The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2)(84)

“So we need your help,” Hazel finished her story. “Reyna needs your help.”

Hylla gripped Percy’s leather cord and yanked it off his neck—beads, ring, probatio tablet and all. “Reyna…that foolish girl—”

“Well!” the older woman interrupted. “Romans need our help?” She laughed, and the Amazons around her joined in.

“How many times did we battle the Romans in my day?” the woman asked. “How many times have they killed our sisters in battle? When I was queen—”

“Otrera,” Hylla interrupted, “you are here as a guest. You are not queen anymore.”

The older woman spread her hands and made a mocking bow. “As you say—at least, until tonight. But I speak the truth, Queen Hylla.” She said the word like a taunt. “I’ve been brought back by the Earth Mother herself! I bring tidings of a new war. Why should Amazons follow Jupiter, that foolish king of Olympus, when we can follow a queen? When I take command—”

“If you take command,” Hylla said. “But for now, I am queen. My word is law.”

“I see.” Otrera looked at the assembled Amazons, who were standing very still, as if they’d found themselves in a pit with two wild tigers. “Have we become so weak that we listen to male demigods? Will you spare the life of this son of Neptune, even though he once destroyed your home? Perhaps you’ll let him destroy your new home, too!”

Hazel held her breath. The Amazons looked back and forth between Hylla and Otrera, watching for any sign of weakness.

“I will pass judgment,” Hylla said in an icy tone, “once I have all the facts. That is how I rule—by reason, not fear. First, I will talk with this one.” She jabbed a finger toward Hazel. “It is my duty to hear out a female warrior before I sentence her or her allies to death. That is the Amazon way. Or have your years in the Underworld muddled your memory, Otrera?”

The older woman sneered, but she didn’t try to argue.

Hylla turned to Kinzie. “Take these males to the holding cells. The rest of you, leave us.”

Otrera raised her hand to the crowd. “As our queen commands. But any of you who would like to hear more about Gaea, and our glorious future with her, come with me!”

About half the Amazons followed her out of the room. Kinzie snorted with disgust, then she and her guards hauled Percy and Frank away.

Soon Hylla and Hazel were alone except for the queen’s personal guards. At Hylla’s signal, even they moved out of earshot.

The queen turned toward Hazel. Her anger dissolved, and Hazel saw desperation in her eyes. The queen looked like one of her caged animals being whisked off on a conveyor belt.

“We must talk,” Hylla said. “We don’t have much time. By midnight, I will most likely be dead.”

XXXI Hazel

HAZEL CONSIDERED MAKING A RUN FOR IT.

She didn’t trust Queen Hylla, and she certainly didn’t trust that other lady, Otrera. Only three guards were left in the room. All of them kept their distance.

Hylla was armed with just a dagger. This deep underground, Hazel might be able to cause an earthquake in the throne room, or summon a big pile of schist or gold. If she could cause a distraction, she might be able to escape and find her friends.

Unfortunately, she’d seen the Amazons fight. Even though the queen had only a dagger, Hazel suspected she could use it pretty well. And Hazel was unarmed. They hadn’t searched her, which meant thankfully they hadn’t taken Frank’s firewood from her coat pocket, but her sword was gone.

The queen seemed to be reading her thoughts. “Forget about escape. Of course, we’d respect you for trying. But we’d have to kill you.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

Hylla shrugged. “The least I can do. I believe you come in peace. I believe Reyna sent you.”

“But you won’t help?”

The queen studied the necklace she’d taken from Percy. “It’s complicated,” she said. “Amazons have always had a rocky relationship with other demigods—especially male demigods. We fought for King Priam in the Trojan War, but Achilles killed our queen, Penthesilea. Years before that, Hercules stole Queen Hippolyta’s belt—this belt I’m wearing. It took us centuries to recover it. Long before that, at the very beginning of the Amazon nation, a hero named Bellerophon killed our first queen, Otrera.”

“You mean the lady—”

“—who just left, yes. Otrera, our first queen, daughter of Ares.”

“Mars?”

Hylla made a sour face. “No, definitely Ares. Otrera lived long before Rome, in a time when all demigods were Greek. Unfortunately, some of our warriors still prefer the old ways. Children of Ares…they are always the worst.”

“The old ways…” Hazel had heard rumors about Greek demigods. Octavian believed they existed and were secretly plotting against Rome. But she’d never really believed it, even when Percy came to camp. He just didn’t strike her as an evil, scheming Greek. “You mean the Amazons are a mix…Greekand Roman?”

Hylla continued to examine the necklace—the clay beads, the probatio tablet. She slipped Reyna’s silver ring off the cord and put it on her own finger. “I suppose they don’t teach you about that at Camp Jupiter. The gods have many aspects. Mars, Ares. Pluto, Hades. Being immortal, they tend to accumulate personalities. They are Greek, Roman, American—a combination of all the cultures they’ve influenced over the eons. Do you understand?”