Curses of Olympus (The Olympus Trilogy #2)

21. Icarus

21

ICARUS

I carus runs a brush over Amara’s smooth champagne-colored coat, watching it shimmer under the light. Training has been intense the past couple days, and she has been steering clear of Athena and her short temper. Today alone the goddess sent five Heroes to the infirmary for things as silly as looking at her at the wrong time.

Ever since the feast, all the gods have been on edge, even Aphrodite. Is the rebel threat growing?

Placing the brush back on the shelf, she picks the saddle up off the rack and puts it away in the tack closet. The door sticks as the strips of leather from the reins keep getting stuck, and Icarus grunts in frustration as she tries to close it, but they keep falling out.

Giving up, Icarus turns and kicks a bucket. Flames come roaring from her hands, catching the nearby hay on fire, and she falls over backwards.

She hits the ground hard and stares at her hands in horror before she snaps out of it and scrambles for a bucket of water to douse the flaming hay. At least she was alone for that debacle.

“My, my, you’ve been hiding some talents from me, golden girl.”

Apparently not alone. Icarus freezes as Athena comes around the corner.

“Well, don’t just stand there looking like an idiot. Explain yourself, and I warn you, girl. I am in no mood to be trifled with.” Athena narrows her eyes.

Shit. Aphrodite told me not to tell anyone about my Phoenix powers, but Athena will kill me if I don’t tell her.

Icarus chews nervously on her bottom lip.

“This was the first time anything like this has happened to me. Truly.”

Athena’s stare bores down on Icarus as she awaits the goddess’s judgement.

“Get your things from the barracks. You will no longer be housed there. A room will be waiting for you in my temple. Your training will be with myself or Telegonus, and you are to inform me of any new developments in your abilities. Is that understood?”

Double shit . “Yes, goddess.” She nods.

Athena steps into Icarus’s space, bringing their faces frighteningly close together. “Good. I knew as soon as I saw you that you were special. But be careful, golden girl, my favor can be lost in an instant. If I feel you are keeping secrets from me, our next chat will be much less comfortable.”

Not waiting for an answer, Athena turns on her heel and leaves.

Icarus still stands right where Athena left her when Telegonus walks into the stables and heads straight for her. He barks, “You. Let’s go. Saddle up.”

“But I just finished cooling Amara down,” Icarus replies warily.

“That was not a request.” His deep voice carries all manner of threat within its gravelly depths.

“Yes, sir.”

Icarus pulls the saddle, blanket, and bridle from the tack room, slipping them back onto Amara with ease. To her credit, her steed puts up no protest to the additional work for the day.

Sticking her boot into the left stirrup, she swings her legs over the saddle and gets situated in the cushioned seat. She collects the reins and clicks her cheek, guiding Amara to start walking. Around the corner of the stables, they find Telegonus on his own mount, ready to go. He takes off without a word into the sky, and Icarus follows.

Once she is alongside him in the air, her voice is strained as she raises it to ask, “So what are we doing?”

Icarus can barely hear his reply over the wind as he says, “Found a group of rebels that we need to flush out of their hidey hole.”

Anger rises in Icarus’s chest at the thought of the rebels. The night of the feast was fucked up to be sure, but if the they overthrow Olympus’s entire way of life, things would be so much worse for the realm. Why can’t they see that?

She nods to Telegonus, and the rest of the flight is silent as Icarus lets the complicated emotions course through her.

The rebels want to threaten everything that matters because they are jealous of the power of the gods. So, what are they thinking? If they can’t have that power, no one should? How does that logic play out? It doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to be risking so many lives to go up against the Pantheon.

The story Castor told her about the encounter he and his brother had with the monster, Medusa, comes to mind. His stone hand and dead brother are all she can think about as Telegonus signals for them to land.

There is a long chain of unnamed, uninhabited islands to the east of the mainland in the Olympic Isles, and it is on the shores of one of them that Icarus and Telegonus touch down on the sandy beach. He dismounts and draws his sword silently, and she follows suit.

Holding a finger to his lips, Telegonus walks along the beach, his sword at the ready. She follows him around a bend, and a series of small caves comes into view. They walk into the first one, but it is only a few feet deep and completely empty. They have similar luck with second, but in the third, they find a small group of people huddled together as far back into the short cave as they can go. She counts four adults and two young children, a boy and a girl.

Telegonus turns to Icarus and chuckles darkly. “You see? They find little nooks and crannies to hide in, hoping to flag down a rebel ship to pick them up.”

One of the men in the group protests, “No, we aren’t rebels or anything like that.”

Telegonus gives the man a withering glare. “Then what are you doing all the way out here?”

The man’s wide eyes are pleading. “My kids always wanted to come visit the islands, so I figured why not bring the whole family.”

The low laugh that comes from Telegonus is anything but amused. “Is that so?”

The man and his companions nod.

Dropping to one knee, Telegonus beckons one of the children to him. The boy shyly hides his face, but the girl is all smiles as she skips to the Hero, not sensing the threat before them all.

“Hello, little one. What is your name?” he asks.

If Icarus didn’t know better, she would almost mistake that for genuine kindness in his voice.

“Mila,” her little voice squeaks out proudly.

“Mila. That’s a lovely name. Is that your brother?” Telegonus points to the little boy.

Mila nods enthusiastically. “Yes. That’s my brother, Joshua.”

“Mmhmm. And where were you off to?”

“We came to get Uncle Krys and bring him back to the secret place with us.”

Icarus’s heart skips. Does this kid know where all the rebels are?

A woman from the group calls to the little girl, “That’s enough, Mila, please come back to Mama.”

Telegonus’s smile turns into a sneer as Mila tries to run back to her mother, but she yelps when Telegonus’s hold tightens on her wrist. “Not so fast, little one. I think I have more questions for you.”

He picks her up and carries her to the front of the cave. When Mila realizes her family is not following, she starts crying for her mother.

“No! You cannot take my child!” Mila’s mother rushes forward to try and save her daughter, but Telegonus runs his sword through her as if she were nothing. Mila shrieks, and the men start to run after her, but Icarus holds her own weapon up to keep them at bay.

As he passes Icarus, Telegonus leans in. “Torch it. Let’s see if you can put those flames to use.”

Telegonus leaves the cave, and Mila’s cries slowly fade until they no longer echo off the walls.

Icarus stands there, sword drawn, facing the small group of rebels for several seconds. She knows what she needs to do, but the reality of doing it is tougher than she thought it would be. When she envisioned the glory of joining the Heroes growing up, she never imagined having any difficulties claiming a life in the name of justice and the safety of the realm. So why is she hesitating now?

Tears well in her eyes, and she drops her sword. The men slump in relief, but only because they have no idea that she is pulling on her powers and will need her hands free to wield them.

As the flames form at her fingertips, Icarus repeatedly reminds herself what is at stake if the rebels win, all the atrocities they have committed in the name of their new world.

The cave erupts into a world of fire and ash as tears stream down Icarus’s face.

This shall not break me.