"Who was that woman?" Reyna asked. Her eyes stayed focused on the Iris message that was in the corner of the room. It took her a few moments to look at her second in command. Arcadia was leaning against the wall and glaring at the Iris message. She looked at Reyna.

"Before she was exiled, we called her Nikaia. I told Caesar we couldn't trust her," Arcadia muttered. She pushed herself off of the wall and walked towards a large bookcase on Reyna's right. It was full of files that held information about former and current members of the Sixth Legion.

Arcadia grabbed a file and walked toward Reyna. The file was the size of a novel, and Reyna had a feeling nothing in it was good. Arcadia placed the file down and continued, "Nikaia's temper is one of the worst I have ever seen. Between her size and skill, Caesar was willing to overlook it. After she caused the death of a mortal for the second time, Caesar had her exiled."

"I thought Caesar had a no tolerance party for mortal casualties," Reyna said. She opened the file and glanced through it. From her small look of the file, it seemed like Nikaia had only been with the Sixth Legion for a few years, but she seemed to have been on missions for most of that time. "What saved her the first time?"

"Aquitaine lied to Caesar about what happened," Arcadia answered. Reyna looked up in surprise. Arcadia nodded slightly and leaned on the desk. "The two were suppose to trail a severion and wait for orders to take him down. Nikaia ignored orders, attacked the severion, and a mortal got caught in the crossfire."

"What happened the second time?" Reyna asked. She closed the file and leaned back in her chair. A mixture of pain and relief shot through her back as she stretched. Reyna closed her eyes and sighed tiredly. In the past three days, she had gotten a total of ten hours of sleep.

"Caesar began to have his suspicions about how close Nikaia and Aquitaine were. He sent them on a mission with Sparta. They were suppose to take out a Cyclops clan. The plan was for the three of them to split up and take out parts of the camp and then meet in the middle. Sparta found mortal prisoners, and when she met up with Nikaia and told her, they disagreed on what to do about them," Arcadia explained.

"Sparta thought they should look for other prisoners but leave them caged, until it was safe. Nikia wanted to free them, and the two of them stumbled into another prisoner. They argued about what to do and attracted the attention of a Cyclops. That Cyclops threw a spear at them. It hit the mortal instead," Arcadia finished.

"I imagine that Caesar didn't take the news well," Reyna commented. She knew Caesar would have a file on it somewhere. He had a file for everything. Reyna found it better to learn about people by speaking face to face.

"I remember the day well," Arcadia muttered. She closed her eyes and sighed. "When the three returned, Caesar split them up and had me question Sparta about what happened. When I relayed the story to him, he pulled Aquitaine aside and asked what happened. She claimed to not remember anything, and a deep gash on the back of her head seemed to confirm her story."

"For a few hours, Caesar disappeared into his office with a witness to the death of the first mortal. He then called me, Aquitaine, and Nikaia into his office. Caesar confronted them about the first mortal, and he even had video of what happened from an old security camera. Nikaia, looking for grace or maybe mercy, decided to come clean about everything. It didn't go well," Arcadia finished.

They both heard a knock on the door. Reyna glanced at the door and debated sending the person away. She was sure that Theia had been escorted into their base, and Reyna didn't know what she wanted to do with her yet. Reyna finally spoke, "Come in."

"Imperator," Bristol began. He stepped into the room and bowed quickly. Bristol met Reyna's eyes, and as he opened a mouth, Reyna held up a hand. She had sent Bristol to meet up with Aquitaine on her return from meeting with Camp Jupiter, and it was luck that the two had managed to find Sparta as well.

"We saw what happened," Reyna said. She stood and sighed tiredly. "Did you take Theia to our guest room, and did you make sure she didn't see to much?"

"Yes imperator," Bristol replied. Reyna nodded and walked out of the room. Bristol followed her. "Sparta was fading in and out of consciousness, but she did tell me that Hylla is safe. It sounded like her mission was a success. Did we lose anyone?"

"No," Reyna answered. Bristol nodded and led her towards the room that held Theia. The three of them stopped outside, and Reyna placed a hand to the door handle. "Arcadia, can you send a message to Seva and let her know about what happened? I'm sure the Council will be more than happy to make sure that Nikaia is handed over to us. Bristol, will you assist Avaris with whatever she needs?"

"Of course imperator," Bristol said. He bowed once again and hurried away. Reyna really wished they would stop doing that. It was just uncomfortable to have a legion of demigods bowing to her every single time they started and ended a conversation.

"I'll send the message to Seva, and I cannot wait to get my hands on Nikaia. What are we going to do with her?" Arcadia asked. Reyna didn't respond. She had no clue what she wanted to do with Nikaia, and it was something she would probably leave up to Arcadia.

