Eleos shrank away from Seth, eyes darting down. Percy took another step forward. “Water under the bridge. Here we are, stuck together in a hole. What better time to share our darkest secrets?”
Exhaling, I released the growing frustration in my throat. “Someone tell me, then. What’s so horrible that you needed to drug me and throw me to the wolves?”
Jaw tightening, Seth ground his teeth before answering. “Maidens of Elpis serve one purpose in Duath Nun. They bear the royal family a child, and then they are sent into the Empty to die.”
“To die? But we—”
“But you feel pain when you use your magic,” Seth finished, eye twitching. “Don’t you? Because it cannot defeat the Empty. Once you birth an heir, you’re thrown a grand parade and forced into the Acheron.”
I whirled around, searching Seraphim’s face. She nodded. “None of them have ever returned. Duath Nun believes their sacrifice keeps the Empty at bay.”
Digesting the information, I stared at the ground. A religious sacrifice was something I could make sense of. But why force them to birth a child?
“Why the heir?” I asked. “Magic isn’t hereditary.”
“We think it is,” Seth countered. “The child might not herself wield magic, but when twinned with divine blood, the seed of Elpis returns to the world.”
“A tradition they have carried on for centuries,” Seraphim added.
Wandering toward the statue, I studied the woman’s features, the flower, and the stone. The Maiden Brizo. Or perhaps one of many Elpis maidens who had come before me.
“Seraphim,” I said. “Did they take the bloodstone?’
“No.” She twisted her wrist to pat her pouch. “It’s right here.”
Odd. Why wouldn’t they have seized such an important relic?
“I told you it’s useless,” Eleos said. “They must have realized that already.”
“Just a rock,” I murmured. But why had it shimmered when my blood dripped onto its surface?
A memory swirled in my thoughts as I dwelt on its scarlet hue, the same as Seth’s eyes. His parting words on the beach returned to me.
‘I hate my father more.’
I gasped, spinning to face Seth. “Your father’s thekingof Duath Nun?”
Percy gasped with me. “That’s why she called you Prince Set!” He paused, confusion swirling in his gray eyes. “Wait! You made up a fake name by just adding an H?”
Seth closed his eyes and tilted his head back. “When I first arrived in the Merchant Isles, someone misheard my name asSeth. I figured it was more natural to your ears, so I went by it from then on.”
“That’s a shitty fake name! I can’t believe your real name was always an H away!”
Phaedrus snorted, but bit his tongue when Seraphim glared at him.
Seth had lied to me about his true name, his origins, and his family. Instead of trusting me and allowing me to make my own decisions, he’d betrayed me, not knowing if we’d live to see one another again.
Eleos laughed. “And you accusedmeof keeping secrets?” His face darkened. “We should havenevertrusted you.”
“Hold on.” Seraphim joined my side and looked at Percy. “Whocalled him Set?”
“The Oracle.” Percy shifted from one foot to the other, knocking dirt from his boots. “They knew one another. Friends, or something.”
“Cousins,” Seth answered in a low voice.
“Oh, even better.”
Seraphim’s brow wrinkled. “You said you overheard their orders. Another lie?”
