Goddess (Starcrossed Book 3)

The shrill chirp of a cell phone parted Helen’s reluctant eyelids. It was still dark out, and dawn was a long way off. Underneath her, Orion shook himself awake and reached for his jeans that were draped over Helen’s back like a shawl. His fingers fumbling with cold and sleepiness, he finally managed to dig his cell phone out of his pocket and answer before it stopped ringing.

“’Lo?” he grumbled, his voice still half asleep. “Hey, bro. Yeah, she’s safe. She’s right here with me.”

Helen focused her hearing so she could listen in.

“Oh. Good,” Lucas said over the phone in a leaden tone. “Can you both come back to my house? Cassandra is about to make a prophecy. She’s been asking for you specifically, Orion. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

Helen’s eyes met Orion’s as they flared in understanding.

“We’re on our way now. Luke, wait. . . .” Orion said, but it was too late. Lucas had hung up. Orion gave Helen a sheepish look. “Sorry ’bout that.”

“Why? Maybe it’s better if he thinks we slept together. Maybe he’ll . . .” She trailed off when she saw the doubtful look on Orion’s face.

“He’s not going to get over you, Helen. Doesn’t matter how many men you spend the night with.”

Helen nodded, accepting this. Orion looked Helen over and changed the subject.

“Where’d you get the clothes?” he asked.

“I sort of called them into existence in the Underworld.”

“How long were you down there for?” he asked, starting to get concerned. “What happened?”

Helen debated telling Orion everything that Hades told her. But after the night they’d just had, how was she supposed to tell Orion that his mother had fought in a war that drove her insane because of a misunderstood prophecy about a place that didn’t even frigging exist anymore? She didn’t know if she would ever be able to tell him that. Instead, she just shrugged.

“Let me guess,” he said, turning away so he could shake the sand out of his jeans. “It’s another long story. You’re going to have to start telling me some of these long stories of yours at some point, you know.”

“I know,” Helen said as she stood and brushed herself off. “I just need some time to sort through it all first.”

Helen knew that Orion could see the confusion swirling around inside of her, but he didn’t push her to confide in him. Instead, he dressed and then turned to her with his arms out.

“Can I get a lift?” he asked with a cheeky smile. Helen wrapped her arms around him and got them airborne, chuckling as she did so. Encouraged by her laughter, Orion kept joking. “Captain? Are there drinks on this flight? I think I have a fake ID here somewhere.”

“A fake ID? Why would I serve you if you just admitted you were underage?”

“So there are drinks,” he persisted in a mock-serious tone. “I’m not surprised. Look at all the pockets you conjured up for yourself.” He started frisking Helen, humorously cramming his hands into her cargo pants and digging around in her jacket like the nation’s security depended on it. “Of all the getups in the world you could have imagined for yourself and you pick something I’d go hunting in. Never knew you had an L.L.Bean fetish.”

“I was cold!” she said, nearly shouting with laughter.

“Cold, and apparently predisposed to pick flannel over fur.”

“What can I say? I’m from New England. We like flannel.”

By this point, they were hovering over the Delos backyard, and Helen had to force herself to stop giggling so she could concentrate on landing. Serious again, she swung her feet under them.

“Ooo. Rubber boots. Very sexy,” Orion said. Helen lost it again at the last second, and they tumbled to the ground in a goofy heap.

“Are you okay?” Matt shouted in a worried voice.

“No, it’s fine. We’re good,” Helen shouted back to Matt, who was standing up behind the door of his new car, the engine and headlights still on, like he had jumped out of the driver’s seat a second ago.

Helen tried to untangle herself from Orion and look presentable, but he kept grabbing her by the knees and ankles so she couldn’t stand.

“So that’s what happened to the in-flight drinks,” Orion said musingly as he tipped Helen over for the third time. “The captain drank them all. What a lush you are, Hamilton.”

