Inflexible | Fated Four: Book 1

Chapter Four

They were silent for a moment and I panicked, thinking that I may have said something inappropriate. I probably shouldn't have asked them about that.

"Yes we are," Arrow sighed, "Each of us is cursed."

"Who cursed you?" I asked.

"An angry Goddess," Arrow replied.

"Why?" I asked.

"She blamed us for the death of her lover," Arrow replied.

"Can you break the curse?" I asked.

"We were told that our soulmates would be able to do that, but we searched for them for centuries and found no trace of them," Calix admitted.

I nodded. That must have been hard on them. To know that they may never be free from their curse. I wondered what the curse itself involved and for a moment, I thought about asking, but I realized that it probably wasn't appropriate to do so. They would tell me when they were ready. At least I hoped so.

"When I came here earlier, you said your sister was named Lillian," I stated.

"Lillian was a fake name that Eris used to use when she mingled with humans," Soren explained.

It was silent for a moment and then I spoke again.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"Well unfortunately, it isn't safe for you to return home," Arrow told me, "Not with Eris out there hunting you. So we'd like you to stay here with us at the lake house."

"Can I at least grab some things from my house?" I asked.

"Yes, but you shouldn't go alone," Arrow told her, "and you shouldn't go tonight, since Eris could still be close by."

"Nemesis used to stay here with us. You could borrow some of her things for the night," Calix told me.

Nemesis. The Goddess of Retribution. Another daughter of Nyx. I should have guessed that Eris wasn't their only sister. After all, Nyx and Erebus had numerous children together.

Wait a minute...Calix said that Nemesis used to stay here at the lake house with them. I thought my parents owned this lake house.

"Isn't this Melinoe's lake house?" I asked.

Arrow shook his head.

"Our family owns this lake house," Calix explained, "This is where we stayed when we first arrived in the mortal world. We lent it to your Mother so that she and your Father could have someplace safe to go if they needed to."

"That was nice of you," I replied. Calix shrugged.

"Melinoe's Father is a family friend, it's the least we could do," Calix replied.

"You mean Hades?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, Hades and our Mother are close," Calix replied, "She's one of his ministers."

It was then that I noticed the ring on Arrow's right hand. The band of the ring was made of black metal and wrapped around his finger like shadowy tendrils. In the centre of the ring was a single small moonstone. The moonstone was a symbol of Nyx, so the ring basically marked Arrow as her son. In fact, all the brothers wore the same moonstone ring. And they all wore it with pride. They were proud to be sons of Nyx.

"Did you want to sleep, Clarissa?" Arrow asked.

"It's Clary," I told him, "I like to be called Clary."

"Well, Clary, I can take you to your room if you want to sleep," Arrow told me, "We'll start your training tomorrow morning."

I nodded and followed Arrow out of the room. He led me down a hall and it was then I realized just how big the lake house was. It hadn't looked that big on the outside, but outside it was rather roomy.