Omega (41 page)

This was the only
choice.
The Oracle’s soft, sad voice was
in my head as I began to fade into unconsciousness.
At least you have a chance to survive. To murder
him. To see yourself free of our cursed fate. I will hold out as
long as I can to keep your full powers from emerging.

I was mid-prayer kneeling before the altar
of Artemis when the cell vibrated in the pocket of my robes. I
ignored it initially, but today was Niko’s day with the kid. Which
meant I was expecting a message about someone burning down the
apartment building or worse – Niko forgetting Tommy at the park
again. Tommy carried a cell phone for that very reason. It had
happened twice this year alone. Niko was good with his dogs, but
kids were different. They couldn’t be left alone.

Excusing myself from the goddess, I rose,
extinguished the candles before me and bowed my head before
breathing my last lungful of incense. I exited the temple on the
compound where the Silent Queen’s villa was located.

I checked the phone.

He’s making his move
against your boss,
Niko had
messaged.

I stopped in place, coldness streaking
through me. My eyes went from the villa, where the Silent Queen’s
elite guard was in clear sight, to the entrance to the underground
caverns where the Oracle was kept across the compound. SISA and
military guards were gathered there, and a full platoon of the
combined forces was marching in my direction. It didn’t take me
more than a split second to understand his warning.

I activated the silent alarm. The politics
and alliances among the Triumvirate were constantly shifting. The
Supreme Priest had been reluctant to side with the Magistrate fully
about the Oracle’s fate. The Silent Queen’s stance, of course, was
not to allow the traditional fate to befall her.

From the text and approach of the
cooperating security forces, Lantos had finally made his
decision.

What’s the plan?
I hurried towards the Silent Queen’s home as I
typed.

Niko responded
fast.
Not sure. But we’re putting the
Oracle where she belongs. Only way to stop these wars.

“
There’s so much more at
stake, you asshole.” Fury filled me. Niko’s arrogance – and his
blind allegiance to the Magistrate – had always angered me. It was
worse this time, because he knew what it meant if Alessandra took
her place, if she fell into the hands of the Magistrate.

Rather, he knew what it meant to me. Niko
had never cared about the bigger picture I tried on more than one
occasion to share with him. He was more interested in the money
paid him to enforce the Magistrate’s will. I wanted so badly to
pretend I didn’t care, to expect the worse from Niko. But with
Tommy between us, with the moments of kindness Niko showed his own
son, I was weak. Always ready to believe there was a shred of
decency in the mercenary’s heart, always willing to pray for Niko
to become a good man so our son had a worthy role model.

But Niko didn’t have one ounce of goodness.
He didn’t care about leaving the world a better place for our son
or anyone else.

What about Tommy?
I texted as I passed the guards. A servant opened
the door for me. I dashed into the villa.

“
Phoibe!” I rarely broke
protocol by calling her by her name rather than her title, but my
instincts were screaming. I raced through the villa and shoved the
door to her private bedchamber open.

She was meditating next to a mini-altar near
the window. At my entrance, she rose, concern on her features.

What is it?
She asked.

“
We need to go. Now.
Remember the worst case scenario?”

The teen girl nodded and strode to her
closet. I heard her change as I gathered the packs we’d prepared
from under the bed. Whipping off my robes to reveal the uniform of
a Royal Guard with an M patch on one bicep, I strapped and tucked
weapons into every place I could.

Gunfire broke out from the front of the
villa as the security arms clashed. “Now!” I called.

The Silent Queen emerged from her closet,
dressed practically as I’d taught her, and accepted the pack I
handed her.

I bolted out of the room. She followed.

The front door was being smashed to pieces.
We raced through the villa to the wine cellar, down the stairs, and
into the darkness of the basement.

“
Rendezvous point at the
wall,” I snapped at the Royal Guard members present. “I’m blowing
the cellar. You’ve got ninety seconds to vacate the villa. Got
it?”

They nodded and ran. We’d all practiced for
a quick exit many times, but my hands still shook knowing this was
it. This was the day the protection of Artemis we’d always enjoyed
was going to be tested by the merciless intensity of Ares.

The Silent Queen was halfway through the
cellar, headed towards the secret elevator in the far corner. I
paused as I went and triggered the bombs hiding in several of the
kegs along the cellar. We had enough plastic explosives to level
the entire villa, and an engineer had placed the explosives in such
a way that would completely destroy the secret entrance to the
underground world.

Niko’s text drew my gaze
as I trotted to the elevator.
I’ll take
care of him. He’s better off with me since you’re in hiding
anyway.

I missed a step.

Sometimes, in my anger and emotion, I forgot
how shrewd Niko really was. He had survived the underworld, the
monster arena, and the Supreme Magistrate with nothing more than
physical strength and street smarts. Bullheaded, selfish Niko had
been planning this. I didn’t think it possible it was a coincidence
he asked for Tommy on this weekend when he was close enough to the
Magistrate to know his innermost plans.

My ex was smarter than he let on, and that
infuriated me more than anything.

Theodocia!
The Silent Queen signaled me.

Shoving my emotions and phone away, I hopped
into the elevator. “You remember the plan?” I asked her. “To the
wall and out of here to our Virginia safe house.”

She nodded. The unflappable royal was pale.
She was cutthroat at politics, but this was my area of expertise:
keeping us alive and her from falling into the clutches of gods or
men.

The trip to the underground city had never
felt so long. No sooner did we touch down and exit than fire
flashed and a distant boom sounded overhead as her home was
destroyed.

The city was a flurry of activity. As
practiced, Royal Guards in civilian clothes greeted us. They
surrounded the queen and started herding her towards the emergency
exit. I raced through the crowds to Gus, my chief of operations
during a crisis.