Helen tried to plead her innocence, but since she couldn’t catch her breath she never got a coherent sentence out in her own defense.

“Are you two finished yet?” Matt asked. “What are you, nine?”

Helen and Orion stopped goofing around and settled down. “Did Ariadne call you?” Helen asked Matt.

“Hector did,” he replied, helping Helen to her feet.

“Where’s Claire?” she asked.

“Locked in her room. Her grandma wouldn’t let her out of the house at this hour,” he replied with a chuckle. “Any idea what Cassandra foresaw?”

“She asked for Orion. That’s all we know,” Helen said. The three of them made their way to the garage and the side door that led into the kitchen.

“Huh,” Matt said, looking over at Orion with a creased forehead. “Hector mentioned something about the Tyrant.”

Helen felt Orion stiffen and glanced over at his chest, trying to read his feelings. He was rolling them over too quickly for Helen to make any sense out of what she saw, but she could tell by the way he pinched his lips together that he was steeling himself for some kind of fight.

Helen made up her mind right then that if anyone tried to say anything negative about Orion, she would walk out. His whole life he’d been treated like a bad omen, and he’d never done anything to deserve it. The words born to bitterness welled up in Helen’s mind as she recalled some of the criteria for the Tyrant. After what she’d seen in Newfoundland, Helen knew how well that description fit, but it still didn’t make Orion the Tyrant.

Orion’s only mistake had been being born to the wrong parents with the wrong talent. But apparently, that was enough to make everyone shun him. And over what? Another misleading prophecy, just like the one about Atlantis? There was no way Orion was this Tyrant monster, and Helen intended to say so.

Before they even got inside, Helen could hear the haunting, multivoiced chorus of the Fates speaking through Cassandra. As she walked through the kitchen door a horrible screaming started. Three voices were tangled together into one, and Matt, Helen, and Orion ran toward the source of it—the library where Castor and Pallas had their joint office. In half a second, all three of them were at the door.

“Nemesis sends her vessel to blind us! Darkness comes!” wailed the chorus of the Fates, their voices filled with fear. “He must be killed, or everything will be destroyed!”

Orion, Matt, and Helen burst through the door to find the Delos family assembled and staring up. Cassandra hung in midair, glowing bright purple, green, and blue with the tri-part aura of the Three Fates. She was thrashing and howling with pain as the Fates pushed their way through her and forced her to be their messenger. Cassandra, her face wrinkled with extreme age, raised a clawlike hand and pointed directly at Orion.

“Kill him!” one of the Fates shrieked through Cassandra’s mouth.

“He will ruin everything!” another voice said as Cassandra’s face bubbled and rearranged itself into another old woman’s.

“Why does he still live? He should have been killed as a baby!” said the third Fate peevishly.

For a moment, Cassandra wrested control of her body away from her tormentors. “No!” she said forcefully. “Go away!”

“You are OURS!” all three of the Fates shrieked. “You will not disobey us!”

Cassandra started tearing at herself with her nails, leaving long, bloody welts in her skin. Her face was a mask of fear, but her fingers kept digging. The Fates controlled her hands, but the rest of her was aware of the punishment her possessed hands were inflicting on her. Helen took an involuntary step back in revulsion and realized that everyone else in the room had done the same. Except for Orion.

“Enough!” he commanded, striding forward until he was under Cassandra. “Leave her alone.”

The Fates screamed, and in a rush of strange wind and a flare of purple, green, and blue, they abandoned Cassandra, leaving her to fall out of the air. Orion caught her before she could hit the ground and cradled her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest and started sobbing.

“It’s all right now. Shhh,” he said soothingly. He carried her to the couch and sat down, holding her in his lap. He looked around at everyone in the room accusingly. “You all just stand there and let those hags do that to her?” he asked, his eyes zeroing in on Castor.

“It’s not like that,” Jason said, shaking his head. “We’ve tried everything.”

“Every time we’ve tried to stop it, they just hurt her more,” Lucas said.

