“No.” The Fate looked toward Talisa. “I’m not here for him, paidí. I’m here for you. And before you begin to worry, I’m not my sister. I’m Lachesis.”
The Fate who spins the thread. Not the one who cuts it.
Talisa knew all about the three Fates. She’d heard the stories back home. Knew full well how the Fates liked to meddle in Argonaut business.
She had the markings. Obviously, she was next on their How To Fuck With The Argonauts list. “I don’t need your help, but he does. Do something to help him.”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Lachesis’s eyes softened. “The Fates stopped interfering in Zagreus’s affairs long ago, when we realized he was lost.”
When he was lost…
Talisa was suddenly afraid to ask what that meant. She lifted her other hand to hold Zagreus’s in both of hers.
“Oh, it was long ago.” Lachesis floated toward the cathedral window and looked out at the moonlight sparkling over the dark lake below. “So long it probably doesn’t matter anymore. But, I suppose you deserve to know the truth. Here, now, at the end.”
Talisa wasn’t ready to accept any end, but she needed answers, and she suddenly sensed this Fate was the only one who could give them to her.
The Fate clasped her hands at the her back. “You know the story of the gods, how they came to be. They were angels, sent by the Creator to oversee to development of this world.”
“Fallen angels,” Talisa corrected. “Who turned away from their duties, choosing power and greed instead.”
Lachesis nodded. “We—the Fates—were tasked by the Creator with keeping the gods in check, much as your father and the Argonauts were tasked with protecting the mortal realm. For a while, things were good. Mortals and immortals coexisted with little conflict. But we quickly realized the gods were shifting balance within the universe. Without a savior, this world was destined to fall, and when it did, every innocent mortal would fall with it. So… we intervened.”
“Intervened, how?”
“We blessed the soul of an immortal child with light. The same light all the gods had slowly turned away from. The light that was fading in the world. And our intervention worked. The child quickly came to represent everything good, or everything good as it should be in the world—happiness, joy, and pleasure. But then… his father interceded.”
“His father?” Talisa asked.
“Hades. He sensed the light in the boy from the beginning. Was threatened by it because he associated that light with Olympus, where his wife is from. He grew paranoid. So, to ensure that the boy never rose up against him as he and his brothers had risen against their father, he cursed the boy with darkness.”
Oh shit. Talisa suddenly knew where this was going.
“Yes,” the Fate whispered. “Hades cursed the boy with the darkness that is the lifeblood of the Underworld.”
Talisa’s heart beat hard and fast as she looked down at Zagreus’s relaxed face, still scratched and bruised, still tipped her way as he slept.
Lachesis sighed. “My sisters and I knew the world was in trouble. Wars were breaking out. Zeus was doing nothing to stop them. He and the Olympians were actually feeding conflicts in the human realm, and their infighting was growing worse. We believed the only way to restore balance in the cosmos was for the boy we’d blessed to embrace that light. To use it to overthrow the Olympians. The only catch was that by the time Zagreus reached adulthood, he was, understandably, conflicted. He existed in a chaotic mixture of light and darkness. We believed he needed something—or someone—to inspire him to be the god he was always destined to be.”
Talisa stared at her, instinctively knowing what came next. Dreading it at the same time. “You interfered again.”
“We did. We placed a nymph in his path while he was in the human realm on one of Hades’s errands. A female who was young and beautiful. One who was the exact opposite of the succubi he encountered in the Underworld. One who could not be tempted by power or greed. Who was as pure as the light we knew was still inside Zagreus. And, as we hoped, he was instantly drawn to her.”
A faint smile curled the Fate’s mouth. “She was good for him. Every day he spent with her drew him out of the darkness and pushed him farther into the light. It made him stronger. He seemed happy. We believed she was happy. And we quickly realized that with her, Zagreus would finally live up to his destiny and restore balance to the cosmos. Our interventions had worked.” Her smile slowly faded. “Our only mistake was underestimating just how far Hades had taken his curse.”
Talisa’s fingers tightened around Zagreus’s.
“Had we known Hades had cursed him not just with darkness,” Lachesis said, her eyes sad and fixed on Talisa’s, “but with an uncontrollable need for power, we would not have interfered again. But we were unaware.”
“What happened?” Talisa asked softly, already sensing whatever came next was going to be bad.
“He was presented with an opportunity. The chance to possess a medallion of monumental power.”
The Orb of Krónos. The Fate was talking about the magickal medallion that all the gods wanted and which had the power to unleash the Titans from Tartarus. The god who controlled that controlled everything.
Talisa swallowed hard. “I’m guessing he took it.”
“He did. He couldn’t resist. And in doing so, he left the nymph unguarded. She was not trained as a warrior. So when hellhounds arrived—”
“Skata.” Talisa’s eyes fell closed, already knowing what came next. “They killed her.”
“Yes.”
Dear gods… Hades had lured Zagreus away on purpose, then killed the female he’d cared about.
Her eyes popped open. “All to punish him? For being happy?”
“No, paidí. For turning toward the light. Hades does not care about balance in the universe. He cares only about power. And Zagreus is powerful. More powerful than even he himself knows. But that power is only an asset to Hades so long as Zagreus remains in the dark.”
She looked toward Zagreus on the bed. “After her death, Hades had what he wanted. Zagreus was lost in that darkness again, consumed with rage. He tracked down every individual who had any knowledge of the nymph’s murder, leaving a trail of blood and death in his wake that could not be overlooked. The other gods took notice and pressured Hades to control him. And Hades happily did. He drew Zagreus back to the Underworld for punishment—a horrific repetition of torture and pain that went on for hundreds of years and left Zagreus even darker than before. A pain that only strengthened Hades’s own powers.”
Shit. No wonder Zagreus was so fucked up.
Lachesis sighed. “We—the Fates—quickly realized we had failed. Zagreus was lost to us in every way possible. But with no one to challenge the King of the Gods, Zeus’s powers also grew. As did those of the other Olympians. War between Olympus and the Underworld was inevitable. The mortal realm would be caught in the middle. Zagreus had been our best chance for peace. Then Hades released Zagreus from the Underworld, and we realized… there was still some light left in him. Not much, but enough.”