Sons of Zeus (The Warrior Trilogy #1)

Dak looked at him in awe. The heir to the hegemon sat with his ankles casually crossed, leaning back, and yet he radiated a sense of command. It even seemed to affect his mom. She stammered a bit and then did her best to answer.

“Tilda is a wonderful, sweet, compassionate person, my son. She told me the entire story of how these . . . children” — she gave a very nasty glare to each one of them — “had escaped their homes and fled to our land, bent on causing trouble. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that they have a vendetta against my beautiful friend, and she told me they’d come here, saying wicked things about her. Her wisdom and foresight is evident.”

Dak couldn’t take another second of this ridiculousness. “She’s brainwashed you! That’s what she does. All nice and sweet until she stabs you in the back. Ever think there’s an actual reason we’d come here to say bad things about her? If she’s so perfect, why would she have to warn you that we’d . . . warn you about her?” Dak groaned. He was sounding like an idiot.

Sera seemed to agree, shooting him her special look. “What my friend’s trying to say is that this woman, Tilda, is really good at convincing people to do what she says. She’s the leader of a . . . group that’s very . . . evil.” It was her turn to groan.

Dak hid his smile. At least he wasn’t alone on the idiot train.

Olympias stood, folded her arms, and took a few steps forward. “I think I’ve lived long enough, seen enough, met enough people to be able to take care of myself. I know when a soul is good, and when a soul is . . . what was the word you used?” She looked at Sera. “Evil, I believe. Yes, I know. Trust me, I know very well. . . .” She trailed off with that last part, her gaze going distant, and Dak knew she was thinking of King Philip. The man who’d broken her heart and stood in the way of her son’s ascendance.

“Olympias, please.” Aristotle used a soft voice. “Please listen to us. Please trust us. I spent a good part of my life teaching your son — preparing him for a great future. I couldn’t bear it if he were to lose his life. Alex is in danger, and I firmly believe that it’s all because of this woman. This . . . Tilda.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she responded. “I’m well protected anyway. When she comes here, if I sense any —”

“Mother!” Alexander shouted. He jolted from his chair and practically charged to where she stood — Dak thought for a split second he might tackle her like a rogue linebacker. But he stopped in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Did you tell this woman where we live? Where our home is? Did you?”

Olympias appeared shocked by the outburst, eyes wide, leaning back from her son. She finally nodded timidly, and Dak wondered if maybe she was snapping out of her brainwashed delusion of Tilda.

Alexander pulled her into a hug, then kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, Mama, but I would fall backward off the tallest ship into a sea of sharks if my teacher told me to. I trust him with my life, heart, and soul. You should not have done this thing. You shouldn’t have told her where we live.”

“You trust him more than me?” she replied, her expression showing pure heartbreak.

“It’s not the Olympiad. It’s not a race. I trust you both.”

Besides the sweet glorious glee of hearing Alexander actually mention the Olympics — which originated in his country long before they renewed it in the modern day — Dak felt unsettled. Things just didn’t seem to be going well, or the way he expected. Tilda was too smart.

He noticed Aristotle was looking at him.

“Any suggestions?” the man asked him.

Dak wished he had that moment on video. Aristotle asking him for advice.

“I say we lock Alexander in a closet and have his guards and dogs right outside the door for a week.” It’d never happen, but Dak didn’t know how else to make sure — absolutely sure — that Tilda couldn’t get to him.

Alex pulled out his sword and pointed it at Dak. “Remember the lesson you were supposed to learn on that statue? Do I look like the kind of person who’d allow someone to lock me in a closet?”

Dak shook his head, liking this guy more by the minute.

“That’s a good student.” He sheathed his sword. “Now, come. We’re going to the market to hunt down this woman that everyone seems to think wants me dead. She has her own lesson to learn.”

Without waiting for a response — as if he expected any human who ever crossed his path in life to obey his commands without question — Alexander walked out of the room. Dak followed happily at his heels.