SELENE
Outside, the forest’s dense canopy kept most of the sun’s rays off our backs, but Hestia and Ares both moved with laborious steps, as if the hazy daylight still drained their energy like a vampire’s deadly bite. I let them lead the way, while I kept an eye out behind us. Every so often, a snap echoed through the woods from somewhere in the distance. And in each instant, my body coiled tight, ready for battle.
I would welcome an appearance from the attacker. Together, I had no doubt Ares and I could at least subdue them, so long as they didn’t catch us unawares. And with my constant observation of the woods and Hector’s watch overhead, we’d know they were coming far before they reached us.
“How much further is it?” I called ahead after we’d walked for well over an hour. With the looming trees, it was impossible to chart the path of the sun through the sky, so it very well could have been much longer than that.
“Just across that ridge,” Ares said over his shoulder.
I frowned as we continued to forge onward, wondering—not for the first time—why I’d agreed to this. They’d ignored me for most of the hike, too busy catching each other up on what they’d missed and trying to puzzle out the mystery of the attacker. Neither had asked my opinion on the matter, and Hestia was walking just fine with only Ares’s help.
Why was I even here, other than to act as a look-out? They likely didn’t need that, either. With their keen vampiric hearing, they’d hear someone coming, too.
Frankly, I should be back at the palace attempting to sleep. It had eluded me most days since arriving on the island, and while vampires didn’trequiresleep the same way humans did, it rejuvenated us and provided us with much-needed acuity.
And right now, with my bones warring against my mind, it was sorely needed. The rest of Nekros still loomed, and while the past two sacrifices had passed without incident, I wasn’t naive enough to think it would continue that way for much longer.Somethingwould happen, especially now that we’d found Hestia.
Just as I made up my mind on the matter, endeavouring to turn around and leave them to handle the rest of their quest alone, we travelled over the ridge. The sight before us slowed my steps, nearly stealing my breath away. Moss-drenched foothills tumbled toward a crystalline sea that glimmered beneath the winter sun. An endless stretch of vibrant blue. White-capped waves frothed against a pale sandy beach, where the wind was interrupted by the towering cliffs that curved around the southern edge. Where the northern cove had been gray and drenched in a looming sense of dread, this side of the island was bursting with life and color. The sound of the rushing waves grew louder, salt thickening the air.
“How is this possible?” I found myself whispering to no one in particular.
“Erebus darkens the sky with clouds to protect the side of the island where we hold Nekros, but I suppose he doesn’t bother with the south,” Hestia said with a bit more zest in her voice now.
“Come,” Ares said. “The boat’s down there.”
I followed his line of sight. Indeed, a boat bobbed in the sea, attached to a small wooden dock that jutted out from the sandy beach. Further up the shore, a rickety house puffed smoke into the wintry air, the boards flecked and warped from time and wind. That would be where the sailors had been staying, then.
The three of us picked our way down the hills. Here, the path was steep and rocky. Hestia’s weariness quickly returned, compounded by the vanishing canopy. Sunlight bathed the entire southern edge of the island, illuminating the golden flowers and fragrant herbs bursting through the moss. Ares didn’t complain, but I could tell by his shuffling steps he was feeling the strain of it.
I shouldered one side of Hestia while he took the other. And together, we ventured down the path, reaching the beach as the sun inched closer to the horizon. In another couple of hours, it would vanish beyond the edge of the endless sea. We didn’t have long to make it back to the palace.
As soon as we reached the end of the path, Ares left me with Hestia and took off across the beach toward the hut, his boots kicking up sand. I noticed some specks of red and gold mixed in, just like the flecks I’d found in her Hestia’s ashes. Odd. Did that mean the attacker had come here, too?
Carefully, I led Hestia in the direction of the boat. The sooner she could sit, the better. Halfway there, the potent stench of blood gusted into us. Every muscle in my body tightened, and my fangs throbbed. Beside me, Hestia went preternaturally still.
“Something’s wrong,” she hissed, her crimson eyes flaring wide. Even with the hood cloaking most of her face, I could still see her bottom lip begin to tremble. The pounding of her heart was so loud I couldfeelit as if it were my own. Every single beat. It throbbed inside my skull, drowning out the roar of the sea.
I’d witnessed bloodlust countless times, and I knew the signs. Hestia displayed them all: the heightened color of her eyes, the trembling, the torturous way in which she spoke, like she wasn’t really talking to me at all but to that animal lurking inside her.
Thankfully, the blood scenting the air wasn’t human. There wasn’t much harm she could do.
“The sailors,” I said to her, resuming our shuffle toward the dock, “they’re vampires?”
Hestia blinked, coming back into herself. “Oh yes, of course. Zeus doesn’t allow mortals on the island. Well, other than those to be sacrificed, of course.”
“Does he know about this cove and Ares’s hidden boat?”
She peered out at me from beneath the hood. “No. But you need to let it go, Selene. Zeus adores me. He’d never do something like this to me. And when he hears about it, he’ll tear apart that entire palace to find out who did.”
I pressed my lips together, choosing not to argue. She sounded an awful lot like Hera must have, once upon a time. And look what he’d let happen to her. I didn’t believe for one moment that Zeus was capable of anything resembling adoration—for anyone but himself.
When we’d made it halfway to the dock, Ares stepped out onto the front stoop of the building. His steel-encased hands hung by his sides, painted with blood. I couldn’t see his expression with the helmet in the way, but I knew, just by the way he was standing, that it was pained.
And all that blood...
“They’re dead,” he said, his voice flat.
Hestia started to divert our path his way. “What happened to them?”
