Goddess (Starcrossed)

kept her safe. Lucas briefly wondered if he’d ever protected her at all. “I still think Orion’s the Shield, though.”
    “But I don’t need a Shield. I never did,” she said, almost like she was reading his mind. With all the new things she could do, Lucas wouldn’t put telepathy past her.
    “No. I guess not,” he agreed. Something about that troubled Lucas. Helen had always been the strongest, so what did the Shield “shield” her from, exactly?
    “Maybe Orion is the Lover. He is a son of Aphrodite,” Helen said, like she was considering it.
    That made sense. And although it killed him to think about it, Lucas was pretty sure that Orion was Helen’s actual lover now. But no matter how mixed up all the signs for the different roles were, Lucas knew better.
    “Orion isn’t the Lover.”
    “How do you know?”
    “That part’s taken already.”
    Helen looked at him, her beautiful mismatched eyes swimming with regret and, Lucas hoped desperately, not pity as well. “You know . . . all these new talents I have . . .” Her voice wavered. “One of them is controlling hearts.”
    “So you mentioned.”
    “I could take your love for me away,” she offered in a small voice.
    “And then what?”
    Helen’s brow pinched together, like she was confused by his question. “Well, then you could move on with your life. We’d have to stay away from each other, though.”
    “We tried that already, remember?” Lucas asked with a wry smile. “It didn’t work.”
    Lucas had no doubt Helen could erase his love for her, but he also knew he’d only fall in love with her again the next time he laid eyes on her. There was no “moving on” for him. No matter what else Lucas did in his life, his love for Helen would always define him. He was the Lover.
    “Please, Lucas? I want to make this easier on you,” she said quietly, her head tilted down.
    “Then stop talking nonsense.” He bumped her shoulder playfully with his until she dropped her pained look and smiled. “We’ve been over this a dozen times. Nothing’s ever going to change the way I feel about you.”
    She finally met his eyes and nodded sadly, accepting what she could hear in his voice—the truth.
    “So, maybe Orion’s the Hero?” she asked, trying to change the subject to something more productive.
    “Hector,” Lucas replied immediately, shaking his head.
    “Right. That’s a no-brainer,” Helen said, rolling her eyes a little. “Unless Hector’s the Warrior?”
    “The Warrior joins the fight last, and Hector’s never come late to a fight in his life. I’d bet just about anything Hector’s the Hero and Orion’s the Shield.”
    Helen seemed to struggle for a moment with her next question. “What is it?” Lucas asked coaxingly.
    “Is the Tyrant really as bad as Pallas said?”
    Lucas nodded slowly. He didn’t want to scare her, but he also knew he couldn’t lie to her. “What little of the prophecy we have left talks about the Tyrant like he’s stronger than all the gods combined. And there’s supposed to be this huge battle with monsters and storms when the Tyrant rises. Even the sky is supposed to change colors, like a kaleidoscope.”
    “Sounds like the apocalypse.”
    “Yeah,” Lucas said, feeling Helen shiver.
    They sat there for a while, dangling their feet off the side of the house. Even though the conversation had taken such a dark turn, just having Helen near him relaxed Lucas and helped him focus. He might not be able to kiss her, but if she was sitting right next to him, he didn’t torture himself over who else she might be with. And what they were probably doing.
    He reminded himself it was better this way and swallowed the lump in his throat. He wanted Helen to be happy, and he trusted that Orion could give that to her. Lucas certainly never had. All he ever did was make Helen miserable, and as soon as he knew this whole mess was over, he was going to make sure he never hurt her again.
    Burying these consuming thoughts, Lucas forced his mind to drift instead. He shuffled through every image and use of a shield he could come up with.
    “Shield, defense, bastion, block . . . ,” he mumbled. “What does Orion shield us from? What does he block?”
    “Well. He seems pretty good at blocking doorways,” Helen joked. Her smile disappeared quickly as a thought occurred to her. “And prophecies.”
    “And the futures of anyone who spends a lot of time with him,” he breathed. “Orion shields