her for the throne. Instead, his eyes still locked on her, he plunged the knife into Lilika’s stomach.
“No!” Bellanca leaped forward, running. Lilika’s cry of pain and shock echoed in her ears as Bellanca ran for Eryx. The guards pitched out of her way. Eryx lifted the bloody knife, scraped its dripping edge against the chalice, and licked the rim of the cup. The Shard of Olympus ignited, going from ice blue to Magoi green, and powerful magic exploded in the air.
“Don’t move a muscle,” she heard Carver snap to the guards. Dimitri yelled Lilika’s name. His footsteps pounded after her.
“Today, I end Punishment!” Eryx dropped the cup and the knife with a clatter and dragged the amulet from around his neck. He held it aloft. “With the help of Hera, Queen of Olympus, magic is mine!”
A great pulse of translucent green power burst from the shard, crashing into Bellanca and halting her progress before she reached the altar. Gritting her teeth, she leaned into the magic-thick air and struggled forward. Water abruptly poured from Eryx’s hands, drenching him and Lilika. He still clutched the amulet. Blood ran from Lilika’s abdomen and dripped over the side of the marble slab. Eryx started to laugh, an awful gleam in his eyes. They brightened—lighter, greener. Breathing hard, she pushed toward him, each step a battle against the magic blasting out of the shard. A puddle formed beneath the altar, darkened by Lilika’s blood. Her stomach flipped over.
“Dex! Dex!” she screamed over her shoulder. If Eryx had just received his ancestral magic, there was a chance Dex had, too. “Healer!” She waved him forward and pointed at Lilika.
Dex started to push his way through the web of magic. Behind him, people huddled and covered their heads, the crowd toothick to be blown backward. Bursts of flames popped here and there—fire magic. If any wind blew, she couldn’t see it. A tremor shook the ground. Water arced over heads, splashing chaotically.
She turned back to Eryx with hate in her heart. Atlantians were gaining elemental magic and had no idea how to control it. That was bad on any day. With a hysterical crowd, it would be deadly.
The greenish pulse suddenly freed her from its sticky clutches, and she lurched, nearly falling after pushing like a plow ox to make any progress. Regaining her balance, she saw the powerful wave roll out over the island, huge and all-encompassing. The gift of Olympian magic back to Atlantis.
There’d be consequences to the sudden change, but they’d have to wait. Sprinting for Eryx, she launched a crackling red line of vengeance at his head. He ducked, and her fire scorched the harbor wall behind him.
Not slowing, she ran flat out, put a hand down next to Lilika’s hip, and vaulted over her, slamming knees first into Eryx. She toppled him over, and they hit the ground on the far side of the altar. Bloody water splattered around them as she grabbed his face in her hands and savagely burned him.
Eryx yowled and twisted so hard that he got away from her. He slithered out from under her like the snake he was, his cheeks wearing twin blisters. His eyes wild, he slipped the medallion back around his neck as he jumped to his feet and conjured more water. It spewed out of him, graceless and messy, but it still soaked him and dampened her when he’d never used magic before in his life and shouldn’t be able to call it forth so easily. Springing up from the wet ground, Bellanca sun flared him. Her magic engulfed him, and he sizzled, steam rising from his skin and clothing. The wetness evaporated, leaving him dry and reddened. He gaped, backing away from her.
Ferociously, she growled, “Magoi to Magoi, I claim your throne. I claim Atlantis. You’re finished, Eryx.” She stalked after him.
“Never,” he growled back, drenching himself all over again. He whirled and ran, pulling up short at the tip of Carver’s sword.
Smiling acidly, Carver edged his blade toward Eryx’s chest until the tip touched Eryx’s sopping tunic, and a bead of water rolled down Carver’s shiny Thalyrian sword. “I never should’ve thrown that sparring match to keep my cover.”
Eryx’s tense stare slid down the length of Carver’s impeccable blade. His jaw ticked. “I should’ve known you were an imposter from the way you spoke to your king.”
“You were never my king.” Carver lifted the amulet with the tip of his sword. “Time to give this back.”
Eryx sprang away, drawing his sword in a whip-fast move. “The amulet’s mine.” He settled into a fighting stance. “Let’s see who winsthismatch,” he taunted.
Carver’s condescending snicker probably did as much damage to Eryx as a sword. “Don’t you know anything about Power Bids? Magic fights magic—which you have now. And I’m not the one claiming your throne.”
