“We’ll figure it out,” Zoe comforted. “Let’s just get you some rest.”
“Alright,” I agreed through my headache. “But we should ask Thanatos, too.” He would be our only hope for clarity tonight. Zoe’s eyes widened, but she swallowed what I assumed was a fearful outburst. “I’ll be the one to ask,” I reassured her.
So we waited. And when Thanatos flickered into our room, one look at my face told him that something had happened. I scooted down to sit on the foot of my bed, and he hurried to join me, wrapping his arm and wing around me. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
He smelled nice. A smile tugged at my lips, and I laid my head on his shoulder. “I’m no longer a terrible oracle,” I said in a quiet voice. My headache was pressing, so I waved my hand at Zoe, who took over in reciting the tale despite her still-persisting fear of Death. She repeated the prophecy to him twice: the full thing, the exact words.
Thanatos rubbed my back slowly while he listened. If the conversation wasn’t so important, I probably would have fallen asleep on him. “Concerning,” he remarked when Zoe was finished. “And there is nothing else? No other knowledge?” We pondered it.
“Cyrie, what about that other vision you had?” Sophie asked, suddenly remembering. “The handsome man who said he’d be back for you?”
I let out a snort of laughter and motioned to Thanatos beside me. “Yeah, I made that one up. I was a bit frazzled when we first met, so I had to throw you all off my scent.”
She scoffed and glared at me in humorous disapproval. “If you were going to feed us half-truths, you could have at least been more detailed.”
“It’s notmyfault he’s sexier than I could describe him,” I retorted. Sophie folded her arms; Thanatos laughed and kissed the top of my head.
“What about golden hair?” Alex cut in, drawing us back to seriousness. “I saw it in a dream. There were withering flowers in it, too. Short golden curls?”
Thanatos began to shake his head no, but then froze mid-motion. I leaned back to watch as his expression changed from concern to disbelief to reluctant certainty. “Oh, fuck,” he muttered quietly.
“What is it?”I asked in alarm. He remained silent for a drawn-out moment before turning to me.
“I understand,” he finally replied. A hint of a smile crossed his lips as he cupped my face in his hand. “Oh, Cyrie. I…I know what you are.”
I raised my brows, looking up at him with bewilderment. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I understand now,” he repeated, and he tenderly swept my unruly waves away from my face. “Oh, my love. Finally it makes sense to me, your unusual gift. You can see me because you are touched by the Underworld. You can see me because it wasHadeswho gave you sight.”
“What?” I asked, recoiling a little. “What do you mean? Why would he do that?” I didn’t understand those words one bit. I’d never heard of a prophet not tied to Apollo. Maybe rare cases were out there somewhere, but none of the other gods had ever been known to care for such a thing as prophecy.
“I know why,” Thanatos answered quietly. He let me go and started to pace back and forth across the room. My sisters watched him nervously, silently. I worried when his broody contemplation dragged on, but just as I was about to interrupt, he stopped to meet my eyes again.
“You once asked me if I had ever been cheated,” he reminded me. “Twice, I told you, and this is true. One of these was...recent. Relevant. But first, you must understand that there are others who defied me before I could ever feel the calls of their souls.” He sighed heavily before continuing.
“The bloodline of Zeus carries the power of eternity. So, as gods do, his children have exploited their gifts to thwart me, to thwartnature, by granting immortality to their favorites before their times to die ever came. It has happened repeatedly over the centuries—an incrediblyrudepractice, I might add—and it has frustrated Hades and I to no end.
“But there was nothing that could be done about it, for the meddling of gods ensured we would never have a claim tothese few souls. So I accepted these irritating aberrations as an inevitable part of a realm loved by the Olympians. At the very least, most of them chose mortals who were truly exceptional in life. Deserving, if there is such a thing.
“Then, one day, golden-haired Apollo crossed the line.” Thanatos folded his arms, and his lips curled into a disgusted snarl. “He’d fallen for yet another mortal, you see, and from their union came the promise of a child—a demigod. But this was not to be. His woman was cursed with a terrible labor, so that when the time arrived her body tore itself apart in the birthing of their son. This battle was one she was destined to lose. Such was the will of the Fates: I would have the both of them that night.
“The rain was heavy when I flew to the apex of the tower where she lay. I knew Apollo was there when I approached. I could feel the radiance of his power surrounding them, but I did not expect him to use it, for I underestimated the depths of his arrogance. When I landed there, I swept the woman away easily enough. But, with the son…for somefuckingreason Apollo would not let him go.
“He shot me through with silver arrows,” Thanatos spat bitterly, “over and over until I was forced to return to the Underworld. There, I demanded an audience with Hades, of course. And he was as furious as I.”
He turned away from my sisters, looking directly to me. “This was some eighteen years ago,” he revealed. “You would have been seven.”
He paused to let his words sink in before continuing. “Hades promised me retribution on the spot, but I was not to be involved in his plan. I asked him once what he had done, but he told me nothing—only that the score would be settled. I would have kept my fury for years had I not trusted his judgment, but I believed him. I trusted his rage, and now I can see the pieces of his meddling falling into place.”
“Thanatos, I don’t understand,” I said softly.
“Well, Hades must have decided to make a point,” he explained. “Steal the boy, hide him from his father, let him grow up as a mortal—and then face him with a challenge fit for a demigod. Make himearnthe right to keep his borrowed life. If he fails, he dies in agony and Apollo’s heart is broken once again, even more fully than the last time. And Hades certainly expects the child to fail.”
Thanatos shrugged and nodded to himself. “Yes, that sounds like something he would do. Hades would consider it generous, I am sure, letting the boy have a few extra years. I suppose I should thank him for the sight he gave to you.”
I twisted my hair anxiously and shook my head, still not following. “But why would hedothat?” I pressed. “What does all of this have to do with me, with prophecy?”
“Well, Hades isn’t acompleteasshole,” Thanatos said, chuckling to himself. “Usually, anyway. If he plans to stage a violent trial for the soul of one man, surely he means to give the people a warning before he does it.”
