"But how did you recognise me in the first place?"
My voice tore out between ragged breaths, each syllable dragging itself past the iron weight in my chest. Muramasa still hissed in my hand, black lightning crawling like a restless beast, its hunger only barely contained. The plaza reeked of charred blood and molten stone, and the corpse of the Minotaur—Ares's avatar—still smoked like an altar left abandoned after a sacrificial rite.
Artemis didn't answer right away. She stared at me with those emerald eyes that could cut marble in half, eyes that had seen mortals beg, kings kneel, and beasts whimper under her bow. But in that instant, her pupils trembled, ever so slightly.
"You… truly don't know," she whispered, as if the words disgusted her for daring to exist.
I tightened my grip on the blade, ignoring the bite of its curse gnawing into my veins. "Then enlighten me. Don't leave me hanging after dropping something like that."
"I was… Sister Lilith."