"We'll see," Reyna replied. Arcadia smirked and walked away. Reyna took a deep breath and opened the door. She stepped inside the room and looked around. Theia was sitting in a chair and had her hands resting on the table in front of her. She had yet to remove the black bag over her head.

Reyna heard footsteps and stepped to the side. A member of the Sixth Legion nodded to her. He was holding a drink and a plate of food. Reyna motioned for him to set it down in front of Theia. He quickly sat the drink and plate down, bowed to Reyna, and hurried out of the room.

"Do you have your Iris message turned to a commercial?" Reyna asked. Theia stiffened, and her hands slowly grabbed the black bag. Theia slowly pulled off the bag and stared at Reyna. Her eyes slowly moved to the food and drink. "I figured you haven't had anything for a few hours."

"I haven't," Theia whispered. She looked up and swallowed painfully. Theia looked back down. "I have it on commercial still. I thought you would want me to respect your privacy. You look a lot better, since I've last seen you."

"I feel better," Reyna admitted. She looked at Theia sadly. It wasn't too long ago that she was Theia's leader. Now, she was just an outsider. "I'm guessing you don't know what happened yesterday. There was a plot to kill all demigods that are seen like leaders, including Frank and Astrid. With help from the demititans and a few Greek demigods, we managed to stop the assassins. I don't know who was in charge, but we plan on finding out."

Theia nodded, and her hand started to move towards the switch on her glasses. Reyna simply leaned back in her chair and spoke, "Theia, I understand why you are here, but there is no point in opening old wounds. I'm not going to answer any questions about what happened."

"Everyone deserves to know the truth," Theia said. She flipped her glasses on. Reyna kept her face neutral and just studied Theia. The demigod was very persistent, and it would be hard to convince Theia to drop her idea of finding out the truth.

"Theia, I understand that you want to hear my side of the story, but it is only going to cause more of a rift. The camps cannot stand me, and this will only make things worse," Reyna said. Truthfully, she was still upset about what happened. She remembered trusting Annabeth completely and then being stabbed in the back by the daughter of Athena.

"Finding the truth always leaves people upset," Theia said. She leaned forward. "Reyna, there are so many stories that are going around about what really happened. I'm not asking these questions to satisfy my own curiosity. We owe it to future generations to record the truth."

"I'm pretty sure you used that line on me before," Reyna said. She sighed and looked Theia in the eyes. "Fine. I will answer some of your questions. You have to promise me that you will return to Camp Jupiter after this."

"I will," Theia promised. She opened her mouth to speak again, but she quickly closed it. Theia cleared her throat. It was clear that she was about to call Reyna by her old title. Reyna simply watched it. "Let's start small, Reyna. What happened when you went on a the quest for Mars' shield?"

"To make a long story short, we met the demititans midway through our quest. With their help, we learned that the shield was being stored in one of my mother's temples, and they helped us get there. When we reached the temple, we learned that Circe and Enyo had worked together to steal the shield and distract everyone from Ouranos rising," Reyna explained. She closed her eyes for a few moments. "I challenged Enyo to a duel for the shield and won."

Theia stared at Reyna for a few moments. She knew that Reyna was telling the truth, but it didn't look like she could wrap her head around it. Theia nodded and spoke, "I remember that there was a deadline for the three of you to find the shield. Some say that you made the deadline, but others say you missed it. What happened?"

"Mars started his war early," Reyna said. She involuntarily rubbed her shoulder. "We should have beaten the deadline, but we were also attacked by Atlas. I know that Atlas could have killed us and didn't, but I was unconscious at that point."

Theia nodded. She leaned forward and rested her head on her hands. Theia seemed to be thinking about the events. Reyna just looked at the table .She knew what Theia's next question was going to be, and it still hurt to think about. Reyna had forgiven herself for what had happened, but it didn't change the fact that she had led so many Romans to their deaths.

"You're wondering about the temple of the Fates," Reyna stated. Theia nodded slightly. "I led the Romans into the temple, and we got there in time to stop the sacrifice of Rachel. We didn't know that Ouranos would be there. The Romans sacrificed themselves, so Rachel, Nico, and I could escape. I didn't want to leave, but there wasn't much I could do with two people pulling me away."

"Everyone said you abandoned those Romans," Theia said. Reyna shook her head and looked away. It took her a few moments to blink the tears out of her eyes. "How did you defeat Ouranos then? No one has told us anything about that."

"Ouranos captured Atropos to use as a vessel," Reyna muttered. She slowly looked back at Theia. "He was going to use an ancient ritual to pull Gaea from her sleep and have her use Atropos as a vessel. Instead of completely interrupting the ritual, we followed alongside it, and when Ouranos went to finish it, that's when we interrupted it."

