The Prophecy

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Seth,” I whispered, pulling on his hand as I pointed. He followed my gaze. “I think it’s a Pegasus.”

  “Really?” He strained his neck, his eyes flaring wide. A white wing lifted high, and I turned to Seth. Awe settled into his expression, and I couldn’t look away from the boyish excitement filling his golden eyes. “I…” He gave a little shake of his head. “It’s beautiful.”

  I grinned at him, thinking that it was him that was truly beautiful.

  “Children,” called Hermes from the top of the wide, long steps. “There is very little time to linger.”

  Seth blinked and his gaze found mine. There was something soft in his stare, a quality that was rare to Seth, and then he bent his head, kissing the corner of my lips. “We better get going. They can be impatient.”

  Nodding, I started walking again and took the time to prepare myself to come face to face with the Olympians…and my father. That was, if he was here. My pulse was racing as we joined Hermes. He stopped in front of titanium doors. They glided open, and a rush of cool, sweet-smelling air washed over us.

  I thought I might have a heart attack.

  Seth stepped forward, and he had to tug on my hand to get me to move. It was like being in a dream. I was walking, but really didn’t feel any step I took.

  None of this felt real.

  The inside of the dome was brightly lit, and my eyes went to the ceiling first. Fluffy white clouds drifted across the glass. I got a little hung up on that, because there were no clouds in the sky outside.

  Then I lowered my gaze.

  And I was no longer thinking about the weird ceiling and the questionable clouds. Eleven gods sat before me on marble thrones. Without having to ask, I knew who the two were in the middle.

  Zeus and Hera.

  Regal. That was all I could think as I stared at the two. Both were inhumanly stunning, tall and elegant.

  I was so glad I decided to wear a dress, but I really wished I’d done something more with my hair.

  Flanking either side of them were the remaining gods and…and my father. He sat to the right of Zeus, at the end, and the moment I saw him, I didn’t see any of the other gods.

  Apollo did not look at me. He did not look at Seth. He seemed to stare above us. I opened my mouth to say something, but caught myself before I did.

  I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to run up there and shake him. I wanted to hug him and then slap him, but I had enough common sense to realize this wasn’t the time or the place.

  Seth let go of my hand and moved in a way that he was standing more in front of me than beside me. It was a protective move, and based on the way his shoulders tensed, it was also one of challenge.

  “Seth. Josie.” Zeus’s voice carried like thunder. “I assume the reason you two are here must be of extreme importance.”

  “Or extremely reckless,” Hades answered with an accent that reminded me of Erik’s. “Considering who is standing before us, I’d go with reckless.”

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re still upset over losing Aiden and me as your servants,” Seth replied, and I could hear the smirk in his voice. “I bet that ticks you off daily.”

  Hades, who I’d seen briefly before, leaned forward in his throne. His smile upped the whole creep factor. “You have no idea, but be careful, Seth. It’s funny how fate can change so quickly.”

  I stiffened, not liking the way that sounded.

  A beautiful blonde with waves of hair sighed heavily. “You sound like a child who didn’t get their prized toy, Hades.”

  Oh wow.

  Hades looked over at her, his handsome face slipping into an impressive frown. “Do you want to talk about prized toys, Aphrodite?”

  That was…

  My head whipped back to the goddess in the gauzy white dress. Oh, my word, that was the Aphrodite?

  She giggled, lifting a shoulder. “I haven’t lost any of mine.”

  Hera arched a brow.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, Seth cocked a head to the side as a male god I’d never seen before chuckled. He was dressed like he’d just gotten back from a Jimmy Buffett concert, complete with cargo shorts, sandals, and an ultra-bright orange and red Hawaiian-style shirt.

  “Do you actually have something of value to add to the conversation, Dionysus?” Hades demanded.

  The god of partying snorted. “No. I’m not going to even pretend that I do.”

  My brows lifted.