Orion looked over at Lucas, and his angry gaze softened. He nodded apologetically, accepting that he may have been too quick to judge.

“So why do they leave when Orion tells them to?” Pallas asked. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at Orion. “Why are the Fates so afraid of you?”

“Maybe because I’m not afraid of them,” Orion countered defensively.

Helen tensed herself for a fight and felt Lucas and Hector go on the alert with her—all three of them ready to argue for Orion.

“The Fates fear Orion because they can’t see through him. Something about their sister, a beautiful woman with a veil over her eyes. She covers their eyes when he approaches,” Cassandra said tiredly, ending the fight before it could begin. She drew a hiccupping breath and sat up in Orion’s arms and looked at him. “You’re like a blank wall to them. Or a dead end.” She wiped her hand across her face. “I don’t know exactly what they think. All I get are glimpses here and there. But I do know that whenever you’re part of the equation, they can’t see the answer.”

“Is that why you couldn’t see my future?” Helen asked Cassandra. “When I started meeting Orion in the Underworld and spending a lot of time with him, you said you couldn’t see my future anymore.”

Cassandra tilted her head to the side, considering this. “I suppose that could be it. The Fates won’t tell me anything about Orion. They hate it when I even think of him.”

“Good,” Orion said. “I’ve never liked the Fates.” He smiled down into Cassandra’s face, like he’d just put his finger on something. “So, is this why you’re always following me around the house?”

She smiled back and nodded shyly. “I can relax when you’re around because I know they won’t come.”

Helen glanced at Castor, Lucas, and Hector, who were all sharing troubled looks. Their hearts were filled with confused fogs, like they had no idea how they should feel about what they’d just heard. Helen wished she’d been in the room earlier. She wanted to hear this new, revised Tyrant prophecy, preferably before Orion did.

“And you’re not afraid of me?” Cassandra asked Orion cautiously. He smirked.

“Ever been to Thailand?” he asked. She shook her head slowly, bemused by his out-of-the-blue statement. “Let’s just say I’ve eaten meals that are scarier than you. Bigger than you, too.” Cassandra chuckled, but halfway through, exhaustion caught up with her and she started to yawn. “Yeah, I have that effect on a lot of people,” he said, making her laugh again through her yawn. Orion stood up with Cassandra in his arms. “Okay. I think it’s bedtime for you, Kitty.”

“Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” she asked, clutching at his arm.

“Of course.”

On his way out the door, Orion gave Helen a meaningful look. She nodded in response to let him know that she’d fill him in on anything that he missed while he tended to Cassandra. As soon as he was out of the room, several people started talking at once.

“I can’t believe the Fates left like that,” Ariadne breathed to her twin.

“It looked like they were going to kill her this time,” Jason said back.

“It’s worse than we thought,” Pallas said urgently to Castor, silencing all other side conversations. “If Orion stays, we are blind. At least with the Oracle we had an edge over the gods. A small one, but better than nothing.”

“I know,” Castor replied, his face tight with tension.

“He’s a good man. Anyone can see that,” Pallas persisted. “But good or not, he’s too dangerous. He can’t stay with us.”

“No. You can’t send Orion away,” Lucas said in a low voice, his eyes skewering his father. All eyes flew to Lucas, surprised that he of all people would defend Orion. Lucas’s face was impassive. “He saved my life and Helen’s. We’re blood brothers now.”

“I agree,” Hector said evenly. “Orion has fought alongside us. He is a part of our family,” he continued, nodding to Lucas and Helen.

“Just because someone fought alongside you does not make him a part of this family,” Pallas said to his son in a raised and frustrated voice. “You rely too much on your honor to make your choices for you, Hector!”

Hector looked away from his father’s intense stare, backing down. He was too respectful to go against his father, even if Pallas was wrong. That pissed Helen off.

