10
ZEUS help her, but she was not doing this. She was not doing this. She. Was. Not. Doing. This. Oh, but surprise! She was! Her feet seemed to move of their own accord as the temple of the gods was closer and closer within her line of sight, though her brain was practically screaming at her to turn back now before it was too late.
Going to Hades' brother for help in getting out of this deal with the man was perhaps not the best idea, as gods had proven themselves on more than one occasion they could likely not be trusted. Only a few fair were good, the rest fought amongst themselves for power, or were constantly taking lovers. And she was going to Wonder Boy's father for help, when surely, Zeus would know all about her deal with Hades and would know every little detail of her life, down to the last shred of sanity she still possessed. Her breaths hitched in her throat as Meg realized…
The steps. She was right in front of the steps. Her thundering heart pounded loudly against her ribcage as trepidation and wariness flooded through her veins. Was it too late to turn back? Unfortunately, no.
Meg felt her eyes glaze over as she glanced down at the steps of the proud temple. She wondered if Zeus already knew why she was here if he was watching her from high above, assessing why she was there.
She knew she could not stand out here forever. As much as she would have liked to, the people of Thebes tended to talk and would notice her if she did. The overwhelmed servant of Hades mumbled a quick prayer to the gods before lifting the skirts of her toga dress a bit and making her way up the cracked steps swiftly.
A slight breeze blew past her, the soft fabric of her dress flowing to the side of her. Her hand had a mind of its own as she rose it to the door. Her slender fingers curled around the chipped handle. She grimaced and closed her eyes.
"Ugh. You really are a stupid woman, Meg, but if this is the only way, then so be it," the bewildered reluctant servant spoke in a hushed voice barely above a whisper. She shoved the massive door open with a firm twist and a push.
Through the door, her delicate lavender eyes peered into the darkness. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she slipped through the door and vanished into the darkness. Medusa was clinging to the shadows, still tailing her.
Meg stood there for a moment, in awe of the temple as she recalled her mother had been a particularly devout servant of the gods, coming to the temple faithfully once a week with offerings to the gods.
Meg had never really considered herself the particularly religious type, but Mother had been.
The thought stirred an abrupt bittersweet feeling from somewhere within her. Pressure started to build behind her shining purple eyes and she toyed nervously with the gold bangles on her wrist as she slowly began to make her way down the long aisle. But before Meg could approach the statue of the god that was Zeus, deep vibrations suddenly rang through the otherwise deserted temple as the sound of someone accidentally tripping over something filled her ears.
The high-clattered twang caused a startled cry of surprise to be ripped from her lips and Meg brought her hands to her mouth as she spun around. Down the aisle not far from her was a fallen candlestick, thankfully not lit, but the candle's wax had managed to spill onto the floor. Meg squinted as she could see the silhouette of a familiar figure shifting oddly in the distance. Her heart sank as she fell as silent as an owl and picked up on the chirping of snakes.
She would know that sound anywhere. Medusa.
"What are you doing here? You followed me?" Meg questioned into the dark as Medusa, apparently sensing that it would do her no good to hide, awkwardly shuffled out from behind the pillar she had ducked behind in hopes of being spotted by Hades' servant coming to the temple.
She tried to keep her voice as level-headed as possible, but she flinched as she could even hear the faint note of anger in her voice. She recalled how the young Gorgon had spied on her and Hercules not but a half hour ago and wondered if Hades had put Medusa up to it.
After what had happened to her pet Hydra, Meg was honestly surprised this Gorgon wanted anything to do with the Lord of the Underworld at this point. Her hands fell from around her chest and now rested in between her legs.
Medusa's cheeks flushed a darker shade of green and the Gorgon was suddenly looking shamefaced and was having trouble meeting Meg's piercing stare.
"I-I'm s-sorry, Meg, I-I can be clumsy a-at times…" The anxious Gorgon wrang her hands, thankful that Meg did not seem too angry that she had followed her to the temple. "I just…" Her face twisted and contorted with grief. "Hades promised…" she whispered, the mask of calm she had seemed to have perfected was beginning to crumble.
Meg swore she heard Medusa sniffle as she blinked back the coming onset of tears. Meg felt a wave of pity wash over her as the worst of her anger and annoyance dissipated upon seeing the young Gorgon clinging onto the last shred of self-control she still possessed and immediately felt guilty for having come to expect the worst.
