Page 175 of Blood of Olympus

Nyssa’s raucous cackle echoed around the temple, bouncing off the pillars as I set Evie on her feet.

“I’ll do what I can, but I make no promises,” she said. “That one has a penchant for trouble.”

“That’s exactly why you’re going with him,” Nyssa remarked.

“I don’t set out to find it,” Aros griped, pausing to roll his eyes at our expressions. “Okay, fine, sometimes I do seek it out — but it's just as likely to find me first.”

I grinned — that lump in my throat slightly more manageable. So, humour worked.

Maybe they’ll be okay. Maybe they’ll find warriors the first place they reach and can come back to us quickly. Before it’s too late to make a difference.

Lykos shot me a look equivalent to raised brows.

I know, I know. The chances are slim… but there’s still a chance, right?

He grunted, startling Rufus who happened to be frolicking at his enormous white feet. The manticore jumped, fleeing to the relative safety of Aros’ legs.

Some terrifying beast you are, Lykos said in a scathing, yet somehow also teasing tone. The whims of Fate are not for us to decipher or comment on. Anything is possible — but some things scarcely broker hope.

After quick goodbyes to Athena, Aph, and Apollo, the twins readied themselves to leave, checking their weapons one last time. After ensuring Flameless was clean, polished within an inch of its life, and sharp enough to slice a horde of nightmare beasts open before breakfast, Aros jerked his chin at the temple gate and barked a brusque, “Let’s go.”

His five chosen warriors, led by none other than Archimedes — who’d stolen a quick goodbye kiss from a teary-eyed goddess of love — marched on through, disappearing from sight.

“Ready, Evie?” Aros asked his sister, who was locked in a whisper-filled embrace with the woman who still made my heart stutter every time I looked at her.

Lykos scoffed, Always with the romantics.

Hush, you.

Evie pulled something out from under the edge of her bronze cuirass and tucked it into Nyssa’s palm, closing her fingers around it. Then she stepped up to the gate and jerked her head at Aros as if he hadn’t been waiting for her this entire time.

He shot me an indignant look, muttering, “Women — always on their own schedules!”

I snickered as Evie flayed him with her flame-filled eyes, nodded once at me, then passed through the arch.

“Careful, brother. I have a feeling that one would be more than happy to assist you with a haircut while you slept.”

He gasped, reaching for his precious ginger locks tied up in a kroblyos. “She wouldn’t dare.”

I raised my brows pointedly.

“Okay, maybe she would. I’ll take your advice under consideration,” he grumbled, smoothing his hair — while he still could.

I clapped him on the shoulder with a grin. “Look after yourself. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

He scoffed. “Don’t you do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“That list is significantly shorter, Aros.”

He winked. “That’s the point, brother.” He strode over to Nyssa, embraced her roughly, whispered something in her ear that I was sure I’d hear about later, then vanished through the portal with a mock-salute in my direction.

I walked over and wrapped an arm around her, sensing her anxieties and fears mingling with my own. Instead of asking what he’d just said, I asked something equally pressing, “What did Evie give you?”

A gentle smile graced her lips as she unfurled a length of crimson silk. It cascaded to the floor in soft rivulets — a blood-red ribbon as wide as her palm. “Peace. She gave me peace.”

Failing to understand how a scrap of fabric could provide such a profound, apparently tangible, ideology, I frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Her smile grew as she grasped the ribbon with both hands and tied it around her head to cover both eyes. A shadow dagger materialised in each hand as she took a measured stance, her weight balanced perfectly between the balls of each foot.