XXIII

Reyna, conflicted yet grateful, confronts her sister Hylla at the Amazon distribution center after being abducted for security. Reyna reflects on Hylla’s many reinventions—from survivor, to Circe’s attendant, to pirate duelist, to Amazon queen—underscoring their complicated past.

Hylla admits they intercepted Reyna because Orion is hunting her. With Phoebe’s prompting, they explain Orion once joined the Hunters and became Artemis’s closest companion before crossing a line by falling in love with the goddess. After Orion’s death and return from Tartarus, his bitterness turned him into Artemis’s fiercest enemy, targeting Hunters and Amazons alike.

Accepting the danger, Reyna deduces she’s the bait. Hylla confirms a citywide ambush: Thalia scouts the perimeter, traps line every approach, and elite fighters stand ready to spring on Orion. Reyna asks for logistical help transporting the Athena Parthenos, but Hylla says the statue’s hostility to Ares’s kin and the Fates’ design prevent Amazon interference.

Instead, the Amazons provide practical aid. Phoebe reveals the statue is camouflaged, gives Reyna a satchel of supplies—healing potions, tranquilizer darts—and a collapsible, air-conditioned tent with the command word “actaeon.” The support boosts Reyna’s odds, even if the core burden remains hers.

Before plans can unfold, Kinzie rushes in with grim news: contact with the outer defenses is lost. As Hylla starts to warn Reyna, the compound’s metal doors explode inward, signaling Orion’s sudden breach and triggering the battle the Amazons and Hunters had prepared for.