Heart clenching, I stared down at her, my shoulders thrown back. Wind whipped the cloak around my makeshift trousers and sprayed chilling mist into my face. Hera trembled as she gazed up at me, that pitiful scream eking from her clenched teeth. A lick of fire curled up the side of her face.
“Help me,” she whispered, her outstretched hand rising toward me like a serpent from the sea. Flames engulfed it instantly, and another horrific scream tore out of her.
I knelt before her, mud seeping through my clothes at the knee. Now that the other monarchs had fled to the shadows along the broken wall, they wouldn’t be able to hear our conversation. “I will get you to safety, but you must swear you’ll release the mortals you hold in captivity.”
Her eyes slightly widened, the skin around them puckered and red. “No. I could never—”
“You will release them.”
Hera laughed, a harsh and biting sound that turned into a choke. Flames tore up the side of her, engulfing her cloak. Gasping for breath, she toppled to the side, her face slamming into the ground. Her body shook, and smoke billowed an acrid stench into the air. She stared up at me, mouth open in a wordless scream.
I didn’t move.
I didn’t even flinch.
Heart pounding, I watched the blood moon’s glow consume her. Gray covered her face and exposed skin, and soon, ashes flecked off and joined the smoke. I merely stood there, witnessing the first death of an Olympian. If she would rather fall than demonstrate even an ounce of morality where humans were concerned, then so be it.
I would watch her burn.
It took longer than I expected. The moments inched by, as if Erebus truly had deemed her guilty and wanted to stretch out her agony for as long as possible. But at long last, the smoke cleared and the flames died. Only flecks of ash remained, the wind scattering them across the muddy ground of the amphitheatre.
Silence descended. Bracing myself, I turned to face the other Olympians, unsure how they would respond to the death of one of their own.
As my gaze landed on Zeus’s shrouded form, I realized something had changed in me during that fight. I’d come to the Isle of Aiaia to do my duty and protect my people. And I would. That would always be my greatest aim in life—to be a shield for those who could not shield themselves. My mother and my advisors had done their best to prepare me for that role, and I’d been more than willing to embrace it.
But they wanted me to do it calmly and quietly.Keep the peace. Obey the Archon. Never do anything to attract attention. Follow the orders of the Thirteen.
Fuck that.
I might be able to go on like that for a few months, but it would never work in the long run. My mother had tried that option for decades, and she’d ended up dead. This shit had to end. No more Thirteen Crowns. No more Archon Zeus. The mortals of Troy needed to be protected, yes, but so did all the rest of them. Every human on the continent of Hellas deserved freedom.
I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I would.
From the shadows, Zeus lifted his hand and beckoned me.
I smiled and raised my voice so he could hear it across the length of the arena. “Declare me innocent in the eyes of Erebus.”
Even though I couldn’t see Zeus’s face, I couldfeelhim scowling. He’d expected me to lose. He’dwantedit. Instead, Hera was dead. And now he had no choice but to let me walk free, or else he’d have to endure the wrath of his precious god. What was more, he had to stand there in the darkness, hiding while I freely stood in the luminous red light over the ashes of his ex-lover. The blood moon, when not hidden behind dense clouds, was nearly as dangerous to him as the sun.
I’d kept that to myself for as long as I could, but now he knew. Now they all knew.
“Very well. Erebus has declared you innocent, and he’s concluded that Hera was guilty. You will endure no punishment and you will remain a member of the Thirteen Crowns.” His booming voice echoed across the crumbling walls.
As I nodded and walked toward them, several murmured voices rose, clearly objecting to Zeus’s decision. It was mostly Poseidon and Artemis. The others were silent, nothing but their crimson eyes visible in the darkness.
Zeus held up a hand, and they quieted. “We serve Erebus, and he made his decision clear. Hera was guilty. And she has paid for what she has done.”
Eventually, the clouds returned to the sky, blocking the moonlight once again. No one spoke a word to me on our return walk to the palace, not even Dionysos or Athena. In fact, they all gave me a wide berth and furtively glanced at the sky, as if I carried a sickness that might be catching. As if the blood moon would burn away the clouds and kill them just for being near me.
When we entered the palace’s torchlit halls, I was relieved when no one insisted on sharing dinner in the megaron. Blood and mud seeped into my clothes, and the air was thick with tension. Poseidon cast me a venomous glance, then stomped off down the corridor, muttering to himself about Titans and wicked gods. The others soon followed, one by one. Ares lingered, but eventually, even he drifted away. Zeus, Hermes, and Athena were the only three who remained.
Achilles, in his plated armor, appeared before us. Zeus ordered him to fetch Hera’s things. He would take everything she owned—and her kingdom of Arcadia—as his now. Athena looked on, her expression tight. I could tell she wanted to put a stop to this, but there was nothing she could do. Not unless she wanted to risk Zeus turning his ire upon her. But with two kingdoms under his rule, he truly did have more power than the rest of us now. It was an unfortunate consequence of letting Hera die, but a necessary one.
Because one by one, these crowns would fall.
After Achilles hurried off, Zeus turned to me. He gave me a considering look, and I could tell by the weight of it that he was really seeing me for the first time. “It looked like you and Hera were talking just before she died. What did you say to her?”
“I told I would take her to safety if she yielded,” I said. That was close enough to the truth.
