Ink of Copper

73. In Which We Enter the Golden Chamber of the Sun

Chapter 73

In Which We Enter the Golden Chamber of the Sun

Hyperion Mountains in the Cosmis Province

I f Ellie thought Evander was a sight with his white wings and blond, chiseled good looks, then the gods themselves must have carved the centurions in the palace of Apollo. They had the same unearthly white wings with curved ivory bone and sun-kissed, golden hair, but they were dressed in full armor. Leather skirting, a breastplate forged from gold, and leather sandals enveloped the guard. Attached to the breastplate flowed a blood-red cape that fluttered as he moved. The difference between Evander and the guard was the helmet. Metal came between his eyes, covering his ears and topped with a crest of red plumage resembling a scrub brush. He walked before them with a steady, assured purpose as their little broken gang of misfits followed behind. Ellie glanced from Evander on one side and Callassa on the other. Strangely, they both wore the same look of determination.

They passed under a golden arch with a massive half-sun crested at the top, its rays extending several feet with an arrow piercing the center. Heavy and composed of marble, two doors swung open upon their approach, flanked by two more centurions that looked like clones of the first.

“Is everyone a carbon copy in this palace?” Ellie whispered to Evander.

Valerius, who walked directly ahead of her, turned to look back over his shoulder, quirking his lips in a rare smile.

“I’ve said that very thing,” he whispered back.

Ellie’s jaw fell to the floor as they walked into the throne room.

“Holy crap!” she gasped.

Clearing his throat, Evander darted his gaze her way, but his lips twitched.

Apollo’s throne room was far from understated. In fact, Ellie was sure it could give the Palace of Versailles a run for its money in the gold dispersed throughout the room. Columns, big around as tree trunks and made of white marble, lined the way to his throne. The room was cavernous. They walked a polished marble runner outlined with a gold inlay that resembled a runway straight to Apollo. Chandeliers hung from golden chains above them, and the room was outlined with ten-foot-high candelabras with large white candles towering above. Anything and everything that could be made of gold was. It was like King Midas’ throne room; the opulence was everywhere. As they neared the throne, Apollo rose from his seat. Waving a hand, two men rushed off the platform carrying scrolls. It struck Ellie as odd they were without wings and possibly human, just like her. After weeks of being the only non-flighted person, seeing humans was a culture shock. They felt strange and out of place. Valerius and Camulos stopped in front of her, feathers and scales blocking her view. Callassa and Evander flanked her, surrounding her in height and attitude. They all bowed as they approached.

“Apollo,” Camulos’ voice was smooth and sure.

Ellie tried to maneuver around the massive wings blocking her path so she could actually see the man they addressed, but they had left little room. The only thing she could make out was his blond curls over the top of wings.

“Camulos, let me guess as to why you’ve come.”

The hair on Ellie’s arms stood on end, and her breath caught in her chest. The god’s voice was like his room, commanding and rich. It sent a tingle through her like nothing she had heard before. Rising on her tiptoes, she tried to get a glimpse of him.

“Athena—”

“Yes, I know, Athena. She stubbornly stuck to her ideals, and now our world is in chaos. I’m aware.”

“Of course.” Camulos stepped closer to the platform, but the movement caused his wings to open, blocking her view.

“What brings you here, then?”

“I believe we can convince the council to call off the declaration of war against our legion so that we can work together to put the Titans back in their prisons.”

“And the Dark Oracle?”

“I plan to kill her.”

Ellie snapped her head to Valerius. He talked of killing his mate so calmly, as if annoyed he even had to mention it.

Apollo let out a hiss through his teeth, and Ellie imagined he was shaking his head.

“I doubt anything will convince her to call off the declaration. She believes she is in the right.”

“We need to at least try.”

Silence met Camulos’ last remark.

“Queen Callassa and Delphina, please step forward,” came a crisp address from the god on the other side of the wings.