  “That’s not even remotely surprising,” another goddess chimed in as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She was dressed like a mortal in a high-powered business position.

  Dionysus looked over at her. “You know what I think, Athena? You have a massive stick shoved—”

  “Don’t finish that sentence,” a goddess who I was pretty damn sure was wearing overalls cut in. Like, legitimate overalls. “Use your words better.”

  “Use your words better?” Dionysus let out a high-pitched laugh. “You’re as corny as a cornfield.”

  Another god snapped something in return, and suddenly it was like Seth and I weren’t even standing there. They were too involved in bitching at each other, determined to have the last snarky remark.

  Seth sighed as he glanced over his shoulder at me.

  All the while, Apollo sat there silent and staring above us like he wasn’t even there. I couldn’t really believe it—that the gods really were this petty. I’d heard Alex and Deacon’s stories—even Luke and Seth had talked about how they behaved, but I’d always figured it was some sort of exaggeration. I mean, they were gods—ancient beings who could either destroy the entire world or rebuild it.

  And they were sitting up there arguing like a bunch of spoiled brats.

  I couldn’t take it a second longer. My patience stretched and then snapped. Stepping forward, I went shoulder to shoulder with Seth. “Are you guys done yet?”

  Seth jolted beside me, but I got their attention. Their incessant bitching stopped. All eleven stared at me.

  A trickle of unease curled down my spine. “While you guys are bickering over toys and cornfields, Cronus has taken over an entire pure community and is threatening one of the largest cities in America. I’m sure you guys are aware of this.”

  “Josie,” Seth warned under his breath.

  I ignored him. “We came to you for help. Not to get front-row tickets to family fight night.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a faint smile ghost across Apollo’s face, but that could’ve been wishful thinking.

  “You are…” Hera placed slender arms on her chair as she inclined her head. “You are very much like your father.”

  I stiffened at that.

  “And you?” She looked at Seth. “I never thought there’d come a time when you stood in front of us, quiet and not threatening us.”

  “The day is still young,” Seth replied.

  Hera laughed softly. “We are aware of what Cronus has done.”

  “Then you have to be aware of why we’re here,” Seth interjected. “We need you to unbind the remaining demigods.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” a god who’d been silent spoke up, drawing my attention. I could see the resemblance to Gable.

  Seth dipped his chin. “That’s it, Poseidon?” he asked, confirming my suspicion. “It’s not even up for discussion? What about you, Demeter?”

  The goddess in the overalls smiled sadly. “You do not understand why we refuse to do this.”

  “You keep saying that. All of you. That we don’t understand,” Seth snapped. “How about you explain it in a way that we can?”

  It was Apollo who answered. “Because it would not make a difference.”

  Hearing his voice was like a punch to the chest. It had been so long since I’d heard him speak.

  “The demigods would not last in a fight with the Titans. Not when there are so few of them. I told you,” Apollo said. “The demigods cannot abide.”

  “You didn’
t tell me that,” I said, sucking in a sharp breath as he finally looked at me. I held his eerie white gaze for a moment and then focused on Demeter. “We need their abilities unbound to stand a chance. If not, the Titans will destroy Chicago and they won’t stop there.”

  “Or Seth could always bring them my head,” Zeus offered.

  “That’s starting to sound more and more like the better option,” Seth returned.

  The clouds in the glass ceiling thickened and the light dimmed as I fought the urge to elbow Seth. “So both of you are going to refuse to unbind your demigods?”

  “Our refusal is not something we do lightly, child. We know our children will fail now that we have lost so many of them.” The sadness in Demeter’s smile crept along her face, and I honestly believed that she was saddened by all of this. “Poseidon and I would be severely weakened, as was your father. We would be among the first to fall if it came to a battle with the Titans. We have to prepare for that moment and be at our best.”

  Swallowing the sudden knot in my throat, I dared a quick glance at Apollo. He was watching us, his expression intent. “Then if you think it would be pointless to unbind the demigods, and that you’re preparing to go to war with the Titans, then why don’t you do something now? You defeated them before.”

