“I told you we’d kill you,” she said, spitting on Zeus’s face. “Not so damn tough now, are you? What are you going to do? What are you going to do!” The gorgon smacked him across the face and spat once more before sidling up next to him and draping her arm across his shoulders. “Where should we put him?”
“Nowhere,” Euryale said as she slithered a few yards and scooped up the ax. “I don’t ever want to see his disgusting face again.”
“Come on,” Stheno said with a playful begging. “He’d look so good in the throne room. Oh! Oh! Or even better, the acropolis, so every time anyone does anything in Olympus, they have to see what a pathetic wretch he’s become.”
“Tempting, but no,” Euryale said.
“Please?”
“No.”
Stheno fell to her knees and clasped her hands in front of her. “PLEASE!”
Euryale sighed heavily and rolled her eyes at her sister’s overly theatric performance. “How would we carry him back, anyway? He probably weighs twenty tons.”
The gorgon grunted and frowned as reality smacked her in the face. But as quick as that came, her eyes lit up. “Easy. We dismember him, load him in the chariot, glue him all back together once we get home.”
“That doesn’t sound easy.”
“It’ll be fun,” she countered. “Like a puzzle. A glorious puzzle we can all enjoy.”
Euryale shook her head. “Nothing about him will ever be enjoyable.”
A groan drew the attention of both. Artemis sat up stiffly. Her eyes found her father’s statue, and she arched her eyebrows. “He ambushed us, didn’t he?”
“To his end,” said Stheno.
“Still, I should’ve seen it coming.” The goddess picked herself up with a grimace. “Where’s Ares?”
Euryale pointed to the other side of the battlefield. “He fell on that ledge,” she said. “Zeus hit him with lightning.”
Artemis dashed over as fast as her smoldering body would allow. When she reached her half-brother, she knelt, and then with a grunt, she rolled him over and rested her head on his chest for a moment. “He lives,” she said with a laugh. “Out of stubbornness and a lust for more battle if for no other reason.” Artemis paused and scanned the area for his chariot. It still lay toppled, but at least one animal attached to it was trying to get up. “Go,” she said. “I can bring back Ares and Poseidon on my own. You have a daughter to save.”
Relieved but still concerned, Euryale couldn’t help but check to see how true that was. “Are you sure?” she asked. “It’s a long walk.”
Artemis nodded. “One horse is enough,” she said, eyes on the chariot and the creatures that pulled it. “With the Fates’ blessing, I may be able to save another. Now go. Please, before all of this is for naught. Just keep following the path that way. We’ll see you back in Olympus.”
The gorgon nodded and quickly started for Alex’s chariot, some hundred yards away. She stopped, however, when another thought came to her. “Take his head,” she said to Stheno. “We might need it.”
Her sister stopped dead in her tracks. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
Stheno glowed brighter than any star in the heavens. She bolted over to Zeus and twirled her spear in a full circle over her head before slicing the weapon’s blade through the statue’s neck. The head fell off cleanly, landing on the ground with a thud.
“Did that hurt?” she said, gleefully scooping it up and looking it in the eyes. “That looked like that hurt.”
“Stheno…”
“Yes?” she said, throwing a grin to Euryale.
“Can you please stop playing with your kill?”
“Why? Do you want a turn?”
“No. I want to go.”
The two made their way back to the chariot where Stheno stuffed the head into the other sack Nyx had provided. Euryale picked up the reins, and with a sharp snap, she sent the two ponies racing forward.
It didn’t take them long to break free of the mountains, and once the rocky peaks had disappeared in the gloom behind them, the ponies shot into the air before crossing into Nyx’s domain once again.
They sped over dark waters, carving a wake that stretched into the heavens. Though they’d enjoyed a brief respite once the battle was over, now that they raced back to Olympus, Euryale realized they’d yet to win the day. Cassandra’s very existence still teetered on the edge of oblivion, and even if—nay, even with Alex reaching the city with the flower, Euryale had no idea how long the antidote Apollo would concoct would last. Would it deteriorate as fast as the flower wilted?