The blood in Ellie’s veins ran cold. Confusion on Callassa’s face mirrored the one on the warriors and Valerius as they all turned to look at her. Two lines formed in the middle of Evander’s forehead as he stared. Callassa let out a breath through her nose, straightened her shoulders, and stepped around Camulos and Valerius to stand before Apollo.

“Delphina.”

Ellie couldn’t move her legs; her breath caught in her throat.

“Delphina.”

“No one calls me that.” Her voice sounded timid from behind the plumage and scales.

“That is your name, is it not?”

“I prefer Ellie.”

“I prefer you to stand before me when I address you.”

Closing her eyes, setting her chin, Ellie squared her shoulders and pushed her way past Camulos and Valerius.

“Delphi?” Camulos breathed.

Everything written about Apollo was true. He was beautiful, and not just in the way the Greeks she met were, no. He was the type of beauty that didn’t seem real.

If Apollo looked like this, Adonis must be ethereal.

His bare, tawny chest fairly glistened as if covered in a gold-dust film. Gold-tipped ivory horns arched overhead, and his white wings filled the space behind him, the same celestial glow that Evander’s had. He was dressed as his centurions, but had a white cape affixed to one shoulder with a pin. Ellie gaped at him, her eyes wide. Screaming at herself to stop gawking, she swallowed and tried to find anything besides Apollo to look at. He held her transfixed with a stern narrowing of his eyes.

“What do you want, Camulos?” Arching a fine eyebrow, his gaze traveled over her before he flicked it behind.

“We are asking for centurions.”

“You want some of my men to go with you to Athena’s to convince the council to reverse the declaration?” His perfect mouth tightened. “This sounds like an act of war.”

“I assure you, it isn’t.”

“And you, why have you sided with the warriors?”

Ellie couldn’t see behind her, but she knew he was talking to Valerius.

“My mate needs to be brought to heel.”

Apollo nodded and returned his attention back to Callassa and Ellie. “We’ll see. Before I grant this request, I will need a moment of your time to speak with you.” He looked back at the warriors behind her. “Alone.”

What little air she had gulped down standing before him dissipated. When she looked at Callassa, she held the same expression of confusion Ellie had.

“Come,” Apollo commanded as he descended the platform, stopping directly in front of her. As she craned her neck up, Ellie was met with an unreadable expression. She didn’t move even when Callassa touched her arm.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, oh right, of course.” Ellie stumbled to the side, and he breezed past her straight down the middle of their little group. Callassa flicked her eyes, motioning to him with a look, and followed. Ellie turned and timidly followed as well, but as she passed Evander, he fell in step with her. Apollo stopped abruptly and jerked around to face him.

“I said alone.”

“I heard you,” Evander snapped back, standing his ground. “But wherever Ellie goes, I go. And I don’t think the queen’s mate would take too kindly to her being alone with you.”

Apollo looked as though he would kill Evander there on the spot as he bounced his gaze between the three of them. His eyes roved up and down Evander, judging whether or not he would allow it. But Ellie knew he was coming with them, no matter what Apollo said.

“Very well, but only you.”

He continued down the polished marble leeway, and they followed him out the large doors and down a wide corridor. They all walked with such a stride that Ellie had to almost jog to keep up. Turning, the foursome strode into a smaller throne room. A circular, marbled top table sat at one end, a second throne on a smaller platform at the front. Stopping at the table, Apollo motioned for them to sit, but no one did.

“I wanted to speak to you both privately.” Eyeing Evander, he tilted his head. “Semi-privately.” He took a slight breath. “By the gods you look just like your mother.”

Ellie felt the room spin; she couldn’t breathe, her mouth dry. She felt Evander slide his hand against the small of her back for support.

“Both of you.”

Shaking her head as if she hadn’t heard him correctly, Ellie looked at Callassa. She must have heard the same thing, as she had turned white as a sheet. Ellie didn’t know someone with her complexion could pale that much. The room went silent. Ear ringing silence. The three of them were in complete shock.

“What?” Callassa broke the stillness, and Ellie willed herself to breathe.

“Both of you,” Apollo repeated.

