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)
He raises his brows. “Stop what?”
“Poor little rich boy. Your father was a monster—no one will argue that—but this is Olympus. Monstrous parents are hardly a rarity. You’re the most powerful person in this city, and only part of that power is because of your title. Your family has been here since the start. You’re the ultimate legacy bloodline. Did Eris lose all her power when she rescinded the Aphrodite title?”
“She’s Eris. What do you think?”
I think Eris is one of the most dangerous women in this city—and holding the title of Aphrodite still almost broke her. She won’t admit as much, and I doubt Perseus would either, but there’s no other reason she would have allowed the Aphrodite title to slip from her grasp. It wasn’t the assassination attempt that shook her to her core. It’s the fucking system, this fucking city. It chews people up and spits them out as fractured versions of themselves. Eris got out of the Thirteen before the system broke her, but only barely.
“This isn’t working, Perseus.” I don’t mean to say the words, but just as my body took the choice from me, now my tongue and lips do. “I don’t necessarily agree with Hermes’s methods, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s not wrong. How much evil has been done in the name of various members of the Thirteen? And I’m not talking about evil stretching back to the founding of the city. I’m talking about evil that happened in our lifetime while we were old enough to notice. Can you list it all? Because I can’t.”
He flinches again, and part of me hates how I’m hurting him with my words. How far I’ve fallen from my ambition to become a widow. Now I can’t even handle delivering an emotional blow to my husband. Finally, Perseus says, “No. I can’t list it all.”
The admission settles between us. Something has shifted. It doesn’t matter what my original plans were, or what his intentions were. There is only the way we are now. We crossed a line and now we can’t go back. The worst part is how little I want to. “So the question remains—what are we going to do about it?”
He moves slowly, carefully setting his hands on my hips as if he’s not sure of his welcome. “Even if I wanted to dismantle the Thirteen…even if it were possible…there’s Circe to reckon with. She’s not going to wait peacefully for Olympus to create a whole new power structure that might have a chance to stand against her.”
There’s only one solution to the Circe problem. There’s always only been one solution. We just haven’t managed to pull it off yet. “It’s simple, really. We kill her and then forge a new form of government.”
His lips curve the tiniest bit. “Your plan is spectacular in its detail.”
“Hey.” I lightly smack his chest. “The fact I’m sharing this plan with you at all is a step in the right direction. If there’s hope for us, then there’s hope for all of Olympus.”
His smile dims, his blue eyes going oh so serious. His fingers dig into my hips, ever so slightly. “Is there? Hope for us?”
It’s only then that I realize what I just said. What is wrong with me? I was so firm in my choices, so cemented into my plan. The last few days shouldn’t have changed anything, and yet they’ve changed everything. I want to blame the parasite, but allowing myself even that amount of delusion is dangerous.
I could tell him. I could confess to being pregnant, could explain how terrified I am, could mourn the way that no matter how tightly I try to cling to control, it keeps spinning out past my fingertips. It’s a sensation I’m sure he’s experienced. Maybe there’s comfort in knowing I’m not alone.
Except it would be a lie. He said it himself: He doesn’t know who he is without Zeus. Wishing for a different way doesn’t mean he’ll actually put our words into action should the opportunity present itself. Even if we found and eliminated Circe today, his wishes would shift as soon as our enemy stopped looming large. As soon as it became easy to settle into what passes for normalcy in this city.
I don’t know what hurts more about that future—losing him…or knowing I never had him to begin with.
So I don’t tell him I’m pregnant. I just lean down and press a light kiss to his lips. “I don’t know.” It’s the most honest answer I can give. I have no idea if there’s hope for us. I don’t think there is, but enough of me wants it that I can’t shoot him down.
He strokes my hips as I straighten. “That’s not a no.”
My throat tightens and my eyes burn. Damn hormones. It’s the only reason I’m fighting not to cry right now like some kind of sap. “It’s not a no.”