The Blood of Olympus(107)
It must happen, she thought, hoping the pegasi could sense her intentions. You must complete the journey without me.
She inclined her head to the Athena Parthenos. ‘My lady, it has been my honour to escort you.’
Orion scoffed. ‘Talking to enemy statues now? Futile. You have roughly two minutes of life.’
‘Oh, but I don’t abide by your time frame, giant,’ Reyna said. ‘A Roman does not wait for death. She seeks it out and meets it on her own terms.’
She threw her knife. It hit true – right in the middle of the giant’s chest.
Orion bellowed in agony, and Reyna thought what a pleasing last sound that was to hear.
She flung her cloak in front of her and fell on the explosive arrow, determined to shield Blackjack and the other pegasi and hopefully protect the mortals sleeping belowdecks. She had no idea whether her body would contain the explosion, whether her cloak could smother the flames, but it was her best chance to save her friends and her mission.
She tensed, waiting to die. She felt the pressure as the arrow detonated … but it wasn’t what she expected. Against her ribs, the explosion made only the smallest pop, like an overinflated balloon. Her cloak became uncomfortably warm. No flames burst forth.
Why was she still alive?
Rise, said a voice in her head.
In a trance, Reyna got to her feet. Smoke curled from the edges of her cloak. She realized something was different about the purple fabric. It glittered as if woven through with filaments of Imperial gold. At her feet, a section of the deck had been reduced to a circle of charcoal, but her cloak wasn’t even singed.
Accept my aegis, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, said the voice. For today, you have proven yourself a hero of Olympus.
Reyna stared in amazement at the Athena Parthenos, glowing with a faint golden aura.
The aegis … From Reyna’s years of study, she recalled that the term aegis didn’t apply only to Athena’s shield. It also meant the goddess’s cloak. According to legend, Athena sometimes cut pieces off her mantle and draped them over statues in her temples, or over her chosen heroes, to shield them.
Reyna’s cloak, which she’d worn for years, had suddenly changed. It had absorbed the explosion.
She tried to say something, to thank the goddess, but her voice wouldn’t work. The statue’s glowing aura faded. The ringing in Reyna’s ears cleared. She became aware of Orion, still roaring in pain as he staggered across the surface of the water.
‘You have failed!’ He clawed her knife from his chest and tossed it into the waves. ‘I still live!’
He drew his bow and fired, but it seemed to happen in slow motion. Reyna swept her cloak in front of her. The arrow shattered against the cloth. She charged to the railing and leaped at the giant.
The jump should have been impossibly far, but Reyna felt a surge of power in her limbs, as if her mother, Bellona, was lending her strength – a return for all the strength Reyna had lent others over the years.
Reyna grabbed the giant’s bow and swung around on it like a gymnast, landing on the giant’s back. She locked her legs around his waist, then twisted her cloak into a rope and pulled it across Orion’s neck with all her might.
He instinctively dropped his bow. He clutched at the glimmering fabric, but his fingers steamed and blistered when he touched it. Sour, acrid smoke rose from his neck.
Reyna pulled tighter.
‘This is for Phoebe,’ she snarled in his ear. ‘For Kinzie. For all those you killed. You will die at the hands of a girl.’
Orion thrashed and fought, but Reyna’s will was unshakable. The power of Athena infused her cloak. Bellona blessed her with strength and resolve. Not one but two powerful goddesses aided her, yet the kill was for Reyna to complete.
Complete it she did.
The giant crumpled to his knees and sank in the water. Reyna didn’t let go until he ceased to thrash and his body dissolved into sea foam. His mechanical eye disappeared beneath the waves. His bow began to sink.
Reyna let it. She had no interest in spoils of war – no desire to let any part of the giant survive. Like her father’s mania – and all the other angry ghosts of her past – Orion could teach her nothing. He deserved to be forgotten.
Besides, dawn was breaking.
Reyna swam for the yacht.
XL
Reyna
NO TIME FOR ENJOYING HER VICTORY OVER ORION.
Blackjack’s muzzle was foaming. His legs spasmed. Blood trickled from the arrow wound in his flank.
Reyna ripped through the supply bag that Phoebe had given her. She swabbed the wound with healing potion. She poured unicorn draught over the blade of her silver pocketknife.
‘Please, please,’ she murmured to herself.
In truth, she had no idea what she was doing, but she cleaned the wound as best she could and gripped the shaft of the arrow. If it had a barbed tip, pulling it out might cause more damage. But, if it was poisoned, she couldn’t leave it in. Nor could she push it through, since it was embedded in the middle of his body. She would have to choose the lesser evil.