You will find it there, hidden deep within the mazes of the Port of Hespali.Those words Thalia saw in the journal kept flashing in her mind as the chilled air of winter stung her lungs. There was never a time Thalia had run so swiftly in her life. Not as she’d tried to escape the Lernaen Legion, not as she’d trained in these very forests. This was possibly a life and death matter—not only for herself, but for all of Odessia.
Behind her, Dimitris had kept up, barely questioning why she sprinted off in a frenzy as if he already knew what she was searching for.
The library was quiet this time of night, made even more so because ofHaloa. Only a few of the curators roamed about the stacksof books. They never left—protecting the tomes that resided inside, the history that was overwritten in many of the other isles. Thetruehistory of Odessia. Entering the glass walls of the archives, the silence was even more eerie, accentuating the way Thalia’s heart pounded in her chest. She whipped through the stacks, plucking the two journals that were listed on Dafne’s piece of paper, Thalia met Dimitris at the table in the center of the stacks.
“You say you and Dafne found nothing in the other journal I gave her to look through? You are sure of it?” Dimitris grabbed at the first journal that had his note scribbled in the margins, flipping back and forth through the pages.
“The other journal merely contained lore of the King of the Olympi. It depicted attributes of Zeus, the trysts he used to get into with women who were not his wife, but nothing more. Nothing of importance.” Thalia thought back to the translation Dafne and she had written out. Was there something she had missed? Some obvious hint hidden in the text that only Dimitris would know?
“And there was nothing else? Are you positive? Nothing about a maze or the Port of Hespali?” The prince’s voice grew more frustrated, before slamming the journal shut. His hand went to his chin, scratching at it with a nervous tick.
“It also described his temple, but it noted that it was lost to this realm. No one has seen it since the war a century ago. Anyway, if you were able to piece out that line of translation, why did you need Dafne’s help?”
Dimitris let out a rough sigh, pinching the brings of his nose. “I know broken bits of theKoreátos Glóssa, but I thought perhaps I was missing something—that certain words had different translations than I thought. Apparently, I was mistaken.”
Rolling her bottom lip under her teeth, Thalia considered whether or not she should tell Dimitris about her code. The one Alexander told her to keep secret. If her captain had entrusted other journals with his brother, but not this one, maybe there was a reason.It could be a life and death situation.She needed to tell him. “There was another journal, one Alexander gave me to look for, however I could not find it amongst these stacks.”
Eyes narrowing, Dimitris’s voice dropped an octave.“Do you remember the code for it?”
This was it then. She might possibly be betraying Alexander, but if it helped the greater good, Thalia had to do it. Reaching for a piece of parchment on the table and a fountain pen, Thalia dipped the pen in a vial of ink and scribbled down the code she had memorized—driven mad from her inability to find it.
“That would explain it…” Dimitris said, picking up the parchment. “This is not one of my brother’s journals. It is a ship’s log. It ismyship’s log. The bastard probably sent me with you to this isle for the sole purpose of you stealing it.”
“How would your ship’s log help us? Why would that be a piece of the puzzle?” Her voice caught as she began.
“Because that particular log is from my travels to Votios. When my father sent me to research thepharmakos. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” Dimitris dug his fingers into his hair, shaking his head. A pained expression crossed his face, something Thalia rarely saw on the prince.
“See what, Dimitris?” She could see it, the thoughts swirling in his head, the pieces of the puzzle he was trying to put together.
“It is why he sent Farah to Hespali. Did you know her father was once engaged to my aunt?”
Coughing on air, Thalia’s eyes shot open. Avra was engaged to Khalid? How was that even possible? “I—I did not.”
“Many years ago, when they both coveted control of the relics of the Olympi—King Athanas, however, betrayed my aunt, although she doesn’t see it that way. He refused to complete the Mysteries. Once thought to be an entrance into a secret society, they became the trials of marriage over time.”
“And why do these trials matter to us? How can it help us fight against Hades?”
“Because there are three relics that my aunt possesses—Zeus, Artemis, and Athena’s—and they must be involved with the trials. Avra is a vindictive woman, but she never stopped loving Khalid, despite my mother’s urges.”
“I am still not sure what this has to do with Farah? Or sending them to Hespali? If Avra wanted to keep the relics hidden, and even Khalid was unable to steal them, how would your sister and the spy manage the feat?”
“Because in Votios, I learned that a Grechi could still practice the magic of thepharmakos—blood magic. The relics would be sealed with her blood and Khalid’s. To find the relics we would need someone of both lines. Alexander must have guessed Farah would play a role somehow. We need to get word to them immediately.”
This was unbelievable. For days Dafne and Thalia combed through those journals and not once had they expected this. That Farah and Chloe’s blood was somehow the key to them possessing some of the most deadly weapons in Odessia—if they could succeed in finding them. This whole time, Dimitris was the answer and yet she was too stubborn to ask him.
Years ago, Thalia had studied the Mysteries, knew the cost of entering those trials. The fact that a kingdom used them now as a way to enter into a mere marriage contract was beyond her. Quickly, Thalia scrawled a note in code to Farah, explaining what they had found and wishing her luck. The princess would need it if she was to survive.
“We can only pray to the gods now that this letter makes it to them—that Avra does not intercept it,” Thalia said through strained breaths.
“We do not need the luck of the gods,gatáki, we merely need a Nexian hawk. They never miss their mark.”
The gentle hum of purring filled Thalia’s bedchambers as she hobbled into the room. Sleep was calling and yet she couldn’t help but retreat back a few steps from the lavishly made bed. In the center of the violet silk duvet, curled up in a ball with her front paws covering her eyes from the light of the crackling fire was Mykonos. Herpsychíwas shifted into her larger form of a mountain lion, taking up most of the bed. It was something that happened rarely, only when thedaimonwas deep in slumber and only when she needed the kind of rest that only came with a dreamless, undisturbed sleep. A light tingle fluttered in Thalia’s chest as she watched the creature breath in and out with ease, a small bit of drool hanging from the corner of her maw. Perhaps this was Mykonos’s unknowing wayof forcing Thalia to walk back down the hall, to finally accept the grace and affection the prince only a few doors down so clearly wanted to give her. Affection she’d desperately wanted her entire life.
Psychí mou.My soul. Her fingers had quickly grazed over the engraved words when she opened the jewelry box earlier, though Thalia did not think Dimitris noticed. Two words—yet it was the most damning and gut-turning phrase that was ever said. The term of endearment was one of lore, of gods that became stars in the night sky just so they could forever be placed next to the one they loved. Their soul. Their counterpart in every way.
Thalia already had a soul bond, it slept right there in front of her eyes. But she never chose Mykonos, nor did Mykonos choose her, the seer’spsychísimplywasher own heart personified as was every seer’sdaimon. Was it possible that someone had truly chosen her—the flaws and scars that came along with it?
There was never a time she felt more alive, more inspired, more safe than when she was near the prince.This changes things for me.The words he spoke were consuming her thoughts as if there was a tether pulling her toward him, begging her to feel the same. Did she…feel the same way?
