“Oh, come now.” Julia smiled, apparently amused. At least someone was enjoying this. “We’re just going to have a civilized conversation. I don’t want you influencing them, that’s all. Is that so bad?”
Julia and Luca made eye contact and held it for a few moments. Luca was the first to look away. Uh oh. “I’ll be within shouting distance,” he said, glancing my way. Traitor. Then he walked off.
Julia waited for a moment, probably until she was satisfied Luca was far enough away, before continuing. “So. Why should we be on your side? Why not stand with our fellow legends?”
Now came the hard part. “This isn’t about legends versus humans,” I began. Julia raised an eyebrow, but I wasn’t going to let her psych me out. I wasn’t so easy to rattle. Not after listening to heavily-muscled legends discuss crushing me to death at the dinner table. “Legends and humans have coexisted in this country for centuries without violence against each other. Let’s talk about why this is really happening. The population explosion for legendary animals. Before then, all that territory that the Hercules is concerned about had already belonged to us.”
Tony gave me a startled sideways glance, which didn’t surprise me. I was going into this conversation a little aggressively. But that was intentional. I was done backing down. And anyway, I was telling the truth.
It was only the serious drops in our populations, and our loss of territory, that let the local legends take over a lot of the places they held now. Tivoli, the Aventine, the parts of Old Rome currently held by other Houses—all previously ours. “But the population explosion didn’t just hurt us. We weren’t the only ones to lose people. A basilisk is as dangerous to a legend as it is to a human. And humans farm your crops.” The human followers of the Houses tended to be responsible for feeding the legends they served. Old school aristocracy style.
“My,” Julia commented. “Someone’s been telling secrets.”
“It isn’t a secret to anyone who’s had dealings with legends,” I quickly pointed out. I didn’t want to implicate Luca, and he wasn’t the one who’d told me that anyway. “The point is, we aren’t the biggest threat to you. What we’re trying to do, our long-term goal, is to find a way to safely live in this dangerous new world. To do that, we all have to support each other. The more of us cooperating, human or legend, the better.”
“Yes.” Julia smiled sadly. “But that is only your long-term goal. While it’s an admirable one, I am more worried about your short-term goal. Going after the House of Hercules, a legendary lineage not unlike my own. How can we be sure you’ll stop there? How can we be sure the reverence the humans have towards us now won’t be damaged?”
This was so important. I had to convince her. “It’s already damaged,” I told her bluntly. “It’s been damaged by the Hercules’ actions, and now people are angry. It may not have been your fault, but it’s up to you to mend bridges anyway. The decisions made by the other Houses now will determine whether that anger is directed only against the House of Hercules, or against all legends. And I don’t think either of us wants it to be against all legends.”
It wasn’t enough. I had to convince her with something more than warnings. “Aren’t you angry with them?” I asked. “The House of Hercules? They threw you into the middle of a conflict. They risked escalating tensions between your society and ours, without any thought for how it would affect you.” Great, now I just sounded desperate.
“Oh, we are angry,” Julia responded, straightening. “And they will pay, one way or another. But that’s not the issue here.” She sighed. “You have a few decent arguments. I can use some of those to sway the other Houses, if phrased a bit more diplomatically.”
I regarded her warily. Carter was the only one who dared speak up, though. “So does that mean you’re with us?”
“Oh, I was always going to be with you,” Julia stated. Freaking what? “The House of Aeneas could never pass up a good fight, and it’s beneath our dignity to side with the Hercules, after he couldn’t even take care of a handful of humans. Even if it weren’t for that, we would still hesitate to ally with them for any reason. They are, after all, an ancient enemy of ours. We remember Troy.”
Which again, was at least three thousand years ago, if it even happened at all.
“Hold on,” Tony said. “No one’s planning on fighting anyone. This is just about restitution.”
“You aren’t planning on a fight, no,” Julia said. “But it might come for you anyway, either now or later. Best be prepared. Besides, do you imagine reclaiming land lost in the Boom will be peaceful? Sometimes you’ll need force to drive legimals away.” Carter twitched at that, but thankfully kept quiet. “Sometimes other legends will mobilize against you, on principle, much like the House of Hercules did. We’ve decided to shoulder this fight alongside Rome, and this truly is best for our House. We have conditions, of course, but those will be settled with your government. Otherwise, this is nice for us. It gives us something to defend, and a steady stream of enemies to defend it from.”
I was freaked out over nothing at all, apparently, because they’d made their decision before coming to see us. I tried not to be pissed off, because diplomacy was still important. “So why did you ask us to try and convince you?” I asked, as neutrally as I could manage.
“What we want is obvious to us.” She shrugged. “Some of the other Houses tend to think about these things differently. They’d call it logic, I call it nitpicking. Nonetheless, allies are good, if they can be had. There aren’t a lot of things in life more satisfying than being at the head of a really big army.” Oh, you had to be kidding me. Guess Tony was right about Luca’s ‘we-don’t-want-conflict’ bullshit. “I wanted to see if you had any good ideas for arguments that might sway those Houses which are much more concerned with this logic thing. And you did! Basilisks being a bigger threat than you, that was a good one.”
