Bellanca knew exactly where they were—on a windswept hillside, a monstrous king behind them and a monstrous queen ahead. But he was right, and this was no place for what she had in mind.
“Has Atlantis made you soft?” Smirking, she started down the far side of the rise. “When have you ever given a Cyclops’s eye about what the terrain looks like?”
Following her, he muttered, “I’m thinking of you.”
“Me?” Her brows rose.
“We should’ve left tomorrow.” He leaned closer as they walked side by side, his voice smoky rich, fire-warm, and just right to heat her blood. “Because right now, if I had a bed…”
Her insides tumbled, and her quiet laugh surprised her, along with a few sparks of magic that snuck out. She bit down on a smile, her eyes flashing to his. “Oh darling, I don’t need a bed.”
Chapter 21
They quickly crossed the valley at the base of the hill and entered the woods. As soon as they were under the cover of trees, making northern progress rapidly overrode any of Carver’s lingering thoughts about claiming Bel right there and then, and frustration over trying—and failing—to turn Zephyrus and Arete back into real horses became their primary concern. They eventually stopped in a clearing and gave it their full attention.
“The horses are supposed to help us get to the owl cavern faster, not keep us occupied with this impossible task.” Scraping his hair back, he glared at the figurines where they stood on the ground, a hand-width high and utterly inanimate. “It’ll increase our travel time by days if we can’t make this work, and we haven’t even moved in nearly an hour. How is this helping?”
Frowning down at the sculptures, Bel touched her amulet. It was the first time in months she’d taken it out of their lodgings, and she’d only just slipped it around her neck. The disk lay over the center of her chest, and she slowly brushed her index finger over it as if searching for written answers in the emblems carved into the bronze. “Pro told Persephone we’d know what to do. There must be something he thought was obvious.”
Carver drew in a deep breath, striving for calm and focus. “Okay. So let’s start again. What do we know about Prometheus?”
“He doesn’t like to be called Pro?”
He huffed—almost a laugh, but it was hard to give in to humor when he was this frustrated. “He got used to it, even started to like it, I think.Prometheuswas a jumpy, tortured Titan no one really knew how to be around.Prowas a friend.”
“A friend who learned to be comfortable in his own skin again.” Bel looked steadily at the statuettes. “Whogrewback into his true power and form.”
“He was a shell of himself until that mission to Circe’s garden,” Carver said, thinking they might finally be on to something. “Still trapped in a cage.” The sculptures of Zeph and Arete stood upright and a few steps apart on a clear, flat patch of ground near a brook running through the trees. “Like the horses are trapped in the statues.”
“Their spirits, you mean?”
“Maybe. What made Pro snap out of it?” Carver asked. “Finally break out of his shell?”
“Wanting to help and protect Cat—and all of us.” Bel scooched down, getting closer to the horses. “We’re in some serious danger here,” she said loudly. “Might not make it out of this alive. We need help.”
While all that was true, no imminent threat bore down, and nothing changed about the wooden carvings.
Carver’s hands fell to his hips. “What else do we know about Pro?”
Bel reached out and touched Arete’s black-tipped ear. “He was a champion for humanity. He defended humans and tried to improve their situation with knowledge and gifts.”
“Like the fire he stole from Mount Olympus and gave to humans in a fennel stalk.”
Bel nodded. “Fire… His most well-known transgression. It’s what got him punished by Zeus and sent to Tartarus.”
“And Pro knows you always have fire to give…”
Bel glanced up at him, a cautious tilt to her head. “Could it be that easy?”
He shrugged, his gaze sliding from her to the figurines. “Only one way to find out.”
She knelt for better balance and reached out, both hands hovering close to the carving of Arete and starting to glow red-hot. She was careful about it, but even when licks of magical fire lightly touched the figurine, nothing happened.
Her face fell as she sat back on her heels. “I guess not. What else do we know about Pro?”
“There must be something that should be evident to us. What happened when we were on the road together, just the three of us? Team Elpis got separated, and we were alone with Pro for days before meeting up with Jocasta and Flynn again.” Carver racked his brain, trying to filter through a hundred conversations at once. Prometheus was protective, loyal, cunning, quietly strong, and a little unpredictable in the way of gods. He came through in a pinch, figuring out what needed to be done and trying to stay one step ahead of trouble if he could.
“He mentioned his brother a lot,” Bel said. “He seemed a little hung up on him, even after millennia apart.”
