Strife | Fated Four: Book 5

Chapter Five

*Clarissa*

Aether surprised me. I hadn't expected him to swear on the River Styx like that. But it proved that we could trust him.

"Thank you Aether," I told him.

He nodded.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry that you have to go through this without your soulmate," he told me.

I nodded and Aether vanished in a shimmer of light.

"Okay so we know how to take care of Hemera, but we still don't know what's going on with our powers," Avalon stated.

"Our powers?" Davina asked.

"Rose had that big power surge when she fought Hemera, and you and I had a burst of power during training the other day," Avalon explained.

"And Clary?" Davina asked.

"Arrow says that I've gotten stronger," I replied.

"You have," a voice called out. There was a shimmer of light and Hera appeared. "You all have."

"Can you elaborate, please?" Rosalie asked.

"The four of you were born as demigods, so your powers were relatively limited," Hera explained, "Over the last few weeks, you've been fuelling the power within yourselves through training and fighting Eris. You've all gotten stronger. So strong in fact that you cannot be called demigods any longer."

"Wait...does that mean we're...?" Davina trailed off, unable to finish.

"Goddesses," Hera replied, and then she turned to Davina, "The Goddess of the Present," she turned to Avalon, "The Goddess of the Unknown," she turned to Rosalie, "The Goddess of the Future," and finally she turned to me, "The Goddess of the Past." Hera then spoke to all of us, "The four of you are the consorts of the Four Fates. You compliment them, which is why your titles are what they are. There will be a formal ceremony once this whole situation with Eris is over."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Rosalie told Hera.

"You're free to call me Hera now," she told us with a smile.

"Hera...has...has my Mom spoken to you?" I asked.

Hera gave me a small smile.

"Yes she has," Hera replied, "Come, we can speak over here."

I followed the Queen of the Gods into the woods and we stopped when we were out of earshot from the others.

"Your Mother told me that you've been ill lately," she told me. I nodded.

"I've been getting these headaches, I've puked a few times, I can't sleep at night, and sometimes I'll hear a voice asking me to tell it a story or play with them," I explained, "Not to mention that there's something in the air around me."

"What do you mean?" Hera asked.

"I can feel Arrow's power around me, and it wraps around me when I'm upset, trying to comfort me, but the problem is that it's not his power," I replied, "He's powerless in his current state."