Forty-Three ◑ The Homecoming

"No," Lucille mumbled. Suddenly her entire body was numb. She scrambled away from the waves as though the saltwater would scald her. "This has to be. . . ."

She trailed off, struggling to get on her feet and facing the towering cliffs laid before her. Perched atop the highest mountain, surrounded by cypress trees and rock formations, was a grand structure with columns and levels made of white marble. From here she could see the flowers blooming in the balconies, the white curtains that billowed in the wind.

A bitter taste invaded her mouth. That very building was the royal palace, her home.

Her mind began to spin with an onslaught of memories, but she inhaled sharply and forced them to go away. Enough memories. Enough pain. The gods had been right; she was better off not knowing.

"I don't understand," she appealed to Dimitri instead, helping him lift his brother upright. His black wings were already gone, his cuts drying up in the brutal heat. "How did we end up here?"

Keiran held her gaze. "I don't know. You tell me."

Lucille didn't know what surprised her more: Keiran's accusing tone or how fast he'd reverted back to his snarky, sarcastic self. Either way, she said, "This isn't my doing. I couldn't have possibly—"

"Not your doing?" he echoed, wincing as Dimitri propped him against a rock. "You made a portal appear the moment you let go of the ledge. It's why I jumped after you. I thought you were going to take us to Bahamas or something, but no. You flew us back to your princess days."

"It's done," Dimitri snapped. "We're here, and it's good because the two can't touch us here. Is this really the time to argue?"

"Yes!" Keiran said. "We're in the past while our dear lovebirds are in the present time, making babies and shit. And if we don't get the hell out of here—well, there would be so many options to our deaths that I doubt even you, dear brother, could name them. And yes, I said death because I'm powerless, and you will be soon too, Dimitri."

Dimitri pursed his lips. "That is probably—"

"Untrue?" Keiran challenged. "Go on, then. Use your wings again."

The God of Death paused and concentrated, but his wings didn't make a reappearance.

Keiran smiled humorlessly. "See? No power. It's because you used it against a human. I just wish you managed to kill at least one of them."

"I didn't." Dimitri avoided Lucille's eyes. "Cade has your powers, and you know we're at an impasse. But Agnes. . . ."

He faltered. Lucille's entire body withered inside. "Agnes is dead?"

"No," he muttered, "but she's not alright either."

"I'm hoping she gets worse," Keiran said in dark satisfaction, gesturing at the beach and at the cliffs. "Or else being stuck here is worth nothing."

This should have been the part where Lucille clapped back, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Her arm was hurting so bad that it was bringing a wave of nausea up her throat. She waded across the beach towards the gods, adjusting the bandage around her wrist as the bracelet dangled innocently.

Keiran was glaring at her as she approached, but inside her, there wasn't a single urge to fight back, nor the will to do anything at all.

Besides, how would you match the temper of someone who'd just saved your life twice in the same day?

After all, it was her fault. She was the one who'd believed, let herself get played, and walked right into a trap with her emotions covering her eyes. Being stuck in her hometown, in the painful past, was something she undeniably deserved.

Two two gods shouldn't be included in her misery, though.

Once more she raised her gaze towards the royal palace.

Would her parents still be there? Hell, would her former self be there? Was her mission to stop herself from making the unfortunate decision of marrying Cade or Cadmus? Would that fix her present?

That would make sense, but something didn't match. The palace looked older and more worn than she remembered from her flashback.

"What if we split up?" Lucille blurted out.

Dimitri froze. "No."

"Split up?" Keiran echoed, furiously brushing sand off the candle's box. "The last time we tried that, we ended up squaring it off with your deranged husband, who wants to kill you so bad he committed every sin imaginable."

The last statement dug into her heart like an arrow, but the tears that drummed behind her eyes tightened her throat and prevented her from speaking.

Dimitri caught sight of her tears and told Keiran, "Drop it. What we should do now is to find shelter as we figure out a way to . . . What's that?"

He pointed at the sky—or rather, at the speck of black that was shooting across it. The three of them stared at it as it grew bigger and bigger, then they suddenly realized that it wasn't growing in size at all. It was sailing closer to them, and it turned out to be a gigantic boulder being fired at them from one of the island's watchtowers.

