I turned to look at Sofia, whom I was hesitant to leave since she had refused to speak a word to any of the others. But she pushed me toward Orion.
“It is alright,” she insisted with a smile that did not reach her golden eyes. “You two should go.”
I frowned as I turned from her and narrowed my eyes up at Ares whose tail whipped at the challenge.
“Not a word. Not one,” I ordered him.
“But—”
“Not. One,” I hissed at him, shoving my finger into his armoured breastplate. “Not until I get back.”
He cast a glance at Sofia, who did not meet his eyes, and gave a sigh of resignation.
“Fine,” he huffed.
I followed Orion across the clearing, passing through agarden of herbs and onto the porch where there was one rocking chair. I knocked while the wooden wind chimes created a harmony behind me.
“I hope she doesn’t mind that we are here without any kind of notice. I know that she… called me, but we never sent word ahead that we were coming,” I worried aloud, and then glanced up at Orion in a near panic.
“She is a Seer, Amira. She is probably expecting us, and if she did not want visitors, then I suspect she would not have left the candle in her window,” he assured me.
I was not sure if that was how it worked, but the door opened before I could contemplate that any further.
Hypatia was not what I had expected, although I was not entirely sure what I was expecting in the first place. Perhaps a quirky woman or one who was extraordinarily ancient and mysterious. But whatever I was anticipating had not been this tall and elegant creature with her regal bearing and long dark braid streaked with grey.
But shewasold. I couldfeelit even if the greying in her wings had not given it away.
“Amira Kelley. I have looked forward to meeting you since you were born under that bridge. Please come in,” she invited with a deep voice and opened the door wider for us to enter the cottage.
You were born under a bridge?Orion gawked through our bond as we stepped over the threshold.
“You might as well speak aloud. The buzzing of your bond is aggravating,” theenukshaspoke up as she closed the door. She ignored Orion when he stiffened and walked around us to guide us deeper into the cabin that smelled of fresh bread and lavender. There were bundles of herbs hanging in the kitchen and mismatching furniture around the hearth where a cauldron of stew was bubbling.
“You can hear the bond?” I asked.
“I do not hear the words that you speak, but I sense thebond humming whenever you communicate through it,” she explained. She waved to the couch where she wanted us to sit and took her place in the chair across the small room from us. “I can hear nearly all forms of magic when they are in my presence. I am a daughter of Atropos.”
Atropos was the Inevitable Fate, a Greek goddess who was supposedly the one who decided when to cut each of our threads to end our lives. I shivered at the thought.
“Thank you for speaking with us,” I said humbly and inclined my head. “Why did you call me here?”
“You have questions. And some are very important,” she acknowledged with an amused tilt of her head.
Enough with the niceties, apparently.
“Be specific,” Orion warned in a quiet aside that made Hypatia’s mouth quirk at him.
“You have not forgotten the last time you were here,” she observed, her gaze flicking between us. Orion did not seem to wish to go into it, and I needed to stay focused. Riordan had told me this woman could tempt me into an endless cycle of questions. Thankfully, I had been honing my wording between my conversations with Orion.
“I need to know who is trying to use Riordan’s magic against him,” I began as confidently as I could.
“It is not one but many,” she answered right away.
“Alright, then who is their leader?” I asked.
“They are an entity of many threads, but Icanhear the song of divine retribution within their blood,” she said.
I glanced at Orion who raised his brows as if to remind me that he and Riordan had tried to warn me about this.
