Last Shadow || Deception Book III

Chapter 8

A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry about not updating on Saturday. I have a medical internship in Washington DC this week, so my family and I had to drive all the way from Toronto to Washington on Saturday.

So yeah, I had no time. But I'm here now, so here's this week's update! Thank you guys for being patient. I really appreciate it. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

- Aeryndyl

Clarianna

"Why not use her?" Daedalus's voice sounded in my head again. "A child of Hecate can navigate the maze. Even-"

Bend it to their will, I thought, thinking of that knowing glint in his eyes after I'd brushed it off.

How? How did Daedalus so easily see the depth of the magic I'd so carefully hidden?

I could only hope that Luke didn't notice and that my reaction seemed smoother than it felt. That the way Luke's eyes seemed to be trying to get inside my head was just because I was walking in front of him. When Daedalus had looked at me, his gaze knowing, it'd taken a huge amount of sheer will to play it off and not freeze up like a deer caught in a headlight.

"Rianna?" Luke asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. I glanced up to see him watching me worriedly. "Are you okay? You've been out of it ever since we left the workshop."

I gave him a small smile. "I'm fine. Just, you know, thinking." I waved my hand absentmindedly back in the direction we'd come from.

Luke made an "oh" expression and nodded. "Yeah, okay."

I turned back to the path ahead of us, telling myself to focus lest I lead us into a monster's lair or gods knew what, but it wasn't long before I felt his eyes on the back of my head again and turned around to see Luke staring at me. "What?" I asked, raising my brows. "Don't think I haven't noticed the fact that you've been trying to bore a hole in my head since we left."

A small smile quirked his lips at my words and he said, "I'm just admiring how you handled Daedalus." He smirked as my eyebrows crept up my forehead. "Is there a god of diplomacy? Because you-"

"Great gods, it's just called being polite," I retorted, turning around again. "A conversation, Luke. Not a posturing party with veiled threats. You have to make the other party feel at ease, that you're a friend, so you can leave with what you want. Besides," I scoffed, smirking at him. "I doubt that there's a god of diplomacy."

"...Can't argue with that," he muttered, and then he mock-glared at me. "What do you mean, posturing?"

"I never said that," I promptly replied and started down the path again, smiling to myself as Luke grumbled something that I chose to ignore.

It was funny how different the mood in the labyrinth was when I was with Luke compared to being with Nico or by myself. I couldn't put my finger on it, but having Luke behind me, knowing that it was him who guarded my back, made me feel a lot less tense.

It wasn't a good thing, I sighed to myself, chancing a glance over my shoulder to see Luke staring at my ground, his face focused as he tried to follow my exact steps. I was letting my guard down around him. Losing focus. I know you can make sacrifices should the time come, Artemis's voice whispered in my head again as I recalled what she'd said to me on the cold mountaintop. The underlying warning in her voice for me, that as long as my mission wasn't jeopardized, I was free to do whatever the hell I wanted.

The problem was that doing whatever the hell I wanted entailed running away with the boy behind me and never wanting to hear the words prophecy, Titan, god, or death ever again. I still hadn't told Luke that there was a prophecy about me and that I was supposed to die to save Olympus from Kronos. I had no intention to change that, even if it meant that I was being the world's biggest hypocrite.