She prayed harder than she ever had that that would not be the case.
“Hang on, sweetheart,” she whispered. “We’re coming.”
Stheno slid her arm over her sister’s shoulders and squeezed gently. “She’s going to be fine.”
“I know,” Euryale said, though the tremor in her voice belied the certainty she tried to show.
“We didn’t come this far to fail,” Stheno said. “You didn’t come this far to fail.”
Euryale smiled as she felt the tension in her body melt. Her sister was right. She hadn’t gone through all of this just to be met with disaster in the final moments. Her daughter would be made whole, and before anyone knew it, this would all be a distant memory. Of course, there was still the matter of hunting down the one who’d poisoned her daughter in the first place—Typhon, no doubt, but that would come in time.
“Thank you for protecting me,” she said, turning to Stheno.
“As if I’d do anything else. I’m not sure if I should be insulted at the insinuation or not.”
Euryale nodded and didn’t reply for a few minutes, instead just letting her thoughts churn as they flew. Nyx’s island appeared off in the distance, and thoughts of their encounter with her resurfaced. When they did, Euryale couldn’t help but ask her sister something. “Do you still want power?”
“What do you think?”
“Honestly?” she replied, keeping her eyes focused on what was ahead. “Yes, I think you do. Am I right?”
Stheno smiled and nudged her with her hip. “Does Atlas hold up the world? Do the Fates control destiny? Is Zeus a pretty little ornament I can’t wait to place somewhere?”
Euryale laughed at the last remark, but in the end, she couldn’t help but feel her shoulders slump. “I figured as much.”
Stheno leaned her head against her sister’s shoulder and gave her another hug. “Not at the expense of you, though,” she said. “On this, I will always swear.”
Euryale leaned playfully away. “Even if Nyx tempts you?”
Stheno burst into laughter. “Especially if Nyx tempts me.”
The speed of their flight increased more and more. The cold air and dreamlike nature surrounding Nyx’s home soon gave way to an open sea shimmering with a gorgeous sunrise. Euryale took a moment to enjoy it all, letting the salty air tantalize her senses and the warmth of sunlight strike her face. The relief she felt being back in the world she lived in and knew helped bolster her spirits.
Eventually, Euryale pulled on the reins, sending the chariot rocketing into the sky, and after plowing through a number of thick clouds the size of small countries, they found Olympus. Within a couple of minutes, they made one circle of Apollo’s temple before landing at the foot of the steps leading inside.
“Alex? Apollo?” Euryale called out, jumping off the chariot and racing inside. “We’re here!”
No one replied, but that didn’t faze the gorgon in the least. She plowed through the god’s home, racing through the halls and barreling through closed doors, ax in hand. When she reached the asclepeion, she burst through the door with such force, it was only by the intervention of the Fates that the door didn’t disintegrate.
Alex, waiting in a chair next to their daughter, jumped from his seat. “You made it!” he shouted, bounding over and scooping her up. “You actually made it.”
Euryale, still held high, looked down at
her husband and smiled. “Yes, I made it,” she said, eyes watering. Her hands caressed the sides of his face for a moment before she planted a kiss on his lips.
She kept pressing into him for an eternity, heart overflowing, body shaking, until her sister cleared her throat.
“Daughter?” she said. “I’m merely throwing it out there. Maybe you two love birds could ravish each other once we’re finished protecting the bloodline?”
Euryale pulled back, feeling a little stupid and thoroughly overwhelmed. “Please tell me Apollo made a cure.”
“I did,” the Olympian said. The god stood on the opposite side of Cassandra’s petrified form, holding a small glass with glowing, scarlet liquid. “Restoring her flesh, however, is still beyond my ability.”
“But we have that taken care of, too, right?” Euryale said, looking at her husband as she eased out of his arms. “You said you did. You promised.”
