by Eliza Raine
‘You see me now, Father!’ he shrieked. Nestor began to back up, and Lyssa closed her eyes, sure she was going to throw up. Hercules was immortal. He had won the Immortality Trials.
‘We’ll run, Lyssa. We’ll run and we’ll hide.’ Phyleus’s voice sounded in her mind and brutal pain, not physical but emotional, tore through her. The life she’d dared to want so badly, for her and her crew, was lost. And now they’d be lucky to survive for the next hour, let alone their natural lives. All the hope and strength she’d built up came crashing down and she couldn’t breathe.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, aloud, gasping for air. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.’ Tears rolled down her cheeks as Nestor turned towards the others, cantering past Hedone, who lay on the ground staring at the gold blood leaking from her thigh.
A scream ripped through the cavern, and Nestor leaped in shock, sending pain lancing through Lyssa’s ribs again. Nestor spun to face the direction the sound had come from, and Lyssa clapped her hands over her ears to block it out. It was a terrible, primal noise and every fibre of her being wanted it to stop. Her skin was crawling.
And then she saw Hercules. He was bent over Cerberus’s body, both his arms clamped over his head, and she realised the piercing wail was coming from him.
A flash of white light momentarily blinded her, and when it faded away she froze, unable to process what was happening. The fiery cavern and the winged demon gates were gone. They were at the Void, on the stage where they’d stood all those weeks ago. She was no longer on Nestor’s back.
Lyssa looked around in panic and confusion. Emotions were spinning around her head so fast she felt sick, and it was only Phyleus’s arm, wrapping instantly around her, that stopped her from sliding down onto the marble floor. Nestor was on her other side, and Len trotted to her fast. He handed her a small tonic from his bag. She drained it, and the black spots dancing in front of her eyes receded.
‘Cap? You OK?’
‘Broken ribs,’ she muttered, looking at Abderos as he rolled up to her. ‘What’s happening?’
‘I don’t know.’ She could hear the buzz of chatter and cheers and realised that the spectators who had come to see them at the starting ceremony were back. The area between the two stages was filled with citizens waving flags and shouting.
‘Nobody knows,’ growled Eryx, and she turned to see him standing beside Evadne, whose face was white under her straggly blue hair.
‘I do,’ she whispered. ‘The blue stuff on the arrow was Hydra blood.’
‘What... what does that mean?’ Lyssa asked slowly.
‘It means that although Hercules is our victor, he may not enjoy his immortality.’ Athena’s voice sang through her mind, and the others must have heard her too, because everyone’s attention snapped to the other stage. The twelve gods materialised in front of their thrones, and the crowd fell instantly silent as they all bent low to their rulers.
‘Congratulations, Hercules and Hedone, surviving crew members of the Hybris and winners of the Immortality Trials!’ rang out the commentator’s voice, and the crowd erupted into shouts and cheers. Lyssa felt weak as a gold platform rose to their right, moving out to hover over the crowd. But as she looked, she saw that Hercules wasn’t standing victorious on the platform. He was hunched over, his face distorted in agony, his whole body shaking.
‘Make it stop!’ he shouted suddenly, and murmurs rippled through the crowd as the cheers died away.’ Please,’ Hercules gasped. ‘Make it stop.’
Athena stood up from her throne, and her eyes fell on Lyssa’s for a brief moment, before she looked at Hercules.
‘Your ichor has been infected by Hydra blood, mighty Hercules,’ the goddess said. ‘The most poisonous substance known to Olympus. It would kill a mortal after a few short moments of the most crippling agony imaginable. But you... you are now immortal. And so you will not experience this pain for a few short moments, but for eternity.’
A cold shiver rippled through Lyssa as the words sank in. She turned to Evadne, who looked as sick as she felt.
‘It was our only chance,’ she whispered.
‘He deserves it,’ growled Eryx, and Nestor flicked her tail.
‘He deserves every second,’ the centaur agreed.
‘Father, please, help me,’ Hercules rasped from his golden platform.