“This isn’t about honor or about Orion,” Helen said bitterly. She took a step toward Pallas and felt Lucas, Hector, and Jason fall into position behind her. “It’s about Cassandra. You’re too scared to face the future without someone to tell you what to do. You’d rather let her suffer than have to doubt what’s coming next. All this talk about Orion being dangerous is an excuse so you can keep your Oracle and not feel too guilty about what that does to your own niece.”

Pallas took a step toward Helen, his lips curling into a snarl. Undaunted, Helen took a step toward Pallas and tipped her chin up at him, taunting him to take a shot. As far as Helen was concerned, this fight was a long time coming. From the first moment Pallas had laid eyes on Helen, all he’d ever seen was Daphne. After so many years of blaming Daphne for his brother’s murder, he couldn’t let it go. Pallas had always looked at Helen as if any day now she was going to betray the Delos family, and she’d had enough of it.

“And do you think the same of me, Helen? That I would let my daughter go through that torture so I can . . . what? Feel better about tomorrow?” Castor said quietly as he stepped between Helen and Pallas. Helen felt Lucas put his hand on the small of her back, and she eased off.

“No,” she admitted, dropping her gaze. “I don’t think that of you, Castor.”

“Cassandra’s health has always been one of my biggest concerns. But the real problem for our kind is the Tyrant. It always has been,” Castor continued, addressing the group. “I know how you all feel about Orion, and I think those feelings have kept you from seeing the truth.”

“Not this again!” Helen huffed. “Orion isn’t the freaking Tyrant, okay?”

“Wait, Helen,” Matt said holding up a hand. “We don’t have all the facts yet.” He turned to Castor. “What did the Oracle say about the Tyrant before we got here? Did anyone write it down word for word?”

“I did,” Ariadne said from behind her father’s desk. In all the commotion, Helen hadn’t even noticed her there, scribbling away. “I recorded most of it on my phone, too. But I don’t want to hear that again. Do you?”

Matt shook his head. He held out his hand for Ariadne’s pages, and she handed them over. Helen read along over Matt’s shoulder while Ariadne explained.

“She repeated this first line about a hundred times, that’s why I added the dots after it. I think Cassandra was trying to fight them off for as long as she could.” Ariadne dropped her eyes for a moment, collected herself, and then pointed to the notes firmly. “I made an indentation each time a new voice took over. And at the bottom there, I highlighted in blue the words they all spoke together.”

The Tyrant rises. . . .

The Great Cycle, delayed for thirty and three hundreds of years, is nearly complete.

The blood of the Four Houses has mixed and all of Olympus is contained in one.

The time has come. The children must overthrow the parents—or be devoured by them.

The Hero

The Lover

The Shield

The Tyrant—have taken the stage.

The Warrior waits in the wings, the last to join the battle.

The Tyrant shall rise up with power unlimited. On one choice will the fate of all be decided.

Nemesis has sent her vessel to blind us! Darkness! Darkness comes! He must be killed or everything will be destroyed!

Helen and Matt stopped reading at this point and looked up at each other, brows furrowed. That last line they had both heard already—as they came into the library with Orion. “Vessel of Nemesis” and “Darkness comes,” sounded ominous to Helen. If the Fates were talking about Orion here, their descriptions of him certainly didn’t help his case much.

“Is this Nemesis an evil goddess or something?” Helen asked Matt under her breath, trusting that he had done more studying than she had, as usual.

“No, she’s not evil. And she’s way older than the gods,” Matt replied. “She’s a daughter of Nyx, like the Fates.”

“So, Nemesis is probably the sister with the veil that Cassandra was talking about?” Helen asked hopefully, looking around.

“It’s possible,” Castor replied.

“And this is the only time all three of the Fates spoke together? This last line?” Matt asked Ariadne urgently.

“Yes. They grew very agitated,” she replied.

“That’s when we walked into the kitchen,” Helen said, catching Matt’s drift. “This whole bit about Nemesis and darkness could just be because they couldn’t see anymore because Orion walked in.”

