Page 76 of The Shadow Gods

Thiswas why I had hesitated, but he had to understand. I wasn't some uninterested observer. I had a stake in this fight. I was part of it. Trying to keep me out of it wasn't fair. I had been the one hurt by Poseidon and Athena. I was the woman who'd been beaten and used and transformed.

Sure, I didn't have Medusa's face, but we were the same. There was no separating one of us from the other.

And now, Hector understood.

Nodding, I went to him. He hugged me, pulled me across his lap, and just breathed.

Slowly, the shaking stopped, but he didn't loosen his grip. “I never should have...Leo. Forgive me.”

“There's nothing to forgive. You had to see it to know. I couldn't explain it, but you have to understand.”

“I do,” he said quickly. “I do. I hate that I do. It doesn't make me want to have you in the fight, though. It only makes me want to protect you more and shield you from all of this—Shield.” He paused, his gaze going distant. “Hand me that book.”

He held his hand out to Paris, who picked up the copy of Ovid'sMetamorphosesI had dragged out of the trunk. Placing the book on my lap, he flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. He lifted his eyes to mine, the blue crystal clear, then dropped his gaze back to the book to read,

“Her beauty led the Ruler of the Sea

To rape her in Minerva's sanctuary

(so goes the tale). Jove's daughter turned aside

chaste eyes: the goddess hid her face behind

her aegis - but she made Medusa pay:

she changed that Gorgon's hair to horrid snakes.

And to this day, Minerva, to dismay

and terrify her foes, wears on her breast

the very snakes that she herself had set -

as punishment - upon Medusa's head.”

He lifted his eyes and repeated a line. “‘To dismay and terrify her foes, wears on her breast the very snakes that she herself had set as punishment upon Medusa's head.’”

“She needs you,” Pollux said on a breath. “To protect her from the other gods.”

“Say what?” The quick shift in mood made me dizzy. I repeated the line in my head again—to dismay and terrify her foes.“Did I do exactly what she needed me to do?” I asked. Was fighting Poseidon working in Athena's favor?

Hector stared at me, processing what I said. “I don't know.”

I glanced at Paris, then Pollux and Orestes, and finally Achilles. “She's a strategist. Did I help her?”

The general was silent for a moment. “If Athena escaped and left the other gods trapped, they would want revenge.” He stared at the ocean and let out a deep breath. “If I wanted to keep my enemies away, the best way to do that is to expose their weaknesses. The question is—do they believe you protect her? Are you truly her shield against them?”

“Absolutely not,” I replied. Even if she had only been the professor who tried to ruin my career, I'd never be on her side.

But as Medusa, I'd worshipped her. The gods might believe I was loyal to her. “Could she really get them to believe I'd help her?”

Achilles turned from the ocean. The sky was still gray and the waves white-capped and rough. The huge ship, however, sliced through them. “I don't know.” He crossed his arms and pressed his lips together. “Fuck!” He pushed his hair out of his face. “I don't know.”

His gaze bounced from me to Hector, then to his friends. Pacing, he reached one hand to the back of his neck. I'd never seen him anything but certain, especially when it came to fighting.

“Let's assume they do and they don't,” Pollux offered, causing Achilles to pause. “Athena has been free since before Leo's birth, but Poseidon is newly freed. We don't want to believe it, but our power waned enough for them to escape. My guess is, Athena sent Poseidon after Leo. She tricked him or challenged him or dropped enough of a hint to intrigue him.”

“She wouldn't know what Leo could do,” Hector said. “All this only happened on the ferry.”

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