Page 94 of Scion of Chaos

He lets out a mirthless chuckle. “The new residents aren’t what you would call fans of his. Though I guess they’re not that new anymore.”

“But they’re fans of yours?”

I’m walking fast to keep up with his long strides. He doesn’t answer and when I reach him finally and look up, he’s frowning.

“Theyarefriends, right?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. They’re reluctant allies, if anything. But I have something they want, which I intend to use to buy your protection.”

I stop short. “I don’t want protection—I want freedom. I thought you understood that.”

He walks on a few more steps before realizing I’m not with him. When he turns back, I cross my arms.

His lips tighten into a hard line as he strides back to me, placing his hands on his hips.

“You need protection. Chaos might not come for you himself, but if the Titans discover you exist, theywill. You need to be in a place where you’ll be protected. Since you refuse to stay in Tartarus, this is that place.”

“A random village in rural Greece is the safest place for me? Seriously?”

“It isn’t random; I’m well-acquainted with the area. But it isn’t the location that makes it safe. It’s the residents.”

“Who are they? Gods?”

“Something like that.”

He turns around without elaborating and heads off down the row, forcing me to jog to catch up with him again. We walk in tense silence for several minutes while I try to decide whether it’s my fault for not seeking him out earlier and getting to know him. The tension between us crackles with power that hehasto feel.

“Why didn’t you introduce yourself when the others did my first night there?” I ask, hoping to understand whether I missed an opportunity, or if there never was one to begin with. It wasn’t as if I had a lot of time in the prison—just two nights, though it feels like an entire lifetime has passed after all that’s happened.

“Didn’t get the chance. The others misbehaved and Vesh locked us out after that. I guess he wanted you to himself.”

“He wasn’t the only one with me.”

“He’ll never shut out his brothers. That includes Pan, despite the faun’s fuckups.”

“You can’t blame him for me summoning him.”

“Are you taking responsibility for it? Because it isn’t your fault, either. But I’m talking about other things, not the recent clusterfuck. That he does what he does isn’t the point; Vesh prizes the faun for his power. We all do, really. Without Pan’s abilities, we wouldn’t get to leave the prison at all.”

“How is it not my fault? I’m the one who summoned him. I’m the reason the Titans escaped. I thought me getting a grasp on my powers was so important because you guys needed my help to capture them.”

“There are stronger powers at work here than what you exerted in your little ritual that night. Fate magic only needs the slightest opening to get in and wreak havoc.”

He’s so matter-of-fact I can’t figure out whether he’s mad about it all or not.

“Doesn’t that piss you off?”

“Doesn’t what piss me off?”

I wave my hands. “Any of it. Pan, Vesh. Fate. Chaos.” I trail off, thinking “me,”but not saying it. Instead, I latch onto one of the few bits of trivia about him that I recall from the books, thinking it a super tragic story. “I mean, if Fate really is the one in control, how are you not pissed as fuck about what they did to you?”

“Fate has done nothing to me. I’ve been unreachable to them for more than a thousand years. I have nothing to be pissed about.”

“I meant before that. If Fate is involved in this…” I wave my hand between us, and when he raises an eyebrow at me, my skin heats. I clear my throat. “You know what I mean. Fate is the reason Vesh could get to me. Fate is the reason I couldn’t stop myself with the others. And why you and I have this… this tether between us even though we haven’t acted on it. If that’s there, that means everything, every event or choice up to this moment was influenced by Fate. And considering what happened to you before, why aren’t you pissed as hell? At least assuming what I read really happened.”

He lifts his brows and nods. “Ah. I think you’re assuming that the powers of Fate are always at work in every aspect of our lives and have been all along. They aren’t, and they haven’t. The gods are often immune to Fate. I was too, until very recently.”

“So what happened with your family…?” I don’t know how to broach the topic, let alone whether I even should, so I let the rest of that inquiry hang.

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