“Orion could have been blocking their prophecy,” Matt continued optimistically.

“So, of course, the Fates would want him dead. They’ve been trying to kill him since before he was born. Even before that, actually.” Helen stopped and restarted, trying to explain. “The Fates have been targeting Orion ever since Troy because he made it out alive when he was Aeneas. He escaped fate. The only way Aeneas could have done that is if Nemesis was protecting him, too.”

Helen saw confused and worried faces everywhere she looked. She rubbed her eyes, knowing she was making a hash of this and that she was probably hurting Orion’s chances more than helping them. She looked over at Lucas pleadingly.

“Am I lying?” she asked him, calling on his Falsefinder skills.

“No,” Lucas replied immediately. “She isn’t lying.”

“Oh, of course,” Pallas said as he threw up his hands in exasperation. “Well, it’s obvious what role the Fates put you in, Lucas. You’re the Lover. You’d do anything for Helen.”

“Yes I would,” Lucas admitted with brutal honesty. “But she’s still telling the truth.”

“What she knows of it,” Castor said in a detached voice. “I’m sorry, son, but just because Helen thinks something is true doesn’t make it the truth.” Castor’s tone wasn’t confrontational. He was just making them aware of a loophole that he’d obviously spent a long time considering.

A ghost of a thought traced across Helen’s mind—a niggling doubt about something that was important, but just out of reach.

“It’s not just that. Orion can’t be the Tyrant because he’s the Shield,” Lucas said, waving away his father’s objection. “When Cassandra made the prophecy about Helen being the Descender, she said Helen would go down into the Underworld with her Shield.”

“Granted,” Matt said equitably, like he’d already thought of this. “But you also found a way into the Underworld, Lucas. And you went there to protect Helen—to shield her.”

“Okay, but I didn’t help her free the Furies,” Lucas countered, recalling the words of the prophecy.

“Yeah you did,” Helen said sheepishly, hating to go against Lucas on this. “I was banished from the Underworld until you gave me the obol. And then you helped me figure out which river we needed.”

“Yeah, but Orion was the one who was actually there with you when you freed them.”

“Luke,” Hector interrupted gently. “You gotta admit Matt’s point raises the possibility that there is more than one interpretation of the prophecy.”

“There’s always more than one interpretation,” Orion said from the doorway. Everyone turned to look at him as he came back into the library. “Face it. The Fates speak in riddles because they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. If they did, they’d say something straightforward like, ‘Orion is the Tyrant and he wants to eat your brains for breakfast’ or whatever.”

Hector’s shoulders started bouncing up and down with silent laughter. Lucas turned his head away and tried to stuff down a laugh of his own, but he made the mistake of catching Jason’s eye.

“Zombie Tyrant,” Jason whispered to Lucas, his face turning red with a repressed laugh.

“Huzzah death,” Lucas whispered back, cracking up. Apparently, that was some kind of inside joke between the Delos boys because all three of them busted out laughing.

“Enough foolishness,” Pallas said, striding angrily for the door. He stopped and turned. “What part of ‘reducing all mortal cities to rubble’ don’t you understand? We’ve all been warned what’s at stake here, and not just for Scions. I don’t want to be the one who stood by and let a tyrant worse than Stalin or Hitler get away because he seemed like such a nice guy when I met him.” He looked directly at Orion, and then back at everyone else. No one was laughing anymore. “Do you?”

“Ariadne,” Matt called quietly down the upstairs hallway.

Ariadne stopped at her bedroom door and glanced back at him, holding up a finger to signal for him to wait where he was. She listened for her father, brothers, and cousin, but it wasn’t necessary. Matt could hear all the Delos men, he could even feel their pulses throbbing in the air, and he knew that they were occupied elsewhere. But Ariadne didn’t know this, and he didn’t know how to explain it to her yet. After listening for far longer than Matt needed to, Ariadne finally looked satisfied.

