The Blessed and the Pure┃🖋

Chapter Ο

Something was different about Hero - disturbingly different - and Hallie couldn't put her finger on what.

Maybe it was because she held herself as if she were a breakable object. As if a single movement could shatter her. Shatter her and unleash a dam of emotions.

Maybe it was because she looked healthier somehow. Healthy and strong and ready to take on the world.

Or maybe Hallie was looking too far into Hero's actions since finding out she was a Blessing. Yeah, that had to be it.

Hero checked the sky and groaned. "Charax is an hour late!"

"He's probably held up or something," Leodes said. "Foot traffic was horrible on my way here."

Hero rolled her eyes. "Yet you're here, and he's not. Unfortunately."

"It is a little worrying," Irene said, trying to distract Leodes from Hero's insult. "He's been early ever since-" she cleared her throat. "Since the incident, getting here before even me. And before that, he always arrived by now."

Hallie bit her lip and leaned back in her seat. Nikas was sitting next to her, but he was too engrossed in the conversation - if you could even call it that - before them.

She didn't tell Nikas about her sister's necklace. She didn't tell anyone. It wasn't like she knew why her vocal cords were so against the idea; she did nothing wrong.

Too much of a revelation, she decided. Nikas would freak out, and Taryn might one day insist they find Auge after a particularly boring day. And as much as Hallie didn't want to admit it, she didn't want to see her sister. One day, but not now.

It was better this way.

"I'm here," Charax said, staggering down the steps, tripping on the final step, and almost face-planting onto the stage.

"Sir!"

Charax straightened and brushed himself off. "I'm fine, Irene. Thank you for your concern."

"Why are you late?" Hero snapped.

"Hero!"

"Don't be so dramatic." She rolled her eyes. "We were all thinking about it. Someone had to say it."

Charax got a strange look in his eyes, a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth. The look didn't suit him at all. It was freaky. Unnatural.

"You're right, Hero. Someone does have to say it." He unveiled his barely concealed smile. Hallie shivered. Freaky. "You're fired."

"What?" Hero shouted at the same time Leodes shrieked with glee. "Yes! I called it! I knew the gods were real!"

Hallie stood there, stunned, as Inachos and Damia exchanged bet money. What was Charax doing? He'd have to have a solid reason, a reason even a Sóma Kardián judge couldn't dispute. Otherwise, he'd never make it out unscathed.

Hero - surprisingly - ignored Leodes and squinted at Charax. Then she grinned. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"You're bluffing." Hero strutted up to Charax and pointed two of her fingers at him. "I can see it in your eyes."

Leodes deflated like a balloon. "Is she right, Charax?"

His eyes twitched. "Dang it, Hero! Can't you let me have this one moment of victory before it's all over?"

Nikas sat forward at that. "'Before it's all over?' What does that mean?" He paused and paled. "No."

"Yes..." Charax rubbed his eyes. "She was partly right, Leodes. It's not just her that's fired, it's all of us. Even me."

That whipped the smirk off Hero's face.