Page 49 of Crown of Olympus
Then, despite everything — the gore, the wounds, the pain — Nyssa fuckingsmirked, bloodstained teeth bared for all to see.
“Apologies for keeping you all waiting. I got held up,” she deadpanned, her haunting voice low and sharp.
Ares scoffed while Aros grinned. His bonded manticore huffed an amused chortle from its lion head, its long, scorpion tail swishing from side to side. It was an impressive beast — too bad Aros had given it a less than impressive name.
I remained frozen, unwilling to trust my body’s insane desire to go to her, to cut down anybody who stood in my way.
I did not realise that this might include my own bonded wolf.
Lykos bared his teeth at Nyssa and growled.
She reeks of hydra venom,he snarled.
Hydra? How in Tartarus is she still standing?
She won’t be for much longer.
Nyssa gritted her teeth. “I see I’m not the only latecomer.”
Distractedly, I registered she was right. Another champion was still missing.
“Unfortunately, Hestia has not returned,” my mother grumbled. “Therefore, she is hereby disqualified from the Ascension Rite.”
I vaguely noted Athena and Artemis gaping, but my eyes were locked on Nyssa’s now trembling form. Blood dripped steadily between her fingers — her wounds weren’t closing like they should have.
But it was her eyes that troubled me the most. They flitted about the room, wide and confused, as though she was seeing things the rest of us couldn’t.
Lykos, what does hydra venom do to a god?
A sinking dread pulsed through me.
I cannot comment on the effects on gods.He rumbled into my mind.In wolves, it causes a searing, burning pain in the veins — like our blood has turned to liquid metal. Healing is impaired until the venom is extracted. If not… permanent paralysis of the limb can occur.
Nyssa flinched and her eyes flicked. She was mumbling something unintelligible. The gods all watched her cautiously, curiously.
No one moved to help her. Not even me.
The dragon climbed up her arm to perch on her shoulder, screeching in her face. Nyssa blinked at the purple creature, eyebrows slashed together like she had no recollection of the tiny thing. Her skin was growing paler by the second.
Could it cause hallucinations?I asked, almost afraid of the answer.
In this case, yes. I believe it could.
Seconds later, the daughter of Hades crashed to her knees, gasping for breath.
“No!” she screamed. “No, this isn’t right. You’re gone. You left.”
Her eyes darted wildly, unable to settle on anything.
“But why did you go?” she whimpered. “Why did you leave me?”
I slowly wove through the sea of fixated gods, making my way to her side — but somebody beat me there.
The goddess of love whispered to the goddess of death. Nyssa calmed.
I looked up from her haunted expression and met Aphrodite’s eyes — deep blue and steady.
She gestured for me to come closer. I needed no encouragement, my body had been tensed tighter than a minotaur in a pottery store, desperate to scoop her up for what felt like an eternity.