“Come in,” she whispered, beckoning for him to follow her into her room. He entered uncertainly, standing in the middle of her bedroom while she transferred clothes from one piece of furniture to another without even thinking about putting anything away in her dresser.

She was always a slob. I spent half the war cleaning up after her, the new part of Matt remembered. Worst slave ever.

Matt shook his head and tried to push aside the other consciousness that kept popping up uninvited, just as he tried to suppress the flood of familiarity and tenderness he felt toward the girl he was looking at.

Her bed was just a few feet away. Part of him had never lain beside her and another part of him had spent ten years sleeping next to her—her and no other until the day he died. His hands ached to reach out and touch her again for the first time, so he shoved them in his pockets. He turned his head and stared at the wall as she tossed something silky and lace-trimmed in her closet.

“Matt?” Ariadne asked from across the room. He looked at her as she flung a long tress of her chestnut hair behind her shoulder, desperately trying not to remember how soft both her hair and her round shoulder felt. “My lingerie isn’t going to strike you blind, you know.”

“I need to ask you some questions,” he said tersely, deliberately turning the conversation away from her undergarments.

“Okay.” Ariadne crossed to him and sat on the edge of her bed. Matt took the chair she had just liberated from its burden of laundry and sat opposite her.

“Tell me about the different roles that the Fates mentioned tonight,” he asked.

Ariadne smiled, almost like she was expecting this. “You know that the Greeks were in love with theater?” Matt nodded. “Well, the Fates were, too. They always have been. It’s almost like they see the world as a stage, and the Scions are merely their players. In a lot of prophecies, there is mention of certain roles that must be filled, or that the world is waiting to be filled, in order to complete the ‘Great Cycle’ that the Fates seem fixated on. By the way, a cycle is also another name for a series of plays that are interconnected—like the plays by Aeschylus that tell the story of the beginning of the Furies. It’s called the Oresteia.”

“Yeah,” Matt said ruefully. “I’ve read that one. Now tell me about the specific roles that the Fates mentioned tonight. Have you always known about them?”

“Yes. No one really knows what those roles mean, though. Or what the Fates intend for them.”

“How can that be?”

“Because they’re vague. Think about it. The roles are the Hero, the Shield, the Lover, and the Warrior—and seriously? That could mean any one of the Scions who have been born, since like ever. We’re a bunch of hero, warrior, lover, shield-the-weak-with-your-body kind of people,” she said, mildly exasperated with how predictable her kind were. “The only role that has specific portents attached to it is the Tyrant, and all of the Houses over the eons have been super vigilant about the signs surrounding him in order to prevent him from ever coming. But you know that prophecy already.”

“The Tyrant is born to bitterness. He bears the blood of multiple Houses and must be able to reduce all mortal cities to rubble,” Matt said seriously. He didn’t like to agree with Pallas, but Matt knew he was right. He pictured someone like Hitler with Scion strength and the ability to destroy cities just by willing it.

Matt remembered Zach asking the gang a hypothetical question once: If they had a time machine and could go back and kill Hitler before he had a chance to hurt anyone, would they do it? Even if he were still an innocent child when they went back and murdered him? They had all answered yes.

“Matt,” Ariadne said, reaching out and putting her hand over his. “Are you okay?”

“And the others, like the Shield and . . . the Warrior,” he continued. “Those are set roles, roles that must be filled? Have these roles been there from the beginning?”

“Cassandra of Troy was the first to mention them . . . so, yeah. All of these roles have been there from the beginning.”

“And every role must be filled before this cycle can be completed and the Fates can move on to a new cycle?”

“I’ve never heard it put that way before,” Ariadne replied cautiously. Her sharp mind turned this novel idea over quickly as it shuffled through dozens of memorized bits of minutia, until finally, she nodded in acceptance. “But I suppose that’s a plausible interpretation.”

“So we’re all trapped,” Matt breathed hopelessly. “We have to play our parts or the Fates will just start over and try again with the next batch of Scions.”