She likely had followed her hoping to talk, hoping for a sympathetic ear and her friend. The last of her anger melted away as she took a cautious step toward her friend. She wracked her brain for the right things to say to Medusa.
Medusa's face twisted and contorted into a pained grimace as she absently stroked a lock of her hair.
Medusa did not think she could take it anymore. Her life would always be a tale of woe, never to know true happiness, she would spend the rest of her long life in the shadows, where a monster like her belonged.
Medusa fell quiet and looked towards the window.
"I'm sorry, Meg, for…for Ophion. She—she gets cranky when woken up and if I'd been there, I could have stopped it. She nearly killed that boy." At that moment, she turned away and made up her mind. "But I can't exist like this anymore, and…I want to see what's so special about this city of Thebes we're in."
Meg's eyes widened. The city… the people… would see her, and then her head would no longer be attached to her shoulders after that. Meg darted forward and grabbed the Gorgon's hand as she made to turn away, spinning her around to look her in the eye. She was grateful at least, that for however long Medusa seemed to be alive, Hades' magic still worked and let her look her in the eye without fear of turning to stone.
"Medusa, don't! This isn't worth your life!" Meg pleaded to Medusa quietly.
But Medusa did not seem to want to listen to Meg.
Before she could plead with the Gorgon to reconsider, a man's voice, deep and baritone, rent the air from somewhere behind them, causing both of them to freeze as the distant sound of low rolling thunder could be heard in the distance.
"Stop this madness at once!"
A figure appeared within the temple, like a bright beacon of shining light.
The man in front of the Gorgon and Meg was beautiful—too beautiful, Meg thought as an abrupt bitterness churned into the pit of her stomach. Despite this, she still harbored an inkling of distrust toward the god she knew to be Zeus. Considering what the god's brother Hades was like, she almost feared having this conversation with Hercules' father.
Yet, it was too late to take back her decision. She had only laid eyes upon the god in his flowing purple robes for all of two seconds, and already, Meg was quick to decide that she did not like him, and felt her temper implode.
"Can you not see that she's suffering?" Meg shouted, snapping her head to the right to get a better look at Wonder Boy's father, frowning as she looked over the man, not seeing any resemblance.
"Did you not come to the temple for help? I have answered your call, mortal, and I find you in the company of this disgusting Gorgon, woman, you dare to bring this...filth into a temple that honors your gods? Have you no respect for your deities?" Zeus's nose crinkled in disgust as the god pulled a face of revulsion as he looked upon Medusa's cowering form with no small amount of disgust in his eyes. "Evil, soulless creatures, deserving of nothing but death," he snapped, the god's temper imploding to match that of Meg's own. She grimaced at the pained look in the young Gorgon's eyes but did not avert her gaze away from Wonder Boy's father. Instead, her feet felt heavily rooted to the ground beneath her as she straightened her posture and angrily clenched her teeth at Zeus behind tightly pursed lips.
Meg angrily stomped her foot, a temporary release of her frustration as she spared a glance at Medusa's tear-filled yellow eyes and jumped to the Gorgon's aid with a quest to defend.
"You know nothing of this poor creature's life! She was driven from her homeland, and her people were killed and hunted by the farmers she lived near. You have no idea what she's suffered, she's a gentle Gorgon!"
Meg looked at Zeus, furious and unable to place his prejudice towards Medusa and the rest of her race, and furrowed her brows in confusion. She turned to Medusa.
"Would you mind, uh, leaving us alone for a moment?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as level-headed as possible, though even she heard the faint crack as it dipped and hated hearing the warbling note of fear in her tone. Medusa could only comply, practically quaking in fear at being in the presence of such an all-powerful god, and fled.
Only when the Gorgon had slunk back into the shadows and she heard a door did she turn to face Zeus.
His expression was almost blank. Menacing, even. She shivered.
"You came to speak to me, mortal, so say your piece," he barked at her with an angry snap to his voice that made her look up in surprise.
Her lips parted as if she meant to speak to Zeus, however, it took the flustered young servant of Hades a moment to manage to find her voice again.
