I steadied myself and forced my feet to move. If I was going to convince her to trust me, I needed to spend more time in her presence. I needed to do what she asked without complaint. But deep inside, my bones turned to liquid. The last thing I wanted was to eat a meal with the gods, despite what Andromeda had told me about the blood drinking rumors. If they were to serve me something I did not want to eat, would I even know it? A lump of nausea lodged itself in the back of my throat.
Andromeda laughed when I fell into step beside her. “You look thrilled about my invitation.”
“It’s not that,” I tried. “I just—”
“Don’t want to consume flesh and drink blood? I can assure, the meal will be quite standard. For your tastes, at least. I find the food of Halen Mon a bit unsavory myself.”
Curious, I glanced at her. “Halen Mon?”
“This rock where you live. Yourworld.”
Interesting. I’d never known a name for it until now.
“If you’re speaking truths,” I said, “then what is it that gods eat?”
“In our natural forms, nothing. But in these bodies, we require the same sustenance you do. We just…think it all tastes a bit odd for the most part. Particularly things like cheese.” She wrinkled her nose. “How strange and gross you humans can be.”
“Cheese,” I said flatly. “Is this…some kind of joke? Did you think it would be amusing to trick me into believing you avoid flesh and also…cheese?”
She cocked her head. “You humans have such a strange sense of humor if you think that would be amusing.”
“Well,Idon’t think it would be amusing, but you might, especially if you actually are the cannibalistic gods that history calls you.”
“Your history has been written by the victors,” she said quietly. “Besides, would we really be cannibals if we consumed your flesh? We are not you, and you are not us. Thank the stars.”
“So then, what are you?” I asked.
She looked at me suspiciously. “That is a very difficult question to answer, and I’m not certain you’re ready to hear the answer.”
“Perhaps if you told me, I’d be more willing to go along with whatever it is you want from me. Like your trials.”
Rather than answering, she took a sharp turn around the next corner and led us into the Great Hall, where the previously empty space had been transformed. Several candelabras hung from the hammerbeams on thick, rusted chains. Hundreds of flickering candles splashed light onto an oak table that had been polished to a shine. An array of food spread across the center of it: richly buttered potatoes, savory pies with browned flaky crusts, honey-glazed carrots, and a platter of meat that I didn’t want to look at too closely.
Andromeda had assured me the gods didn’t feast on flesh, but…I wasn’t taking any chances.
But the most impressive thing about this feast wasn’t the food. It was the four gods lounging around the table, their deep crimson eyes all turned my way.
I swallowed.
“Orion, you’ve already met,” Andromeda said, smiling at the god who sat nearest to the entrance. “Sirius, too, I hear. Everyone else, this is Tessa Baran. Tessa Baran, this is Callisto and Perseus.”
Unlike Andromeda, Callisto’s hair was a brilliant silver with strands that seemed to glow from within. Her skin was like ice with a blue tint to it, the color of a clear sky at the edge of the horizon. She flashed me her teeth, as elongated and sharp as the beasts she undoubtable controlled.
Perseus still wore his armor, but Sirius and Orion had discovered the fine clothing of the lords who had once controlled this pocket of land along the coast. They both wore elegant long-line doublets crafted from gold-dyed linen with full-sleeved shirts underneath—Sirius in black and Orion in blue. The sleeves were a bit too short and the doublets a bit too tight, as if they’d poured themselves into the material.
I gave the gods a tight smile and moved toward the table. Orion narrowed his gaze, shoving the nearest chair away from him as if that would stop me from getting too close. Fine with me. I hadn’t planned on sitting near him. Out of all the gods, he made me the most uncomfortable, even more than Perseus with his battle attire and aura of fear.
As if to punctuate his annoyance, Orion ran his fingers through his pale hair and said, “Did you have to bring her here? This was supposed to be a nice family meal before our quest truly begins. Now we can’t talk about anything important.”
My ears pricked up. Quest?
“Relax,” Callisto said with a tinkling laugh. “It isn’t as if she can leave to tell anyone our plans.”
Not yet, anyway.
“She is our enemy,” Orion argued. “The one from the prophecy. Letting down our guard around her is the worst thing we could do.”
Sirius eyed me from his spot at the far end of the table. He drummed his fingers against the oak, but his face betrayed none of his thoughts or emotions. “Orion is right. We should be careful what we say in front of the human.”
