Page 17 of A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows

He smiled, his emerald eyes sparkling. A guard trotted up and turned his horse alongside us. “We’ve found a suitable place to stop for the night near water where we can put up tents. We won’t reach any cities until tomorrow at least, and the captain thinks it’s a good idea to turn in early today.”

Valerian nodded. “Better to not overextend the horses.”

“All right,” I said. “I’m going hunting.”

The guard—a tall man named Theos with thick brown hair that held a touch of a curl and skin that always had a rosy brush to it—furrowed his brow. “How many guards would you like to go with you?”

“None.”

He startled and shifted to Epiphany and Valerian, as if they might offer support before turning back to me. “My lady, the king has tasked us with your well-being and safety.”

I sighed, but Epiphany spoke up, loose curls of hers wisping across the gray sky like a trail of smoke. “Captain, with respect, my father sent you for my sake. Temi is her own agent and not under your responsibility.”

He hesitated for a moment, his features tightening, but he bobbed his head and coaxed his horse forward towards the other guards.

And so, an hour later, I found myself in the cool belly of a forest where moss crawled over boulders and a creek trickled just beyond the dark streaking forms of the tree line. I was relieved to get a few minutes alone. As much as I loved having Epiphany and Valerian on the trip—and I truly did; they already made the traveling more pleasant—I also still hadn’t had time to process everything happening to me.

I wondered if I ever would assimilate it. All that I’d known about myself had turned out to be a lie, and it seemed like my world spun around me, with no place for me to gain purchase and find out how to define who I was now. That’s exactly why I had to go to Sappho and seek answers. Until I had them, my life would stay in chaos. It felt normal, at least, walking through the forest, moving alone through the loamy ground beneath boughs of leaves that rustled together.

I’d always felt most myself outdoors, creeping through the woods in the lonely hours of the day. And that was doubly so now that everything felt up in the air.

Something crackled, and I tightened my fingers around my bow, tucking down behind a bush, allowing my breath to whisper its way between my lips. The air shimmered, like glitter flitted on the breeze, a sweet floral scent permeating over the earthy smells of the forest and hair rose on my neck. That wasn’t natural.

“What are you doing, Artemis?”

I startled and jumped around. On a hill, tucked between two gray pines, a goddess stood, the gold of her eyes as bright as stars, the silver outline of the high deities hovering over the alabaster of her skin. Her flaxen locks shimmered.

“Who are you?” I asked.

Her ruby lips parted into a cruel smile. “I suppose you wouldn’t know me as you don’t pay tribute to me as you should. As any woman”—she emphasized the word—“should.”

“Hera,” I breathed.

She stepped closer, her feet crunching over pine straw. “Yes. And I’ve come here with a warning for you.”

She kept easing nearer to me, and I readjusted the bag that held my arrows, hovering my fingers over them. “What kind of warning?”

“You do not know what you seek. You don’t realize the prophecies you set in motion with this journey of yours. Stop now before it’s too late.”

I took a careful step forward, my boot dipping into boggy ground, and I repositioned, finding firmer footing. “I have a right to find out who I am.”

“Women who go seeking answers end up hurt,” she said, her voice as cutting as a blade. “Did your mother never tell you the legend of Pandora’s box?”

“My mother died before I had a chance to hear her stories, but”—a twig cracked as I moved around the trunk of a tree—“I have a feeling she wouldn’t have told me that one, anyway. She didn’t believe women should be powerless and shamed.”

Hera’s nose wrinkled, her glow brightening. “Oh, yes,” she hissed through her teeth. “I won’t forget your mother. For all her supposed bravery, the last look in her eyes, as the blade ruptured her lungs, was terror.”

I shook my head. “My mother died in childbirth with me.”

She laughed, her shimmering gown dragging over twigs and pebbles. “Is that what you believe?” She came close enough to me that the bright citrus scent of her trailed to me. “Oh, my foolish, naïve child. No one who fucks my husband lives for long. My fate is entwined with my husband’s, and I will destroy anyone who threatens it.”

I sucked in a breath that sliced at me. “Are you saying that you killed my mother?”

Hera’s chin dropped, her eyes taking on a glint, a smile curling up over her cheeks. “Yes, I did. And I will do so much more to keep fate in my favor.”

I slapped an arrow out, losing it as soon as it hit my bow. Hera swiped her hand in the air, splintering the wood, and it peppered the forest floor. “Oh, you are as senseless and brash as your mother, believing you can fight a goddess.”

She jumped in front of me; her glowing reflected over my skin. My heart lurched, but if I was going down, it would be fighting. I snatched a blade from the belt on my leg and slashed it towards her.