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I screamed. Gone was the wild, curly auburn hair I had braided this morning, and in its place— “No.”
I shut my eyes. Willing the creatures to go away, but at my cries, they hissed louder.
“Open your eyes.” Athena shook me, and when I wouldn’t, growled low and warningly. A force I couldn’t fight compelled me to open my eyes, and I stared at the creatures somehow connected to me. They wound around each other, making me believe they were as confused and horrified as I was. Their black eyes were bright, dimmed only when that reptilian eyelid moved across the blackness. Narrow pink tongues flicked the air, tasting it, and then my skin, tasting me.
“Anyone who ever gazes at you will be punished. Isn’t that what you want? You said you were hurt under my watch, but now you never will be again. Anyone—be they god or man or something in between—will become stone the second they look at you. But I won’t leave you alone. I’ve ensured that you will have companions for eternity.”
I couldn’t help the sob welling from within me. An eternity like this. Eternity. Time stretched so far in front of me I couldn’t measure it.
“Please.” I had fought for my life against the flame-haired god, but just like that, my fight was snuffed out. “If you had any affection for me, don’t do this.”
“Darling girl.” She smoothed her hand over my head, over the writhing bodies of the snakes, and then to my chin. “It is only because I have affection for you that I do this. I’m allowing you to live, and protecting you from any man who tries to harm you.”
She patted my cheek, turning away from me. The temple around us seemed to dim, the white marble floor grayed, along with the marble columns and flickering torches. The world plunged into shadow, leeching all the color and heat.
Athena was only a darker spot against the blackness. “Jealous?” Her voice was sharp. “How could anyone be jealous of you, Medusa?”
Orestes
Icaught Leo before she hit the floor. Her scream still echoed through my mind, a horrible soundtrack to the images Athena forced into her brain.
Medusa.
This girl who trembled in my arms was as much of a legend as Achilles had become. The snake-haired Gorgon who turned men to stone with one glance.
Her brown eyes found mine, tear-filled and frightened, and I saw reflected there, the same eyes of the woman who had lived as long ago as me.
The connection between us grew and grew, tendrils of want reaching from me to her. “I’ve got you.”
“Sweet. But you’ve misplaced your loyalty.” Athena stepped back suddenly, the shard of the seal gripped tight in her hand. It was then I saw it.
A tiny bead of blood.
I tipped my head to the side, studying her hand before lifting my gaze to her face, which was flushed. Her shoulders heaved as if out of breath, though she tried to hide it.
It was that right there that eased the fear that had kept me frozen in place earlier. She was a goddess, but not…
Not fully anyway. Because this display of power was draining her.
“You’re afraid,” I said quietly. I glanced at Leo, and then the goddess. “You’re afraid,that’s why you’re here. You could have stayed hidden, never brought yourself to our attention, but you did.”
“Not only that, but you put yourself in Leo’s path.” Achilles reached for her, touching her arm and wrapping his giant hand around it. I understood the desire to be anchored to her somehow.
Athena’s wings stretched so wide they touched the edges of the room. “You still think you know the end game of the gods?”
“I only see one of you,” Hector said. He crossed his arms, and I realized he was as ready to fight as he’d ever been. “How did you escape, Athena? Did you leave them there? Trick them?”
“You’re as much as a general as I am,” Achilles added. “You never do anything without a plan. So? What’s your plan?”
From the corner of my eye, Pollux and Paris struck. Leaping toward the goddess, they grabbed her arms, lifted and lunged, pinning her against the wall.
The building shook, but not from the slam of her body and theirs. Anger and power rolled off her, I could feel it in every pore of my body.
And yet she was held in place. She struggled, wings shifting and body tensing and convulsing, but she couldn’t escape their hold.
“Tell us,” Hector commanded.
I held Leo closer, shifting to keep her body behind mine. Her hand found mine, fingers linking and squeezing.
