Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
It takes another fifteen minutes of arguing before my sister leaves, trailing dire promises of what she’ll do if I get hurt because of my hardheadedness. I check in with Sele, who’s already ordered a cleanup crew for the lobby, and then walk slowly back to my office and lock the door.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
The shakes return with interest. I take a step toward the chairs, but my legs give out and I sink to the floor. “This is ridiculous.” My voice sounds halfway normal even though my bones are currently trying to detach themselves and rattle right out of the room. “I am Eris Kasios and I do not panic over…over…” A pathetic little sob erupts from my lips. “Godsdamn it.”
I pull my legs to my chest and drop my forehead to my knees. It doesn’t help the shakes, but at least I feel the tiniest bit in control like this. I can’t afford to lose it. There’s too much hanging in the balance, and even if my part in the fight might not be vital enough to sink Olympus as a whole… I don’t actually know that for certain. I can’t take it for granted.
I have to stay ten steps ahead of my husband and his family.
I have to.
I will…when I regain the strength to stand…in just a few minutes.
21
HEPHAESTUS
I spend the day dodging calls from Adonis and texts from Pandora. If I talk to them, I have to tell them what happened with Aphrodite, and if I do that, then there will be separate fallout to deal with.
In between those times, I try to escape the inexplicable guilt saying I shouldn’t have left her alone. It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. She’s fine. A few cuts and probably some bruises, but we gave each other worse while fucking. Yes, she was still a little unsteady on her feet when I left, but I’m sure she figured it out fast enough.
Probably.
Then comes the call I was expecting. The one I can’t avoid. I stare at Minos’s name on my phone for several beats and then accept the call. “Yeah?”
“Update me.”
I’ve never been one to crave a softer touch of parental love—how can you want something you don’t even know the shape of?—but there are days when Minos treating me like a soldier wears on me. They come more and more often since my failure during the Ares tournament.
I bite back a curse of frustration. Instead, a question bursts free that I had no intention of asking. “Are you responsible for the attack on my wife?”
He pauses. “Would it matter if I was?”
Yes. No. I don’t fucking know. “Answer the question.”
“Very well.” Minos sighs as if I’ve disappointed him. “I’m not behind any of the attacks on the Thirteen. They’re in a situation of their own making, spurred on by the public that loves them and hates them in equal measure.”
“What about the Minotaur?”
“What about him?” His tone goes low and dangerous. “You’ve never questioned my plans before.”
“I’m not questioning them now.” I think. “But you stopped informing me of the next steps the moment I became Hephaestus.”
“Yes, I did. I don’t need you for this part of the plan. When it’s time for you to act, you’ll know.” A weighted pause. “Stop wasting time and energy worrying about things that have nothing to do with you. Your public image continues to deteriorate. They’re laughing at you.”
“I’m dealing with the public perception thing as best I can, but it will take time.”
“Weakness will not be tolerated. Get it handled.” He barely pauses, switching to his main focus in a heartbeat. “At the next meeting with the Thirteen, propose stricter regulations over the River Styx crossings. And tariffs.”
I hold the phone from my face and stare at it a long moment. “You want me to propose we install tariffs on half the city.”
“It only makes sense. The lower city is a leech on the rest of the resources. They offer little in the way of benefits and simply take food from the mouths of those who put in the work for it.”
Best I can tell, most of the upper city doesn’t do much work for their food, either. “No one is going to go for that.”
“You’d be surprised.” He sounds pleased with himself. “Hades hasn’t made many friends among the Thirteen during his term, and now that he’s got an heir on the way and Zeus doesn’t… It’s a fault line, my boy. They might all be Olympians in our eyes, but the citizens don’t see it that way. We can exploit that. Even if they don’t like you much, there are those among the Thirteen who would agree with this move because they dislike Hades even more than they hate you.”
It’s fucked up. I’ve been here long enough to understand that the upper city sees those who reside across the river as another city entirely, but best I can tell, the only difference is that the lower city doesn’t preen and primp in public or dance to Zeus’s tune.