Goddess (Starcrossed)

Jason said back.
    “It’s worse than we thought,” Pallas said urgently to Castor, silencing all other side conversations. “If Orion stays, we are blind. At least with the Oracle we had an edge over the gods. A small one, but better than nothing.”
    “I know,” Castor replied, his face tight with tension.
    “He’s a good man. Anyone can see that,” Pallas persisted. “But good or not, he’s too dangerous. He can’t stay with us.”
    “No. You can’t send Orion away,” Lucas said in a low voice, his eyes skewering his father. All eyes flew to Lucas, surprised that he of all people would defend Orion. Lucas’s face was impassive. “He saved my life and Helen’s. We’re blood brothers now.”
    “I agree,” Hector said evenly. “Orion has fought alongside us. He is a part of our family,” he continued, nodding to Lucas and Helen.
    “Just because someone fought alongside you does not make him a part of this family,” Pallas said to his son in a raised and frustrated voice. “You rely too much on your honor to make your choices for you, Hector!”
    Hector looked away from his father’s intense stare, backing down. He was too respectful to go against his father, even if Pallas was wrong. That pissed Helen off.
    “This isn’t about honor or about Orion,” Helen said bitterly. She took a step toward Pallas and felt Lucas, Hector, and Jason fall into position behind her. “It’s about Cassandra. You’re too scared to face the future without someone to tell you what to do. You’d rather let her suffer than have to doubt what’s coming next. All this talk about Orion being dangerous is an excuse so you can keep your Oracle and not feel too guilty about what that does to your own niece.”
    Pallas took a step toward Helen, his lips curling into a snarl. Undaunted, Helen took a step toward Pallas and tipped her chin up at him, taunting him to take a shot. As far as Helen was concerned, this fight was a long time coming. From the first moment Pallas had laid eyes on Helen, all he’d ever seen was Daphne. After so many years of blaming Daphne for his brother’s murder, he couldn’t let it go. Pallas had always looked at Helen as if any day now she was going to betray the Delos family, and she’d had enough of it.
    “And do you think the same of me, Helen? That I would let my daughter go through that torture so I can . . . what? Feel better about tomorrow?” Castor said quietly as he stepped between Helen and Pallas. Helen felt Lucas put his hand on the small of her back, and she eased off.
    “No,” she admitted, dropping her gaze. “I don’t think that of you, Castor.”
    “Cassandra’s health has always been one of my biggest concerns. But the real problem for our kind is the Tyrant. It always has been,” Castor continued, addressing the group. “I know how you all feel about Orion, and I think those feelings have kept you from seeing the truth.”
    “Not this again!” Helen huffed. “Orion isn’t the freaking Tyrant, okay?”
    “Wait, Helen,” Matt said holding up a hand. “We don’t have all the facts yet.” He turned to Castor. “What did the Oracle say about the Tyrant before we got here? Did anyone write it down word for word?”
    “I did,” Ariadne said from behind her father’s desk. In all the commotion, Helen hadn’t even noticed her there, scribbling away. “I recorded most of it on my phone, too. But I don’t want to hear that again. Do you?”
    Matt shook his head. He held out his hand for Ariadne’s pages, and she handed them over. Helen read along over Matt’s shoulder while Ariadne explained.
    “She repeated this first line about a hundred times, that’s why I added the dots after it. I think Cassandra was trying to fight them off for as long as she could.” Ariadne dropped her eyes for a moment, collected herself, and then pointed to the notes firmly. “I made an indentation each time a new voice took over. And at the bottom there, I highlighted in blue the words they all spoke together.”
     
The Tyrant rises. . . .
The Great Cycle, delayed for thirty and three hundreds of years, is nearly complete.
The blood of the Four Houses has mixed and all of Olympus is contained in one.
The time has come. The children must overthrow the parents—or be devoured by them.
The Hero
The Lover
The Shield
The Tyrant—have taken the stage.
The Warrior waits in the wings, the last to join the battle.
The Tyrant shall rise up with power unlimited. On one