Chapter 32
Carver knew Bel had been steering her thoughts away from Cleito, and he wasn’t surprised at how forcefully they came back once Dex and Silas left their company to go home and make sure their families stayed out of sight and, even more importantly, out of the main temple square tonight.
Her grief and rage festered as they crossed the agora in the shadow of the castle and then bubbled up like lava as they passed the huge marble-paved square, the wall lining the harborside portion of it just waiting for the next sacrifice to happen. They finally rounded the port and cautiously approached their building and top-floor rooms. Could Eryx have linked whipping Carver to the fire whipping he received? Just in case, they stayed on the lookout for soldiers who might try to intercept them. But the coast was clear, and by the time they made it upstairs and inside, Bel wasn’t just heartbroken. She was fury incarnate. She barely kept her magic in and then flared up with a growl the second they closed the door.
“Let’s not burn down the building,” Carver warned, despite understanding her wrath and rattling with his own.
Her nostrils flared in protest, but she dampened her fire. “Hera took my sister. She killed my sister.” She stomped over to the sink and opened the water valve. She washed her hands, arms, and face and then smoothed her dampened hair back, taming the remaining flames. The heat of her made her head steam. “I don’t even want that bath anymore. I want to scream.”
Carver knew better than to offer physical comfort. Instead, he rummaged through their weapons supplies and found a belt with dagger loops. He held it out to her. “You might need more than fire later today.”
She took the belt and strapped it on. They wouldn’t be going anywhere until closer to sunset, but he knew he always felt better with blades close by. “I made the wrong choice.” Fire burned in her eyes again.
“No.” Frowning, he shook his head. “There was no way to save Cleito without giving Hera what she wanted.” He handed her one knife at a time to fill her belt.
“Up until she sent that automaton over the ocean, I didn’t think she’d actually go through with it.” Bel slammed a dagger into place. “But she did. And then she pulled out the kids…”
“You made the only decisions you could . You have nothing to regret,” Carver said forcefully.
“Yes, I do.” Her voice turned hollow as she slipped the last dagger into a loop. “We lost Cleito for nothing . The end result was the same.”
Strictly speaking, she was right, but he still agreed with her initial decision. “Cleito wouldn’t have wanted you to help Hera. She suffered for years to keep great power out of the hands of a person she didn’t think deserved it. She also wouldn’t have wanted you to sacrifice those children. We both know that.”
Bel didn’t answer at first, her jaw clamped too tight for sound to even think about sneaking past. Finally, she ground out, “We’re linked to Zeus, and we’ve been part of his larger plans for a while. I can understand her coming after us. But Cleito? All those kids?”
Fury tightened his chest. “It’s unthinkable.” There were no other words.
“It’s unforgivable ,” she growled.
“Which is why we’re going to stop her by stopping Eryx.” Carver already had his sword strapped on, but he added more daggers to his belt and one to his boot. He wanted to be ready, even if the sun was still high in the sky and Eryx’s procession had yet to start. He looked Bel over. She’d taken off her leather armor to walk the streets of Atlantapol without notice, but she needed it back on—along with a sword. “I wish I’d had more time to train with you before now. Eryx is good with a blade. If the Shard of Olympus gives him what he wants, and he has water, and you have fire…” Worry landed in the pit of his stomach like a rockslide.
“Then it’ll come down to blades.” Bel’s chin lifted. She didn’t look afraid, but he’d fought Eryx. The man had skills, and that terrified Carver.
“What if Hera shows up?” That terrified him, too. “It’ll be all magic with her, and now, you don’t have the amulet to help.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I want to melt the skin off her face again. Show everyone the monster beneath the surface.”
He shot her a wary look. Bel must realize that Hera would just heal and come back for more, exactly as she had earlier. The goddess would be unstoppable unless they ripped her to pieces. Pan was one thing—a lesser god of lesser power. Hera was Queen of Olympus. “She’s done monstrous things, but she hasn’t always been a monster.”
Bel snorted harshly. “Are you defending her?”
