Eris (The Lost Goddesses #4)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

E ris had never been inside of Laverna's catacombs. Being so deep under the earth had always made her nervous, and she never would have ventured into them if the Lady of Bones hadn't been there as a guide.

"So, how is it going between you and Rom? Are you living full-time at the villa now?" Eris asked, trying to keep herself distracted so the walls of earth didn't feel as if they were closing in around her.

"We tend to split our time between my place and his, depending on where we are in the city that night. It's weirdly nice to have someone to go home to," Laverna admitted. She was softer than Eris had ever seen her, and when she smiled, it reached her eyes.

"I can't imagine what that is like after hating each other for so long," Eris replied.

Laverna sighed dramatically. "I know. We still argue, but we work it out pretty quickly. He's managed to get through all my defenses, the bastard." They walked in silence a little further before Laverna spoke again. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"As long as it's not some weird sex position that Rom likes," Eris said, making the other goddess's laughter echo through the dark tunnels.

"I would never subject you to that," Laverna said when she finally stopped cackling. "I'm... I'm hearing prayers again. It hasn't really happened in centuries. Since the fight with the witches, something has changed in me. I don't know how to explain it."

"Maybe you are ready to hear from them again, or has the connection you have to the city opened that all back up?" Eris suggested.

Laverna shrugged. "Maybe. I do feel more open since Rom and I got together, and I know Bellona has been hearing hers again too. There has been a change in the air. I probably sound crazy, but it's the only way I can describe it. Now, your curse might have a chance to be lifted, and you actually tried to go on a date. It all seems like things are finally moving again."

" Tried being the word. I still feel like an idiot about it, and I have no idea what I am going to say when I see Enzo again," Eris said, letting out a frustrated breath. "I blame Aphrodite's blood in him that made me say yes in the first place."

"Blame his blood if it makes you feel better about it, but I don't judge you for saying yes. He's hot as fuck for a start, and for people like us to feel any kind of connection, even for a second, it's worth it," Laverna said.

"I should have stuck to priests," Eris replied, and they both laughed.

They walked in the darkness for another ten minutes before they came to a heavy iron door. Laverna's power filled the tight space, and she put her hand on the door. Something clanged inside of it, and it swung open.

"Welcome to my horde. Watch where you step. I haven't been into this one for a while," Laverna said and began to light ancient-looking torches and oil lamps.

"This one? How many do you have?" Eris asked, staring wide-eyed at the piles of treasures stacked around her.

"A few. You know what immortals are like," Laverna said vaguely.

"Some immortals," Eris corrected. She didn't have hordes. She had nothing from the past that she wanted to keep or remember. She had survived her curse by being as present as possible. "Can you tell me what we are looking for?"

There were bookshelves crammed with scrolls and codexes, piles of paintings, chariots, weapons, chests overflowing with jewels, crowns of gold laurel leaves, and statues of every size and kind.

"It actually doesn't look like much, if I am being honest," Laverna said from behind a pile of shields. "It's about a meter high, looks like it was carved out of driftwood with bits of gold foil flaking off it. You can tell it's a woman, but unlike ancient art depicting it, it doesn't hold shields or spindles or any of that nonsense. It feels...different. Like it has an aura. You will know it when you see it."

"Did you really take it to keep it safe? Or did you just get bored one night?" Eris asked, making her way toward an eerie assembly of statues in one corner.

"I was telling the truth. The Vestal Virgins were worried about it being taken from the temple. They reached out to me and asked me to protect it. We replaced it with a likeness. As long as the original was kept in Rome, they were happy for me to have it," Laverna said from where she was shifting shields to see what was under them. "If I am being honest, I kind of forgot that I had it until tonight. Makes me think that I was keeping it safe for when you needed it."

Cool, invisible fingers crept up Eris's skin, and she could feel the Fates' threads all around her. She shifted a marble bust of some emperor, and the air squeezed out of her lungs. Leaning against the earth wall was a lumpy shape of wood, a small pile of gold gilt littering the ground around it. She touched it, and power thrummed against her fingertips.

"Laverna? I think I found it," Eris called. She had met Athena a few times over the centuries, but it didn't feel exactly like her power. It felt ancient and ominous, like a bomb waiting to go off.

Laverna moved through the maze of treasures to join her. "That's it, all right. It kind of gives me the creeps."

"Me too. Maybe the rumor that part of Athena's power is trapped in it is true," Eris said and lifted up the statue. For its size, it was oddly light.

"Here, wrap it in this," Laverna suggested, pulling out a purple cloak from under a pile of golden and silver coins.

"Steal this from an emperor?" Eris teased, taking the garment. Once the palladium was covered, the tense feeling in the air was dampened.

"Probably. I can't remember where half of this came from," Laverna replied with a grin.

Eris lifted the palladium up again and gestured to Laverna. "Lead the way. As much as I am impressed by your treasures, being underground makes me twitchy."

"Well, you are a creature of the air after all," Laverna said and tilted her head curiously. "Have you used your wings lately?"

Eris shook her head. "The last time I tried, they still wouldn't be summoned. I assumed it was just another layer of my curse to piss me off."

"Hmm, maybe they will return once the palladium is back in Troy as well," Laverna commented.

Eris could only hope. She missed the feeling of being in the air, of the weight of wings sitting on her shoulders, the joy and freedom that she felt when she floated through the clouds.

They walked back to Eris's rental car in a thoughtful silence. It seemed a lot quicker going out than going in.

When they were finally free, Eris took deep breaths of the night air. Laverna helped her shift the palladium in the back seat of the car. Eris hesitated before clicking the seat belt around it.

"Okay, part one is done. I have the palladium. Now I just have to figure out how to convince Enzo to come with me," Eris said, leaning against the car. "I doubt he even wants to speak to me, let alone go on a sea voyage."

"And if he says no?"

"I'll tie him up and carry him there if I have to. I might have to do that just to get him to stay still long enough to convince him I'm a goddess."

"Sounds to me like we need to go old school on this, Eris," Laverna said, her smile turning feral.

"You want to kidnap him?" The idea wasn't without merits. Eris needed him, and she had lived with the curse for too long to have to try and bargain details with a human. He was probably already mad at her for walking out, so really, she had nothing to lose.

"Traditions are traditions, and gods kidnapping mortals is nothing if not tradition," the goddess of thieves said.

Something in Laverna's expression raised the dark chaos in Eris. She was a goddess, not a human, and it had been a long time since she had done something reckless.

"The Fates didn't say he had to willingly come with me," Eris said slowly, a plan already forming in her head.

Laverna punched her playfully in the arm. "That's my girl. I'll drive."