Page 11 of Prometheus' Priestess

“Why did you let it happen? That’s what I want toknow.”

Prometheus grimaced, a vein pulsing in his neck, at having to answer the one woman he swore he’d never be in the same room as again. That room was once again Athena’s war room; the only neutral place the three had agreed to meet in.

“There was no other way to integrate the priestess into society other than to place her in the body of an infant. We knew there would be a possibility, because the brain had to grow from scratch, that her soul would retain its essence but not itsmemories.”

“We couldn’t be sure at first,” Athena continued on from him calmly, “but now that her human function is fully developed, it would appear our suspicions were right. Her Olympian memories are either gone or trapped in some deeprecess.”

Twenty-five years had been nothing to the gods to wait to see if Amara had matured into a woman capable of wielding the power of alchemy. It seemeda small portion of time to them, considering there would be at least another three centuries before humanity died out, given their current predicament. Gaia wasn’t yet completely sick of them and extinction was a long and tedious process.

“If her memories are there, how do you unlock them?” Aphrodite asked.

“It’s likely,” Prometheus continued, “that her Olympian memories will be tied to her instincts. In order to access them, we are going to have to challenge her to follow them withoutquestion.”

“How would you suggest we dothat?”

“You were the one who suggested we place her in the City of Light, Aphrodite. We were hoping you had some idea of what would cause her to want to leave? If we can tap into that thread she’s following, we can exploit it and help her unlock those memoriesinstinctively.”

“If they are there,” Aphroditesaid.

Prometheus nodded once. “Correct.”

“The fact she wants to leave Paris, despite all her emotional ties being there, suggests our suspicions are correct – her instincts are driving her where we want her to go. We just need you to confirm them,” Athena added.

There had been great debate between the three of them over where to place Amara originally. Prometheus had reasoned it was logical to place her in Greece. It would give her the strongest tie to her heritage and therefore to her alchemy skills. Athena, ever strategising, decided it was too great a threat to place her so directly in the eyesight of the gods. And then Aphrodite had countered them both with a suggestion they hadn’t expected would work.

“Why not? It’s close enough on the European continent to keep her tied to her power. It’s the city of love, which is what she’s there to transmute the fear into, and the whole process is designed to drive out the dark stain of fear in humanity, isn’t it? Where better than the City of Light?”

Prometheus and Athena had looked at one another astounded. Meanwhile Aphrodite had brandished a coy and cunning smile.

“Love is more than capable of existing with logic. How many times do I have to tell the pair ofyou?”

Prometheus’ brow had darkened, for he knew very well why love and logic could not coexist together, thanks to Aphrodite. It was not an intellectual battle he was prepared to have with her. Notagain.

Back in the present, Aphrodite closed her eyes and tuned into the frequency of Amara’s aura, as she could with any human in the world. “I can’t quite say for certain what has caused her to want to leave the city. It’s ... muddy. But then, humans’ processes always are. The only thing I can say is it is not only an emotional pull that drives her. There’s something it’s entwined with. I can’t see what. That’s all I can tell you.” Aphrodite shrugged, an elegant movement that made Prometheus think of water rippling down ariver.

“It’s highly likely,” Athena said, looking at Prometheus, “that the tether you can’t see is instinct. We should ask Artemis for her help. She was the one that moulded Amara’s instincts afterall.”

“Must we get her involved?” Aphrodite butted in, a scowl gracing herface.

“You know she is well acquainted with instinct even better than Prometheus or I. Not to mention her history with Amara,” Athena admonished in a way that was both gentle and condescending in equal measure.

Athena had told Prometheus what she’d learned of Amara’s past through Lysia’s digging. While she had seemed initially angry, it now appeared the goddess of strategy was willing to use it to her advantage. And to do that, Prometheus knew she would rope in whoever she neededto.

Turning to her desk, she pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment. Dipping the quill into dark ink, she scrawled a note, rolled it, pressed her seal and then gestured for today’s owl to fly forward. The snow-white owl hooted and flew towards one of the leather raptor clasps that adorned both of Athena’s forearms.

“Take this to Artemis, no delays.”

He blinked once in understanding before shuffling slightly on his talons, as if to find his footing, and then took off through the arched windows.

“Artemis should be with us within three days once she has thenote.”

“Why bother? We could offer Amara white fire. The manifestation of the knowledge of the Gods would bring her soul’s knowledge to the surface of her skin,” Aphrodite suggested petulantly, and invain.

“That is a foolish suggestion even from you,” Prometheus replied, at his wit’s end with her need to always get herway.

Aphrodite’s eyes narrowed in anger and she opened her mouth to spit a retort when he continued. “Do you remember when I presented them with the element of fire? Do you recall what happenedthen?”

It was a rhetorical question, of course. Both Athena and Aphrodite had been present for the creation of Pandora. Aphrodite herself had cast the woman in her image and her attendants had lavished her in gold silks and jewellery while Athena had breathed life into her. The poor, unsuspecting girl had been sent to Earth − to Prometheus’ brother as a bride − with a box that should have never been opened. But Zeus, insecure and loath to trust, had decided if the humans could have all the elements his grandmother offered, then they could have all the evils of the world too.

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