He shook his head. “It seems to weaken her when she’s reminded of her duty and when she realizes how far she’s strayed from her sacred path. Use that if you have to.”
“And if it just makes her angry?”
He shrugged. “Then I guess it won’t really change anything.”
Her braided hair glowed fire red as Bel slipped her leather armor back on. He moved closer, helping to tighten the bindings on either side of her torso. Her armor wasn’t ornate, as it would be for a princess. It was tough and functional for a commander of armies and riddled with the marks of battles hard won. It suited her better than anything decorative.
When he finished, Bel took the harness and sword he offered, her cheeks still a rage-sharp crimson. Part of him ached to take her into his arms and try to comfort her, but a bigger part of him wanted her angry. He wanted fury running like blood through her veins. He wanted every bit of fight and ferocity in her ready to ignite.
She stepped back, a hand on the hilt of a dagger. “We’re ready.”
Carver nodded. Unlike Bel, he hadn’t needed to remove his leathers or his weapons to walk the streets of Atlantapol. Soon, she wouldn’t, either.
Exhaling, he stretched his neck and rolled his shoulders. “I can’t wait to see the look on Eryx’s face when he sees us.”
“I keep thinking the same thing.” A ruthless smile curved her lips. “ Surprise .”
He nearly chuckled at the sheer malice she exuded. “No one’s challenged his family in generations.”
“Except now he has a goddess behind him,” she muttered. “Who probably healed him—or at least as much as she can.”
Carver didn’t count on Eryx still being weakened from the fire whipping, and clearly, neither did Bel. Hera wanted him to do her bidding and would make sure he was able to perform. “Hera doesn’t care about Eryx. He won’t matter once she has what she wants from him.”
“Maybe, but he’ll still have magic. And he’ll still be the one who helped lift Atlantis from the bottom of the ocean.” Striding to the window, she looked straight out over the harbor, then turned toward the great barrier rising in the distance. “I want to fight. Scream. Burn. ” She swung back to him, her eyes blue-green fire. “I want to hear Eryx squeal in terror.”
“That should echo well around the temple square.”
Dry humor huffed out of her. “We wanted an audience, but now, I’m not so sure. I don’t fear for my life in a battle with Eryx.” She returned her magic-hot gaze to the harbor. “I fear for everyone else’s.”
His gut sinking, he joined her at the window. “You think you can’t control your magic?”
“It’s not that.” Dragging her lower lip between her teeth, she bit so hard the pinkness paled to beige. “Eryx will try to use innocents to shield him. And Hera will turn a blind eye—if she’s even there in person.”
“There might only be one path to Eryx,” Carver agreed soberly. “And you might have to make some very hard choices before today is over.”
Her eyes dimmed, the magic flickering. “I already have.”
He nodded. One choice cost her Cleito and the other cost her the Shard of Olympus. “Sometimes you can’t save everyone.”
“No.” She sighed. “Especially if Eryx has the amulet.”
Carver swept an uneasy gaze over her. Bel’s anger visibly drained from her as they talked, dulling her hair and eyes. The wait for the evening sacrifice could bring her up and down the path of rage a hundred times over and just fatigue her before the battle even started.
“Part of me still wishes Hera had been the good guy,” she murmured. “She took something valid and turned it rotten and awful.”
“She should’ve left her machinations on Mount Olympus.” Instead, the goddess had taken her curses and killing into their worlds, into their homes and families. “But if she’d been your choice, we’d have failed in our mission.”
“If she’d been the goddess she used to be, maybe failing wouldn’t have been so bad.”
Carver couldn’t argue with that, so he didn’t. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Bel, looking out their window. Such sparkling beauty, and it teetered on the brink of war. “It’s hard to believe we’re on the cusp of waging two battles for two thrones.” Goose bumps rose on his skin despite the sunlight warming him through the open window.
Bel’s eyes grew luminous again, bright and hard. “Believe it, Carver—because we’re about to help decide the fate of men and gods.”