If this was a typical example of what it was like to deal with legends, I thought I understood why Pradip was always so cranky. And Tony too, come to think.
“So,” Luca’s incomprehensible sister said, leaning forward with an eagerness that made me nervous. “With the business out of the way, let’s gossip.”
Kill me.
“Let’s talk about my little brother,” Julia said, before turning to Carter. “You. Why are you so sulky around him lately?”
Carter stared at her in astonishment. “What?”
“I wish I could say my powers of observation are astounding, but actually, he told me. Now, out with it.”
Carter stayed quiet for a moment, but then he apparently decided to go with it. “Look, it’s not a big deal. I’m just seeing everything he’s done in a new light. Charging the chimera, going after Jordon in Tivoli...it’s all a little less impressive now that I know he’d had magic.”
“Oh.” Julia looked at Carter steadily, then shook her head. “No, you’re wrong. Lucius’ powers aren’t actually all that helpful with what you’ve seen him doing.” A hint of pride entered her voice. “It really was all him. Well, that and an excellent education in a martial society.”
That touched upon a topic I was actually curious about. “So what is Luca’s power?” I asked.
“Well,” Julia began, leaning forward towards us. “After generations of careful experimentation ala your beloved scientific method, we’ve determined that his power set lets him survive fatal wounds, provided they don’t kill him immediately.”
Uh, after generations of careful experimentation?
A moment of silence followed, while we all stared at her in disbelief. “You see?” Hayley said. “That’s what real mad science sounds like! So stop accusing me of it, already.”
“Hold on,” I interrupted. “Aeneas’ lineage dates back from, like, the 12th century BC. Are you telling me you didn’t figure out how his power worked until the much more recent creation of the scientific method?”
“It’s a rare power,” she deadpanned.
“Seriously?”
“Well, yes, but you’re right. We’d figured out what that power did through observation a long time ago. I was making a joke. Come on, you guys are scientists. I thought you’d appreciate that one.”
Carter frowned. “You thought we’d appreciate human experimentation?”
“Let it go,” Tony advised.
“Still, his powers?” Hayley said. “That’s interesting. I mean, healing.”
Julia nodded. “Yes, although he only heals supernaturally if the wound is severe. If he’s lightly injured, he’s just like anyone else.”
“It’d be really cool if I could figure out what genes are responsible for that...”
Tony rolled his eyes. “What were you saying about mad science, Hayley?”
She looked stricken. “Hey, hey. I’m talking about saving people’s lives, not experimenting on them.” Not that the guys would cut her any slack. They never did.
A crunching sound approached, interrupting the conversation—which was probably for the best. It was Luca striding back towards us. Apparently, he got tired of waiting. At a reproachful look from his sister, he just shrugged. “You’ve had them for long enough.”
“Uh,” Julia grumbled. “Fine. Take them back. The important stuff is settled anyway. Bring your girlfriend over to meet the family sometime.” Not anytime soon, if I had anything to say about it.
“Julia,” Luca admonished. Oh, good. That might mean he agreed with me.
And then Luca’s big sister took off, with a parting wave. I officially never wanted to see that woman again.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE did that,” Luca muttered, after we filled him in on what he’d missed. “Sorry guys.”
I didn’t want to think about it anymore. Even though it would have been easier if Luca had clued us in beforehand. But whatever.
“Naw, it’s fine,” Hayley said, completely unaffected by my gloomy mood. “She’s on our side against the Hercules, and that’s what matters.”
Tony had been quiet for a while, but he spoke up now. “What if it really does come down to some kind of fight, or even a war? Not everybody on the other side is guilty.” We all glanced around at each other, wondering how to deal with this outburst from Tony.
He grunted in exasperation. “I’ll admit, I really, really hate the House of Hercules right now. But kids like Alcides didn’t have anything to do with it, and they’ll get dragged into it anyway.”
Oh, damn. The boy. I didn’t want to think about him. Maybe I should be ashamed that I didn’t want to think about him or the man I’d—or the incident. But I couldn’t fall apart yet. Not now, not when it wasn’t over.
Yet there was Tony, looking at me expectedly, like I should understand. And I hadn’t even told him about what the kid saw. About what I did. I forced myself to stop thinking about that immediately. We had a crisis on hand, and I could not afford to go there right now. I lowered my eyes, not wanting to see the appeal in Tony’s.
Luca fixed Tony with an expression I’d never seen from him before. Harder, somehow. “Just what do you think this is, Tony? Of course innocent people are going to get hurt. Do you think I like that any more than you do?”
“Then why are you just accepting that it’ll happen?” Tony growled, his frustration showing.
I could answer that one. “Because if we don’t fight back, the people who started this whole mess will think they can do whatever they want. Because they’ll hurt us or someone else if we don’t hurt them back. And because they might not be the only ones, not if we don’t show that there are consequences to coming after us.” That was the way it always was.
“That’s ridiculous,” Tony said. “It’s just this endless cycle of violence.”
“Maybe,” Luca replied. “But it isn’t one we can stop. Sooner or later, some kind of conflict will happen whether you like it or not. And I’m going to make sure it happens on our terms.”
