Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“It wasn’t planned.” I have to concentrate to keep my body loose, to not fall into the resting stance of a soldier about to give bad news. “Circe staged a public farce of a trial for Peitho and executed her. Eros tried to intervene, which is when Hermes arrived. Circe killed Eros, too, and took Hermes captive.”
What little color there was in Cassandra’s face leaches away. “She killed Eros?”
“Yes.” I didn’t know Eros well, having only attended some of the same events for wildly different reasons, but Hermes considered him a friend. A true friend. She has to be hurting so much right now, and she’s in that woman’s claws. “If Circe keeps her…”
“She can’t. We won’t allow it.” Cassandra shakes her head sharply and raises her voice. “Apollo! We need you.”
Relief makes me a little woozy. If they refused to help, I would still have gone after Hermes, but it’s good not to be on my own. At least at this stage. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I doubt any of us are going to like what we find.”
8
Circe
“You should kill her and be done with it.”
I turn away from Hecate and face Antigone. She’s been at my side for a very long time, and that familiarity means I allow her to speak her mind freely. A leader without dissenting opinions in the room is no leader at all but a tyrant. Even so, some things I won’t allow.
I meet her gaze squarely, letting her see how serious I am. “Let’s make one thing clear. If any harm comes to Hecate, I’ll visit it upon you tenfold. She’s not to be touched. Even by you.”
Antigone flushes, but she doesn’t look away. “She’s a dagger poised right at your heart. You hold back with her in a way you don’t with anyone else. The rest of the Thirteen are complacent and prime for the taking, but even we have had a hard time keeping track of Hermes.”
“Hecate.”
Her lips thin with displeasure. “She may have been Hecate to you, but she’s Hermes right now. By her choice. By her actions.”
The truth of her comment stings, but I brush it away. It doesn’t matter what Hecate has done since believing me dead. I’m not dead and neither is she. As long as that remains true, there’s hope for us. I haven’t experienced hope in a very, very long time. It’s a tiny breath of lightness in the back of my mind, something fragile and easily crushable. I have no doubt Hecate will hate me for a time after I see this through, but the connection between us never faded. It never will. That’s something to fight for, no matter what else is true. I’ve never considered myself a romantic, but she brings it out in me; she always has.
Instead of continuing to argue with Antigone, I change the subject. “The bodies?”
She pauses but finally releases a long sigh. “Aphrodite has been dealt with according to your orders. Demeter and Psyche claimed Eros’s body. Psyche won’t leave its side. It’s pathetic.”
“She loves him.” I shrug with a nonchalance I don’t feel. Eros was a miscalculation, but I don’t see how the situation could have played out differently. Maybe if I’d had him and Psyche sequestered… They still would have discovered Peitho’s death at the same time as the rest of the city, but at least that would have given me the opportunity for damage control. Perhaps I could have found a way to avoid killing him. I can’t say that to Antigone, though. The only reason I occupy this position of leadership is because I don’t showcase doubt. I’m not about to start now when we’re so close to the end. “If Psyche is focused on her grief, she won’t be causing problems for us, and Demeter will be focused on her. Leave her to it, but have someone keep an eye on both of them.” I know better than anyone not to underestimate the lengths grief will drive a person to. By the time Psyche pulls herself out of hers enough to act, this should be finished, but there’s no reason to get complacent.
“Will do.”
“Give me the status on the rest of the Thirteen and the legacy families.”
“We should have dealt with them earlier. A good portion have taken refuge behind the barrier in the lower city.” She shifts from foot to foot. Antigone has never been able to stand still when she’s agitated. “Artemis, Hephaestus, and Apollo are still on this side of the river the last report I saw. Maybe Dionysus, too, but none of our people can confirm one way or another. Artemis stayed because she’s too stubborn and proud. The others are trying to ensure we won’t gain access to their information and networks.”
I laugh. “It’s a little too late for that on most counts, but let them scramble.” I glance at Hecate again, measuring the steady rise and fall of her chest. It’s frustrating that the main three responsible for my harm are currently unreachable, but they won’t stay that way for long. All we have to do is find the location of the machinery responsible for keeping the lower city barrier up, and it will come down just like the one around the perimeter of the city did.