Page 101 of The Shadow Gods

They.

I didn't have to ask who she meant. She easily dismissed Hector, Achilles, Pollux, Paris, and Orestes, but she didn't know them like I did. If she had brought them here, she'd made a big mistake.

Whatever she saw on my face, she didn't like. She shook me so hard my head hit the wall again, making me see stars. If I couldn't use my curse on her, then I needed to stay alive until the guys found me. I had no doubt that, together, we could take Athena.

“I can't decide if I should kill you now or wait until they get here.” She meant to threaten, but her words tumbled out too fast.

I was hit with the memory of how she'd felt my power recede when Perseus had killed me. “You don't know if you can kill me at all,” I countered. “You need my power, and you're not certain it won't just dissipate into the air if I'm dead.”

“I had your head on a shield once, whore.”

Ohhh.Where was the goddess of strategy now? The barb didn't even graze my skin. “You had my head, but not my power.”

Things were becoming clearer now: why she didn't just kill me, why she needed me so badly, why she used what little power she had to bring me back to life. Answers to all my questions slid into place like a key into a lock. “You need my power to protect you, but why? What is so frightening that you'd need me? A nothing? Awhore?” I spat the word back at her.

She didn't answer, so I continued. “The only thing powerful enough to destroy one god is another god...”Therewas the answer. I got it now. “The gods didn't all escape.Youdid. You left them there—”

“You don't know anything.” Her grip was so tight, her fingers were crushing my bones.

“Someone else escaped.” But who? I suddenly laughed. “Poseidon! And then you had to act. You had all that time, the only goddess—onlyfullgoddess—here on earth and you never expected the others to escape. Did they lend you power? Do something to help you? Did you promise to help them and then change your mind? Maybe you thought about the Titans, your grandparents, and how Zeus made himself king of all gods by trapping the ones who had made him.”

Her eyes widened, giving it all away.

“That was it. You tricked the gods. They helped you get free when you promised to get them their power back. But then you probably got here and found you were the only goddess. And sure, you weren't as powerful as you used to be, but it wasn't bad. You even won medals in the Olympics. Then Poseidon gets free, and suddenly, shit hits the fan. You either have to live up to your promises, or you have to trap them for real, and the only creature strong enough—youhope—is the priestess whose head you wore on your shield.”

“Leo.” Orestes appeared behind Athena. His golden eyes blazed through the darkness. Electricity hummed over my skin, and for an instant, I thought I could see it, lightning arcing across the cave from me to him.

Then, one-by-one, ducking through the low entrance, came the others. Paris. Achilles. Pollux—bloody, but not wounded.

Hector. Dirt covered his skin, and he wasn't wearing a shirt. His skin glistened in the torchlight. Each of them was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Athena pivoted, taking me with her so I was held against her chest to face them. “Where—” she cut herself off.

“Dead,” Pollux answered. He held out his hands, but all I could see was dirt. “I tore your uncle's head from his shoulders.”

They'd killed Poseidon.

Pollux's gaze flicked to mine, and he gave a short, decisive nod. Dead. Really and truly dead.

“I'm not the only one who can kill a god, then,” I said, and Pollux smiled.

“No,” he replied, “though I have no doubt, if he hadn't run away the first time, you could have.”

“Impossible,” Athena choked out. “You're not strong enough. You gave up your power.”

Without thinking, I peeked at the partially rebuilt seal. It sat near the altar, three pieces fit together instead of four. The fourth was on the ground next to it.

There was still the unknown, and it centered around the seal. It was possible that each piece of the seal drew the guys' power away from where it held the gods trapped.

But it was also possible that their power had morphed and changed over the centuries, and we had no idea what would happen if the seal was put together.

The arm around my chest tightened as Athena watched the guys move closer. Each step the guys made, she tracked. They spread out, forming a semicircle around us.

This was it. All the work we'd done, everything we'd imagined, would happen here. Now.

I wouldn't be the weak one again. I couldn't be. These men—heroes—were the most important things in my life. They were a gift I'd never expected, and they’d given me a purpose beyond the academic. I hadn't lived until them. And if anything happened to them, I wasn't sure I could go on living after.

That was the thought that woke my serpents. With the idea of these men being in danger, they were wide-eyed and ready to fight.Stay ready.

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