Tony flat-out glared at him. I’d never seen this side of him before; all I’d known was that he had a bad temper and a good grasp on sarcasm. But it turned out he had a strong sense of principles, a drive for idealism. That made me a little sad.
And it made it harder not to feel guilty about what might happen to Alcides. Or anyone else who got caught in the crossfire. But I couldn’t help wanting to punish the House of Hercules, and I wasn’t as forgiving or considerate as Tony. I wanted to make sure they never went near my team again.
Restitution was necessary, enough of it that the other legend communities wouldn’t think we were pushovers. But there was no way to ensure it wouldn’t rebound on us into a full conflict. Either now, which would be really bad. Or later, when our goal was closer to hand—when an enemy could look at us and see a looming unified society, perceiving it as a threat.
I was sorry Tony felt this way. I was sorry that Alcides had gotten caught up in this, that he was getting introduced to violence at such a young age. I was so, so sorry I’d killed someone. That I’d just...ended a person’s life with my own hands. But I wasn’t sorry he was dead. I wasn’t sorry that the House of Hercules would pay for what they’d done. I wanted that. I was so angry, so afraid.
And I wanted them to pay so much.
Chapter Eighteen
THE HOUSE OF AENEAS was the second house, after the House of Remus, to indicate their support for Rome and condemn the Hercules’ actions. The battle lines were being drawn. Tony didn’t like it, but he confined his gripping to nagging the team. He never tried to work against our consensus.
And then the House of Hercules made their move. They threatened a war on Rome, urging the other legends of the need to teach us a lesson. No one really wanted that. The Roman government certainly didn’t, and if there was a way to avoid a war without putting ourselves at greater risk, they’d take it. But nothing they could do would guarantee that.
Berti was in consultation with local leaders, as something of an expert. And she kept dropping hints to us, that maybe we could take a more active role as well. Yeah, I was sure the government would totally go for that. Someone needed to give Berti a reality check. I could practically feel her grasping for more power, more visibility, with every move.
And I barely cared. Every time I had another nightmare, I woke up a little more agitated, a little less concerned with how this would end.
The strange thing was that the memory of the House of Hercules was almost worse than the reality. Because now that I was out of that situation, I could think about how I’d reacted, what that said about me. I remember acting on fear and instinct. I hadn’t been afraid for anyone but myself, and I hated that. I hated knowing that I could be that selfish. And I hated him, the Hercules, for forcing me to feel this. To feel scared, and to feel alone.
And with each passing day, I began to feel an odd sense of kinship with Berti over this, with her pushing us to take action. I wanted to do something, I really did. My reasons didn’t matter, only the results did. And if I had anything to say about it, the Hercules would never be able to do something like that to anyone again.
It was a quiet afternoon with my team, not long after Berti came by to ask for our suggestions, when I dared bring up my thoughts. The outlines of a plan.
“You know,” I started, “Rome might actually be able to take out their leader.” I allowed myself only a moment to wonder when I had become this person, someone who could talk about killing someone so offhandedly.
Luca’s eyes fell on me, assessing. “That’s a hefty goal.”
“They’re arrogant,” I argued. “We established that. And the head of their House is the most arrogant of all. They don’t think of us as much of a threat.”
Pradip nodded. “I agree with that assessment.”
Hayley gave me a thoughtful look. “They’re probably paying more attention to the House of Aeneas, now that they’ve declared for us. They aren’t expecting any aggressive action from humans.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “If we make sure the House of Aeneas is stationed elsewhere...”
/> Luca frowned at me. “You’ve got an entire House of legends to work with, but you want to use us as a distraction for the real attack?”
I nodded.
Some flash behind his eyes made me wonder if he was on to me, if he realized where I was going with this. If he recognized the ball of anger inside of me, driving me forward. Because my thoughts on this weren’t like me at all. I stayed in my lane. I concentrated on the science, on answering the questions in front of me. The social stuff, deciding what to do about people, that wasn’t me at all. Dangerous situations, like being personally present in front of a hostile legend, were also not my thing. Violent conflict between two communities? I glued myself to the sidelines.
And yet, I wanted to get myself involved here. I could see the role I would play. Maybe Berti wasn’t the one who needed a reality check after all. Of course, she’d forgotten one important thing. Putting me out somewhere prominent wouldn’t just boost her credibility. It would boost mine.
Luca gave a single nod. “It’ll work. They’ll fall for that.” He didn’t sound thrilled with the plan, even while he was supporting it. “Naturally, I’m with you.”
He did know. He knew I intended to be there, maybe even that I planned to pitch myself as bait—as a symbol of a human who’d gotten away from the Hercules’ power, someone he needed to get a one-up over. I’d escaped his imprisonment, and took out one of his people while doing it. He would put himself out there to get at me personally, for the sheer audacity. If Berti came along, he’d certainly take the chance to come after her, too—she single-handedly caused all of his problems. And he was impulsive, liable to make bad decisions.
I could absolutely be the bait that drew out the Hercules. But I hadn’t mentioned a thing to Luca yet, and here he was, already working his way into the action.
“So,” Hayley said. “How are we going to do this?”
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