> My relationship with Atreus might have been the reason he agreed to take Arthur to Menelaus. I could not say for certain. Truthfully, I can’t think of a reason to care. What mattered was that I had consigned my family to a fate that even then I had no capability to recognize. In the days, months, and years to follow I would ask myself—repeatedly and often—whether or not I had missed the window wherein I could reverse the clock, change my decision, and ameliorate the pain that followed. To this day, I still wonder.

“That man is going to be trouble, Cassandra.”

“Isn’t that why you’re handling him, Atreus?” the Yponávarchos asked with clear amusement.

“As amusing as it is to see you as happy as a kitten with cream, Cassandra, this is not the time for your predatory amusements.” Atreus responded with long-suffering exasperation. “We have just inherited a potential problem. Arthur Magellan may be the answer to your woes, and he may also be the prelude to House Leos’ final destruction.”

“It is not as if we are blessed by a bevy of options.”

“I am aware.” Atreus sighed while settling his armored weight against her desk.

“Then you know that Menelaus and I are running out of time, Atreus. Houses Drakos, Gataki, and Onasis are looking for any excuse to erode our family’s position, and to compromise our daughter—either through enforced marriage to seize our assets, or through an ‘accident’.”

“Your husband needs to force her to accept some bodyguards.”

“You know what she is like, Atreus. Circe is headstrong, proud, and fiercely independent. She’ll never consent to what she sees as babysitters.”

“That reminds me of someone else I know.” the Myrmidón said with a meaningful glance down at the Rear Admiral, and a small quirk of his lips. His duty meant that Atreus often schooled his emotions behind a strong and largely indomitable mask, but alone with the few who knew him well—like Cassandra—it was easier to let his guard down to some degree.

“I am painfully aware of the mirror that my daughter has become when it comes to myself seventy years prior Atreus—”

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Seventy? I would have said thirty.” he interjected with a snort.

“—and while I appreciate the amusement it no doubt engenders within you, I must stress that I cannot afford to let the just desserts of my own youthful misadventures inform the fate of House Leos’ only heir. The primary line has existed since Hellas was settled, and if Menelaus were the one to fail to continue it…”

Atreus sighed subtly under his breath and turned to extend his right hand to rest on her shoulder. “I understand your worry, Cassandra. The problem is not your attempted use of Magellan, if indeed he is as powerful as we believe him to be—but instead the consequences for your House if the inkling of the other touch I thought I sensed turns out to be a true residue.”

“It seems unlikely.” she said with a frown and look up at him.

“Unlikely? Yes. Improbable? Definitely. Impossible, though?” Atreus shook his head and downturned the corners of his lips to demonstrate his consternation. “A Terran Inquisitor leaving a mark on his mind is not fully outside the realms of possibility. There is something about Magellan that despite all answers pointing to affirmation of his identity, I cannot help but believe it is false.”

“You don’t truly think he’s a Parthian spy, do you?”

“No. Nor do I think he’s an enemy, nor an agent of one of your political opponents. But does that mean he is not a risk? That he is not hiding something?” Atreus’ eyes shifted toward the door through which Arthur had departed with Endymion and Perseus and his frown grew.

“My concern Cassandra is that the boy will prove to be not an enemy, but someone far greater in importance than we imagined. Even the implication of an Inquisitor’s touch—and I only know of one order with close to the psionic power to leave the kind of ghosted residue I might have sensed—infers the involvement of not just the Grand Imperium, but of Terra itself.”

“What could the Imperator want with Graecia, Atreus?” Cassandra said in what Atreus knew was an attempt to soothe his worries. “There could be many reasons Arthur might have interacted with an Inquisitor of Sol, and none of them mean anything targeted at our homeland. In the grand game of interstellar politics, we are a small factor by any stretch of the imagination.”

“It is my duty to consider the worst possible scenario, Cassandra.”

“And mine, as your friend, to remind you of what is truly important. The potential of a galactic conspiracy centered around a single Eidolon pilot and a mid-Rim nation, no matter how advanced we are for our position, is not within that scope.”