12. Liora
Liora
The Ridge of the Nine Horns rose around them in sweeping curves of stone and wind-carved ridges, each peak resembling the horn of some colossal beast thrust out of the earth.
The land belonged to the minotaurs, and everything about it felt larger, heavier, somehow more ancient than the rest of Vale Crossing.
Wide stone paths cut between enormous buildings built into the rock itself. Massive archways framed courtyards where minotaurs moved about their day, some carrying crates the size of small carts, others sparring in open training rings. The air smelled faintly of earth, metal, and wood smoke.
Liora tried not to stare too openly.
Even though Vale Crossing was full of monsters, the Minotaurs had a presence that made everything else seem…smaller.
They were heading toward a home carved into the side of one of the ridges, where Brontaios believed a demigod might be hiding out. Another possible child of Zeus. Another life they needed to protect.
Her thoughts drifted for a moment as they walked, and it came back in fragments at first, laughter, low and unguarded, the kind she hadn’t realized she’d needed until it was already happening. The ease of it. The way the tension between them had shifted without her noticing exactly when.
And then him.
Maldenis.
The way he’d looked at her, like he saw her, not the expectations, not the weight of everything she carried. Just her.
She hadn’t meant for it to happen again. Not after everything. But it had.
Somewhere between the teasing, the closeness, the quiet moments that stretched just a little too long—something had given way.
And she hadn’t stopped it. Because it had been…easy. Natural in a way that didn’t make sense, not with him, not with everything they were. Like falling into something that had been waiting all along.
And it had been amazing.
Not just the sex, but the way she’d felt in it. Unguarded. Certain. Like, for once, she wasn’t holding herself back or bracing for something to go wrong. Like she could just be there with him.
That was the part that lingered now, the realization threading through the memory, soft but undeniable. This hadn’t happened with anyone else. Not like this. Not in a way that made her want to stay in it a little longer, to not think about what came next.
And then she looked down and realized she was still holding Maldenis’s hand. Their fingers were loosely linked, the way they had been since leaving the hotel earlier. She hadn’t even noticed when it started.
Across from them, Elian rolled his eyes dramatically. She stuck her tongue out at him. Elian scoffed. Before he could say anything, Hektor walked up beside him and silently handed him his phone.
Elian glanced down at the screen and immediately lit up. “Oh,” he said slowly. “Look who’s an it girl now.”
Liora frowned. “What?”
He turned the phone toward her.
The screen showed a post from Lifting the Vale, featuring numerous paparazzi-style photos of her and Maldenis from the wedding party. Them standing together. Them laughing. Him holding her close during the gift ceremony. Even one of him carrying her away from the ballroom.
“No way!” Zara squealed. She grabbed the phone straight out of Elian’s hand and started scrolling.
“Oh my gods,” she laughed. “There’s so many!”
“Give me that,” Liora groaned.
But Zara stepped away, still laughing as she read. “‘Basilisk Maldenis and his mysterious human bride steal the spotlight at the most extravagant wedding in a century.’”
“Mysterious human bride,” Zara looked up at her wickedly. “I love that for you.”
“This is a nightmare.” Liora covered her face.
Zara kept scrolling. “They even got the one where he’s holding you from everyone,” she said. “Oh wow. This one’s very romantic.”
Liora risked a glance and immediately regretted it. “That’s not romantic,” she muttered. “That was crowd control.”
Zara snorted.
Elian leaned over her shoulder. “Apparently, the internet disagrees.”
Liora sighed and looked over at Maldenis, who shrugged. She smiled back at him despite herself. Honestly, she guessed this was payback. After all the teasing Zara had endured the past few weeks while crushing on Hektor, it was probably only fair that the tables had turned a little.
“Oh, there’s even one of us,” Zara said, showing her mate. They exchanged a look that had them laughing even harder.
Liora shook her head as Zara kept laughing over the phone, but the moment didn’t last long. Brontaios slowed ahead of them and gestured toward a path that curved away from the main ridge.
“Here,” he said.
The teasing faded as their attention shifted back to the task at hand. They followed him along the quieter path until the ridge opened up to a small clearing where a house sat alone along one of the quieter ridges.
It looked surprisingly ordinary compared to the massive stone structures around it with thick stone walls, a sloped roof of dark slate, and a chimney that puffed steady curls of smoke into the mountain air. A small garden edged the front, stubborn herbs growing between stones.
