“Eros.” She says my name so gently. “That might all be true, but if I run and leave Aphrodite in power, the next person she targets likely won’t be as lucky to have the resources at my disposal. She’ll continue to victimize people less powerful than her just because she can. She’ll continue to use you to do it.” Her hazel eyes go hard. “I won’t allow that to happen. You deserve better than to be her weapon, and the people in this city deserve better than to walk on eggshells to avoid pissing Aphrodite off. We’ll find a way to stop her. Together.”
I’m ashamed of the sheer relief her words bring me. She’s not leaving me. Not yet. Fuck, I’m such an asshole. “We have to adjust the plan.”
“Yes. Starting with this Friday, when we attend Helen’s party.”
That gives me a little pause. “I thought you’d want to skip it considering what happened tonight.”
“I do want to skip it, but it’s not about what I want.” She shifts on the couch. It strikes me that this could be our lives if we were different people, in a different situation. Relaxing in my living room, her taking candid photos, talking about our days…
Longing hits me so hard, it steals my breath. I close my eyes and try to focus. “If you’re staying in Olympus, it’s the height of foolishness to leave the penthouse more than strictly necessary. My mother wants you dead; no reason to make it easier on her.”
“Would you have gone if I weren’t here?”
I frown. As tempting as it is to keep reminding Psyche how dangerous this course of action is, I answer honestly. “Yeah. I like Helen. She and Eris play the game differently than I do, but that goes with the territory of being born into the Kasios family. The events they put together are never boring, especially when one of them is trying to prove a point to Perseus or Zeus.” Except Perseus is Zeus now. Damn it, one of these days that will click in my thoughts properly and I won’t have to keep reminding myself.
“Exactly my point. We’re fighting on two fronts now.” She wiggles her foot until I pick it up and resume massaging. “We need time to figure out a way to deal with this renewed threat from your mother, and the only way to create that time is to have Olympus on our side. The original plan still has to stay in motion.”
“That’s reckless.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
I concentrate on running my thumb up the sole of her foot until she lets loose that sexy little moan again. As tempting as it is to hole up in this penthouse for the foreseeable future, it will demolish our chances of playing out the epic love story we’re supposed to be selling. More than that, I saw what happened last time one of Demeter’s daughters was kept from her. She can’t starve out the whole of the upper city in response to this, but she’s got plenty of weapons in her arsenal.
And that’s the best-case scenario.
Worst case, Demeter realizes why we entered into this marriage in the first place and goes after Aphrodite directly. There hasn’t been a true war between members of the Thirteen in generations. Not even the last Zeus and last Hades, for all that their conflict ended with Hades’s death. It was Ares and Hephaestus who warred all those decades ago, and they demolished several blocks of the upper city in the process. It was one of the few times in our history when Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades came together to quell the conflict. Zeus, of course, executed both Ares and Hephaestus in a particularly gruesome and public manner.
That Zeus had held his title for most of his life.
This one has been Zeus for a few months.
No matter what kind of heft the title carries, I don’t know if Perseus can hold his own if a conflict spirals out of control between Demeter and Aphrodite.
No, Psyche is right. We don’t have a choice. “Okay, we’ll attend the party.”
“I do have one question.”
“Sure.”
She twists her hair around her finger. “You’re friends with the Kasios siblings, right? Why not just go to Zeus now and ask him to intervene? No matter how powerful Aphrodite is, she’s not Zeus powerful.”
I concentrate on rubbing her foot in a way that makes her moan a little while I formulate an answer. “Perseus—Zeus—and I aren’t as close as we were as kids, but even if we were, I don’t think he could overlook the fact that the evidence against my mother also implicates me. He can’t punish one and spare the other, because he’ll have to justify any action he takes against another of the Thirteen.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” She tilts her head to the side. “We’ll save going to Zeus as a last resort.”
I hope it doesn’t come to that. No matter how distant we’ve grown over the years, Perseus is dealing with enough without me dumping my problems into his lap and expecting him to fix them for me. We’ll find another way, though.
In the meantime… “I have a question, too.”
“Yes?”
“Why have you and your sisters put so much time and effort into holding yourselves apart from the rest of us? I understand avoiding me or some of the others, but Helen would have taken you under her wing in an instant.”
“You think so?” Psyche makes a face but finally exhales. “I will admit that I have something of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to dealing with the children of the Thirteen. My experiences haven’t been great.”
We’re a closed group. By the nature of the Thirteen, our number changes from time to time when the person holding the titles changes and brings their family with them, but there’s a core group of us who have grown up together. Still… “Has Helen been cruel to you?” I can believe it of Eris, but Helen is a harder sell. She’s not exactly warm, but she’s better than most.
“No.” Psyche says it so begrudgingly that I laugh. The sound is only partially in relief. I’d hate to have to rip my friend a new one because she was mean to my wife.
“I think you’d like Helen if you give her half a chance.” I set her foot down and pick up the other.
She closes her eyes and seems to give herself over to the foot massage. “I’d like Helen, or the public version of Psyche would like Helen?”
“Both.”
She exhales and opens her eyes. “This matters to you.”
I’m surprised to find it does. I want to say that it’s a simple game of numbers, and the more people on our side, the better off our position, but that’s not strictly the truth. Nothing about this situation is simple, and the longer we’re together, the more complicated it becomes. I expected to desire Psyche—I have from the start—but I didn’t expect to like her or to feel so possessive that part of me wants to wrap her up and keep her away from the world while the other part wants to show her off at every opportunity. It’s more than the fact that she’s beautiful and has a sweet center that not even Olympus could mar. I admire her.
Which is why I tell her the truth. “Helen is as close to a sister as I have. More so than anyone else in Olympus, I trust her, and she trusts me. I…” I hesitate. “I would like it if you’d give her a chance.”
“Not just because of the political gain?”
Of course she sees right through me. I give a rueful smile. “No, not just because of the political gain, though it never hurts to have a member of the Kasios family on your side.”
She’s silent for several minutes. “Okay. I’ll give her a chance.”
This feels more momentous than it likely should, but I can’t help the fact that it feels right to have our lives start edging into each other. Or maybe that’s just the selfish part of me that wants to tether this woman to me in as many ways as possible.
Psyche clears her throat. “We’ll start with a two-pronged defense. The first thing we need is more alliances. I realize Zeus is out for the time being, but there are plenty of other powerful people in Olympus. The more we have on our side, the more risky it is for Aphrodite to strike.”
“I can pretty much guarantee Helen’s party will have a lot of powerful people, even if they’re mostly the children of the Thirteen.”
“That’s a start.” Psyche nods. “The second prong is getting the rest of Olympus on our side and cheering for us. The little social-media teasers have gotten that ball rolling, but doing an official interview will help speed things along.”
I focus on her foot for a long moment. “That works for a short-term plan.”