Page 78 of A Crown of Hopes and Sorrows

He cleared his throat and reached out, brushing his fingers over the dot of an island gently as if it was Epiphany’s hand he touched. “We know that a god can transfer their powers to another person so that Zeus’ line cannot recognize them. Is there a deity who could veil me? I could go seek Epiphany.”

Birds whistled and sang, giving one last performance before settling for the evening. Sappho’s jaw shifted. “And if you ran into trouble?”

“I’ll go with him,” Atara said. “I cannot harm Hera, but I could help with magic, and the panthers could act as a distraction.”

I slipped the key Hecate had given me out of my pocket and rubbed my thumb over the back of it. “We have a few deities on our side. I have an idea.”

Everyone nodded, and the energy in the room shifted.

The despair of sunset bleeding away as a new moon of hope rose.

32

Hyacinth

The horse I rode twitched his ear, his hooves chuffing up bundles of ivory snow. I shifted in the saddle. It had been a while since I’d ridden, and my muscles ached. Getting off and walking again would be unpleasant.

Len trotted beside me. I had instructed the guards to give us a berth, and their horses marched along at a distance. Grief and anger gnarled their way through me. I didn’t want the guards studying me too closely. I’d already noticed some of them giving me looks that veered somewhere between curiosity and sympathy. Neither made me feel comfortable.

I longed to be alone, to stand at the top of a cliff and scream until my voice ran out. To dive into water and let the ice of it embrace me. To lie in my bed and weep the sorrows of my heart until it stopped aching with every beat.

But I was a damn crowned prince heading up a war. I didn’t have room for emotions. I didn’t have the time to process things.

Len shifted towards me, his voice a golden puff in the air. “Where are we going, Cyn?”

Tears of frustration bit at my eyes. Where could we go that hadn’t heard the story of what Apollo had done? Which gods might we seek that wouldn’t see me as a fool, or even worse, realize we didn’t align with their side and bring the god’s wrath or—I shuddered—Zeus’ fury onto Niria?

Fuck. This was supposed to buy us time. Not hasten things forward.

I needed to discuss everything with Father.

That had been the plan.

Before Apollo sashayed across the room and destroyed everything.

His name ached through me.

He came to my thoughts in bits and pieces. His eyes, golden and insecure under a star-speckled sky. His hands curving along my body like he touched the sacred. His lips quirking up with mischief.

I still loved him.

Desperately.

But how could he have done that? How could he have used me?

And he hadn’t shared something as major as his ascension happening in a few months’ time with me. I had to hear it from Zephyrus’ mouth, from gossip.

Betrayal.

A bitter reality to embrace.

“Cyn?”

I sighed. Right. Len had asked for me to set the course for the rest of the trip. “I don’t honestly know.” I gestured a gloved hand out to the lilac forms of mountains we left. Getting away from the Palace of the Four Winds and Zephyrus was the top priority. “What gods might receive us?”

He nodded. “Should we return home, then? Visit more temples along the way?”

“Would it even matter?” I yelled and then cleared my throat. My emotions felt like a rip current, sluicing through me, capsizing the boat of my resolve. “I think Apollo fucked any chances of Zeus not finding out our plans at this point.”