There was a silence, but Dahlia could clearly hear Clara trying to conceal her tears, her breathing louder than usual, sniffling and clearing her throat a couple of times.
"...What?" Victoria finally broke the silence. "What do you mean, you're not Athena's champion? But..."
"I assumed I was," Clara interrupted her before Victoria could say anything. "But I was wrong. I just realized that now. That test was meant for three people! Not for four. And I wasn't very useful in the maze, either. I'm cowardly, too. Why would the Goddess of War pick someone as cowardly as I am?!"
"But we had a sort of... fated meeting," Dahlia said. "The paper that flew in your hands. And you dreamt about her library. And, Hecate said..."
"Hecate probably just assumed things!" Clara cut her off, sounding eve