  “Now that’s a good question.” Seth smiled the kind of smile I knew ticked off most people.

  “We had Ares then,” answered Athena, and then she glanced down to where Zeus sat. “And we did not defeat the Titans alone.”

  Seth started to frown. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means the fables mortals teach are partly correct.” Athena lifted a bare shoulder. “And the teachings that are taught in our schools are not a hundred percent accurate. More like seventy percent or so.”

  I opened my mouth and sort of stared at them while I tried to figure out what to say. Hadn’t I felt like something had been missing in the whole Titans versus the Gods mythology I’d read in the Myths textbook?

  “What part of what we were taught was not true?” Seth demanded. “The one where you used the helmet of darkness to steal Cronus’s weapons?” he asked of Hades, causing the god of the Underworld’s lips to thin. “Or is you striking him down with lightning the false part?”

  Zeus’s jaw hardened.

  “We fought the Titans for a decade, neither side making ground. It was a bloody, destructive war.” Hera grasped the arms of her chair. “That is true, and eventually, we did entomb the Titans. There is a mixture of the real and the unreal in both legends.”

  “We had help,” added Apollo, and I felt his stare shift to me. “There are legends among mortals that involve the Hekatoncheires and the Cyclopes.”

  I blinked slowly. “Hekatach-what?”

  A slight smile curved his lips. “Hekatoncheires were basically giants.”

  Now that he said it, I sort of remembered reading that somewhere when I was younger.

  “The Hekatoncheires wanted revenge on Cronus as he had kept them imprisoned. They were eager to help. The Cyclopes built weapons for us,” Apollo explained. “Once the giants were involved, the war was quickly ended.”

  Seth unfolded his arm. “Wait a minute. This entire time, all we needed were some giants and a Cyclops or two? That’s it?” Seth sounded like he was seconds away from exploding.

  The goddess beside Apollo tilted her head. “Seth, it’s not that simple. The Cyclopes fashioned the weapons we used and the giants were more fierce and more powerful than the Titans, but we cannot simply call upon them to fight again.”

  “And why not, Artemis?”

  That was, I guessed, my aunt? Then again, they all were related and having sex, and I really didn’t need to think about that at the moment.

  “While the Hekatoncheires were eager to help, they still needed to be swayed,” Zeus said, and I swore he might’ve paled a little. “They required a sacrifice.”

  “Of course they did,” muttered Seth. “What? A few virgin priests and priestesses?”

  Zeus stiffened. “Foolish young god.”

  If that insulted Seth, he didn’t show it. “Where are these giants now?”

  “They are in the Underworld,” Hades answered. “And before you make some inane comment about us unleashing them, you must learn what it took for us to sway them in the first place.”

  Hades then smiled at Seth, and a chill rippled down my spine. It was like a sudden burst of cold air hit me, and all I could think of was that old saying. The one where people say it felt like someone had walked over their grave.

  That was how I felt.

  And I knew beyond a doubt that whatever they were about to tell us was going to change everything.

  ~

  Seth

  As usual, I didn’t like what the gods were saying or where any of this was heading.

  “How did you sway them?” I demanded, wanting to find out what the hell I was going to have to do so I could just get it done. Then I could start spending the rest of forever with Josie, starting with preparing for our child.

  Zeus studied me. “They requested a sacrifice from a being of absolute power. They gave me a choice. It is the same choice they will give now, and it is a sacrifice I cannot make again.”

  “What?” Josie asked, nervous energy rolling off her in waves. “What did you have to do?”

  Zeus didn’t take his gaze off me. “I had to kill the only thing I ever loved.”

  My skin turned to ice as I stared up at him. What had he said to me the day Aiden and I had faced the hydra?

  Josie frowned as she glanced at Hera. “I don’t understand.”

  “I am not his true love,” Hera replied with a laugh. “Never was.”