The women both looked at each other, really looked, as if seeing one another for the first time.

Apollo seemed unfazed by his news as he shook his shoulder, ruffling his wings. “I am yours, Delphina”—he turned to Callassa—“and yours, father.”

“I don’t understand.”

Apollo raised his eyebrows at Callassa. “Do you not understand how children come to be?”

A burst of something filled Ellie. Courage? Idiocy? Something. “That’s not what she means, and you know it,” she snapped, her gray eyes flashing at him.

His expression softened at her outburst. “Your mother hated it when I was crass.” Apollo shrugged and waved a hand at the seat. “Would you like to sit down now?”

Ellie didn’t feel herself move but felt the hard chair connecting with her ass as she flopped into one. Callassa sat on one side, closest to Apollo; Evander sat on her right. Rubbing her temples, she raked her hands down her face and dramatically dropped them in her lap.

“Thedia and I had a relationship long before you were born. She tried her best to keep you hidden and safe, but she couldn’t, in the end.”

“You knew?” Callassa spit out, visibly shaking with rage.

“Not until they made you queen; by then, I could do nothing.”

Callassa’s face darkened, and Ellie braced for one of her screams. Apollo ignored her anger and slid his gaze over.

“I didn’t know you existed until several weeks ago. You were hidden from me, from Olympus, from all of us. Hypatia kept you a secret.”

The room darkened and spun; the golden light that streamed in from everywhere dimmed, and Ellie swayed. Something touched her, grabbed her, holding her up as she tried not to give in to the darkness. Evander’s voice. She could hear it calling on the edges of her splintered consciousness.

“Ellie!” He was gripping her as she came back to her senses. Someone placed a glass of water in front of her, and she noticed how it looked like it had gold dust floating on the top. “Ellie.”

Taking a gasping breath, the chamber came back into focus. Her breathing returned, the room filled with light, and Evander continued to bolster her up.

“Delphina, breathe,” Apollo was saying as Callassa patted her hand.

“Who?” she squeaked out. “My—my—who?”

“Your mother, Hypatia,” Apollo said, looking confusedly between Evander and Callassa.

The Hypatia? The very woman she had written papers about, researched and included in her dissertation on the Library of Alexandria? That Hypatia ? Ellie couldn’t fathom what he was saying; what Apollo meant by her mother was Hypatia.

“How can we trust anything you say?” Evander was saying, his voice hollow in her ears.

Narrowing his eyes, he pointed with his chin. “Her ring and her necklace. They have the sapphires of Delphi, of this realm. If you put them together, they have my emblem, my arrow, through the middle of them.”

Instinctively, both women reached for their jewelry and slid them onto the table. Turning her pendant one way and Callassa’s ring the other, sure enough, they made the half-sun symbol that lay over the archway when they entered the throne room.

“What does any of this mean?” Callassa asked, balling her fists in her lap.

Sighing, Apollo gripped the edge of the table, his hand flexing and relaxing as it slid onto the marble.

“I was told of the prophecy centuries before and ignored it. I tried to write it off as just another way for Zeus to keep us in line. But when Pandora came to me with what she had done, how she had sealed Aerelia in her prison, I had to face the fact that the coming Serathena was real.”

“You knew?” Evander asked.

“I knew of the prophecy, yes. It wasn’t until recently did I find out my true involvement in it. That it would be my seed that brought the balance back to Olympus. The oracle had whispered about your births for centuries. I didn’t want to believe it, but here you are.”

Ellie had recovered from her shock and was rubbing her temples. “This doesn’t make sense. Callassa and I aren’t the same species. We are years apart in age. I’m human, for god sake.”

“But you aren’t, are you?” Apollo tilted his head. “Your blood runs with ichor. You have powers and abilities humans do not possess. You are just as much an Olympian as anyone else in the realm.” His face was stoic as he continued. “It doesn’t say you are twins. It doesn’t say you are close in age. The sun and moon. The balance this realm has needed since Pandora went missing.”

