"In Latin my name, Aurelia, basically means 'the golden one.' My mother literally named me her golden light through the storm that was her life. That is my job. To be everyone's light at the end of the tunnel. And I got stuck worrying so much about...
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Aurelia hated blind trust.
She didn't exactly believe in it. Life had been cruel to her. Her mother, the person who was supposed to raise you, care for you, and love you, failed at that job. Her relationship with Reyna and Hylla was built off shared blood and shared trauma—trust was needed for them to survive. It took her months before she was able to trust Jason. It took Percy being an absolute idiot for her to trust him.
Did Aurelia fully trust Hazel and Frank? She wanted to believe she did, but if it came down to the safety of their camp or her life ... she wasn't as sure. Not because she believed them to be unloyal, but because she believed them to be too naive and inexperienced in this area of demigod life.
But staring at her older cousin, the one who fought to keep her alive, the one who taught her how to read and write, the one who would hold her hand whenever she used to zone out, Aurelia knew that a lot of blind trust was going to be needed today.
Hylla felt desperate, and when they were left in the room without her other Amazons, her anger had disappeared only leaving behind her hopelessness.
Hylla's desperation mixed with Hazel's unease and distrust, was bothering Aurelia.
"Ari," Hazel murmured, trying to convey a look of distress—not very subtly. It was almost like Hazel was trying to say that they should run for it.
"Forget about escape," Hylla advised Hazel. "Of course, we'd respect you for trying. But we'd have to kill you." Aurelia gave a small hum of amusement as she noticed the small quirk in Hazel's lips at Hylla's words.
"Thanks for the warning," Hazel grumbled.
Hylla shrugged. "It is the least I can do. It may be the only thing I can do for you."
Aurelia pursed her lips. "Is our little side quest really in vain? There is no aid you can offer?"
Hylla studied the necklace she'd taken from Percy. "It's complicated," she said. "Amazons have always had a rocky relationship with other demigods—especially male demigods. We fought for King Priam in the Trojan War, but Achilles killed our queen, Penthesilea. Years before that, Hercules stole Queen Hippolyta's belt—this belt I'm wearing. It took us centuries to recover it. Long before that, at the very beginning of the Amazon nation, a hero named Bellerophon killed our first queen, Otrera."