  I wasn’t entirely surprised to hear that Hera wasn’t Zeus’s true love, but I’d never heard this before.

  “You wouldn’t have,” Zeus said, as if my thoughts were on my face, his voice low. “She was erased from all history, her name never spoken. If you want the Hekatoncheires, you will need to make that sacrifice.”

  My skin turned to ice as what he’d said began to sink in. I looked at Josie, and she was staring up at the gods, her beautiful face pale. I saw the exact moment she understood what they were saying. Her entire body jolted, and I remembered what Zeus had asked me before.

  What do you know of sacrifice?

  My eyes widened as I looked up at him. No. No fucking way. He could not mean what I thought he did. He could not be suggesting that I sacrifice Josie and our unborn child. Raw energy coursed through me.

  “The sacrifice would fall on you,” Zeus said, “as you are the other absolute being in the position to make the choice.”

  I latched on to the last part of what he said. “You said a choice. What choice is there? Because what you’re suggesting is not going to happen.”

  “You must sacrifice what you cherish most.” It was Apollo who answered. “Or you must sacrifice yourself.”

  The damn floor shifted under my feet. What kind of fucking choice was that?

  “No.” Josie whipped toward me and grasped my arm. “Let’s go, Seth. We’ll find another way.”

  “There is no other way,” Hera spoke up. “Not to defeat the Titans, and he knows that. Once the shock fades, you will know that too.”

  “Yes.” Josie whirled on Hera. “Last I checked, the Titans gave us a hell of a better option.”

  Zeus raised a brow, but I spoke before he could. “Josie, babe—”

  “No!” she repeated, her blue eyes glimmering. “This is stupid! We can find another way. We have to. Come on.” She pulled on my arm. “Let’s go.”

  Go where? Back to the Covenant where we would wait until the deadline came to pass?

  The demigods couldn’t face the Titans. Even with their abilities unlocked, it was a long shot. The Titans would destroy Chicago and they’d keep going. It would get to the point where I would have to kill Cronus, and his death would bring catastrophes we’d never seen before.

  Th
ere was another option.

  Yeah, I could kill Zeus. Take his head to Cronus, but I… Fuck, that wasn’t me anymore. I didn’t want to be that man. Not for Josie. Not for our child.

  I wanted to be a better man.

  I wanted to be better than them.

  My gaze lifted to Zeus. “You were given the same choice?”

  “I was,” he answered after a moment. “And it was a choice I regret to this day.”

  “Like I said, be careful of how quickly fate turns on you.” Hades smirked as he crossed one leg over the other. “But you’ve found yourself in this position before, have you not? It was either you or Alex, and you did not have the fortitude to make the sacrifice that she had to.”

  I flinched.

  Those words were so damn true.

  Alex had gone to fight Ares knowing she would die, and she’d done it. She hadn’t known that Apollo had given her ambrosia. She had made that choice.

  One I couldn’t make back then.

  Josie was talking again, and I looked at her, really looked at her. Gods, she was beautiful and kind, and so damn loyal. So much so that I’d never realized how lucky I was to have her.

  Suddenly there wasn’t enough air in the Pantheon, or in my lungs. I couldn’t breathe as Zeus watched me intently. Out of all the possible scenarios, I’d never dreamed of this.

  Everything had been leading up to this.

  I knew in my bones that was the case. From the moment Ares made sure I was born, to this very second, it was leading to this moment. Maybe this was why it had been Alex before. What if this was why I became a god? And maybe…just maybe this was how I would truly redeem myself.

  Sacrifice the one I loved to save the world, or sacrifice myself to save her so that she could raise our child in a better world.

  There wasn’t even a choice.

  Apollo had asked me what I would do to protect Josie and our child, and I had said I would do anything.

  And I meant that.

  “Why this?” I asked, voice hoarse.

  “Because love is selfless, and an act of love is the ultimate sacrifice,” answered Zeus.