“She shall be a queen on wings of ash,” Evander whispered, looking between them. “The house of gold shall rise.”

Looking around the room, Ellie saw it for the first time. The gold, the opulence everywhere. The riches of being the favorite son of Zeus was prevalent.

The house of gold.

This house of gold.

“I still don’t understand.” Her hand stroked the marble table, and Apollo watched it gliding across the smooth surface, something dark in his eyes.

“The failsafe for the prison of the Dark Oracle, was the two of you. Your births, centuries, and worlds, apart meant that you would never come in contact with each other. Would never meet. Both of your blood had to be spilt for the prison to open. But someone has been manipulating the prophecy. Bringing you both together was never part of the plan.”

“What is the house of copper?” Ellie questioned, remembering the second part of the sentence.

Shaking his head, Apollo shrugged. “Something I have been trying to figure out for centuries.”

“The phoenix?” His deep timbre rumbled through her, as Ellie had forgotten Evander was in the room for a moment. “What is the phoenix?”

A smile crossed Apollo’s face, and Ellie swore he became more handsome if that was even possible. “Pandora always did love theatrics.”

“What does that mean?”

She knew Evander was growing annoyed with Apollo and his half-assed answers.

“She couldn’t come right out and say red hair, now could she?”

Ellie felt Evander breathe as if he had been holding his breath for days.

“So, she isn’t destined to die?”

It had never crossed her mind that she was the phoenix the prophecy spoke about. It never occurred to her that she could be the death they had discussed that evening in the kitchen the day Callassa and Liam left. But Evander had. He had been worrying about that very thing for weeks. Looking at him, she placed her hand under his and offered a faint smile. Even with the looming council summons, his worry over her bruised body after battle, and his strategy, it was all because he was terrified of losing her. A warmth radiated out from Ellie’s chest, and she knew she needed to tell Evander she loved him too. He needed to hear her say it.

She wanted to say it.

Apollo huffed and sat back in his chair. “No. A phoenix is a myth.”

Callassa shot out of her chair so quickly that Ellie squeaked.

“Enough!” she thundered, slamming her hand down. “You talk of prophecies and riddles and claim to be our father.” She leaned towards him. “ You knew . You knew what those monsters, your family , were doing to me, and you did nothing. False rumors incite hatred against my people, and they remain isolated, defeated, and you choose to do nothing.” Her words flew out of her mouth like curses filed to sharp points.

“I tried.”

Callassa slammed her hand again; this time, it thundered so loudly the room shook. In seconds, several guards stormed in, swords drawn. Apollo stood, raising his hand and shaking his head. The men lowered their weapons but remained.

“You tried?!” Callassa spat out. “Bullshit! You didn’t want to. You couldn’t be bothered. Admit it. My people are not important enough for you to care about.”

Looking down, then up at Callassa, he turned and marched to a small box on the table in the corner. Reaching inside, he returned with the object and set it between them.

“I couldn’t free you, Callassa. I tried. Zaphine has authority where your people are concerned. I tried to reason with her, with Zeus, with Demeter, but I failed. I failed every attempt. Do you think I enjoy knowing what was done to my child? I thought you would be spared when you became queen, but then I learned what you did. How you became the one to take it all on, all the brutality, so that your females could live in relative freedom. But your government is corrupt and needs to be stopped. There was nothing I could do. Except this.”

He pointed to the orb on the table, swirling with soft purple and blues. Lowering her eyes, she bounced them back to him.

“You had the orb?”

Apollo nodded.

“My mate is without a soul because my father had the orb?”

He flinched at her words. They stared at each other for several tense moments, Callassa breathing hard, trying her best to rein in her anger as she flexed her fists. Ellie could see the war written on her face, deciding if Apollo was telling the truth. Callassa’s eyes closed briefly, and when they opened, the look she gave Apollo was full of pure disdain.

“How can I trust you?”

