Should she find out about this little scheme Eurydice and I are running, she would undoubtedly consider it a betrayal that needs to be punished. Her daughter Psyche took down the last person to hold the Aphrodite title, after all.
But I grew up in Zeus’s household, and frankly all four of those women do Eurydice a disservice by trying to swaddle her up to protect her. The woman I interacted with at Minos’s party—the one standing before me now—has a backbone.
She deserves a chance to use it.
I shrug. “You’re smart, beautiful, and perfectly placed for this kind of thing. I think we can both agree that you’re being underutilized at the moment, and you’re obviously itching to do more or you wouldn’t have been so receptive to my offer.” I jerk my chin at Charon. “And you’re hardly unprotected.”
She smiles slowly. “You know, I think you’re the first person to see me as valuable instead of just a pretty thing to be admired.”
I glance over her shoulder to where Charon watches her with molten eyes. He catches me looking and shutters the expression quickly, but not quickly enough. I don’t think I am the first person to see you as valuable.
I pat Eurydice on the shoulder. “Keep me in the loop.” I pause. “Oh, and stay out of the club tonight. I’m bringing Pandora and I don’t want her thinking about anything but me and the show.”
“Okay.” She turns toward the door, but pauses. “Thanks for this. I mean it. Olympus is my home, too, no matter how flawed, and I want to help.”
“You are helping, and I appreciate it.” I inject warmness into my tone, but for once I’m not lying. Not really, anyway. I like Eurydice, and she’s useful. Win, win from where I’m sitting.
Everything is going according to plan.
9
PANDORA
I almost don’t go back to Minos’s home. Returning there always feels like stepping into a cloud of noxious gas, except the very air has weight. Minos mostly ignores me, which means the Minotaur mostly ignores me as well, and I prefer it that way. But that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t ignore either of them. I learned early on that knowing the most dangerous people in the room might save my life one day, and they are both dangerous.
There’s nowhere else to go, though.
For all Minos’s show of buying a house outside the city proper, it’s not convenient for day-to-day life, so he’s rented a penthouse a few blocks away from the city center. I think he tried to get closer, but all those buildings are owned by families that can trace their origins back to Olympus’s conception. They might not be giving him the cut direct currently, but none of them wanted a new, ambitious stranger living so close.
I bet they’re all happy about that after what went down two weeks ago.
I push the thought away, just like I have every day since the house party ended in violence and death. I know what Theseus is capable of. I’ve always known it.
That doesn’t make it easier to stomach.
It’s not the death that bothers me. Death is a part of life, and murder is far more common among the powerful than anyone wants to admit.
What bothers me is the fantasy Minos spun for Theseus. The one where doing this would fulfill all his dreams of stability and power. Judging by the last two weeks, all of that is one big lie. He’s got power, but stability is in short supply, and he certainly doesn’t have the freedom he craves.
Coming here was a mistake.
I’m only in Olympus because Theseus refuses to cooperate if I’m not a package deal with him, and Minos resents me intensely because of it. I’m the one relationship in Theseus’s life that predates everyone here. The chosen family that Minos cannot manipulate or control. The one person who’s known Theseus since we were barely out of diapers.
Not that Theseus listens to me. If he did, he wouldn’t be in his current predicament. The fact he thinks he can dictate my actions, though? It makes me want to put him in his place all over again the way I did this morning.
I wish I could pretend that’s why I accepted Aphrodite’s invitation.
The hook in my gut is attached to a string of pure desire, and I’m terribly afraid she might hold the other end of it. She’s beautiful and magnetic, and I’m only human. Being the primary recipient of all her attention is a heady thing. I won’t act on it…
Probably.
“Pandora!”
I give myself a shake and look up as Ariadne and Icarus wave me into the living room. It’s a wide-open space with cold leather couches, a glass coffee table, and massive floor-to-ceiling windows that give me vertigo when I stand too close.
Ariadne is lounging on the couch with her head in her brother’s lap. She’s about my size with light-brown skin and long dark hair. Truly, we look enough alike to almost be real sisters, or at least that’s what everyone says. She’s in her home clothing—leggings and an oversized hoodie that must belong to the Minotaur. I wouldn’t dare even take a piece of food off his plate, but his sweatshirts have a habit of magically finding their way into her laundry and she never seems to return them.
It’s weird, frankly.
Icarus is the opposite of Theseus and the Minotaur in every way. He shares his sister’s coloring and is lean to the point of being skinny, with delicate features and dark curly hair that somehow always seems to misbehave. It must be intentional, if only because it irritates Minos to have even a thread out of place, but Icarus is a study in underachieving. While it’s entirely possible that keeping his hair regularly trimmed and styled is merely too much effort, I suspect it’s one of a long string of rebellions against his father.
“What are you two doing?” I glance around.
“We’re the only ones here.” Icarus’s lips quirk in a sardonic smile. “No need to run and hide.”
“Icarus.” Ariadne smacks his knee and sits up. “Don’t be mean.”
“Just speaking the truth.”
Yeah, I’m not going to touch that. Icarus was dancing to his father’s tune when we first arrived in Olympus, going so far as to attack Pan at the party. I could have told him it’s no use. He might be Minos’s son by blood, but he’s not what Minos wants in a son.
Now, it seems he’s back to his old self. He’s got a sharper tongue than anyone I’ve met and he doesn’t hesitate to use it. I don’t dislike him the way I do the Minotaur and Minos, but being friends with Icarus isn’t a comfortable experience. “I’m exhausted so I’m going to take a nap.”
Icarus takes me in, dark eyes narrowing. “Our new sister-in-law posted the most interesting photo this morning. Seems Theseus didn’t do a good job of exercising his wedding night duties.” He leans forward. “If I don’t miss my guess, that was you in her bed.”
It takes everything I have not to flee. Doing so will confirm his suspicions and will give him something to needle Theseus about. I might not be entirely happy with him right now, but I’m not going to hand over ammunition to Icarus. “I spent the night in the lower city.”
“Told you so.” Ariadne twists her hair around her fingers. “I saw her leave with Eurydice Dimitriou.” She worries her bottom lip. “Honestly, I was a little jealous. Father had us herded directly back here as soon as the reception was over.”
“Gods forbid we do something further to embarrass him.” Icarus rolls his eyes. “I want to see the kink club.”
Ariadne blushes a bit and looks away. “I’d like to see it, too. I’d like to see anything that isn’t these four walls.”
Guilt sparks. I might resent Minos in more ways than I can count, but his apathy for me translates to freedom these two don’t have. We’ve snuck out together before, back on Aeaea. There was a little bar Theseus introduced me to, and I would bring Icarus and Ariadne there whenever Minos was away on business. Everyone was afraid of Theseus, so they never messed with me, even if he wasn’t there every time I was.
There isn’t anywhere like that in Olympus.
“Maybe we could—” I start.
“We don’t need you to babysit us. If I want to see the kink club, I’ll see the kink club.” He flops back against the couch. “Maybe I’ll ask Aphrodite. She seems to enjoy sowing discord, so she’d probably say yes.”