Serenity shoved the white-haired priest away from her.
"What are you doing, Helios?" she exclaimed. "You're Endymion's best friend – how could you"?
"I must," he said. "I can't hold it in any longer. Serenity, I loved from when I first saw you. I was jealous when Endymion took you home, but I was so glad he couldn't see you during the day."
He reached for her again, but she scooted away from him.
As Minako neared the bank of the Acheron, she was privy to Helios lunging yet again for Serenity, fixing his arms around her and pressing her against the cavern wall, preparing to kiss her again.
"I could have you all to myself. Please, love me, Serenity!"
"Hey! Hey, stop it!" Minako jumped out of the boat before it even touched the shore, waving her arms at Helios. He paid her no attention.
"Unhand Queen Serenity!" She rushed towards Helios and Serenity, shoved him with all her might, and then kicked him between the legs.
Helios howled.
"Wait, Minako—"
Helios growled and started back towards Serenity, but stopped dead in his tracks. A wicked silver scythe was pointed directly at his heart.
He followed the pole up to its owner. The Death Soldier stood at the other end of it, a menacing look on her face.
"You will not go near Queen Serenity again," she said calmly. "Do you hear?"
"Stick him through, Saturn!"
"Yes, stick me through," Helios said miserably. "If I cannot go near my beloved Serenity again, I might as well be dead."
"What?!" Serenity took a few steps forward. "Saturn, don't stab him. This is Helios, the priest of Elysian."
"Oh – you said priest, not prince?!"
"No!" Serenity put her hand on the Death Soldier's shoulder, who had not relaxed her guard. "Helios is the priest, I'm married to the prince. Helios is just my friend and spiritual advisor. But I have no idea what's gotten into him now!"
"I'm in love with you," he said plaintively.
"He's not in love with me," Serenity said desperately.
The Death Soldier cocked an eyebrow.
Helios sat on the floor, his eyes filled with tears. "Please let me touch her once more," he cried.
Serenity's mouth dropped open, Saturn struggled not to laugh, and Minako stared at Helios's bleeding leg.
"Oh, my goodness," she said, and she knelt besides Helios and turned his leg over. He tried to jerk back, but her grip was firm and he only ended up knocking his head against the cavern wall, which made the stoic Death Soldier break into wild laughter.
Serenity gasped. "He's been stabbed in the leg!"
Minako shook her head. "He's been lovestruck," she said.
"What?"
"Lovestruck." She shot a quick look at Helios, who stared at her, and then swiftly pulled the arrow shaft from his leg. Helios screamed.
"This," she said, gesturing to the weapon, "is a Golden Arrow of Eros. The tip is dipped in melted gold enchanted with love-power. The arrow has a double effect. It not only physically hurts whoever is struck with it, it also causes that person to fall in love with the first person he or she sees." Minako smiled at Helios, who looked at her in disbelief. "It was also a favorite weapon of King Eros of Elysian."
Helios shook his head, groaned, then stared back at the arrow. "That's what's happening to me?"
Minako nodded. "If he said anything about loving you all along, it probably wasn't true. He only started loving you when he first saw you."
Serenity smiled a little, suppressing a giggle. "So, what do we do to heal him? Or is he already healed because you told him?"
"Far from it," said Minako, smiling herself. "The only person who can heal him is the one who owns the arrows' magic – which would be Endymion, Eros's son. Until then, Helios is going to be loving – and lusting after – you."
Serenity glanced at Helios, whose face turned a deep red color.
Saturn laughed again.
Beryl glided into Endymion's bedroom, holding a tray with two teacups. She had finally retrieved the beauty charm from Serenity, hastily visiting the hole by the Underworld where Serenity had emerged into the daylight with the mirrored box. She hardly had time to wonder how she had survived in the Underworld, and didn't really care. Endymion was lost to her now.
Now was her chance to win Endymion over, and she had to be completely beautiful.
She gently set the tray on Endymion's nightstand. The young king was slumped over the bed. She placed a hand on his back.
"Endymion?"
Surprisingly, the king didn't ignore her as he normally did, or shrug her hand off. He lifted his head weakly, his eyes a bleary red color from crying, and stared at Beryl questioningly.
The surprised expression on Beryl's face was very becoming on her, and for a moment she was at a loss for words, her mouth hanging open, her hazel eyes wide.
"I...I came to bring you something to drink. You've been locked in here all day."