‘This competition has no rules and as such must play out naturally. To reverse what has happened would take the will of all twelve gods,’ Zeus said, his booming voice sounding strained.
Poseidon barked a laugh.
‘It would appear you have been immortally wounded, Hercules,’ the god of the ocean said, not getting up from his chair. A lazy smile crossed his handsome face. ‘An endless lifetime of agony. What a bore.’
‘But...’ Hedone stood up suddenly on the platform. She looked dazed, like she had even less idea of what had just happened than Lyssa did. ‘But...’ she stammered again, and Lyssa couldn’t help feeling a surge of pity for her.
‘Oh, my dear,’ Aphrodite said, waving her hand and standing up. Her ruby lips stood out against her white face and her jet-black hair fell to her waist. ‘It would be too cruel to saddle you with looking after this…’ She gestured at Hercules’s hunched form ‘… your whole life. I shall remove my influence. You are excused from your punishment.’
Aphrodite clicked her fingers, and Hedone turned slowly to Hercules, horror warping her beautiful face. Her mouth moved silently as she stared at him. ‘I hope you have learned your lesson, young lady. You do not come begging the goddess of love for favours. Or you may end up in love with the wrong person.’
Aphrodite looked at the crowd and beamed, then turned to Zeus. ‘Now, Father, I believe we promised these citizens a feast? You’ll all return in an hour.’
There was a familiar flash of white light, and then Lyssa was back on the Alastor.
20
‘Lyssa... We’re free. You did it,’ Phyleus said. She stared at him, a strange numbness creeping over her as she sank down onto the planks of the deck.
‘But he won,’ she said. ‘We lost. And now...’
‘And now he will spend eternity in agony,’ said Nestor, who was wearing the biggest smile Lyssa had ever seen on her severe face.
‘I... I don’t regret it,’ said Evadne, kneeling in front of her. ‘I didn’t even know if it would work.’
‘You’re a genius, Evadne,’ said Abderos, grinning at her. ‘And, Cap, you’re a great shot. You did it! You stopped Hercules!’
The words still wouldn’t settle in her brain and she just stared at Abderos.
‘Where’s Epizon?’ asked Eryx.
‘He left,’ she said, standing slowly. The pain in her ribs had lessened; the tonic Len gave her must be working. Why wasn’t Epizon here? She needed him; he needed to be here for this.
‘He’s safe, though,’ said Phyleus, and took her hand. ‘It’s over, Lyssa,’ he said gently.
‘It can’t be. Epizon isn’t here, and—’ The flame dish on the quarterdeck flashed suddenly to life, and everybody looked up as an image materialised above the iron bowl.
‘Nice work, Captain.’ Epizon beamed. ‘I knew you could do it.’
Lyssa looked from the flame dish to Phyleus. His face split into a grin.
‘We’re free. Hercules will never hurt anybody again.’
The numbness receded sharply, her daze lifting.
‘We really did it!’ she breathed, as a tidal wave of emotion crashed through her. She threw herself at Phyleus, and he yelled in surprise as she wrapped herself around him, squeezing him harder than she should. ‘We did it!’ she shouted again, releasing him, and turning to the fire dish. ‘Ep, are you OK?’ she called, running towards the quarterdeck, taking the stairs two at a time and ignoring the pain.
‘Better than OK, Captain. And as soon as it’s possible, I’ll see you again. I reckon you’re going to be impressed with this new realm. It looks like it’s going to be something really special.’ He wa
s still beaming. ‘I’m so proud of you, Lyssa,’ he said.
Tears of happiness rolled down her face as she looked at him. ‘And I’m happy for you, Ep.’
‘Good. Now, go celebrate,’ he said, and his image vanished from the dish.
‘Captain, if I may,’ said Nestor, and Lyssa turned back to the stairs. ‘If Artemis will allow it, I would like to stay on your crew. As I mentioned, I live an endless life, and I have little to return to just now on Sagittarius.’
