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Lucas nodded slowly. He didn’t want to scare her, but he also knew he couldn’t lie to her. “What little of the prophecy we have left talks about the Tyrant like he’s stronger than all the gods combined. And there’s supposed to be this huge battle with monsters and storms when the Tyrant rises. Even the sky is supposed to change colors, like a kaleidoscope.”
“Sounds like the apocalypse.”
“Yeah,” Lucas said, feeling Helen shiver.
They sat there for a while, dangling their feet off the side of the house. Even though the conversation had taken such a dark turn, just having Helen near him relaxed Lucas and helped him focus. He might not be able to kiss her, but if she was sitting right next to him, he didn’t torture himself over who else she might be with. And what they were probably doing.
He reminded himself it was better this way and swallowed the lump in his throat. He wanted Helen to be happy, and he trusted that Orion could give that to her. Lucas certainly never had. All he ever did was make Helen miserable, and as soon as he knew this whole mess was over, he was going to make sure he never hurt her again.
Burying these consuming thoughts, Lucas forced his mind to drift instead. He shuffled through every image and use of a shield he could come up with.
“Shield, defense, bastion, block . . . ,” he mumbled. “What does Orion shield us from? What does he block?”
“Well. He seems pretty good at blocking doorways,” Helen joked. Her smile disappeared quickly as a thought occurred to her. “And prophecies.”
“And the futures of anyone who spends a lot of time with him,” he breathed. “Orion shields you from the awareness of the Fates, Helen. If the Fates can’t see you, they can’t decide your life for you. Do you know what this means? You have free will.”
They stared at each other, so shocked they almost couldn’t believe it, but both of them sensed a tingling in the air that told them they were onto something huge.
“But why me? Why am I the one who gets to choose?” Helen’s eyes darted around fearfully. “What role am I playing, Lucas?”
“You’re the Descender.”
“That’s not on the list.”
She was right. Lucas felt a moment of anxiety, and then relaxed as the solution came to him. “Out of all of us, you were the last one to discover that you’re a Scion—the last to join the fight. You’re the Warrior, of course.”
Helen calmed down and smiled tentatively. “Huh. Go figure.” Her nose wrinkled as she thought of something. “The Fates know I suck at fighting, right?”
“You’ve gotten better.” He really tried to keep a straight face, but it wouldn’t hold.
Helen pushed him off the roof. He floated up in front of her, holding his hands in an “I surrender” gesture, still trying not to laugh. She crossed her arms huffily and looked away, trying not to laugh with him.
“Lover, my heinie,” she said, cracking a grin and nudging him away from her with her foot.
He caught her ankle and pulled himself between her dangling legs. Helen’s eyes widened with surprise and her lips softened and fell apart.
“That’s right,” he whispered. Lucas leaned in close to her, loving that in spite of everything that had happened, she couldn’t help but react to him. “Don’t ever forget it.”
He grazed the curve of her cheek with his fingertips before flying away.
EIGHT
Helen stared off the side of the house for a whi
le, wondering whether or not she’d done the right thing. A part of her knew she was hurting Lucas more by not setting him straight about her and Orion, but in the end she couldn’t do it. Her reasons were selfish, but still valid. If Lucas thought she was with Orion, he would eventually pull away and she really needed him to do so.
She could look inside him and see he was still in love with her, but that the love had changed slightly. Regardless of what Orion said about it not making any difference to Lucas if she spent the night with another man, it had altered something in him—not the amount of love he felt, but how keenly he felt it. Helen figured it made sense. Even with a physical injury, there’s only so much pain a person can take before they start to go numb.
Helen saw Matt leave the house and go to his car. She inhaled a breath, about to call out to him and ask him where he was going, but she remembered all the sleeping people just under the roof she was sitting on and stopped herself. Matt turned and looked in her direction, anyway.
Impossible, Helen thought as he smiled and waved up at her. There’s no way he could have heard me inhale. But how else could he have known to look on the roof? Helen waved back, and Matt got into his car and drove off.
Still mulling it over, Helen flew in Lucas’s window and sat down on his bed. For a moment, she considered climbing into it, but there was a chance Lucas would come home and find her there. It wasn’t fair to do that to him. Helen hauled her tired body up and walked down the hallway to Ariadne’s room.
She was surprised to find Ariadne awake.
“Hey,” Ariadne said, automatically sliding over to make room for Helen in her bed.
