Dreamless

though she didn’t know exactly why. She hadn’t done anything to be ashamed of.
    “You said ‘that’ House a moment ago, almost as if he were connected to more than one,” Lucas said without raising his eyes to meet Helen’s.
    “He is,” Helen stammered, looking anywhere but at Lucas. “Orion is Head of the House of Rome, but he’s also Heir to the House of Athens.”
    The room erupted into several conversations at once. Apparently, Orion was the first Scion ever to inherit two Houses, which made sense once Helen thought about it since the Furies worked so hard to keep the Houses separate. As Helen picked snippets of conversation out of the turmoil, it became clear that there was a prophecy concerning Orion, and it wasn’t a good one.
    “Wait! Hold up,” Helen interrupted as she started to hear people talk about Orion in a way that she didn’t like. “Will somebody please explain this to me?”
    “There’s not much to explain,” Cassandra said briskly. “There was a prophecy made before the Trojan War by Cassandra of Troy. She foresaw that there would be a Multiple Heir—we think that means a Scion who inherits more than one House. This Multiple Heir, or the ‘Vessel Where Royal Scion Blood Has Mixed’ to be exact, is one of a trinity of Scions that we think are supposed to replace the three major gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. The Three Scions are to rule the sky, the oceans, and the land of the dead, if they manage to overthrow the gods and take their places, that is. The existence of the Multiple Heir is a sign that the End Times are coming to a close. The final battle is about to begin.”
    “He’s known as the Tyrant,” Lucas said quietly, and all eyes turned to him in the otherwise motionless room. “He’s described as being ‘born to bitterness’ and he’s supposed to be capable of ‘reducing all mortal cities to rubble.’”
    “Like a Scion Antichrist?” Claire whispered to Jason, but in such a hushed room, everyone heard her desperate question.
    “No, dear, it’s not exactly the same,” Pallas said soothingly as he reached out to Claire and briefly squeezed her hand. “In our understanding, this is when we Scions get the chance to fight for our immortality. It’s not intended to be the end of the world. That said, if the Final Battle goes badly, most mortals won’t survive it. The coming of the Tyrant is one of the signs that it’s all beginning.”
    “The prophecy says that the choices the Tyrant makes leading up to the Final Battle may decide all our fates, god, Scion, and mortal alike. That’s really all we know,” Castor added.
    “Remember, this is just one section of a very long and very complicated prophecy. Most of which is missing ,” Ariadne explained to Helen, Matt, and Claire. “And there’s quite a bit of debate about whether what we have was taken down verbatim, or if parts are just poetry, like in the Iliad .”
    “So this prophecy could be nothing more than a bunch of pretty words, but you’ve already decided that Orion is this Tyrant guy?” Helen asked in disbelief. When no one spoke up to deny it, Helen continued. “That’s so unfair.”
    Lucas shrugged, his jaw clenched, but kept his eyes trained on the floor. The rest of the Delos clan shot each other looks. Helen glanced from face to face, and then threw her hands up in frustration.
    “You don’t know him,” she announced defensively to everyone.
    “Neither do you,” Lucas countered harshly. He looked up and met her eye to eye for the first time in a week, and the force of his glare knocked the air right out of Helen’s lungs. There was a tense moment, and everyone stiffened, watching Lucas. He dropped his gaze.
    “But he’s not like that,” Helen said barely above a whisper, and shook her head. “Orion could never be a tyrant. He’s really sweet and, well, compassionate .”
    “So is Hades,” Cassandra said, almost as if she were talking about a long-lost friend. “Of all the gods, Hades is the most compassionate. After all, he’s said to be the one who’s watching with you when your life flashes before your eyes. Maybe it’s Orion’s compassion that makes him the right replacement for Hades.”
    Helen didn’t have a clue how to argue with that, but she knew in her heart that it was wrong of Cassandra to compare Orion to Hades, or to call him a tyrant. Orion was so full of vitality and optimism—he’d even made her laugh in hell . How could a guy like that