Sons of Zeus (The Warrior Trilogy #1)

She paused, and pinched the bridge of her nose as she took a deep breath. “Time and space are fine. The fabric of reality is fine. What you’re doing — messing with the past, trying to change major events — that’s the thing that will drive us to destruction. This young man . . .” Tilda paused and turned a sad gaze on Alexander. “He dies. He must die, for the good of the world. Whether by Pausanius’s hand or my own. I’m here to convince you to let that happen. With words, if possible. If not . . .”


She didn’t need to say the rest. Sera swallowed, feeling uncertain about their mission for the first time. Aristotle was the founder of the whole order of Hystorians — but was it possible that he’d created the organization for selfish reasons? That he simply couldn’t bear to see his favorite student killed? That it wasn’t about the fabric of time, but about a softhearted man who wanted to save a boy who could have been great? Sera hated it, hated this wave of doubt. “But why all the natural disasters?” she asked Tilda. “You’ve seen the state of the world. Plus, I went to the future and I saw the Cataclysm for myself. In a world that the SQ has been running, by the way.”

“Exactly,” the woman replied. “You saw it. You went to the future after correcting some of the Hystorians’ so-called Breaks. You saw a catastrophic future that you created. Again, you’re smart. Think about these things, and you’ll see that I’m right.”

Aristotle turned away from Tilda and walked to stand with Sera and her friends. Alexander, his guards, and Olympias did as well. They stood in a circle, their job now to decide the fate of the entire world. Maybe the universe. No biggie, Sera thought.

“I don’t trust this woman,” Alexander said. He still held his sword as if he wanted to strike the first person to disagree with him.

“Amen,” Dak added. “I don’t trust that lady any farther than Riq can throw Sera.”

Riq’s face wrinkled up in confusion for a second, but then he just shrugged. “She’s a trickster. Whatever she says we should do, I’m doing the opposite.”

Sera looked at Olympias, but the woman was silent, deep in thought.

Aristotle scratched his long beard and sighed heavily. Then he spoke.

“This woman believes what she’s saying. Of that, I have no doubt. But there’s also a . . . darkness about her. Not to mention the simple fact that she marched twenty armed men down here to kill the boy I spent years training to be a great king someday. And I feel the goodness in each of you.” He stepped forward and took a second to touch Dak, Sera, then Riq on the shoulder.

“I don’t even see a question, to be honest,” the philosopher said. “There’s no way in Hades or the halls of Zeus that I’ll let that woman take the life of Alexander.”

“He is the son of Zeus,” Olympias whispered distantly.

“I don’t need your help,” the young heir said, his eyes slightly moist. “But I appreciate the offer.”

Fear crawled like a caterpillar up Sera’s spine. They only had three soldiers, and Tilda had twenty.

“What are you thinking?” Dak whispered to her.

She shrugged. “I just don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Dak turned to Alexander. “Can you call more of your friends? It looks like we have pretty bad odds.”

Alex spun the sword in his hand. “Today you will learn the greatness of Alexander” was all he said, but it came out sounding like something that should be engraved on a plaque. The young man turned toward Tilda and stepped away from the circle of friends they’d formed, heading straight toward the woman.

“My lady!” he yelled out. “We have counseled with my teacher and master, the wisest man who has ever graced this world. And our decision was an easy one. We reject your foul proposal and order you to leave the lands of my mother, Olympias of Epirus, daughter of King Neoptolemus. Leave, or the punishment will be severe.”

“So be it.” Tilda nodded, then took slow and steady steps backward, her eyes never leaving Alexander. The soldiers she’d hired parted to let her pass, and soon all of them were once again in front of her, a shield of armed and angry men.

“Kill them,” she said, as calmly as the most seasoned battle commander.

“But, Tilda!” Olympias screamed, finally coming alive. “You were my friend! We were like sisters!”

Tilda frowned. “Be sure and kill her, too.”





ANY EMPATHY or understanding Riq had felt for Tilda vanished as quickly as a drop of water thrown into a fire. He almost sensed it leave his mind, like a tangible thing. The woman had been doing her best to brainwash them, but the spell was finally broken.

The soldiers she’d brought along started marching forward, drawing swords and daggers and spears. Their walk turned into a trot, then a run. Roaring battle yells, they charged in to do as their master had ordered.

A cold rush of terror washed through Riq, knowing they had absolutely no chance of fighting against all those muscles and weapons. Unless somehow they could wrestle a couple of the soldiers down, maybe steal their weapons . . .

He looked at Sera, and his heart hurt to see how scared she was. Dak, too. It was up to him, then. He would gladly sacrifice himself to ensure all they’d fought for wasn’t lost now, with victory so close.