"You don't want war, d-do you?" Meg asked, stumbling a little as her voice held a stutter to it, due to her nerves. She frowned and shook her head to herself as she realized she was almost starting to sound like Wonder Boy when nervous around her. "Because…that's what Hades is planning for you and the rest of you on Mount Olympus if you two can't come to terms. Let him and his wife come up. Perhaps you can find it together before it's too late." "Your son, Wonder B—I—I mean…Hercules," Meg stammered, her cheeks flushing bright red as she realized what she had said the moment Zeus's cheeks turned red, but in anger. "He's everything I did not expect an offspring of a god to be. Clever. Handsome. Charming. Kind," she emphasized through gritted teeth, clenching her shaking fists into hands at her side. "Are you sure he's yours?" she blurted out and hurried to correct herself the moment she heard Hercules' father growl lowly in his throat. She raised her hands in self-defense. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, it was a joke! A bad one," she huffed, frustrated with herself at her inability to tell a joke that wasn't insulting, she realized, as she tucked a curl of her hair back behind her ear and looked up at Zeus. "You really should be proud of Hercules, Zeus. He saved Thebes earlier, and he's going through so much to make you proud. B-But I came here today to warn you that if you don't at least agree to meet with your brother and speak, then Hades is going to declare a full-scale war on you."
Zeus's eyes narrowed at Meg, studying the young woman's lavender eyes for any hint of a lie, at any sign that he could not take this pretty young mortal woman at her every word. But he found none.
Only a fierce blazing determination and passion sparked to life behind her eyes.
He was quick to admire and his first impression of this fiery spirit was that she would have made a good goddess had her circumstances been different and had she not allied her soul to his brother Hades.
"I will…take your words into consideration and speak with my brother given the first chance," Zeus tried to assure this Megara, the god's venomous stare easing only for a moment the longer he looked upon her, knowing all of this mortal woman who had sold her soul to his mischievous brother in exchange to save her wounded lover's life.
"And what of my son? You will tell him of your…arrangement with my brother? I have been watching, Megara, I see and know everything." He shot her a rueful glower upon seeing the blood drain from Meg's face. "There is nothing that happens in Greece that I do not know about, mortal," he said.
Meg swallowed, and when she did, it felt as though she were swallowing knives. Her ears were burning, and her heart was now pounding in her throat.
"Then you know why I….did what I did, everything I gave to Hades, I did to save his life," Meg snapped, unable to keep the note of loathing out of her voice as she squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to think of Prince Adonis or Hades.
Instead, visions of Wonder Boy's sweet face and his dazzling white smile began to flood her mind.
"And now I came to you to ask you to speak to Hades in hopes of saving Hercules and your precious Mount Olympus from annihilation," Meg snapped, unsure where she had acquired the gall to speak so boldly to the gods, but she was far too overcome with annoyance with Zeus to do anything around him but speak the truth, plain and simple as it was.
Sweet. Imaginative. Charming.
Those were the first thoughts that came to Meg's mind as she thought of Wonder Boy after he had saved Thebes from Medusa's Hydra, not ones of disgust or even fear that the demigod was Zeus's son. A sudden thrash of cold began to spread in the pit of her stomach as Meg quickly realized that no, she would never try to hurt Wonder Boy.
Hades' threats and whatever the Lord of the Underworld could do to her fell away completely as she realized her decision was made, and her mind was made up. She knew what she had to do.
She lifted her gaze hesitantly towards Zeus, still wanting the god's confirmation.
"You will speak with your brother soon, then?" she asked, looking as politely as she could into the god's chiseled face.
"Yes." The god answered her in a clipped and curt tone.
Meg huffed, realizing it was likely as good of an answer from him as she was going to get. She nodded, suspecting she would have no choice for the moment but to be satisfied, and lifted the skirts of her dress in her hands as she made to walk away. But before she could make it two feet, Hercules' father called to her. Meg was halfway to the door and had to turn at her waist slightly and peek over her shoulder to attend to Zeus's words.
"You care for my son, mortal. I see it in your eyes. Is it love?" he questioned, his voice low, his expression somber.
Her jaw went slightly slack in surprise upon hearing his words and Meg felt the blood drain from her face as she stared at the god.
"What?" Meg snapped and her brows crumpled as she began to fret in place. She clamped her mouth shut and looked in any direction but at Hercules' father.
"You are in love with my son," Zeus repeated, watching as the color drained from Meg's face as she fretted uncontrollably and nibbled on the wall of her cheek. Meg tried to laugh it off, but thanks to her nerves, it sounded more like a fitful sigh. She did not know how to laugh or condemn the notion. Of course, she didn't care for Wonder Boy.
