“We’ve been here all day!” Pallas called out. “Your mother said you’d be here hours ago!”
Cyane appeared behind Pallas’s shoulder. Her friend was the only one she cared about. But even Cyane’s eyes were wide. “We thought something had happened to you!”
Breathless, Kore plopped down onto the ground beside the nymphs. “Sorry to keep you waiting, your highness.” Even seated, she managed an exaggerated bow. “Mother and I were spending quality time together. Where is Artemis?”
Pallas shrugged her dark shoulders. The sun gleamed off them as though she were made of smooth obsidian. Her fingertips glowed with all the colors of an abalone shell. She was, in short, particularly beautiful today. And Kore felt even less of a woman beside her.
Wrapping her arms around her waist, Kore tried again. “Mother said you’d call Artemis to look after me.”
“Why’s that? Aren’t you a goddess?”
“Zeus is here.”
Pallas turned ashen and her eyes widened in fear. “Zeus? Well then, I suppose we should get Artemis.”
Her eyes drifted shut as the nymph called out to her dearest friend. Kore felt only a slight burn of jealousy that Artemis had given the nymph leave to contact her through their minds. The goddess was picky about who was allowed in her thoughts.
Cyane floated closer and rested her hand against Kore’s knee. “Don’t worry. Artemis will protect you.”
And yet, Kore wasn’t all that worried.
Artemis shimmered into view beside them, stretching her arms above her head and yawning. “What do you two want? I was sleeping!”
Actually, with the dark circles around her eyes and the haphazard way her hair looked, Kore wondered if Artemis was hungover. She’d seen her mother look that way more times than she could count.
“Zeus is here,” Pallas jumped in before Kore could respond.
The hangover disappeared from Artemis’s visage immediately. Power thrummed through her body and straightened her shoulders. She twisted her hand, bow and arrows appearing on her back with the simple movement. “Where?”
They both stared at Kore as though she were the one who was supposed to guide them into battle. She didn’t know where Zeus was. She didn’t even know if he was here yet.
Kore held up her hands and shrugged. “I don’t know. Mother said he was coming to visit today, and that you were supposed to keep me out of trouble.”
Artemis heaved a relieved sigh. “Oh, that’s all it is.” The bow and arrows disappeared from her back. “You worried me, Pallas.”
“Well, I was worried!” Pallas held out her hand for Artemis to take. “Athena might be my sister, but you...”
The words trailed off. Kore had a feeling she was missing something important here, but she was far too removed from their friendship to know what it was. Narrowing her eyes, she asked, “Is something going on that I don’t know?”
Both nymph and huntress flinched away from each other. Artemis ran a hand over her unruly curls and shook her head firmly. “No, Kore. Not at all. We’re both here to make sure Zeus doesn’t want to marry you, that’s all.”
The mere thought was ridiculous. A father marrying his daughter?
Bursting out into laughter, Kore let the sound filter through the glade with the oceanids and nymphs. Memories of their previous conversation in this place flowed through her mind like the waves over the rocks.
Inspired, she leaned over and grabbed a knife from Artemis’s belt. Quickly, she sliced a lock of hair from her head and held it out for Artemis to take. “Well, if that’s my fate, then I believe I’m meant to sacrifice this to you.”
Artemis took the strand of hair and Kore felt a pulse deep in her stomach. Magic twisted in her guts and she knew the offering was more than just a jest. It was real. And on the day when Hades would ask for her hand, perhaps even the day when she’d be getting married, this was significant.
Perhaps the huntress didn’t feel the same thing as Kore. She merely took the lock and laughed. “Ah, yes, of course, Maiden daughter of Demeter. I accept your offering.”
The hair burst into flames and disappeared, leaving only its acrid scent behind. But the feeling of looping magic over Kore’s shoulders remained. She could still feel the binding, the magic that shivered through her body.
Except this magic tugged on her very soul. It whispered for her to go into the forest. Leave the nymphs behind. Something awaited her in the shade and the shadows.
She glanced over her shoulder. Was there a figure standing beside the solid trunks