Alex nodded. “It is taken care of,” he replied. He reached up and stroked the side of her face before running his fingers through her snakes. “You think I’d lie about that?”
A gnawing pit took hold of her stomach, and icy fingers gripped her heart. This, she knew, should be a moment of inexplicable joy and relief, but the sorrow in his eyes said this was anything but. “What?”
Alex smiled, clearly forced. “Nothing.”
“This isn’t nothing,” Euryale said. She could feel her heart quicken in her chest. Her breaths never seemed to take in enough air, and even Stheno had picked up on his behavior, and she’d barely known him.
“I’ll tell you in a minute. I promise,” he said, outstretching his hand. “But let’s save our daughter first. Give me the ax.”
Euryale shied away at first, turning her head and eyeing him with suspicion. Despite her apprehension, she handed the weapon over.
“Exactly how does this work again?” Stheno asked.
Alex didn’t answer. He walked around the table that held Cassandra and turned briefly to slip by Apollo. Right as he neared the door to a storeroom, it opened and out stepped Hera.
Euryale’s jaw dropped, and then it practically hit the floor when Alex placed the weapon in her waiting hands.
“Hello, Euryale,” the Queen of Olympus said with a snicker. “Seeing the look on your face almost makes up for what you did to me. Almost.”
The gorgon barely heard her words. She recoiled, nearly losing her balance in the process, eyes fixated on her husband. “Alex,” she gasped. “What have you done?”
“Saved our daughter,” he replied.
“And you? You knew?” she said to Apollo, heart cracking as much as her voice did.
The God of the Sun and Medicine, Giver of Prophecy, merely nodded.
Hera casually made her way to Cassandra. She dropped her free hand on the child’s forehead and stroked the cold stone a few times, all the while wearing a smirk upon her face. “Funny what the Fates have done, isn’t it?” she asked. “After all you did, all my plans you ruined, nothing’s changed, has it?”
“More has changed than you’ll ever realize,” Euryale growled. She felt the heat of battle rise in her heart and power build behind her eyes. She had taken the goddess down once. She could do it again—would do it again.
The gorgon shook her head. No, she couldn’t. Not while Cassandra was the way she was.
“Ah, good girl,” Hera said, her words dripping with condescension. “I had my doubts when your husband promised me that you’d control yourself.”
“You made your point,” Alex said. “I’ve done my part. Now you do yours. That’s the deal.”
“Yes, I suppose my oaths are as binding as yours, aren’t they?” She then placed her hand back on Cassandra's head and began to chant softly. The words that passed her lips had a slow rhythm to them, ones that put goosebumps across Euryale’s skin and sent her vipers into a nervous state. As Hera went on, her hand glowed a soft orange, and that glow quickly spread across Cassandra’s body and along both the shaft and the head of the ax.
A moment later, Euryale’s daughter gasped, clutching her chest with one hand and using the other to keep from falling off the table.
Apollo darted to Cassandra’s side, supporting her body with an arm below her back and using his free hand to bring the antidote to her lips. “Drink.”
Cassandra took a sip but stopped as her face shriveled like she’d tasted something putrid. “It’s gross.”
“I know, but you must,” he said, offering it again.
“Daddy?”
Alex patted her shoulder. “It’ll make you better,” he said. “Go on. I’ll get you some candy cotton later.”
“Cotton candy, Daddy,” she said, coughing.
“Right, that too.”
Cassandra eyed the concoction with a frown. Then, with a deep breath and a pinch of the nose, she took it all with a single gulp. Her face immediately soured even more, making her look a thousand years old with all the wrinkles it produced. Her snakes thrashed wildly, some even striking at each other, but after a few seconds, they calmed, and she relaxed. The black lines that marred her body shrank and quickly faded away.
“Do you feel better?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, but that was really gross,” she said, trying to spit the taste out of her mouth. When she couldn’t, she opted for licking her arm, which apparently didn’t help either. “Like really, really gross. Like almost as bad when you tried making moussaka that one time.”
