Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Alternative. To power, to the titles, to… Why does this keep coming up? I narrow my eyes. “Have you been talking to Hermes?”
She blinks. “I haven’t seen Hermes in…months? I don’t know. A long time.”
“She’s around,” I mutter. I didn’t take her comments earlier seriously, but now I wonder. If bringing down the Thirteen has truly been her goal all along, then she was a traitor from the start. “She popped by my office to tell me that we should dismantle our system of government and set up…something.”
“How does she plan on doing that?” Ares shakes her head. “The Thirteen have always existed. It’s a fundamental part of what Olympus is.”
“So was the barrier, but look at it now.” Eris shrugs when we both glare at her. “I’m not saying we should rush to topple what’s left of our government. Just pointing out that things are changing—have been changing for some time.”
If nothing else is true, that is. “We don’t need change. We need stability.” The words feel dragged out of me. I’m so fucking tired, but there’s no one else. There’s never been anyone else. Trying to find Hera before the video does so I can be the one to break the news to her is a fool’s errand. This is Olympus; gossip travels faster than the speed of light. “And we can’t have true stability until Circe is removed as a threat.”
Eris shrugs. “You’re not wrong, but there’s a lot of damage that can be repaired in the meantime. The coup with Poseidon and Hades can be spun to prove that the three legacy titles are in an alliance for the first time in generations. That’s powerful. We just have to use it.”
“It won’t be enough to bring Artemis around.” Ares laces her fingers behind her head. “She hates our entire family and your stepping down as Aphrodite hasn’t changed that. You’re right that Sele was a good choice for Aphrodite, but they’re going to play things safe to protect themselves. Same with Hephaestus. Xe will look after xir people, because that’s where xir loyalty lies. Their respective votes about the attack on Circe’s blockade prove that. If either of them makes alliances, it won’t be until the dust settles.”
“Dionysus isn’t cooperating, either.” Eris examines her nails. “It seems he’s in your wife’s corner now.”
I truly wish I could say that her corner and mine are one and the same. They aren’t. “Demeter is mercenary, but she knows where her best interests lie. She’s worked too damn hard to marry one of her daughters to me to undermine that now.”
“Maybe,” Ares says almost reluctantly.
My sisters exchange another one of those speaking glances. I hate it when they do that. “What?” I snap.
“Demeter’s loyalty only lasts as long as your power does.” Ares stretches and shoves to her feet. “So let’s do what we have to in order to ensure your power doesn’t falter.”
I look from her to Eris and back again. “Athena is in my corner. You are.” I nod to Ares. “Apollo is.” I reach for another name, but come up short. Fuck. Four out of thirteen is shit odds. “I’ll talk to Poseidon and see what I can do. Hades, too, for that matter. We worked together well during the attack on the ships. We can come together again to defend the city.”
“I hope so.” Eris plucks the bottle of scotch from my desk and takes a long drink. “Because I’m pretty sure you only have one chance to get this train back on the tracks. If you fail…”
Failure is not an option. My father’s voice haunts me, a nasty little reminder that Zeus has never failed, and if I do, I’ll be the first. That was the metaphorical whip he used against me countless times over the years. Don’t fail the title, the family, him. I clear my throat. “If I fail?”
She meets my gaze. “Don’t fail, Perseus. For all our sakes.”
11
Hera
“And that’s when I found out I was pregnant.” Even when laying so much of myself bare, I don’t tell Psyche about my intentionally reaching out to Circe. I hesitate, considering the best way to approach this. Psyche has a much stronger moral compass than I do and she cares about people almost as deeply as Eurydice does. She had a chance to leave Olympus behind and chose to stay. I need to pick my words carefully to get her on my side, to ensure we can come together and figure out how to convince our mother, Hades, and our sisters to escape while we can.
“Psyche!”
I startle so badly I almost fall out of my chair, but Psyche doesn’t so much as flinch. She glances to the door as her husband, Eros, shoves into the tent. “Psyche, we have a problem. There’s something—” He stops short when he catches sight of me. For someone who used to be a fixer for his mother, the woman who was Aphrodite two title changes ago, he looks far more rattled than I’ve ever seen him. This is a man with more than a few bodies to his name. What could possibly be on the phone that he’s clutching so tightly to cause that look on his face?