He slumped back over the bed, seemingly ignoring her.
"Endymion, please. You may not believe me, but I actually do care about you."
He raised his head back up, and this time his eyes were angry, not sick. "You care about me? You lock me in my own bedchamber, take over my palace, allow your servants to run rampant over mine, and yet you care about me?" He made a rude noise. "Some caring!"
"Well, you've never let me show it to you," Beryl shot back, putting her hands on her hips. "I've always wanted to. You've always ignored me!"
"I never ignored you!" he replied loudly. The king had been sitting in his bed for a few days, and had simmered and cried over his pitiable condition, and now he was ready to yell. Beryl was a good person on whom to take out his anger. "I always treated you civilly, even when our fathers were alive and feuding! You were my friend, before you started threatening me and my kingdom!"
Beryl sighed exasperatedly. "That's just it!" she said. "I was always your friend. I..." She turned her eyes down. "I wanted to be more than your friend. It made me angry. It made me resort to other measures. The only reason I ever terrorized you and threatened you is because that was the only way I could get you to realize I wanted to be with you!"
This made Endymion sit up fully, cocking an eyebrow at Beryl. This was not the discussion he had been expecting. He wanted to get angry, to yell, to let out some of the fury that he had inside. Beryl's conversation topic was delving into the soft.
But it intrigued him.
"Did you?"
Beryl nodded, her eyes still downcast. She was trying to be manipulative. But she couldn't help letting some of her real feelings show to Endymion, and that was exactly what was happening...she just hoped he took them genuinely.
"You never noticed me the way I wanted you to. You were always off in your own thoughts..."
Endymion turned away from her, and stared out of the window of his palace to the blue skies outside.
"What are you going to do now, Beryl?"
She smiled. Here we go. "Attack the Moon Kingdom."
Endymion's eyes whipped to Beryl. Her face wasn't held down anymore – she was staring, triumphantly, at the king. "Attack the Moon?" Serenity's home. Those that betrayed me. In the past...and in the present.
"Yes. It's not just a long-held grudge of mine...it was my father's dream. He hated the Moon Kingdom as much as your father did. And..." Beryl smiled fetchingly at the king, her cheeks turning a becoming pink. "I think the Moon King...and Serenity...should pay for how they betrayed you."
Endymion narrowed his eyes, but Beryl sounded completely genuine. He had a sixth sense about him – he could tell when someone was lying.
Beryl wasn't.
The ice remained in his eyes, but it wasn't directed towards Beryl.
"She should," he agreed, his voice sharp.
"I want to do this...for you." Beryl leaned forward and tentatively placed her hand on Endymion's.
He looked at it. He twitched instinctively, as if to pull his hand away, but something about Beryl's earnest eyes made him not only leave his hand where it was, but made him place his other hand on hers.
Beryl closed her eyes and concentrated.
Endymion's eyes flashed a dangerous, fiery blue. They darkened.
"I want to help."
The worst thing about the attack was that it was totally unexpected.
One moment, it was a peaceful night, the Earth glowing benevolently in the sky, and the next, there were screams outside.
King Hyperion peered over the ledge of his balcony in the study and gasped loudly. A shock force of black-suited warriors closing in on his guards, striking them down one by one.
He turned his head to the sky and uttered a short prayer to Selene. Then he called his messenger.
"Call together the Silver Army...it's a surprise attack."
The Moon King's army gathered as quickly as possible – the moon was a small satellite, and it didn't take very long for them to converge on the palace – but as by the time they got there, the Erebese armies were away at the peaceful populations living outside the palace.
People were dying. Soldiers were falling, covered in blood, missing limbs and more horrendous parts of their bodies. The Erebese were merciless slaughterers, leaving their dead lying around on the ground, looking up triumphantly towards the palace after every kill.
And there was something else...King Hyperion sensed it, but he couldn't place his finger on it. There was a difference in this fight, different from the foot soldiers he had encountered on Earth.
He drew a deep breath and drew his sword with it, and ran out of his study. He had to lead his troops.
Queen Serenity knew exactly what it was.
Magic.
The swirls of color and sparkle were faint and hard to catch, but she saw them overtake the palace. A swirl of red set the foundation on fire. The palace was going to crumble from the bottom under. But the regal queen could not bring herself away from the balcony, watching the carnage on the ground below.
She heard a clacking of heels and a swishing of skirts behind her, and she turned. It was her daughter, Trivia, rushing into her bedchambers.
