But in all those years, with all that fighting and hate, it had never gone this far.
“Zeus—” Athena warned.
He held up a hand. “No. The words have been spoken. It is done.”
“Youcan’t,” Dionysos whispered, his white-knuckled hands holding tight to his column.
“I don’t know why everyone is acting so worried,” Zeus said with narrowed eyes. “If Hera is innocent, Erebus will protect her. The Thirteen Crowns will prevail unless our god decides otherwise. And if he doesn’t? Then that means she’s gone so far. She forfeits her life, and Erebus gives her crown and her kingdom to me. It borders mine, so that’s easy enough. Does anyone truly object to that?”
Athena closed her eyes, though she didn’t argue. Zeus had backed us into a corner with his reasoning. To argue against him would be to argue against the vampire god, and none of them dared to do that. No one except Hera, it seemed, but she was strangely silent now, too. Her eyes gleamed even brighter. As if she wanted this trial to happen.
“Erebus will protect me,” she murmured.
Dionysos moved close to me and dropped his voice to an almost silent whisper. “We’ve never had a trial before. I heard you have them in Troy sometimes. What happens in one?”
It was alarming to learn that some Olympians knew this much about our kingdom. My mother had tried to hide that information, along with so much else. But then I remembered, she’d told him about her love for Gaia. She must have told him about this, too.
Zeus stalked across the arena, a vein bulging in his neck.
“Something tells me this will be nothing like the trials back in Troy,” I said to Dionysos.
The Archon suddenly halted, then whirled toward me. He lifted his finger and pointed it my way.
“Let’s not forget the Titan, either,” he snarled. “She’s to have a trial, too.”
“Now, Zeus,” Dionysos said, straightening. “I thought you said you’d wait until after Nekros.”
“That was before Hera showed herself for what she is,” he replied in a low, dangerous voice.
I pressed my lips together. I should have seen this coming the second he’d demanded a trial for Hera. Why hold off on mine now? If he was willing to sentence her to death before the end of the fortnight, he was certainly willing to do the same to me.
Most of the others shifted on their feet and looked around, clearly uncomfortable. Only Poseidon was smiling, and Hermes stood next to him looking a little smug, but the rest were frowning or staring down at their feet.
Hephaestus eventually muttered to himself and started to hobble away, like he couldn’t bear to stay here any longer. After a moment, Apollo followed, his blond hair bright even through the dense mist.
Demeter sighed and blocked their way. I hadn’t seen much of her since that first night—truth be told, I hadn’t seen that much of any of them—and she’d said very little tonight so far. Pushing the hood off her head, she surveyed the gathered monarchs, her eyes gleaming with an emotion I couldn’t name.
“Demeter, please move aside,” Hephaestus said, running his fingers through his dark hair.
“This is madness, I know,” she said. “But we must stay and see this through. Our god is watching, and Zeus has now called for him to enact his will. If any of us leave, it’ll only anger him.”
“He already seems pretty fucking angry,” Apollo said, indicating the sky.
“Then let’s not make it worse.” Demeter turned to me, brow arched. “I’m assuming you will do what must be done.”
“And what is that, exactly?” I asked. It could truly be anything. As I’d said to Dionysos, this would not be like the trials in Troy, where twelve citizens were invited to sit and listen to reasoned arguments on both sides. They didn’t do that kind of thing in the Olympian cities, and there was no way they’d do it now.
“You and Hera will fight.” Without warning, Zeus lunged for Athena’s sword. Caught off guard, she didn’t react quickly enough to stop him. He held it aloft, and the moonlight speared through the mist, glinting along the blade. “With this and only this.”
Muttering went through the Olympians, and my own heart joined the sound. Only one weapon meant one of us would have a severe advantage.
“Who gets it?” Hera asked.
Zeus smiled. “Well, that’s up to you,my love. Stand back.”
She squinted at him, but did as he said. Even after all she’d done, she still followed his orders. I wondered if she noticed how quickly she’d fallen in line.
“Come, High Queen Selene,” he said, beckoning me toward the statue.
