He turned the phone toward her.
The screen showed a post fromLifting the Vale, featuring numerous paparazzi-style photos of her and Maldenis from the wedding party. Them standing together. Them laughing. Him holding her close during the gift ceremony. Even one of him carrying her away from the ballroom.
“No way!” Zara squealed. She grabbed the phone straight out of Elian’s hand and started scrolling.
“Oh my gods,” she laughed. “There’s so many!”
“Give me that,” Liora groaned.
But Zara stepped away, still laughing as she read. “‘Basilisk Maldenis and his mysterious human bride steal the spotlight at the most extravagant wedding in a century.’”
“Mysterious human bride,” Zara looked up at her wickedly. “I love that for you.”
“This is a nightmare.” Liora covered her face.
Zara kept scrolling. “They even got the one where he’s holding you from everyone,” she said. “Oh wow. This one’s very romantic.”
Liora risked a glance and immediately regretted it. “That’s not romantic,” she muttered. “That was crowd control.”
Zara snorted.
Elian leaned over her shoulder. “Apparently, the internet disagrees.”
Liora sighed and looked over at Maldenis, who shrugged. She smiled back at him despite herself. Honestly, she guessed thiswas payback. After all the teasing Zara had endured the past few weeks while crushing on Hektor, it was probably only fair that the tables had turned a little.
“Oh, there’s even one of us,” Zara said, showing her mate. They exchanged a look that had them laughing even harder.
Liora shook her head as Zara kept laughing over the phone, but the moment didn’t last long. Brontaios slowed ahead of them and gestured toward a path that curved away from the main ridge.
“Here,” he said.
The teasing faded as their attention shifted back to the task at hand. They followed him along the quieter path until the ridge opened up to a small clearing where a house sat alone along one of the quieter ridges.
It looked surprisingly ordinary compared to the massive stone structures around it with thick stone walls, a sloped roof of dark slate, and a chimney that puffed steady curls of smoke into the mountain air. A small garden edged the front, stubborn herbs growing between stones.
Liora glanced at it curiously as they approached.
“This is it?” Elian murmured.
“She keeps to herself,” Brontaios nodded. “Or so I was told.”
He stepped up to the door and pushed it open.
They stepped inside, and the interior was warm and simple, with wood beams spanning the ceiling, thick woven rugs on the floor, shelves lined with books, and carved wooden tools. Sunlight streamed through a wide window overlooking the landscape.
By that window sat an older female minotaur. Her coat was a deep burnished copper, streaked with silver. She sat comfortably in a wide chair, a mug resting in her large hand as if she had been expecting company all along.
Her calm dark eyes lifted to them. “Ah,” she said warmly. “Visitors.”
Brontaios stepped forward. “Good afternoon, Theryxa,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “Forgive the intrusion.”
“You’re not intruding.” Theryxa gave a low chuckle. “I heard you on the path.” She set the mug aside and studied the group.
Brontaios gestured toward them. “They’re searching for the children of Zeus.”
“Our mission is to identify and locate Zeus’s progeny,” Maldenis explained evenly. “There are…complications surrounding them right now, and we’re trying to make sure they’re protected.”
While he spoke, Liora and her siblings quietly triangulated the minotaur by the window, their powers aligning the way they always did when they searched for divine bloodlines. Liora saw the moment they found it. She opened her mouth to signal Maldenis, but the minotaur spoke first.