"Mother!" she exclaimed, her arms outstretched towards Queen Serenity. "Come on – we must get out of here!"
Queen Serenity shook her head.
"Mother!"
"It's no use, Trivia," Serenity said, turning back to the window. "The Erebese and Elysianites are not just out to destroy the palace. They will conquer the entire planet. They are here to devastate the Moon. It was a grave mistake." She shook her head. "This, all my fault. Everything."
Trivia stared at her mother. "What in heaven's name are you talking about? Mother, we must go!"
"Where is your sister?"
Trivia felt her heart drop in her stomach. "My sister?" she asked guardedly.
"Diana."
Relief overcame her. "I don't—"
"Mother!" Diana ran into the room; unlike her twin, she wasn't thinking rationally. She was sobbing, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Mother! I'm sorry! This is all our fault – we never meant..."
"Diana!" Trivia worriedly put her hands at her mouth, biting her lips. "Diana, don't..."
Diana stopped in her tracks, then whirled to face her sister. Her light blue eyes were cold. "Maybe you can take the guilt and the hurt, but I can't. I have to tell!"
Trivia's eyes grew angry. "I can take the guilt no better than you!" she said. "Don't you think it's eating me alive as well?"
"Then why don't you confess the truth?"
"There is no point in making Mother more distressed than she already is!"
"Girls," said Queen Serenity in a calming voice, and the two sisters turned to each other. "Whatever are you talking about?"
Trivia cast her eyes to the side, and Diana eyed her angrily. Then she spoke. "Serenity was never married to an evil serpent-god."
Queen Serenity's eyes changed to confusion.
"We saw her," she said, turning her eyes to Trivia. "Trivia and I. We were weeping at the summit where she was laid, and two pegasi appeared to us, one with a golden horn. The one with the golden horn spoke to us, and told us that he would take us to our sister if we would not be afraid."
Queen Serenity gasped lightly.
"We climbed upon them and rode. They took us to the most delightful valley ever! It was so beautiful. In the midst of it there was a golden palace, bedecked with jewels. We heard voices, but saw no one. Invisible servants led us inside and took care of us."
"Elysian," Queen Serenity breathed. "You were in the land of Elysian."
Trivia's eyes looked shocked. "But...Orcas said that Elysian was one of the lands that attacked us. Why would Serenity attack her home, even if she was angry with us?"
"Why would she be angry with you?" Queen Serenity asked.
This time, both girls turned their eyes away.
But Trivia spoke.
"Serenity met us in the foyer," she said. "She was alive and well. She said...she was married to the king of Elysian."
Serenity gasped. "Endymion," she said. "The son of Eros. Oh, my...I knew. I knew."
"She was so regally clothed," Diana continued. "She looked very wealthy. The palace was beautiful and expensive. Everything she had was beautiful and expensive. She looked so happy, so wealthy, so well-off..."
"We became jealous of her," Trivia admitted.
"So horribly jealous...that we began to plot against her," Diana said, ashamedly. "We figured that Serenity must not be able to see her husband, either, because she kept making excuses about why he was gone."
"So we tricked her into telling us that and we persuaded her to try and see her husband...and kill him."
Serenity gasped again.
"We didn't know who he was," Diana said quickly. "We told her it was probably the horrible serpent-god using some of his magic to disguise himself. We weren't trying to protect her, though. We were just jealous of her success...she's always the prettiest one, the luckiest one."
"I don't know whether she killed him or not," Trivia said. "But something terrible must have happened...because I started having terrible dreams...about the kingdom being destroyed by a tidal wave."
"You, too?" Diana stared at her sister in shock. "I had the same dream, except the kingdom was being destroyed by a storm."
"I thought the Furies were punishing us," Trivia said.
"Me too," said Diana. "And I felt like they were destroying the kingdom to punish us, too. That's why I was so distraught.
"My daughters," Queen Serenity said, with tears in her eyes. The girls turned towards her. "This isn't any mystical sort of punishment, any Furies. This is just plain old Terran payback."
"What?"
Queen Serenity sighed, then turned to the blackened sky. The Erebese, it seemed, had acquired black magic along with their horrible fighting force. Her eyes widened.
They must know, so they could fight. They were all in danger.
"Come, my girls," she said, motioning to the bed. "There is time for one last story. And this will be the most important one you will ever hear in your lives."