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“That there is no balancing force for the Oneiroi,” Bullet replied, his voice quiet and even. “That’s why I’m the last one.”
“As a spirit of wisdom, I must tell you that you aren’t meant to be here, Oneiroi. That this new world is not meant for your kind. The gods must be freed, new heroes will arise, old orders will fall. Nothing strong can be built on crumbling foundations.”
“Bullet isn’t a crumbling foundation,” I rasped, stepping back towards my bonded, finding Bullet’s hand. We shouldn’t have come here, we didn’t need to hear this. The agathos were heartless, and apparently that had always been the case. “He’s a pillar of strength. Nothing about this world would be better without him in it.”
“Thanks, Amazing Grace,” Bullet replied, attempting to keep his tone light and teasing.
Sophia stared—or at least I thought she did—and I fought to keep my spine straight and my shoulders squared. I’d go to war with Sophia for Bullet, just like I would with anyone else.
“As you say,” Sophia said eventually. “I can only offer you my wisdom—how you choose to use it is up to you. I can grant you access to the realm of the gods for a short while through these doors. You cannot stray far, however. If there is, say, a primordial goddess you’d like to speak to, I will need to invite her to come to you.”
Hint, hint,I thought wryly. Sophia was making no bones about what she wanted me to do. What she thought waswise.
We couldn’t get to Nyx in the dreamscape—I wouldneverlet Bullet try again, not after last time. And we could pray, but it was a one-sided conversation.
I’d always felt pretty powerless, even with all the titles and expectations heaped on me, because what could Ido,really? Being a Prophêtis seemed sort of lame in terms of god-gifted abilities.
But it was a gift of speech. It was words that carried weight. It was time for me to learn how to use it.
It wasn’t the lesson of wisdom I thought I’d learn from Sophia, but it was what I was coming away with.
“What do you want to do, Grace?” Dare asked softly.
“I’d like to call a meeting with Nyx and Gaia. A meeting of the goddesses.” I swallowed thickly, tilting my chin up. “It’s time to finish what they started. We can’t go on like this.”
My teeth chattered as I made my request, the relentless cold growing worse by the hour.
“Then I will call for them, though you should know neither are likely to respond right away. They will not want to appear weak by being the first to agree.”
“Politics,” Riot grumbled, sounding as thoroughly exhausted by this whole thing as I was.
“Quite. In the meantime, you should rest and stay warm—no meeting will occur if you’re dead.” Wasn’t that a comforting thought? “The temple custodian will come and fetch you. Her family has guarded these lands for generations. You will be safe with her.”
“An agathos?” Dare clarified flatly.
“Did I steer you wrong before, kakodaimon?” Sophia asked mildly, a hint of censure in her voice. “If I wanted harm to come to you, it would have. But I am a spirit of wisdom, and I do not feel that is wise.”
“But Bullet can kick rocks, right?” Dare shot back, unimpressed.
“My hero,” Bullet teased, his light tone masking the tired resignation he’d been feeling since Sophia addressed him.
“All five of you will be safe with the custodian,” Sophia said evenly. “Wait here for her. When I have heard from the goddesses, I will be in touch. Rest, Grace the Agathodaimon.”
The gold faded, leaving smooth,perfectwhite marble in its place. There were three other statues here, should I heal them too? I swayed slightly on my feet, leaning into Bullet, who was himself half-collapsed against Wild.Maybe later.
Wild righted Bullet before stalking to the edge of a stack of broken marble before gesturing at us to come closer, glancing nervously out toward the avenue.
“Nothing is ever straightforward. Whenever I think someone is on our side, it’s more that one or two of our interests align and we can go fuck ourselves other than that,” Riot grumbled, pulling blankets out of the bag while Bullet and I dragged ourselves to the obscured spot Wild pointed out. It wasn’t exactly secure, but hopefully it meant that no one would see us if they were just casually walking past. The custodian might take minutes or hours to get here, and in the meantime we were freezing.
“Ultimately, nobody has our back except us,” Bullet replied mildly. “Gods, mortals, it doesn’t matter. Everyone has an agenda, and we just have to hope we come across the people whose agenda lines up at least most of the way with ours.”
“Depressingly true,” Dare sighed. “I’ll stay out here and keep watch. There’s no way that light show didn’t attract attention, but at least no one will recognize me. I wasn’t in the videos.”
There wasn’t any resentment in his voice, but I shoved my apology through the bond at him anyway, and he shot me a soft half-smile before shutting off his flashlight and standing in the darkness.
Wild helped Bullet and I to the ground, and we leaned against a stack of marble, my head resting on his shoulder, gazing up at the sky. The endlessly dark sky.
Nyx’s doing. We couldn’t live like this. Plants weren’t growing, and people were panicking. Within days, at best, we’d get to freezing level, and we were in one of the warmer parts of the world.