Ariadne frowned in thought. “Maybe that’s why it feels like we’ve never really left Troy. Because something that was supposed to happen way back then didn’t, and the Fates keep trying to re-create it.”

Matt smiled, sternly reminding himself not to lean over and kiss her no matter how clever she was. He waited a moment until he knew his voice would be steady before talking.

“That’s what I think, too,” he said. “It’s like the Scions are stuck in an endless round of auditions as the Fates shift new actors into the same roles, looking for the right cast to make their play work.”

“But they’re the Fates. If they want something to happen, why can’t they just make it happen?”

“I don’t know,” Matt replied. “There must be some other force that moves against them. Maybe their sister, Nemesis.”

“We should tell everyone about this,” Ariadne said. “Even if they think we’re wrong.”

“I agree.”

They sat for a while, each of them pondering private thoughts. The sun was starting to come up, and Matt told himself it was time to go, even though he could have sat like that with her for days.

“Good night, Ariadne,” Matt said as he stood up.

“Where are you going?” Her luminous hazel eyes were wide and troubled.

“Home. I snuck out when Hector called me,” he said, looking anywhere but at her. “I want to be back before my parents wake up so they don’t worry. The riots really freaked them out.”

“Okay,” she said quietly. “Will you come back later? The Houses are supposed to meet here tonight.”

“I don’t know if I can,” he said. There was a ship out on the water, carrying his army closer. Matt could feel it like a phantom limb—removed but still aching. “I may have something else to take care of.”

Ariadne nodded and looked at the floor. Unable to resist, Matt leaned down and kissed the top of her head. Her hair smelled the same, like honey and summer. He let himself run his hand down the back of her bent neck, feeling how slender it was under his calloused palm—as fragile as a flower’s stem.

“Will you try?” she whispered, not looking up.

“Yes. I’ll try.”

“Hey. Are you mad at me?” Lucas heard Helen ask.

He turned and saw her floating toward him across the roof of the house. He shook his head, and she sat next to him on the very edge of the roof over his bedroom.

“I didn’t mean to disagree with you in front of the family back there. About Orion being the Shield,” she continued.

“It’s okay. You were just bringing up a good point,” he said, knowing she could hear the truth in his words. Helen’s new talent as a Falsefinder made things both easier and harder between the two of them. He could never lie to her again, not even to protect her. Not that lying had ever kept her safe. Lucas briefly wondered if he’d ever protected her at all. “I still think Orion’s the Shield, though.”

“But I don’t need a Shield. I never did,” she said, almost like she was reading his mind. With all the new things she could do, Lucas wouldn’t put telepathy past her.

“No. I guess not,” he agreed. Something about that troubled Lucas. Helen had always been the strongest, so what did the Shield “shield” her from, exactly?

“Maybe Orion is the Lover. He is a son of Aphrodite,” Helen said, like she was considering it.

That made sense. And although it killed him to think about it, Lucas was pretty sure that Orion was Helen’s actual lover now. But no matter how mixed up all the signs for the different roles were, Lucas knew better.

“Orion isn’t the Lover.”

“How do you know?”

“That part’s taken already.”

Helen looked at him, her beautiful mismatched eyes swimming with regret and, Lucas hoped desperately, not pity as well. “You know . . . all these new talents I have . . .” Her voice wavered. “One of them is controlling hearts.”

“So you mentioned.”

“I could take your love for me away,” she offered in a small voice.

“And then what?”

Helen’s brow pinched together, like she was confused by his question. “Well, then you could move on with your life. We’d have to stay away from each other, though.”

“We tried that already, remember?” Lucas asked with a wry smile. “It didn’t work.”

Lucas had no doubt Helen could erase his love for her, but he also knew he’d only fall in love with her again the next time he laid eyes on her. There was no “moving on” for him. No matter what else Lucas did in his life, his love for Helen would always define him. He was the Lover.