‘Of course you can stay, Nestor,’ Lyssa said, silent tears still running down her cheeks. ‘We’d be honoured. You can have the position of gunner, when we spend some of the money from Zeus’s golden apple and buy the ship a few treats.’ She felt a ripple of energy pass through her body, and glanced up at the shimmering masts with a smile. You’ve earned it, she thought at the Alastor.
‘You know, if you’re looking to fill the first mate position...’ said Phyleus, and he stepped forward, to the bottom of the little staircase.
‘You know someone right for the job, huh?’ she said, walking slowly down the first few steps and raising her eyebrows at him.
‘I’d need to learn a little about ships,’ he said, stepping onto the bottom plank and locking his eyes on hers. ‘But I’m pretty close to someone who knows a lot about them. And I’m a fast learner.’ He took another step up, as she took one down.
‘The job’s yours,’ she whispered, as she grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him.
21
The little blue longboat glided to a stop on the deck of the Orion. Evadne looked at Eryx as he sat, unmoving.
‘It’s OK, Eryx. He would have wanted this,’ she said gently. He looked up at her, and the vulnerability on his scarred face made her heart melt. Some of the crippling guilt rolling through her seemed to lessen as she reached for his hand. ‘We’ll do it together.’
She stood up, tugging lightly at his hand. After a second’s hesitation, he rose too, then slowly stepped over the side of the longboat, onto the deck. ‘Try talking to the ship,’ she said encouragingly, as she climbed out beside him.
‘What if it doesn’t want me?’
‘Then we go back to the Alastor. Captain Lyssa would have us,’ she said calmly.
But she didn’t feel calm. She felt like her insides were made of jelly. She felt like her brain was as full as it could possibly be. She felt incredibly tired. And she feared she would never sleep again.
Eryx closed his eyes, and she let go of his hand, giving him space, though space was the last thing she wanted for herself. She didn’t want time to think about what she had done to Hercules. To the man she had once respected. She dragged the painful memory of him in the galley with knife into her head, forcing herself to recall the justification for her actions. He was cruel and vicious and he deserved it, she told herself. But the image of him curled up, screaming in terrible agony, ripped through the memory. Eternity. He would experience that for eternity.
‘You know, if the gods wanted to save him the suffering, they could,’ said Eryx quietly, and she turned to him, surprised at this words. ‘Athena pushed me and the Hydra key to you and Lyssa. They wanted this to happen.’
Hot tears began to burn the back of her eyes as she looked at him.
‘Eternity,’ she mumbled. ‘An eternity of agony.’
‘He’s caused many others years of pain, Evadne. And would have caused many more. You saved lives.’
‘You really think so?’
‘I know so. I saw what he was capable of. He was broken.’
‘What if I’m broken too?’ she whispered, and she couldn’t stop the tears falling as she voiced her deepest fear. ‘What if I’m like him?’
Eryx’s face creased up as he shook his head, closing the distance between them and pulling her into his enormous chest.
‘What more could you do to prove that you’re nothing like him? You’ve more than made up for your mistakes,’ he said, as she sobbed into his shirt. ‘You’re... amazing.’
She snorted through her tears.
‘I’m an idiot,’ she said. Eryx’s big hand snaked through her hair, turning her face up to his.
‘You’re brave and clever and I need you,’ he said, and she saw tears glistening on his cheeks too.
‘You do?’
‘I do.’
‘Eryx, I don’t want to be the person you met at that feast. I don’t want to be Evadne the gunner. I want... I want to start over. Can we start again?’
‘Definitely. How about a game of dice?’
22
‘So, what do we do now?’ Phyleus asked Lyssa as she rubbed more delicious-smelling soap into her thick hair. She looked at him, leaning shirtless against the panelled wall of her washroom.
‘Well, if you get into this bath with me, I could think of a few things...’
He grinned wickedly back at her, pulling the waistband of his trousers tantalisingly low.
‘While I’m definitely going to do that... I meant after your bath. You don’t need to be a smuggler any more.’
