Something that showed him his sister would need a monster by her side.
A very cute monster.
“It’s just a puppy,” Silver stated, putting it down to the floor with one last head pat, before taking the quiver. “I know why he left me these. Normal arrows snapped when I tried to use them with the bow he gave me.” She hesitated, but ended up leaving the quiver in the box.
“They could be handy,” Lucian stated.
She shook her head. “They could also turn me into his sister and erase who I am.”
Those words hit like a punch, triggering the most powerful series of visions yet.
A child, dark haired like me. A woman. Mother and brother, I knew.
And then a scream so desperate and filled with rage the world hadn’t heard it since Achilles bellowed on the sands of Troy.
My scream.
I didn’t even feel myself fall. I was completely elsewhere.
10
CAS
Twenty-five years ago
It took a hundred years to get me here. Zeus kept them locked up, inaccessible to even his most trusted advisors. But the king of heaven was nothing if not arrogant. He just couldn’t help himself: he had to show off.
His menagerie of prisoners included the most beautiful men and women, frozen in time at the age that he wanted them to remain at, his enemies, friends who’d displeased him, rare creatures, erased from the nine worlds, and the prize of his collection.
The three maidens, often portrayed as old and decrepit crones—likely by men displeased by their lot. In fact the Norse were closer in their descriptions of the Norns: they were eerie beauties, tall and pale as specters.
He held games today, just like he had a century ago. The two prizes were the power of a river god, and his dead daughter Artemis. The crowd that had gathered to watch came from every corner of the cosmos. Gods, of course, but also dwarves and giants, titans and nymphs.
It was inevitable that he would be distracted. Not so much by the games, but by the pleasures that so many visitors assembled. All I had to do was bide my time.
The opportunity came when Hera left to speak to an old friend. In a flash, Zeus was gone from his box, soaring as an eagle, his piercing eye seeking his next target. He’d fuck and impregnate a dozen women by the time it took for his queen to blink.
I changed myself into the smallest thing I could think of—an ant—to sneak into the imperial box.
The Moirai were not surprised to see me appear before their cage when I changed myself back into flesh.
“At last,” one said.
“Didn’t I choose well, Clotho?” the other crone.
“The perfect traitor,” Atropos agreed.
“And suddenly I get why he locked you up,” I grunted, annoyed at their unbearable smugness.
They acted like my actions were not my choice but theirs—not only predictable but also preordained by their edict. I didn’t like that one bit. By this logic, they were all responsible for what I’d suffered.
The first to have spoken smiled, reading my thoughts as easily as if I’d spoken them out loud. “Your mother and brother would have died by now without our intervention, child. The only difference is, you would have been a corpse like them, taken by the black plague and starvation.”
“The only thing we did was give your thread to the Styx. Theirs was already cut.”
I decided I hated the lot of them. Luckily for them, I hated Zeus far more. “We don’t have time for a chat. Can you help me take him down?” I demanded.
“We already have,” Lachesis stated.
