Page 170 of Blood of Olympus

“Very well.” I turned back to where Aros stood smouldering away silently. “But you’re not relinquishing anything. I relieve you of no oath, rescind no titles. They’re yours for as long as we both live.”

He swallowed roughly, audibly to my heightened sense of sound, and thanked me.

“Don’t thank me just yet. Evie — you’re going with him.”

“What?!” they both said in unison.

“If there’s anyone I trust to watch his back, it’s you — and vice-versa. I’m not letting you go off on some harebrained scheme on your own. In fact, take ten of our best warriors with you.”

“Ten?! No. Four.”

“Eight.”

“Five, and no more,” he grumbled.

“You forget yourself, arguing with your queen.” I smiled then. “Five and no more.” Without a second thought, I launched forwards and wrapped my arms around his thick neck.

Aros caught me with ease, likely because he could see me coming whereas I was just blindly groping and hoping for the best. He held me to him for longer than was probably appropriate, tucking his face into the crook of my shoulder, and just breathed.

I think the embrace helped both of us bolster our nerves and do what needed to be done. Almost reluctantly, he withdrew, but not before smacking a quick kiss to my unexpecting lips.

“What?” he laughed when Caelus hit his arm. “It’s for luck!”

“Don’t get any ideas, Evie,” Caelus teased, but before I knew it, a second pair of lips pressed against mine for less than the span of a heartbeat.

“It’s for luck!” Her snicker only goaded mine and within seconds the room felt lighter, splashed as it was with the sounds of godly laughter in all directions. Even Apollo’s rough bark made an appearance.

Caelus snatched me back, wrapping his arms possessively around my middle.

The moment eventually faded, reality pressing in. “Well, then. Don’t dally. Inform your chosen warriors and make ready to leave. Oh, and Aros? May Tyche bless you, and hurry back.”

He came back for one last hug, embracing Caelus and I both, whispering a quiet, “Thank you.” Departing before either of us could cry.

“This doesn’t feel real,” I whispered.

“War rarely does — until after,” Athena murmured. “In the interim, though, you do need an acting Blade. I’d like to volunteer my services.”

“It would be my honour.”

Diving immediately into her duties, she began thinking aloud, “We need to choose a location for our final stand. Somewhere innocents won’t⁠—”

“Athena. I no longer have the ability to look at a map⁠—”

“For now,” Caelus growled.

I sighed. “For now, for ever, who knows but the Fates? My point is that, in this, I am worse than useless. I trust your judgement. Your’s, Sophocles’ and Demetria’s⁠—”

“Demetria was lost in Hellespont,” Athena interrupted softly, her voice hitching slightly in the middle.

I reached for her hand, finding myself grasping at thin air until she put me out of my misery and reached for mine instead. “I’m very sorry to hear that.”

“As was I. But I hear what you’re saying and will go at once to speak with the Athenian council… see if we can find somewhere that will work to our advantage.”

I nodded, turning to where I knew Aph, at least, still sat. “That leaves you two.”

“Apollo says that he would like to take a second look at your eyes now that he has recovered,” she said.

It is incredibly inconvenient not to be able to see your words, Apollo, but please… please, tell me you can fix them.