Well, she cared for him, yes, but it was not love. It couldn't be. She'd known Hercules all of but a few precious days, at best. It was too soon for her to develop feelings for someone else, let alone a demigod.
What she felt for Wonder Boy since he had saved her life from Nessus and then again when she had eaten with him was not love, she began to torment herself as she tried to convince herself to believe it. It was spur of the moment. She pitied him and what Hades had in mind for the boy if Zeus did not comply with his demands to speak freely and allow him and Persephone to regularly visit Mount Olympus alongside the other gods and to be respected as one.
Her cheeks flushed and Meg looked away, hating that her face was reddening like mad.
"I'm not in love with him," she answered, perhaps a little too curtly and too quickly for her liking, for even out of the corner of her lowered gaze, she saw Zeus frown.
"Good. Then don't start to, Megara of Thebes."
Meg froze, trying to measure the god's words and tether understanding to what Hercules' father had just said. With painstaking slowness, she turned to look at him with questioning lavender irises.
"What?" she frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"
"If this is the best life my son thinks is offered to him now, then Hercules is sorely mistaken," Zeus sighed, almost sounding exasperated as his voice rose within the desolate chamber. "He is my son, and we need him. It is predicted that my brother will let loose the Titans. The Fates have foreseen it. My son is young and I am not as young as I once was. I am old, and my fighting days are long behind me, but my son is more than capable. He has a higher purpose than needs or wants or even love on this Earth, Megara, and especially not with a mortal," Zeus commanded in a clipped, curt tone.
Meg felt a wave of cold wash over her at the god's words and felt tears just begging to come to the surface, but she refused to give in and let them fall. She had no clue what to do next, but for now, she knew she could no longer remain in this temple and listen to this. Hercules was only here on Earth to fight a battle that his father already knew would come and seemed to not even want to try to stop it.
For all she knew, his promise to speak to his brother was just a formality and he wouldn't even honor that request. Meg felt a horrible abrupt bitterness seep its way into the pit of her stomach.
"E-Excuse me, I-I h-have to go, I...th-thank you for...speaking to me," she stammered, and turned on her heels, no longer concerned with if she was offending Hercules' father or not, and fled the temple with horror clinging to her heels. She was already starting to feel for the worst, and her part in Hades' scheme was only just beginning, she knew.
She exhaled shakily once outside and tried to breathe deep in the crisp cool autumnal air.
Her mind was so preoccupied, her thoughts elsewhere, that as Meg quickly fled the temple, she did not watch where she was walking and ran straight into the back of Wonder Boy himself as he halted in his tracks.
Meg jumped back and apologized with a bright pink blush covering her face and waited for Hercules to speak.
His bright sky-blue eyes looked at the flushing of her cheeks with a strange interest, but thankfully, he looked away soon enough for it not to be too weird.
He had chosen that moment to head into Thebes to see if he could locate a kind Theban willing to tell him the name of Meg's master, where the man lived, and to see if there was a chance he could buy Meg's freedom from him.
Hercules' face registered his pleasant surprise as he reached out and took Meg by her bony elbows to steady her. Meg was shocked to see Wonder Boy out and about so late, but she was not altogether displeased.
"Can't sleep?" Hercules smiled kindly at Meg, hopefully.
Meg managed to catch herself in the demigod's strong grasp.
"What?" she immediately questioned, her blush intensifying. "Um…n-no."
What she meant was, that her lack of sleep hadn't been her reason for wandering the now deserted streets of Thebes, but she did not protest at Wonder Boy's misunderstanding either. Perhaps it gave her a more plausible excuse and she wouldn't have to explain herself, that she had just come from speaking with his father, for the gods' sake.
Coming back to herself, Meg craned her neck upward to smile nervously at Hercules.
"W-Would you like to walk with me, then?" Hercules motioned towards the lakeside by the woods.
Meg nodded in an eager response.
Hercules rested his hand lightly on the small of Meg's back and guided her away from the deserted streets and somewhere more private where they could talk together without running the risk of waking anyone up at this late hour.
Hercules could think of no better way to end the evening than to sit by the lakeside with her and watch as the moonbeams hit the water in such a way that stole his breath away.