Liora glanced at it curiously as they approached.
“This is it?” Elian murmured.
“She keeps to herself,” Brontaios nodded. “Or so I was told.”
He stepped up to the door and pushed it open.
They stepped inside, and the interior was warm and simple, with wood beams spanning the ceiling, thick woven rugs on the floor, shelves lined with books, and carved wooden tools. Sunlight streamed through a wide window overlooking the landscape.
By that window sat an older female minotaur. Her coat was a deep burnished copper, streaked with silver. She sat comfortably in a wide chair, a mug resting in her large hand as if she had been expecting company all along.
Her calm dark eyes lifted to them. “Ah,” she said warmly. “Visitors.”
Brontaios stepped forward. “Good afternoon, Theryxa,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “Forgive the intrusion.”
“You’re not intruding.” Theryxa gave a low chuckle. “I heard you on the path.” She set the mug aside and studied the group.
Brontaios gestured toward them. “They’re searching for the children of Zeus.”
“Our mission is to identify and locate Zeus’s progeny,” Maldenis explained evenly. “There are…complications surrounding them right now, and we’re trying to make sure they’re protected.”
While he spoke, Liora and her siblings quietly triangulated the minotaur by the window, their powers aligning the way they always did when they searched for divine bloodlines. Liora saw the moment they found it. She opened her mouth to signal Maldenis, but the minotaur spoke first.
“Yes,” Theryxa said calmly.
Everyone paused.
“I am one of Zeus’s children.”
“Well,” Maldenis blinked once. “That certainly simplifies things.”
“I suppose it does.” Theryxa chuckled softly as she folded her hands over her lap. “Zeus visited me while I was growing up. Every couple of years, he would appear. Not often but enough.”
Her gaze drifted toward the window, toward the distant ridges.
“He always told me the same thing,” she continued. “That one day I should announce that I was his child.”
“Announce it?” Liora frowned slightly.
Theryxa nodded. “He said the world would need to know when the time came.”
Maldenis exchanged a look with the triplets.
“When was the last time you saw him?” he asked.
“A couple of years ago,” Theryxa said. “Not long after that, the news reached us that the Olympians had banished him to Tartarus.”
Her gaze drifted back toward the window, the light catching the silver threads in her fur. “When I was younger,” she continued, “I did what he asked.
“Nothing came of it,” she gave a soft huff of amusement. “I was young, and I thought perhaps something important would happen. That someone would come looking.” She shrugged one broad shoulder. “But nothing did.”
Liora exchanged a quick glance with her siblings.
“What did Zeus say when you asked him about it?” Maldenis asked.
Theryxa leaned back in her chair, remembering.
“I asked him the next time he visited. I asked him why it mattered. He said he had heard of a prophecy.”
The room grew still.
“He told me he was searching for an heir before the others found them.”
Elian frowned. “The others?”
“Yes,” Theryxa said. “That’s what I asked him.”
Her voice lowered slightly as she repeated the memory. “‘Others?’ I said.” She looked around the room. “He simply nodded and said, ‘Yes. But don’t worry. You are safe.’”
Theryxa studied them for a moment longer, then her gaze softened slightly. “There are other demigods,” she said. “Among the clans.”
Everyone leaned forward just a little.
“Children of Zeus?”
“Yes.” Theryxa nodded slowly.
Maldenis’s expression sharpened. “Do you know who they are?”
“No.” Theryxa shook her head. “Not personally.
“The clans are large.” She leaned back into her chair again. “Our lives do not always cross.”
Then she closed her eyes. It wasn’t dramatic or rude, but it was unmistakably a dismissal. The conversation was over.
Brontaios cleared his throat quietly. “Well then.”
The group exchanged a few polite thanks before leaving the house. The door shut softly behind them, and the cool mountain air rushed back in around them.
“There’s another clan nearby.” Brontaios turned and gestured down the ridge path. “Not far.”
Elian walked beside Liora, his brow furrowed. “I don’t know what to make of that,” he admitted.
“It’s okay.” Zara nudged him lightly. “At least she confirmed something.”
Elian glanced at her.
“That others are coming after Zeus’s kids,” Zara continued. “And that there are more of them.
“That’s something,” she shrugged.
“No one said this would be easy,” Liora grumbled.