"I stole the ritual from Ouranos and allowed Kronos to use me as a vessel," Reyna continued. She ignored Theia's shocked look. "Kronos destroyed Ouranos, and everyone else was left to deal with Kronos. He was subdued, and everything seemed like it would be okay."

"Then, you were exiled," Theia whispered. Reyna nodded and looked at Theia's glasses. She closed her eyes and played the memory over and over in her head. "You admitted to committing patricide, but what happened?"

"My father was insane," Reyna muttered. She opened her eyes. "He was also a mania. I thought he had killed Hylla, and I reacted. That is all I will tell you about it. I didn't plan for it to happen, but if it meant protecting my sister, I would do it again."

"How did anyone in Camp Jupiter find out?" Theia questioned. She frowned and crossed her arms. "I don't think that's something you would share willingly. I remember that they weren't going to punish you, until Annabeth spoke to Frank. It was Annabeth Chase, wasn't it? She's the one who told Frank and the others about you committing patricide."

Reyna didn't respond, and her silence seemed to be enough of an answer for Theia. The daughter of Veritas looked at the table. Reyna stood and spoke, "There is a lot of things we did not tell anyone, Theia. It is a necessity. I know you have a lot of questions, but that is all I'm willing to talk about."

"Thank you for your time," Theia said. She sighed sadly and played with her food. It looked like she wanted to say more. Theia took a deep breath. "I don't think you will ever go back to Camp Jupiter, will you?"

"Probably not," Reyna said. "Why don't you finish up eating, and we'll find a place for you to sleep. In the morning, you'll go back to Camp Jupiter. Can you promise me that you won't go running off anywhere and get in trouble?"

"I can never promise that," Theia said. She smiled and took off her glasses. Theia seemed to end the Iris message, and she focused on eating. "You're not a monster to me, Reyna. I think you did what you had to do, and I don't think we would be alive if you had faltered."

Reyna didn't know what to say to that. She swallowed painfully and nodded slightly. Reyna spoke, "Bristol will be in to bring you to your room. I'm sure that he'll be glad to answer any of your questions. If you need me, I will be in the infirmary. Have a good night."

"You too," Theia said. Reyna stepped out of the room. She took a deep breath and forced back all of the anger she felt in her chest. Reyna walked towards the infirmary and stepped inside. The first person she ran into was their doctor.

"Imperator," Avaris said. She pulled Reyna to the side and glanced at a bed in the corner of the room. Reyna did as well and saw Sparta curled up on her side. She seemed to be asleep. "Sparta is in a very bad shape. From what she was able to tell me, she was tackled out of a building and used to cushion the fall. Her meeting with Nikaia didn't help either."

"Once she wakes up, I want to talk to her," Reyna said. She looked back at Avaris. "If she argues with you about resting, you can tell her it was an order from me. How is Aquitaine doing?"

"Her leg is still healing," Avaris answered. "There isn't much that we can do, but it would be best if she stayed off of it. Speaking of injuries, how is your back doing? I saw you sparring with Bristol the other day, and you didn't seem to be hurting too badly."

"If I move the wrong way, it causes pain to tear through my back," Reyna admitted. She looked away for a moment and remembered the flogging that she had received at the hands of a barbarian posing as an important Roman. The people that she called friends allowed it to happen, "Other than that, it doesn't hurt too bad."

"Don't push yourself too far," Avaris warned. Reyna nodded slightly, and she could sense a familiar presence. Reyna turned her head and frowned. "Your body should almost be recovered from everything that it has been put through, but you don't want to push it too much."

"I won't," Reyna promised. She titled her head slightly and could almost hear something calling her back to her office. Avaris seemed to notice the look on her face. Reyna took a step backwards. "I'll be back."

Reyna turned and walked out of the infirmary. As she walked closer to her office, the voice that was calling for her seemed to get louder. She pushed open the door to her office and stepped inside. A glance around showed that there was no one in the room.

Reyna looked at her desk and walked towards it. There was a small box resting in the middle of the desk, and it had definitely not been there earlier. Reyna slowly lifted the box and stared at the string that laid inside.

The string almost seemed like it was humming, and Reyna could feel the power coming from it. She slowly reached out towards the string but stopped. There seemed to be ash inside of the box. Reyna grabbed the lid to the box and slowly closed it. The humming ended.

Reyna slowly sat down at her desk and studied the box. The sting definitely belonged to someone powerful, but why was the string in her office? That was something that the Fates would hold onto. Reyna sighed and closed her eyes. She would have to contact Atropos about the string, but first, she would have to finish some business at her base.