Page 67 of A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows

This was real.

And I suddenly wanted to throw up.

I was a high deity.

Goddess of the moon.

And prophesied to end Zeus’ reign.

It seemed like a bizarre nightmare. Just a few months before, I’d been Temi, the huntress who helped the women in my village. Now, I held the fate of the world in my hands. The nauseous feeling grew.

Glitter swept through the sky, a floral scent filling the air.

My arm ached in memory of the last time I had sensed that.

Poseidon lifted his face. “Amara and I must leave. Hera has come to Lesbos.” He studied me. “Do you wish to go with us? It will take some months before you can ascend, and until then, you remain vulnerable.”

“She’s already attacked me once. She won’t return for me again.”

He frowned. “Then she’s likely after your mortal companions you traveled here with.”

I sucked in a breath and shifted towards the rippling palm trees that stood in front of Sappho’s residence. Epiphany and Valerian. Gods. “Would she harm them?”

Poseidon fixed me with a look. “She would. It’s a burden of being a high-god. No human around you is truly safe.”

“I have to go after them and warn them.”

“Very well.” Poseidon bowed and took the reins to his horse from Amara’s hand.

I swept back towards him, my braids thunking against my shoulders. “You won’t help me?”

The gray of the clouds beyond silhouetted him. His expression scarcely shifted. “It is not my place to intervene with Hera. More is at stake here than the lives of two mortals. I’d advise you to not allow her to bait you with them. Their deaths—if it came to that—will be a noble sacrifice to the future.”

“Are you serious?” I gasped so hard it hurt. “You’re a monster.”

He sighed. “I’m a god, Artemis. An old one, as I reminded you. You need to consider the destiny that rests on you and your choices.”

I studied him for another breath, the nobility and power that radiated around him. And then I turned and ran up the path towards the stables, my feet chuffing against the sand.

Fuck Poseidon.

I’d tear the world apart before I let Hera harm Valerian and Epiphany.

I may know nothing about myself, my powers, my fate.

But I knew about loyalty.

I knew friendship.

And love.

The floral smell in the air deepened. My breath came heavy as I threw myself faster along the trail.

26

Hyacinth

Zephyrus leaned in closer to me, his eyes sharpening like a predator’s. I had no idea where he was going with the speech he gave, but my mind was spinning trying to figure out how to stop him from continuing. Control slipped out of my fingers, and I didn’t know how to grasp a hold of it. Whatever point he was about to make, he hadn’t informed me of it, and my thoughts whirled, trying to calculate his angle. However it landed, I feared my people would bear the burden from it. Despite that, words wouldn’t form. I didn’t have time to consider a course of action.