Page 18 of Blood of Olympus

“Even you are not depraved enough to willingly harm a child,” I admonished. “Go ahead, Aletheia.”

She pressed a hand to Poseidon’s forearm, Caelus ensuring he could not wrench it away.

The girl looked up at Themis, who smiled encouragingly at her, before facing me. “Ask,” she said, resolute.

I grinned. “I don’t suppose I need to, but who will you side with in the war to come, Poseidon?”

He bared his sharpened teeth in a snarl. “It won’t be you, Queen of Ruin.”

I opened my mouth to seal his fate when he continued.

“But it won’t be Kronos either. My father is no more deserving of my loyalties than you.” He spat.

“So, you intend to remain impartial? Or rather, you intend to have the freedom to attack both sides at will?”

He remained silent.

“Aros. Lock him away.”

“You’ll be needing a set of these,” Hephaestus cut in, holding out a second pair of bronze cuffs — identical to the ones he’d snapped around Ares’ wrists. Aros nodded his thanks, cinching them around Poseidon’s arms, cutting off any access to his oceanic powers.

Nobody spoke until the marble doors closed behind them.

“I’d say you’ve made an enemy there, but he was one before you were ever born,” Themis offered cryptically. “In any case, balance is required. You shall need to replace him, lest the seas fall prey to Kronos as well.”

“Who would you suggest?” Caelus asked. “We have no further allies among Poseidon’s children, excepting Haras — but no god nor mortal would willingly follow a cyclops into battle.”

“You’d be surprised,” she huffed an airy laugh. “Nereus would be a good option.”

“Old Man Nereus?!” Hermes scoffed. “You’d sooner find a fish in a desert than have any luck with that old bastard.”

“Leave that to me,” Aphrodite declared softly. Her face was drawn, rosy lips pinching and her eyes had a far-off look about them. Curiosity quirked my brows as she continued with a grimace. “We have history.”

Something smells fishy, Velira rumbled through my mind, chortling at her own joke and startling the Olympians in her general vicinity.

Smirking, I turned back to Themis.

“Thank you for your timely arrival.” I dipped my head in a show of respect to the being who was millennia older than the oldest gods in this room. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

She smiled warmly. “We shall not meet again, my young queen.”

“Oh?” I frowned, wondering if I’d somehow offended her.

Themis laughed. “Fate occasionally whispers to me. You have quite the road ahead of you — you all do,” she said to the room. “But ours are not destined to intersect again. Before I go, I feel compelled to warn you.”

“Warn her? Of what?” Caelus interjected, the bite of his fear piercing my sternum.

“Yours is the sword that shall tip the scales, Nyssa. You may live by it — die by it — but it is your hand that shall either re-balance the realms… or destroy them.”

“Thank you, but I’ve heard that song before,” I replied drily.

Themis pursed her lips, considering. In the end, though, she simply nodded and ushered Aletheia out.

“Come, child. Let’s go home.”

“Wait.” I jolted towards them before they could disappear for good. “I still owe you a favour, Aletheia.”

The girl grinned. “Hold onto it for me. I might need something more than a pegasus one day.”