room, most of it sucked into Lucas’s lungs. Ariadne spun on her heel and Lucas took Helen’s hand.
“Is this bad?” Helen asked Lucas breathlessly as they followed Ariadne through the house.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Listen, will you promise me something?”
“What?”
“Promise me that no matter what my mother says, that this isn’t the last time you talk to me.” Lucas made her stop and face him. He held her by her stiff shoulders and placed his lips against her forehead as he spoke. “Promise that you will speak to me again. Even if it’s just once.”
“I promise,” she stammered, not sure if this was really happening to her or if she’d wandered into some bizarre dream.
She and Lucas went into the kitchen holding hands tightly, as though for the last time.
Noel looked over at Castor and gestured to them as if they were “Exhibit A” in her prosecution.
“Luke, go upstairs,” Castor said without being able to look him in the eye.
“I think I’m entitled to hear this,” he replied calmly. Helen clutched his hand and glanced around at everyone’s solemn faces.
Something was very wrong. Helen started to breathe so fast she felt like for the first time in her life she might actually hyperventilate.
“I want you all out. It’s my hearth, and my sacred right by Hestia,” Noel said firmly, as if she were invoking some old ritual. “This is between Helen and me now.”
After a few moments of silence, Jason was the first to move. Seeing the look in Noel’s eyes, he went to Lucas and physically separated his hand from Helen’s. If it had been anyone else, Helen was convinced Lucas would have put up a fight, but he allowed Jason to lead him upstairs. Everyone else filed out of the kitchen, looking sad. Everyone except for Pallas, that is. Helen noticed that he looked satisfied. Even a little smug.
“Sit,” Noel said, pulling out a chair for herself, facing Helen. “You don’t understand what’s happening, do you?”
Helen shook her head and swallowed. Noel asked another question. “Ariadne explained the Truce to you, right?”
“She said the Houses have to stay separate or the gods will come back and start the Trojan War all over again,” Helen croaked through a tight throat.
“Right. Now what does that mean? What would be the simplest way for the Houses to be unified?” Noel asked sharply. Helen shook her head again, scared dumb, and Noel continued. “There are two obvious ways. One House can destroy the others, or the Houses can intermarry. Usually this is impossible for Scions because the Furies keep everyone hating everyone else, but that isn’t an issue for you and Lucas.”
Helen let out a giant breath of relief.
“Is that it?” she asked. “Nobody’s marrying anybody! Lucas and I are way too young! We’re not that stupid.”
Noel shook her head, as if Helen had missed the point.
“Do you know how marriage was defined in ancient Greece?” Noel said in a calmer tone. “It’s really simple. A virgin goes to a man’s house with the family gathered as witnesses. The virgin and the man share a fire, a meal, and a bed. If the girl wasn’t a virgin in the morning, then the couple was considered married. That’s it. That’s all it took. You’re still a virgin, right?”
Helen blushed furiously, her jaw dropping. “Yes. But that’s no one’s business but my own!”
“It certainly is our business. Because you and Lucas have shared almost everything else on the list, all that’s left is the consummation of the marriage. If that happens, then as far as the gods are concerned you will be his wife. If you’re his wife, then that unites the final two Houses. And you know what that means.”
“War,” Helen said, completely stunned. Her brain scrambled to find the flaw in Noel’s argument—the one thing that would make it untrue—but she didn’t come up with anything. “It’s impossible.”
“No, it’s ironic. The first Trojan War started because two teenagers fell in love and ran off together, and here are you and Lucas, poised to make exactly the same mistake,” Noel said, her pity beginning to show through her anger.
“And Lucas knew all this? Right from the start?” Helen asked. She felt strangely numb.
“From the first moment he saw you,” Noel replied.
“That explains a lot,” Helen whispered, still putting the pieces together in her head. “I thought he was just old-fashioned or something.”
“Lucas? No.” Noel laughed, shaking her head at the thought. “But he is honorable, so I trusted him with you. I allowed this