Of course, he had other thoughts as well, but he forced his urge to press his lips to hers in a kiss to the back of his mind. For now, he would simply have to be satisfied with enjoying her company and hope that in time, she'd open up.
Hercules helped Meg to situate herself by the edge of the lake and she did not turn to face him until he had joined her. A shiver went down her spine at the heat Wonder Boy's body exuded but she felt cold and alone. The cold nearly stole the breath from her lungs as she pondered over Zeus's words and realized the bastard god was right, damn him to Hades for it. She was, like it or not, already developing feelings for the Wonder Boy seated next to her. Hercules had saved her life from Nessus, like it or not, and he had been nothing but sweet and kind towards her in their interactions thus far. She had only known Hercules for a short time, and already, the demigod was leaving an impression on her.
Her heart swelled at the thought of spending more time around Hercules, 'higher purpose' or not, be damned.
For some reason, the thought of being around Wonder Boy gave Meg a rush of excitement she had not known since Adonis. Her pulse quickened as his hand moved to rest on her thigh as she sat with her legs tucked underneath the flowing skirts of her dress. She did not understand why Wonder Boy's presence stole the breath from her lungs or how just the thought of him made her grin. Hercules' quiet and mild-mannered voice shattered the silence that had settled between them and pulled Meg out of her startled thoughts.
"There's a storm coming, Meg," he murmured, his blue eyes eyeing the storm thoughtfully as they heard the low boom of thunder in the distance.
Meg could not stop the furrow of confusion from showing on her brow and wondered if this little display of thunder was merely Zeus's displeasure at seeing her purposefully not heeding his warning to stay away from his son. But nor could she manage to pretend to give a damn right now.
But suddenly, before Meg could ponder it further, there came an especially loud and ominous clap of thunder with a deafening blast that made Meg's eardrums start to ring loudly. Meg jumped up as though the ground around her were on fire out of reflex while Hercules rose to his feet calmly and stepped vigilantly towards her. Before either one was aware of what was happening, Meg was clinging onto fistfuls of Hercules' blue cloak.
She found herself wrapped in Wonder Boy's strong embrace, her face so close to his that the man's breath warmed her skin and the tips of their noses were now touching a bit. His blue eyes stared tenderly into Meg's questioning and scared lavender eyes as Meg's delicate hands pressed flat against the breastplate of his armor, trembling.
But Hercules seemed as frozen as one of the stone statues that was littered within Medusa's grotto.
Hercules seemed to decide something just then, as without a word, he pressed his lips to hers and what surprised her even more than Wonder Boy's unexpected kiss, was how Meg did not protest. It was quite the opposite.
She leaned into his kiss, nearly feverish and hungry for more. It was as if the world around them was standing still, as though nothing else mattered. Not the rain that had begun to fall, or the wind that had begun to pick up speed.
It was as if Hercules and Meg were the only two souls left on this Earth, left here to wander together.
Not even Adonis had kissed her like this before. Hercules' kiss was tender, charming, and sweet, if not a bit clumsy, but his inexperience only made Meg want him more, as he was trying to please her.
When they were forced to break apart, Hercules and Meg reluctantly pulled apart from one another, both of them flushed and lost in the throes of their first kiss together.
"Well, I….I…" Hercules whispered, his eyes half-lidded and he was looking at Meg in a daze, as though she were the most beautiful thing his eyes had ever laid eyes on. "Perhaps I could…escort you home? I-I was hoping to speak to your master, actually, to….to buy your freedom?" Hercules offered, his voice hopeful.
Meg felt her breaths catch in her throat and she quickly shook her head, but worry wormed its way into the pit of her stomach as she thought of how she could continue to keep selling the lie to Hercules that she lived and had a master here. She settled her gaze away from him and stared out at a distant star in the sky.
After a moment of silence that had passed between them beyond the point of comfort, Meg managed to find her voice.
"N-no, Wonder Boy, you're—you're sweet to offer, I—I could take myself back. You don't need to worry about my master. He is my responsibility to deal with." She cringed as she realized her voice sounded cold and impersonal, too flat.
Hercules felt a rush of raw emotion hit him squarely in the chest as though Meg herself had drawn back her hand and gut-punched him. Phil was right. As much as he did not want to believe it, Meg was keeping something from her, something close to the chest that she did not want him to know about.
He was sure that her master was an abusive man, he could tell by how suddenly skittish Meg was becoming.