Euryale couldn’t help but laugh at the remark, and it was Cassandra enough that she snapped back into the moment and raced to her side.
Cassandra bolted off the bed in the opposite direction, darting behind her father and clutching him tightly.
“Sweetie,” Euryale choked. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Mmm, I bet you would’ve said that before, too,” Hera gloated.
Euryale lunged; the only thing keeping her from tearing into the goddess before she reacted was the fact that there was still a table between the two. Hera instantly had the ax at the ready, its double blades glowing bright and humming with energy, causing Euryale to freeze in place.
“You teeter on destruction, gorgon,” Hera said with a glare. “I suppose I’m obligated to tell you that as part of my arrangement with your husband, I’m to let you go. But don’t for one second think that means I can’t and won’t defend myself. That’s not a fight you’re going to win.”
“Zeus thought the same,” Stheno said.
“Yes, I imagine he did,” Hera said, unimpressed. “Turned him to stone, did you? He might look good as a statue for a while. But you’ll find I’m a little more resilient when it comes to such things.”
Stheno’s only reply was slinging the sack she’d been carrying over her shoulder so that Zeus’s petrified head contained within rolled out.
“Fates’ end,” Apollo muttered, eyes wide as he backed away.
Hera tightened her grip on the ax. Veins bulged in her neck and along the side of her head. “Get out of my city,” she said in a slow, harsh voice. “Now.”
“Your city?” Stheno replied, readying her spear. “I think you’ll find it's ours, bitch.”
Hera narrowed her eyes, and her fingers twitched, something Euryale knew was a prelude to a cascade of spells being slung their way, spells that no doubt would hit Alex and Cassandra in the process. And while the Queen of Olympus no doubt had a lot of anger for her former husband, it was clear that she hadn’t wanted him to be decapitated. She longed for a fight, and the only thing keeping her from entering one was whatever oaths she’d made with Alex.
“I’ll not ask again,” Hera said. “Leave.”
Stheno didn’t budge.
Euryale gently took the gorgon by the elbow and tugged. “Not here,” she said. “Not now.”
“Yes, here, and yes, now!”
“Not while my child is in the middle of it,” Euryale said.
“Come now, Stheno,” Hera purred. “Are you afraid of me? That weak and insigni
ficant, you’re going to run with your tail tucked after an old crone shoos you away?”
“I’m not the one shaking,” Stheno said. “You are.”
“Am I?” Hera chuckled. “Then I guess you’ve nothing to fear. Come, strike me down. Take my place as Queen of Olympus, if you like. Who am I to stop you?”
Stheno tensed, and for a moment, Euryale thought she might strike, but the gorgon simply pointed the tip of her spear at Hera’s head and spoke. “I’ll be back for you,” she promised. “This isn’t over.”
Hera grinned. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
With a tentative moment of peace now at hand, Alex turned and knelt in front of Cassandra. “Go on,” he said, tousling her vipers. “Go see Mommy. You’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I know she was scary before, but all that’s over now,” he said. “Don’t you want to see your brother? And Tickles?”
Cassandra nodded and eased toward Euryale with trepidation. Euryale, in turn, patiently waited for her daughter to come, and when the girl didn’t protest at taking her hand, Euryale scooped her up and hugged her tight. A few beats passed between them before she looked at her husband and gestured toward the door. “Let’s go, Alex,” she said. “We’re done here.”
“I…I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“Oh, did that little caveat to my help not get brought up yet?” Hera said with mock surprise. “How careless I am, but allow me a moment to clear up any misunderstandings. Your dear, sweet husband is now my loyal servant.”
“Euryale, I—”
Hera shot her hand up, cutting Alex off. “Did I say you could speak?”
Alex shook his head.
“See? He knows his place already,” Hera went on. “It’ll give you something to think about on your way out.”
Chapter Fin
A Storm of Blood and Stone (Myths of Stone Book 3) Page 29