Lyssa scowled at him.
‘The money from the golden apple won’t last forever. And smuggling is what we do on the Alastor. We fly across the whole of Olympus, bringing people things they need.’
‘Well, maybe we could do something else. Something that still means we travel,’ he said quickly. ‘But less... illegal.’
Lyssa rolled her eyes.
‘I knew getting involved with a prince was stupid,’ she muttered, and dunked her head under the water to wash out the soap. When she resurfaced, Phyleus was leaning on the edge of the tub, his face inches from hers. She squeaked in surprise and he laughed.
‘I’m no good boy, Captain,’ he whispered, his eyes darkening with lust. ‘As you well know.’ Her core clenched deliciously and she bit her lip. ‘But Epizon had some great ideas about helping folk. We could really make a difference.’
She felt her heart beat faster as she looked into his deep brown eyes, so full of wit and fun, but also of kindness.
‘Of course we can,’ she said. ‘And we will. No smuggling, until the drachmas run out,’ she said solemnly. ‘I promise.’
‘Good,’ he said, leaning over and kissing her gently.
‘I love you, Lyssa,’ he said in her mind.
She broke off the kiss, moving her wet hand to his stubbled jaw.
‘I love you too. More than I ever believed was possible.’
‘The skies of Olympus are ours,’ he whispered.
The End
Thank you
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! If so, you would absolutely make my day if you could leave me a review on Amazon, they help me out so much!
If you want to find out what happened when Lyssa and her crew went to Leo to pick up Tenebrae then you can read the exclusive short story, Winds of Olympus, by signing up for my newsletter here. You’ll also be the first to know about new releases!
READ ON for a secret bonus epilogue!
The Hades Trials will continue in the world of Olympus (featuring a few characters from The Immortality Trials) and is available for pre-order here!
Acknowledgments
I decided to write this series after reading Marissa Meyer’s incredible Lunar Chronicles. I’d always wanted to write a story about flying pirate ships, I’d always wanted to write Greek mythology retellings, and I wanted to write about more than one character. And after reading such an incredible series about a cyborg Cinderella from the moon I figured there was no reason at all not to give it a go.
And I’m so glad I did. None of this would have been possible without the unending support of my husband, who has become more involved in my writing than I could ever have hoped for. He is my rock, my lifeline, my everything. Thank you. I love you so much.
And I need to thank everybody who has helped and supported me. Brittany, Reena, you are both amazing. Your sharp eyes, honest feedback and positive support is invaluable to me. Anna, my amazing edito
r, Kyra, my fabulous proofreader, Elizabeth, my excellent narrator and Adina, my brilliant cover artist, thank you all so much for making writing a reality. And thank you to my friends who always ask how it’s going when I talk to them.
But most of all, I want to thank YOU, lovely, lovely reader. Thank you so much for reading my work, you’re making my dreams come true and allowing me to write more and more. I can’t wait for you to read what’s coming next.
Eliza xx
Epilogue
Hedone turned around, her stomach heaving again, but there was nothing left to bring up. Salty tears dripped onto her lips as she coughed, then sank back down into the scalding bathwater. It didn’t help. Nothing would remove the memory of that monster. He had touched every part of her body, and no matter how raw she scrubbed her skin he lingered, his cold, cruel face huge before her.
She tried desperately to drag Theseus’s image into her mind, but that brought fresh waves of pain that made her retch all over again. The memories battered her, images she had suppressed, ignored or refused to believe. Hercules breaking those centaurs’ legs before they even left for the Trials, the terrified Evadne with her sawn-off hair, his brutal execution of the giants on his ship, the bodies littering the deck of the ship she adopted as her home. The words he had shrieked at his own daughter, his rage-filled eyes as he destroyed his chambers. Acidic bile rose in her throat again. Psyche’s face floated before her, and painful longing overtook her, causing new tears to flood her eyes. What would she give for the woman’s help now? But Psyche would never respect her again. Nobody would. And worst of all...