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)
She pulls a cutting board out of a drawer and slides it across to me, along with a small knife. A token of trust, apparently. “Start slicing the apples while we talk. We’ll have a plan in place by the time the pie is done.” She pauses. “And then…I have something to show you.”
18
Circe
In my heart of hearts, I knew Hecate wouldn’t falter no matter what happened between us. Waking up alone in the bed that might have been ours in a different life, covered in sweat and shaking from my reoccurring nightmare of drowning… I had reached for her. Instinctive, my body moving before my brain woke up enough to realize I was well and truly alone. She’d never even come to bed.
That’s to be expected, I suppose. Just like I should have expected her not to give up just because we slept together again. I don’t know what she’s up to, but it would be a waste of time and resources to search for her. If Hecate doesn’t want to be found, there isn’t a force in this world that can unearth her. I’ll simply have to continue with my plan and deal with whatever inevitable complication she brings in real time.
We commandeered the tech center in the university shortly after arriving, and I head there mostly to give myself something to do. I find Zita in the middle of the room, having hauled over several computers and done…something with them. They’re a small person with light-brown skin gone waxy and pale from never getting enough daylight, a shaved head, and a mosaic of tattoos that somehow come together to create a cohesive whole.
I’m more than capable when it comes to a normal measure of technological knowledge, but their skills border on magical as far as I’m concerned. It’s good to have them on my team. “What do you have for me?”
“You’re aware Antigone has brought in Artemis.” They flip one screen to face me, showing a woman with light-brown skin and long dark hair slamming herself against a closed door and shrieking. A click of a button and she disappears, replaced by a family huddled in the corner of an empty room. “She also acquired the Cassas family.”
My gaze snags on the family, something sharp prodding at the numbness I cling to. I thought I was resigned to the necessary step of eliminating these old bloodlines so they don’t gain a foothold in the new world, but…they’re kids. One of the children is young enough to be held in his mother’s arms, his face buried against her neck. I clear my throat. “Where is Antigone now?”
Zita shrugs. “Nerissa and she fought about Nerissa’s injury, and then Antigone went to get some sleep.”
Back in Aeaea, nothing happened that Zita didn’t see. They may be loyal to me, but that’s only because I pay them well and give them plenty to occupy them. They’re never bored while working for me, which is the only unforgivable sin in their eyes. Even so, it’s a good reminder to watch myself. “Did you see Atalanta wandering our halls yesterday?” With Hecate.
“Security here isn’t as straightforward as I’d like.” They shrug again. “Initially, I didn’t realize the maintenance halls are on a different system. It’s archaic and goofy to keep them separate, but a lot about this place is. By the time I realized you were searching for them, they were already gone.”
It’s what I figured, but frustration still blooms inside me, a poisonous flower. Those two are thorns in my proverbial paw, and the next few days would go off significantly smoother if they weren’t free to run about the city and cause problems. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. “I trust that oversight has been corrected.”
“Yep! Won’t happen again.” They grin. “You look like shit, Boss. You should take a nap or something. Maybe do one of those masks Nerissa is always talking about.”
“Thanks, Zita.” I bite down a sigh. “I’ll take that into account.”
They bob their head to a beat only they can hear. “I also have a report from the lower city team. They found the place, but there’s a lot of security around it—more than we expected. Either Hades was tipped off, or he’s naturally a cautious kind of guy.”
“Likely both.” Hecate is being unforgivably sentimental in her defense of the very people who would stand by and repeat history. She let herself get too close, and she’s always cared more than most. The moment she got free of the university, she would have called Hades and conveyed what information she could.
It’s a token of his intelligence that he trusted her…and damned inconvenient at that.
I tap a finger to my bottom lip. We already planned on bringing the trials to the public in a way that’s not possible in the university. Might as well get on with it. “I want a full list of Artemis’s sins by tomorrow morning. The more details you can provide, the better.”