“
Gods, Gus, please tell me
you got those wall busters out this morning!” I exclaimed as I
burst into the active arsenal area. He stood overseeing his staff
checking out men and weapons as fast as possible.

“
Two,” he said grimly. “We
stopped when you triggered the alarm. They’re on their way out of
the city.”

“
Two is better than none.
Activate the training units, and send out orders to liquidate all
holdings and bring the cash here.”

He nodded, typing in the orders.

“
Docia.”

I turned. Herakles stood frowning, watching
the movement around us. My heart dropped to my feet at the thought
of revealing that his adopted daughter was at the mercy of a man
who wanted only to return things to the way they were. How would he
react if I told him the truth?

“
What’s going on? Is this
a drill?” Herakles’ sharp eyes took in everything.

“
No, it’s not.”

“
Then what do you need me
to do?”

I considered. His size, training and
strength were advantageous, and he had the added bonus of raising a
spirited teen girl with magic powers. “I need you to make sure the
Silent Queen gets out of the city,” I said finally. “To a safe
house.”

“
What has
happened?”

“
The other two made their
move,” I said vaguely. “She’s in danger, and our plans just got
moved up.”

“
What’re you not telling
me?” He was studying me closely. “Is Alessandra safe?”

Gazing up at him, I couldn’t find the heart
to lie to him. “No, she’s not. But they won’t kill her like they
will Phoibe. I’m staying here because –”

He started to protest, and I raised my
hand.

“–
because I know the
city, Herakles,” I said firmly. “I know the players, the danger and
the best way to help her. If you want to assist us, go with the
Silent Queen. She is Alessandra’s best hope of surviving
this.”

“
Docia –”

“
Please.” I rested a hand
on his chest. The warmth of his skin reached me through his
t-shirt, and I found myself pausing at the intimate sensation, once
more experiencing attraction I shouldn’t. Shaking off the thoughts,
I continued. “Artemis has plans for Alessandra. I will stay to
ensure those plans come to fruition. But this is about to become a
war zone. I need you out of here. I need the Silent Queen alive for
us to succeed. Please.”

I saw the torment in his eyes, the same in
my heart when I realized how true Niko’s words were. My son was
safer with him, under the protection of the Magistrate and
military, than he’d ever be with me down here, now that the next
stage of our struggle had begun.

“
I will see her to safety.
And then I will return,” Herakles said at last. “War or no, I will
not leave my Lyssa in the hands of these monsters.”

“
Fair enough.” I didn’t
have time to argue or negotiate. “Gus, call if you need anything!”
He nodded. “Herakles, come with me.” I jogged through the armies
mobilizing for battle beneath the city towards the exit where the
Silent Queen would await me. She and her small force of elite
guards stood at the foot of the wall, and her eyes were on her
phone.

I approached her and saw the tightness
around her eyes, the sorrow in their depths, a rare sign of emotion
from the queen of stoicism. “What is it?” I asked immediately.

Lantos sends his love and his apology for
betraying me. How am I to take this?

I squeezed her arm, aware of the affair
between them no one else knew about. “You are to survive. Always
survive.”

He says the Magistrate will turn Alessandra
against us. He suspects what we’ve been doing.

“
And Lantos? Is he going
to tell what he knows?”

He says not.

“
Like I trust that rat
bastard.” I waved Herakles over. “I’m sending Herakles with you.
Extra security.”

The Silent Queen squared her shoulders and
lifted her chin, all emotion gone. Even so, I knew the depth of her
emotion for the Supreme Priest. Years ago, he had brought me to her
to become her mentor and seen to it I had the training and skills
to protect her. He had loved her far longer than she loved him, but
it didn’t make the intensity of her feelings any less.

Neither of us really ever thought he’d go
this far as to lash out at her. But it fit. No member of the
Triumvirate was any less ruthless than the next, when it came down
to it. If Lantos were in the Queen’s way, she’d order me to take
care of him, no matter how much it hurt her.

We were alike in this. The greater good, our
higher calling, meant more than the life of any one person.

“
It’s an honor,” Herakles
said softly. “I swear on my life I will see you to
safety.”

She nodded her head in a simple bow.

“
Go. Don’t look back.
Ditch your phones and any other electronics,” I instructed her.
“Herakles, you kept Alessandra safe and hidden for twelve years. I
need you to do the same for the queen.”

“
Of course.”

The Silent Queen gave me a
long look then threw her arms around me, squeezing me to her
tightly.
You must survive, too. You are all
I have, Dosy,
she told me. Moments like
these reminded me of how young she truly was. I’d helped raise her
since she was six, and I didn’t want to be apart any more than she
did.

“
I will. I swear it.” I
released her. “Now go. Don’t stop until you’re safe.”

She pulled up the hood of her coat and
nodded with a glance at Herakles.

I stood back and watched them enter the
wall. Our revolution was not yet ready to launch, but we no longer
had the luxury of waiting.

Turning away from them, my mind went to
Tommy. Every maternal instinct in my body was screaming for me to
make his rescue my first priority. But Niko wasn’t going to let
anything happen to him. He probably planned on using our son
against me, but he’d never hurt him or let anyone else near
him.

These kind of reassurances had to do for
now. I had to prepare for the first stage of our rebellion, which
left no room for distraction.

Take care of our
son,
I texted to Niko. I didn’t wait for
his response. With a heavy heart and dread twisting my gut, I
dropped the cell phone and smashed it with my heel then returned to
Gus to take up my role as Mama. When the city was safe, and the
fighting over, the Queen could take her rightful place leading the
revolt against the gods.

And I’d go back for my son.

A common danger unites even the bitterest
enemies