“Please, Lucas? I want to make this easier on you,” she said quietly, her head tilted down.

“Then stop talking nonsense.” He bumped her shoulder playfully with his until she dropped her pained look and smiled. “We’ve been over this a dozen times. Nothing’s ever going to change the way I feel about you.”

She finally met his eyes and nodded sadly, accepting what she could hear in his voice—the truth.

“So, maybe Orion’s the Hero?” she asked, trying to change the subject to something more productive.

“Hector,” Lucas replied immediately, shaking his head.

“Right. That’s a no-brainer,” Helen said, rolling her eyes a little. “Unless Hector’s the Warrior?”

“The Warrior joins the fight last, and Hector’s never come late to a fight in his life. I’d bet just about anything Hector’s the Hero and Orion’s the Shield.”

Helen seemed to struggle for a moment with her next question. “What is it?” Lucas asked coaxingly.

“Is the Tyrant really as bad as Pallas said?”

Lucas nodded slowly. He didn’t want to scare her, but he also knew he couldn’t lie to her. “What little of the prophecy we have left talks about the Tyrant like he’s stronger than all the gods combined. And there’s supposed to be this huge battle with monsters and storms when the Tyrant rises. Even the sky is supposed to change colors, like a kaleidoscope.”

“Sounds like the apocalypse.”

“Yeah,” Lucas said, feeling Helen shiver.

They sat there for a while, dangling their feet off the side of the house. Even though the conversation had taken such a dark turn, just having Helen near him relaxed Lucas and helped him focus. He might not be able to kiss her, but if she was sitting right next to him, he didn’t torture himself over who else she might be with. And what they were probably doing.

He reminded himself it was better this way and swallowed the lump in his throat. He wanted Helen to be happy, and he trusted that Orion could give that to her. Lucas certainly never had. All he ever did was make Helen miserable, and as soon as he knew this whole mess was over, he was going to make sure he never hurt her again.

Burying these consuming thoughts, Lucas forced his mind to drift instead. He shuffled through every image and use of a shield he could come up with.

“Shield, defense, bastion, block . . . ,” he mumbled. “What does Orion shield us from? What does he block?”

“Well. He seems pretty good at blocking doorways,” Helen joked. Her smile disappeared quickly as a thought occurred to her. “And prophecies.”

“And the futures of anyone who spends a lot of time with him,” he breathed. “Orion shields you from the awareness of the Fates, Helen. If the Fates can’t see you, they can’t decide your life for you. Do you know what this means? You have free will.”

They stared at each other, so shocked they almost couldn’t believe it, but both of them sensed a tingling in the air that told them they were onto something huge.

“But why me? Why am I the one who gets to choose?” Helen’s eyes darted around fearfully. “What role am I playing, Lucas?”

“You’re the Descender.”

“That’s not on the list.”

She was right. Lucas felt a moment of anxiety, and then relaxed as the solution came to him. “Out of all of us, you were the last one to discover that you’re a Scion—the last to join the fight. You’re the Warrior, of course.”

Helen calmed down and smiled tentatively. “Huh. Go figure.” Her nose wrinkled as she thought of something. “The Fates know I suck at fighting, right?”

“You’ve gotten better.” He really tried to keep a straight face, but it wouldn’t hold.

Helen pushed him off the roof. He floated up in front of her, holding his hands in an “I surrender” gesture, still trying not to laugh. She crossed her arms huffily and looked away, trying not to laugh with him.

“Lover, my heinie,” she said, cracking a grin and nudging him away from her with her foot.

He caught her ankle and pulled himself between her dangling legs. Helen’s eyes widened with surprise and her lips softened and fell apart.

“That’s right,” he whispered. Lucas leaned in close to her, loving that in spite of everything that had happened, she couldn’t help but react to him. “Don’t ever forget it.”

He grazed the curve of her cheek with his fingertips before flying away.