“Fuck,” I whisper. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
The shakes return with interest. I take a step toward the chairs, but my legs give out and I sink to the floor. “This is ridiculous.” My voice sounds halfway normal even though my bones are currently trying to detach themselves and rattle right out of the room. “I am Eris Kasios and I do not panic over…over…” A pathetic little sob erupts from my lips. “Godsdamn it.”
I pull my legs to my chest and drop my forehead to my knees. It doesn’t help the shakes, but at least I feel the tiniest bit in control like this. I can’t afford to lose it. There’s too much hanging in the balance, and even if my part in the fight might not be vital enough to sink Olympus as a whole… I don’t actually know that for certain. I can’t take it for granted.
I have to stay ten steps ahead of my husband and his family.
I have to.
I will…when I regain the strength to stand…in just a few minutes.
21
HEPHAESTUS
I spend the day dodging calls from Adonis and texts from Pandora. If I talk to them, I have to tell them what happened with Aphrodite, and if I do that, then there will be separate fallout to deal with.
In between those times, I try to escape the inexplicable guilt saying I shouldn’t have left her alone. It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. She’s fine. A few cuts and probably some bruises, but we gave each other worse while fucking. Yes, she was still a little unsteady on her feet when I left, but I’m sure she figured it out fast enough.
Probably.
Then comes the call I was expecting. The one I can’t avoid. I stare at Minos’s name on my phone for several beats and then accept the call. “Yeah?”
“Update me.”
I’ve never been one to crave a softer touch of parental love—how can you want something you don’t even know the shape of?—but there are days when Minos treating me like a soldier wears on me. They come more and more often since my failure during the Ares tournament.
I bite back a curse of frustration. Instead, a question bursts free that I had no intention of asking. “Are you responsible for the attack on my wife?”
He pauses. “Would it matter if I was?”
Yes. No. I don’t fucking know. “Answer the question.”
“Very well.” Minos sighs as if I’ve disappointed him. “I’m not behind any of the attacks on the Thirteen. They’re in a situation of their own making, spurred on by the public that loves them and hates them in equal measure.”
“What about the Minotaur?”
“What about him?” His tone goes low and dangerous. “You’ve never questioned my plans before.”
“I’m not questioning them now.” I think. “But you stopped informing me of the next steps the moment I became Hephaestus.”
“Yes, I did. I don’t need you for this part of the plan. When it’s time for you to act, you’ll know.” A weighted pause. “Stop wasting time and energy worrying about things that have nothing to do with you. Your public image continues to deteriorate. They’re laughing at you.”
“I’m dealing with the public perception thing as best I can, but it will take time.”
“Weakness will not be tolerated. Get it handled.” He barely pauses, switching to his main focus in a heartbeat. “At the next meeting with the Thirteen, propose stricter regulations over the River Styx crossings. And tariffs.”
I hold the phone from my face and stare at it a long moment. “You want me to propose we install tariffs on half the city.”
“It only makes sense. The lower city is a leech on the rest of the resources. They offer little in the way of benefits and simply take food from the mouths of those who put in the work for it.”
Best I can tell, most of the upper city doesn’t do much work for their food, either. “No one is going to go for that.”
“You’d be surprised.” He sounds pleased with himself. “Hades hasn’t made many friends among the Thirteen during his term, and now that he’s got an heir on the way and Zeus doesn’t… It’s a fault line, my boy. They might all be Olympians in our eyes, but the citizens don’t see it that way. We can exploit that. Even if they don’t like you much, there are those among the Thirteen who would agree with this move because they dislike Hades even more than they hate you.”
It’s fucked up. I’ve been here long enough to understand that the upper city sees those who reside across the river as another city entirely, but best I can tell, the only difference is that the lower city doesn’t preen and primp in public or dance to Zeus’s tune.
I’ve read the reports. Hades is a good leader. He takes care of his people, even when he’s at a disadvantage against the rest of the city. By all accounts, his people love him.
How long will that love hold once they start feeling the burden of tariffs and the like?
Something uncomfortable twinges in my chest, but I shove it down. We didn’t come here to integrate with Olympian society. We came here to bring it down. I might not know the overarching plan Minos is putting in place—he’s not one to share more than he has to—but we aren’t the good guys.
I’ve never been one to concern myself with innocents, but I’ve also never been in a position where innocents might be affected by my actions. I don’t…
I try to put it out of my head like I have every other time I’ve bumped against shit Minos says or does that I don’t like. It’s not my place to question the plan. Minos is the one who put me on this path and helped me survive and protect Pandora in the bargain. I owe him too much to question him now. But…I want to question him. I want to ask him what the fuck he’s doing. Except I already know; exactly what he promised.
Destabilizing and bringing down Olympus.
It just never bothered me before. I clear my throat. “Consider it done.”
“Good. Keep me updated.”
“I will.”
He hangs up without saying goodbye. The awful sensation in my chest doesn’t abate as I check the time. I’m due at Aphrodite’s place before too long, and for all her determination to cook or whatever the fuck she had in her head this morning, I’m showing up with food.
It takes thirty minutes to find a place that sounds like something I’d actually eat and another twenty to drive to her building. Most of the Thirteen have chauffeurs, but I don’t trust anyone in this city enough to mindlessly let them drive me around.
Doing that shit is a good way to end up dead.
I take the elevator up to my wife’s place and let myself in. It feels strange to walk through the empty space and set the takeout on the kitchen counter. I expected her to sweep in the moment I walked through the door, a sharp word and a wicked smile firmly in place.
She’s nowhere to be seen.
The small hairs at the nape of my neck stand on end. “Aphrodite?” No answer. I take a moment to check the living room and then start down the hall. “Eris?”
She’s fine. This is just another game. Another way she’s outmaneuvering me. I poke my head into the guest bathroom and the spare bedroom, not finding anything, and then make my way to the master.
The bed is perfectly made, looking like something in a catalog for rich people, right down to the dozen pillows taking up the top third. I hadn’t had a chance to get a good look at it the other night. It’s luxurious and so perfectly Aphrodite that I shake my head…and pause. Is that the shower running?
I walk slowly across the bedroom, that sick feeling in my chest getting stronger. There is no way my wife would be in the shower at the time when I said I’d be here. Not after today. It’s too vulnerable a position. Even if she meant to seduce me, she’d do it in another way. I’m sure of it.
Feeling slightly absurd but not able to shake off my caution, I crack the door and push it slowly open. The shower is a monstrosity, a huge tiled beast that would probably fit five people without crowding.