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.Lucas knew he should havebeen more amazed by theappearance of a god, but hewasn t.Strangely, he couldonly think about his swimwith the lemon shark a fewminutes ago.Helen had justgiven him a new power overthe ocean.He could breatheunderwater.Not for the firsttime, Lucas wondered if she dgiven him more powers thanthat. My Scions have alwaysbeen stronger than yours,niece, and here again, myDaedalus has proven thephysical superiority of myoffspring by killing yourPhaon. Like I care about a show ofbrute strength? asked anothervoice that purred seductively.Again, the group turned asone to see a tall woman, herblonde hair falling in cloudsdown to the back of her kneesand her voluptuous bodyundulating like waves beneathit.Dressed only in a sheerwhite slip, she sauntered upthe beach, her toes ticklingthe foamy crease where thewaves met the sand. It s not the strength of thearm, but the passion inside thehearts of those who fight thatultimately determines thewinner of the war, Poseidon.We ve been through this.She went directly to Helenand stood in front of her asshe spoke. Many times, inmany wars, we ve seen howthe hearts of men and womendecide the outcome ofbattles. She smiled and tookboth of Helen s hands in hers. Hello again, Helen. Hello, Aphrodite, Helenreplied, tears gathering in hereyes.Helen actually remembersher, Lucas thought.For thefirst time he considered whatthat meant.Helenremembered Troy.She knewwhat really happened. I ve missed you so much,Aphrodite said. And I ve missed you,Helen said, her voicecatching, like she was notonly surprised to find herselfsaying this, but surprised to befeeling it, too. Funny, isn t it? I ve knownevery love possible, but as theyears stretched out, the love Ilonged for the most is the oneI shared with my sister.The two women huggedeach other tenderly, and thegolden glow that grew aroundthem was mesmerizing to see,like looking at magic.Lucascould hear the hearts of theScions slow to beat withHelen s and Aphrodite s.Itwas a strong, bindingsynchronicity that Lucas knewthey would all remember, nomatter how opposed they werein the future.Fear ballooned inside ofLucas.Not because the godswere among them again, butbecause Helen was at thecenter of it all.She inspiredsuch love in him, in Orion,even in a goddess.There wasno hate without love, andLucas couldn t help but thinkthat they would all soon befacing a desperate fightbecause of the pure love theyall felt in that moment. A touching reunion, saidthe bare-chested man withblack hair. But your manlost, Aphrodite.And you stillowe me our wager.Lucas pushed his waythrough the group and facedwhat looked like a wet andslightly feral version ofhimself. This is not a gamefor the gods to bet on.Theseare our lives.Poseidon studied Lucas, andlaughed. The Fates would putmy face on a moralizing sap.Let me tell you something,boy.I don t care what theFates want.In the sea, the bigfish eat the little ones.You regoing to have to grow somethicker skin if you re the onewho s supposed to try andreplace me. At least he s intelligent,said another familiar voice.Agod who looked like Hector stwin came down the other endof the beach, interruptingLucas before he couldquestion Poseidon s lastremark. My would-bereplacement is brave, but he sgot to be the dumbest of allthe Scion mongrels.Heactually wanted to challengeme still mortal as he is.It sembarrassing, really.Lucas automaticallygrabbed Hector by the arm.He could feel his cousinitching to jump Apollo,immortal or not, and thatwould probably get them allkilled.A burst of freezing air fromthe center of the circleinterrupted a fight before itcould begin. Now, now, Apollo, saidthe young, blond man whostood in the patch of newlyformed ice.A gust of airpassed over Lucas, but itwasn t sea air.It smelled likethe mountains, laden withherbs and smelling faintly ofstone.It had to be fromanother world. None of usmake wise decisions when itcomes to women.Hector is noexception.He wants hisAndromache for himself.Canyou blame him?The young blond man wastall but no giant.He wasn texceptionally muscular,either, but despite the fact thatboth Poseidon and Apollowere larger and morephysically developed, heradiated power as he walkedto Helen and Aphrodite.Thegoddess nodded at the godrespectfully, but it was Helenwhom he addressed. Well, daughter.You vebeen busy, Zeus said in asoftly scolding tone.Lucas schooled his face sohe didn t give away hisemotions as he thought thisthrough frantically.He hadknown for a while that theFates assigned roles, tradingout new actors in each newcycle so that everythingstayed the same even as itchanged.Lucas quicklylooked around at the gods andtheir Scion doubles before hisgaze settled on Orion.Orion stwin was missing. What do you want fromus? Helen asked, squaring offwith Zeus.Lucas couldn thelp but be proud of her, eventhough it was insane to talk toa god like that.Zeus hadcursed entire generations forlesser offenses, but Helendidn t show a drop of fear. Not us.It s what I wantfrom you, Helen. Zeus spokesoftly but his voice stillseemed to boom. What s that? Helen askedcautiously, her bravadowearing thin.Poseidon and Apollopositioned themselves behindZeus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]