Page 47 of Crown of Olympus
Grief is never truly gone. It lingers in the quiet spaces between heartbeats, waiting for an unguarded moment to slip back in. This was one of those moments.
I cried for all I had lost, and all I still had yet to lose.
I cried for the tiny dragon cradled in my lap.
I cried for every one of my failures, past and present.
I allowed myself to sit there, just a moment longer. My tears vanished into the gaps beneath her scales. And just as I resolved to knit my soul back together, a whisper of warmth danced across my skin, so fleeting I thought I had imagined it. It felt like coming home. Like a colourful living room where my mother had so vibrantlylived.
I looked down at the dragon, wanting to commit her form to memory. Instead, I witnessed a faint glow shimmer around her body —an aura.
Is this what happens to dragons when they die?
I didn’t know. But I had not felt the telltale pull of a soul departing, nor seen the shiny orb of her soul leaving her body.
Without warning, her lids snapped open, revealing glowing golden eyes. Shock widened my own into saucers. A strangled gasp left my throat as her small body jolted. Her wings flared outward, and her tail latched onto my wrist. She twisted to peer up at me, humming softly, before leaning in to press her tiny nose against my chest.
A gentle current of power brushed against my skin, cooling the sting of my wounds. It flowed from my sternum outward, dancing over each of my collarbones. Startled, I tugged at the collar of my shirt and saw dainty purple swirls peeking through. Mouth agape, I turned back to the dragon.
Somethingclickeddeep inside my chest when our eyes met — something intangible. Something permanent.
A bond, unseen yet unbreakable, tightened behind my sternum, like a thread spun by the Fates themselves.
Her tail coiled tighter around my wrist, like a living bracelet. I swallowed roughly, emotion clawing back up my throat. I had never cried so much in a single day.
My fingertips grazed along her warm, shining scales in awe.
“You’re mine now, aren’t you?” I whispered.
She let out a quiet hum of contentment, nuzzling closer. And I knew, without a single doubt in all the realms, that she was mine, just as I was hers. And that she would never allow me to feel alone again.
I stood, summoning my shadows and willing them to form a gate.
Fuck waiting on Hermes.
He’d purposefully ensure I didn’t arrive in time.
The final toll began to ring, slow and solemn, marking the end of the third trial. Once more, I stepped into the comforting embrace of my power, the echo of the bell fading behind me.
CHAPTER 14
Caelus
The Parthenon was preternaturally still.Waiting. Holding its breath. Like the hall itself had been mocking me for the past hour. Ten champions had returned — leaving two unaccounted for — and the final bell was sounding.
Various creatures filled the spaces between gods — prowling, bleating, hissing. Lykos was by far the largest among them, though not the only wolf. Apollo had earned the favour of a smaller, golden-coloured male.
He is a good omen,Lykos intoned.
Who, Apollo?
No. The wolf. The fact that he chose to bond says more about that god’s character than anything the man could have done himself.
You know him?
I do.
The bell’s final notes must have been close, its song fading. My stomach twisted uncomfortably, and trepidation set my fingertips tapping against my thigh. Hermes’ grin was gloating, gleeful — I had the sudden urge to smack it right off of his snivelling face.
