Page 13 of Prometheus' Priestess

“Do you think it’s likely that it is tied to her memories here inOlympus?”

Artemis paused. “It is hard tosay.”

“Prometheus believes they are tied to her instincts, but Aphrodite felt some emotion intertwined with her movements. We are unsure which is driving her at this point. That is why I sought your counsel. You know her true naturebest.”

“In all likelihood, it is probably both.” Artemis told her. “Instinct comes before emotion but emotions can also drive instinct in humans when answered correctly.”

“Something I suspect you’d prefer I didn’t tell Aphrodite,” Athena smiledwryly.

“Quite.”

“So you are suggesting we use emotions to drive her instinct to unlock thememories?”

“Amara was always a highly emotional girl. In fact, she was more in tune with the hunt when she listened to her emotions than when she tried to tune them out. So yes, I would say it is your bestbet.”

“How would you do it?” Athenaasked.

“How I originally trained her, like the pups. I would force her into a series of challenges designed to bring out her natural abilities. It’s how I became goddess of all that I am. When her back is against the wall, she’ll come into her own as I did, albeit she won’t be a goddess but her elements are easier to tame than mine were. She can take her training and pass on her knowledge to the rest of the humans. Given you’ve said you have almost three centuries left, that should be plenty of time for the knowledge to spread and trickle through the bloodlines.”

“Do the challenges ever break thepups?”

“One in every twenty pups becomes a quivering mess,” Artemis sighed. “But Amara always had a spine of steel. She did, after all, manage to survive in all three of our courts, apparently undetected until now. Young women are braver than we think and stronger than they seem. I say the odds are in her favour. Plus, she agreed to this. She is her own best judge of character. We should trust her to be able to fulfil her moira. And if she fails you, simply come up with a new strategy as you alwaysdo.”

Athena considered Artemis’ words before nodding slowly.

“You are right and your counsel is wise as ever. But what challenges would you suggest we set? There is no Minotaur to slay, and dragons no longer roam the lands. The humans killed all traces of magic, even in thecreatures.”

“What do the humans fear? Other than themselves?” Artemisasked.

Athena snorted. “Hell. They believe the seven deadly sins will grant them an audience withDante.”

“So use the sevenvices.”

Athena considered the suggestion. It wasn’t a bad idea at all. After all, the Greek gods thrived in that which the human realm now shunned. If there was anything that should penetrate Amara’s psyche, it would be an acknowledgement of the old ways. And the seven vices could each serve as a challenge designed to remind her of her alchemy training. If she could find a way to turn each of them to her favour for good, as the gods did, she could complete her task, even if she failed to recall hermemories.

Pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth would each require the help of a different god, goddess, or spirit. The thought of bringing in more people to the deception rubbed like sandpaper against Athena’s skin but she could not do this alone. So long as those she roped in didn’t know the identity of the priestess, or what she was there for, they might be able to get away with it. Luckily, most ignored Hera’s rules anyway and would be happy to help, for it was always fun to meddle in the human world.

“This is all a moot point though,” Artemis considered, “until she is exposed to fear in a human body. She must know that intimately first in order to want to fight through the challenges. My pups know it is life and death when they are challenged. The first time I took her through a rite of passage, she believed failure would mean I’d cast her aside and abandonment would kill her. She has to feel that way on Earth. She has to believe it is life ordeath.”

“It is.” Athena’s usual gleaming eyes held a cloudiness tothem.

“How are you going to expose her to the fear?” Artemis asked. “I can’t imagine Aphrodite’s whiny little son, Phobos of Fear, will do it without his father, and you can’t start a war over the girl to get him involved. We don’t need a repeat of the Trojanera.”

“The Moirai told me to visit them when the challenges arose. As usual, I had no clue what their cryptic words meant untilnow.”

Artemis offered her sister a small smile and a shrug. After all, as Athena well knew, her sister had spent her youth hunting the things down that would solidify her position. These battles that Amara faced would be no different. They would strengthen her in the long run. It would likely hurt though. The Fates were not known for theirkindness.

CHAPTER VI

It was ... rare that the three Fates allowed another god to bear witness to them in person. It happened maybe once a millennium, which was why Athena was not stupidenough to turn it down. They must have something crucial to her success − to the fate of humanity − if they had called her to visit them. Usually they communicated through the cloth, the fabric of the Universe. For Athena, she heard their whispers in the wind. That was how they had laid out the plans to her about the priestess. It had been as clear as listening to a melody.

Long ago, when she had walked amongst the humans, they had told her they never felt the Fates pull around them. They hadn’t felt them in their heads or their hearts but in the core of their being. They’d always point to the same place where Prometheus had sealed their beings − the navel. She wondered if Amara now felt the same way.

“I thank you for the audience, Moirai.”

Of course, the three Fates seated round the fireplace that warmed Athena’s back were not of their own appearance. Instead they had disguised themselves as ancient crones, each with swamps of cloth in black, white, and green to hide their bodies, and hoods that covered most of their features. All Athena could see were gnarled old hands with long talon-like claws peeking out from sleeves, and wrinkles on faces that were so plentiful they caused the skin to sag. Nothing like what they were rumoured to look like ... but then, no one − god or human − could say for certain who had seen the Fates’ true faces.

She was grateful for the fire. The room to which they’d summoned her, after she had sent word to them, was bare and draughty. There was only a rug underneath her feet, of ruby reds and diamond blues in a pattern Athena recognised as eighteenth century. The rest of the furniture, the pieces the Moirai weren’t sitting on, was covered in white sheets. It was not that the draught concerned Athena but the presence of the Moirai. It was as if they seeped the life, the warmth, the depth, out of everything around them to use it for the purpose of weaving the story of life itself. Athena shuddered, a wave of pins and needles travelling up her spine.

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