What could Meg be hiding from him? He felt his heart plummet to the ground beneath his sandals.
He reached out a hand to set it on Meg's shoulder, unsure the young woman would even allow it, but it was as if Meg sensed Hercules' intentions and purposefully pulled away from him, her cheeks flushed red and she was hastily fixing her ponytail, still actively avoiding looking at him.
"I um…I-I'll see you later, Wonder Boy, i-it's late, and I…there's someone, something I need to do, someone I need to see. I will speak to my master myself, I don't want you to worry about that," Meg heard herself answer again in her cold and distant voice that made Hercules flinch away, not liking the shift in the young brunette's countenance.
Meg turned away, not wanting to look into the heartbreak and confusion brimming with life behind Wonder Boy's sparkling blue eyes. Her teeth clenched behind straight lips and she made as if to turn away, to summon Hades and tell her lord and master of the Underworld that she was not going to abide by anything that would hurt Zeus's son or anyone else. But before she could, she paused. She was stricken with the urge to show him that she would be alright.
She did the only thing that her body would allow her. Meg turned on her heels and made eye contact with Hercules.
She felt a surge of anger towards Hades wash over her as her feet began to move towards Wonder Boy, who was as still and silent as an owl, watching her approach him swiftly.
Wonder Boy's blue eyes gave away no sign of what he was thinking, though she swore she saw the man's pupils widen as she came to stand before him and rested her hands on either of his shoulders. She felt him tense at her touch, as she lifted herself onto the tips of her toes and had to pull him down the rest of the way to be able to reach him.
She was not sure when the suffocating feelings of panic at what she knew she had to do had started settling in.
But the air suddenly felt thick and suffocating and she knew if she did not speak to Hades while her courage and resolve remained steadfast and strong, then she would lose her chance. This fueling her, she pressed her lips to Hercules' cheek in a gentle and chaste kiss.
When Meg finally took her lips away from Hercules' cheek, she stared the demigod boldly in the eye, his handsome face still hunched towards her, a look of longing and desire sparking to life in them.
"Do you trust me when I tell you that I will be fine?" she told him firmly, and Hercules gave her a little half-smile. Wonder Boy slipped his warm and calloused hand into hers and his gentle touch grounded Meg instantly, reminding her of why she needed to do this.
She smiled at him then, realizing that Hercules had somehow anticipated that she was not feeling well, that she was hiding something. Zeus's son was proving to be so sweet and so aware of everything Meg felt.
His brow furrowed in worry, and he spoke to Meg quietly.
"Meg, a-are you sure? I-I don't want your master, whoever he is, to hurt you…" He trailed off, concerned, as he looked deeply into Meg's lavender eyes.
Meg nodded, eager to set his mind at ease.
"Wonder Boy, you're sweet to worry about me. I just need to speak with him about something. I will be fine, I assure you. Please. Just give me this time, and then I will come back to you?" Meg tried to soothe him, hoping he would understand.
He nodded, albeit reluctantly, and with a chaste kiss to her temple, Hercules let go of Meg's hand and let her leave him.
Meg did not let herself turn back around to face Wonder Boy, though she could feel Hercules' longing stare burning a hole in the back of her skull as she walked, her long dark ponytail swishing from side to side as she did so, and instead went on her way. Her face reddened with exhilaration from the kiss they had shared but also anger at what Hades was making her do. Why the god had to make things so difficult for her, she could not say.
Hades was infuriatingly difficult, and she did not doubt that his claim that she would be well looked after and kept safe was just a pretense. That he did not care about her at all, that as soon as her usefulness to him had run its course, he would be done with her, and then what? Meg shivered violently. She didn't like to think about what.
Her last thought before going to speak with Hades in a more secluded part of Thebes as she silently called for the Lord of the Underworld to show himself, was a simple but a poignant one.
The more distance Meg put between herself and Wonder Boy, the more she began to wonder about whether confronting Hades and refusing to go along with his schemes anymore was such a good idea.
But she was no shrinking flower, however, and she was not about to let Wonder Boy get hurt and caught in the middle of this blood feud between the two brothers.
Somehow, Meg knew that confronting him was the only way. But even still, the thought permeated itself into her mind and refused to leave her alone. She repeated it to herself over and over again, like a whispered mantra.
I hope this is not a grave mistake…