I was half tempted to change back into an ant and leave them. Instead, I made myself grunt, “How?”
The sisters looked at each other.
“You can’t kill him.” The first shrugged.
“Too weak.”
“Too obvious.”
Back into an ant, then.
“Unless…” they all said at once.
I breathed out slowly and waited.
“You’re willing to play the long game.”
The air crackled as I gritted between my teeth, “I waited a hundred years for this enlightening chat.”
“You won’t need another hundred years,” Lachesis assured me.
“Mere decades will do, really.”
Zeus could be dead in decades? They had my attention.
“How?”
Now
I woke to a vaguely familiar space. Red walls, a comfortable bed. There was a very large snake slithering on top of the highest furniture, hissing his appreciation when I sat up.
I was back in The Royal Manor, half of my mind firmly where it had been in my dream.
No, not dream. That had been a clear memory.
I remembered my purpose. I remembered the schemes upon schemes, and the reasons that had led to my exile to the mortal realm.
An exile Zeus believed was his doing, when it had been the work of three very annoying, very dead sisters.
Most of all, I remembered my names. All of them. Over the eons, I’d been called so many things.
And more importantly, I remembered what I was doing here.
“Knock, knock!” The redhead politely stood at the entrance, a tray full of delicacies in her hand.
“Freya,” I said, before catching myself. “Kleos.”
“That’s me. Twice.” She walked in, to place the tray on the bedside table. “You gave us a bit of a fright. Do you mind if I check your vitals?”
I let her, though I could tell what she’d find.
Her hand stilled over my head. “The wall’s almost down.”
I inclined my head.
“Do you remember who you are?”
Again, a nod as I took my time to decide the best course of action. “Regardless of how long you’ve been in this flesh, your soul is bound by the laws of the immortals. I can answer your question if you’ll swear you’ll keep it a secret, on the river Styx.”
