Chapter 489: Starting Over

Chapter 489: Chapter 489: Starting Over

[Third Person Pov]

Zoe stared at Lucian for several long seconds. Then, against every expectation she had of herself, she started laughing. The sound was bright and disbelieving, born entirely from the sheer absurdity of his words.

"You really are strange..." she managed between soft bursts of laughter. "Hahaha..."

When the laughter finally faded, she studied him with renewed suspicion. "Just what is your goal here? I still don’t understand it. Why would you go so far for Lady Artemis? At most, your relationship could be described as cordial."

Lucian shot her an exasperated look. "What’s with the interrogation, lady? What is this, twenty-one questions?"

Zoe hesitated, searching for the right words. After a moment she exhaled and offered a quieter apology. "I’m sorry. Everything is just so confusing right now... I’m trying to make sense of it all. Asking questions is how things become clearer, and you seem to know more about what’s happening than I do."

"No—don’t worry. Don’t apologize." Lucian sighed, clearly weighing how much he could safely say. He couldn’t exactly admit that something complicated and far too personal was beginning to develop between himself and Artemis. He didn’t want to lie, either.

"You can say it’s just how I was raised by my mother," he said at last. "From a young age she taught me the art of being an excellent hero—better than even Jason of the Argonauts. And part of being a hero is being willing to bear burdens for others... even for people you barely know." ⅇ𝒃𝚗ℴ

He watched Zoe’s expression slowly sour at the word *hero*. He knew she carried a bitter history with that title, a deep and personal resentment. Still, this explanation felt safer than the truth.

He wasn’t the only one whose face had turned bitter. Luke’s expression twisted with open disdain.

"So what you’re saying," Luke interjected, "is that your mother taught you how to be a slave to the gods. How noble of her."

Lucian scoffed and shot him a sideways glance. "Hello, pot. I didn’t realize the kettle had invited you into this conversation. And she taught me to be virtuous. There’s a difference."

"Were you perhaps asleep during that particular lesson, then?" Luke retorted, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

"Fuck you!" Lucian snapped, growling the words with real heat.

Luke only smiled, victorious. Zoe, to her own surprise, couldn’t quite suppress a quiet snicker.

Lucian turned to her with a look of pure betrayal. "Seriously?"

"Sorry," she muttered, glancing away, a little flustered. "It’s just... with how you normally are..."

Lucian looked away as well, clearly sulking.

After a short silence, Zoe spoke again, her voice quieter. Whether it was leftover guilt from laughing at him, or simply the strange, unexpected comfort she was beginning to feel in his presence, she found herself opening up more than she ever would have imagined.

"I just don’t have a good association with the word ’hero.’"

She told him about Heracles.

She explained how she had once helped him during one of his twelve labors—how she had stolen a golden apple from her own family’s garden for him—only for him to take all the glory and abandon her to face the full wrath of her family. She had been punished. Exiled. Cast out.

"My blood still boils thinking about it," she admitted, her face twisting as if she had tasted something foul. "How foolish I was to trust him."

Lucian listened in mild surprise. He hadn’t expected her to share something so personal.

"I understand your pain," he said after a moment. "But not everyone is like that. Some people say heroes are judged by their actions more than their words. I say it’s a little of both. What good is a hero if he isn’t a man of his word? If that was how he acted... then he simply wasn’t a very good one."

By then Zoe had settled onto the ground in front of him, arms resting loosely over her raised knees, looking up at the demigod who still bore the weight of the heavens above them.

"You shouldn’t let one bad encounter dictate how you interact with everyone else," Lucian said. "When you do that, you rob yourself of the chance to form real relationships—bonds with people who could have become your friends."

Zoe stared at him with narrowed eyes, clearly unconvinced he was saying anything worth listening to.

"Don’t look at me like that. I’m right and you know it." He scoffed. "This isn’t even a gender war. Some people are just assholes, and there’s no changing that. The same way you’ve met men who were insufferable, I’ve met women who were just as bad. And I’m sure you’ve met women who were every bit as terrible as the worst men, just like I’ve met men who were total dicks."

He suddenly pretended to have a violent coughing fit.

"*Cough—cough—* Luke—*cough—cough*—"

Lucian cleared his throat with exaggerated dignity. "Ahem. Sorry. Had something in my throat."

Across the clearing, Luke raised a clear, deliberate middle finger for him to see.

Zoe couldn’t help it—she started giggling at the exchange.

"I’m also sure Lady Artemis has had male Hunters in the past," Lucian continued, more seriously. "She wouldn’t have accepted just anyone. From what you experienced, it’s completely fair to keep your guard up. I’m not telling you to start trusting every person you meet. This should have been a lesson in being careful about *who* you place your trust in—not a reason to write off the entire male gender or every person who ever called themselves a hero."

"You’re starting to sound really preachy, you know that?" Zoe grumbled, looking away with a pout. "I’m older than you. Where do you get off lecturing me?"

"Alright, Grandma. I’ll be more careful next time," Lucian replied dryly, rolling his eyes.

"G-Grandma?!" she exclaimed, outrage flaring across her face. She ground her teeth together. "You’re lucky you’re stuck where you are right now, because I would have hit you for that comment."

Lucian only looked proud of himself. He had always enjoyed getting a rise out of her.

A stretch of comfortable silence followed. Zoe seemed to drift into thought, and Lucian didn’t interrupt.

After a couple of minutes she asked quietly, "What about you? Do you think you’re someone who can be trusted?"

"That isn’t really for me to decide, is it?" Lucian answered honestly. "I can’t tell you to put your trust in me. That’s something only you can choose to do."

Zoe hummed under her breath and looked away again.

"Okay," Lucian said suddenly, drawing her attention back. "Let’s start over."

"What?" She blinked at him, not understanding.

"We honestly got off on the wrong foot when we first met. You didn’t like me, and I didn’t like you. But that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way forever. So let’s start over. Turn a new leaf. We don’t have to become best friends... but we don’t have to stay strangers who only know how to antagonize each other, either."

With a grimace of effort, Lucian shifted the crushing weight of the heavens onto a single arm once more. His free hand extended toward her, open and waiting, trembling slightly from the weight pressing down on him.

"Lucian Blackheart. A pleasure to officially make your acquaintance."

Zoe stared at him for several seconds. Then she started laughing at how ridiculous the whole gesture was. She shook her head, a faint color rising along her cheeks as her eyes flicked between his face and the offered hand.

After a few more seconds Lucian groaned. "I don’t mean to rush you, but I’m going to rush you. This shit is heavy! Make up your mind!"

She snickered and quickly apologized. "Alright, alright—I’m sorry."

She sighed, reached up, and clasped his hand. "...Zoe Nightshade... This is honestly so stupid."

The moment their hands met she immediately pulled back, embarrassed.

"Yeah," Lucian admitted, looking equally sheepish. "That was really corny, wasn’t it?"

They both looked away at the same time. When they glanced back and caught the matching embarrassment on each other’s faces, they broke into shared, helpless laughter.

Luke, still leaning against his tree, was beginning to seriously contemplate whether suicide might be preferable to remaining a third-party witness to whatever this was.

********************************************

+10 advance Chapters and my other patron exclusive content on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3