Sighing loudly, Apollo picked up the orb. He held it to her; the swirling colors vibrated, and light emanated from the glass. Raising the orb to his shoulder, he let it go. It fell to the ground in slow motion, and when it hit, tiny shards scattered out from it, sliding across the polished floor. Light shot out from every piece, shimmering, and snaking around her. Thousands of refractions of light bouncing off one another all over the room. Ellie squinted against the blinding luminosity. The light swirled, picking up shards in a tornado of radiance and glass. Her cuffs dropped to the ground with a metallic clunk, a glow radiating from each jewel. Then the glass and metal and jewels burst into gold dust.

Callassa was rubbing her wrists, her hands moving along her formally encapsulated skin. Ellie felt a surge of power flow through her, mixing with her own magic, tumbling and tangling. Power and strength she had never felt before flowed around her. Callassa hardened her features and flicked her wrist. Apollo dropped to his knees, gasping for air. His guards advanced on her, but she flicked her other wrist, and they were held suspended. Turning her anger on Apollo, she cocked her head to the side; the motion resembling a raven.

“You had the orb. I risked everything, my mate is mutilated, and you had the orb.” She stalked towards Apollo’s bent frame, his eyes wide. “What do you really want from us, Apollo ?” She gritted his name through her teeth like sandpaper.

Flicking her fingers, she let go of both the god and his guards. Gasping for breath, Apollo rose to his feet, his face red. Clearing his throat, he rubbed his neck and actually had the decency to look scared. Ellie, on the other hand, was now terrified of her. Backing up, he rounded the table and crossed to the opposite side of the room. Ellie wasn’t sure if he had yet another surprise or if he was retreating as far as he could from the pissed-off siren queen. The three watched as he pulled a lever, and a wall swung open like a door. Weapons stacked one on top of the other, as far up as Ellie could crane her neck, and of all various types. Golden weapons.

He reached up and grabbed a breastplate, a quiver full of golden arrows, and a bow. Walking back to the table, he laid the breastplate in front of Callassa, quiver and bow before Ellie. The bow shimmered in the light. Golden and intricately carved, the symbol of Apollo sat on the top limb of the curve. The string gleamed white and perfectly taut. Running her hand over the weapon, she plucked the string, and it made a low humming sound. Sliding an arrow out of the quiver, she examined it. Light in her hand, well made, its head was gold, but the feathers were white.

“If you are to go to Athena, you will need protecting. Since I am not allowed in her palace, these are my gifts.” He looked between them. “You were never meant to find each other, but now that you have, you both will be the key to bringing Olympus back into balance and restoring what we have lost.”

Rubbing her hand over the breastplate, Callassa said nothing. He constructed it well, and it was made only to fit her. Hammered into the center was a crescent moon. Callassa pulled her hand back and looked at him.

“I do not need your protection nor your trinkets. I am capable of taking care of myself. I have been since the day of my ascension.” Straightening herself, Callassa raised her chin defiantly in the air. “I need nothing from you.”

Turning on her heel, Callassa marched out of the room. Pointing his chin at one of his guards to follow her, Apollo turned his attention to Ellie, still holding the bow in her hand.

“It never misses.”

“Neither do I,” Ellie said.

The pride that crossed Apollo’s face was as if the sun shone on her. She could see why her mother had fallen for him. His smile was gone too soon, hidden behind a cloud of irritation and stoicism.

“You will accept my gift, then?”

Ellie nodded.

“You really do look like your mother.” His hand jutted out and cupped her cheek, patting it twice. Closing one eye, he twisted his lips. “But your hair? That you certainly got from Artemis.”

Ellie stared at him for a few seconds before Evander gently touched her elbow, signaling it was time they left. Grabbing the gifts off the table, they made their way back to their company.

“Evander,” Apollo’s voice called, and both turned to face him. “She is under your protection?”

He nodded. Looking down at Ellie, then back to Apollo. “Always. I will protect both of them with my life.”

Apollo nodded. “Tell Camulos he can have my guards, but I am assigning two centurions to my daughters. Whether or not they want them.”

Nodding again, they turned back and quickly left the room, a guard following them.