They'd been spotted by the men who guarded the seas.

"Oh, shit," Keiran mumbled, and it summed the whole thing up pretty nicely.

As timely as ever, Dimitri snatched his brother's arm, grabbed Lucille's hand, and led them into a corner to avoid the incoming boulder. It crashed against the side of the rocky cliff with an ear-splitting boom, causing bits of stone and dirt to puff into the air like a small firework. The boulder itself split into three pieces, which then shot towards the sand.

Well, lucky they'd avoided that. But before they could appreciate just how fortunate they'd been, another boulder came whooshing towards them, this time from the other watchtower but the island of Crete.

"Here!" Dimitri pointed at the mouth of the forest and made a beeline towards it with them in tow.

Surprisingly, even though she was exhausted in all aspects imaginable, Lucille managed to keep up with Dimitri as they avoided the projectiles and sped towards the greenery. Still, she hadn't realized how wide the beach was, just how far they had to go before reaching a safe end.

Perhaps this could be attributed to her wobbling knees and the fact that she had to hug her right arm to keep it from flopping around in pain. Perhaps it was the hot sand that burned her feet. Whatever it was, it felt like they'd been running for hours, and yet the main foliage of the island still seemed miles away from them.

Dimtri was basically dragging Keiran at this point, and the God of Fate was practically dangling around. Lucille was panting and heaving. Their destination was slowly coming close.

But just as they were about ten feet from the forest, about six armored men appeared from behind the gigantic rock formations at the bottom of the cliff and blocked their way.

In a synchronized, almost automatic way, Dimitri, and Keiran raised their palms in surrender. Lucille just hugged her broken arm and froze.

The men, no doubt the navy of Crete, spread around the entrance of the forest. Each of them carried swords and spears, which were drawn, pointed, and ready to maim. Their faces were hidden behind metal masks, but their aggressive voices still rang out as clear as the sky above.

And Lucille wasn't really familiar with the sound of their language, but for some reason, she understood every single word.

"Trespassers," one of them accused. "You shall be executed."

"What did he say?" Keiran asked Dimitri in a low voice.

"I don't know," Dimitri mumbled back, his brows creasing in frustration. "That's Ancient Greek."

"I know it's Ancient Greek, that's why I'm asking you to translate it!"

"I haven't heard that language since the death of the civilization, so don't expect me to remember it!"

Keiran looked scandalized. "But the souls you ferry to their afterlife—"

"I haven't seen a soul from this era in a thousand years," Dimitri hissed. "Besides, I don't talk with old souls."

"Stop talking!" another guard barked, pointing his spear at their general direction. "You must be the spies of Iolchus. You shall pay for your sins."

With that, the guards drew closer, but Lucille waved her arms around and blocked them. It was a stupid move that could've caused her to get skewered by six spears, but to her surprise, they froze. They were now eyeing her with dark interest.

For a moment she wondered if this was the return of her powers, but the fresh ooze of blood in her right wrist told her that it wasn't. Then she remembered that she had features that were considered 'rare' in this era. So did Keiran.

An idea popped in her head.

"Show them you're gods," she told the twins. Dimitri began to shake his head, s9 she quickly added, "Or at least try. I can understand what they're saying, but I can't speak the language. We'll get royal treatment if they find out you're deities."

"Right. Fine." Keiran limped forward and held his arms open. "Kneel before me, stupid mortals. I'm Phanes, the God of Fate and Life and all that jazz."

Although they didn't understand him, his condescending tone was enough to make them scowl.

Keiran rolled his eyes and yanked Dimitri's arm for them to see the dried Ichor. "If you look here, you'll see he's bleeding gold, which means we're gods and you shouldn't mess with us."

The men tensed and readied their weapons.

"Look, we really need some food and medicine," the god continued coolly, "so if you could just put those silly weapons away and serve us—"

The rest of his words got cut when the guards attacked all at once in a tornado of swinging swords and flying spears, leaving no point for escape.