He gives another of those small smiles. “I can take care of myself.” Then he’s gone, slipping out of the hospital room and leaving me alone with my husband.
I can’t quite believe what just happened. All my life, it felt like I was heading in a single direction, reaching the pinnacle of the Thirteen and then using that power to serve the city that is my home. It’s silly to think that I don’t know who I am if I’m not Aphrodite—I held the position for less than year—but I feel a bit empty.
Maybe it’s shock.
I swallow hard and look at my husband. “Did you mean it? All of it?” It seems impossible that we’ve reached this point, considering where we started. The small, political part of my brain whispers that I need to release his hand, to take away any indication that I might care just as much as he does, but I ignore it.
We will always have power for the sake of who we are, but that doesn’t mean it has to own us and our actions. We get to choose now. I want to choose him. To choose Pandora and Adonis.
I want them to choose me, too.
I want Theseus to choose me.
“You know I can’t lie worth a damn.” He grins suddenly, the expression light and almost giddy. “I know we’re not free, but fuck, it feels like it.”
I slowly realize that he’s right. That strange emptiness is a weightless feeling I barely know how to comprehend. It’s as if I’ve been carrying around an anchor for most of my life without realizing that setting it down was an option. Without it, I feel like I could fly. “What about—”
The door opens again and Adonis and Pandora spill into the room. They rush to my side and there are several chaotic minutes while they try to ensure I’m okay and Theseus finally brings everyone up to speed.
It’s…nice. Really nice.
This isn’t what I thought my life would be, but I can’t deny that having the three of them here feels so right I might cry. Again.
Pandora presses my knuckles to her lips. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me, too.”
Adonis stares down at me, dark eyes serious. “You really mean to resign as Aphrodite?”
There’s a wealth of history and pain in that question. Why am I doing it now when I wouldn’t have done it for him alone? Why did I take this position in the first place? It’s hard to meet his eyes. “Yes. I…” I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all the pain I put you through, and I’m sorry for pulling you into this mess.”
“Speak for yourself.” Theseus still looks downright giddy. “I’d do it all again and then some to end up here.”
Adonis nods slowly. “You were right before. We weren’t quite a good fit with just the two of us.” He looks at Theseus. “Maybe things needed to play out this way to get us here.”
It’s such a purely Adonis thing to say that another damned tear slips free. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He clears his throat. “Let me go find the doctor and see if we can make a plan for getting you home.”
Pandora turns to Theseus. “You really mean it? You’re resigning the title and cutting off Minos?”
Some of his joy dims a little. “You’ve been saying I should find my own way for years. I should have listened.”
Far from condemning him, she laughs. “One day you’ll finally admit that I’m smarter than you and also have better perspective.”
“Yeah.” His gaze tracks to me. “You saw the value in Eris before I did.”
“Yep.” She takes my hand again. “Gods, but I’m happy that you’re okay. I was so fucking worried.”
Far be it from me to miss an opportunity. I give her a sweet smile. “Does that mean you’re moving in? Both of you?”
“Yeah.” Theseus laughs. “Yeah, where the fuck else would I go?”
Pandora raises a single brow. “This isn’t going to be one of those things where I move in with you and you suddenly expect monogamy, is it?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I meant it when I said I won’t try to shove you into a box. I can’t pretend there won’t be hiccups and missteps, but if you want to bring people back to the apartment—”
“No,” Theseus cuts in. “It’s a security risk.”
“If you want to bring people back to the apartment,” I talk over him, “then that’s more than fine. I want it to feel like home to you, whatever that means.”
Pandora snorts. “Theseus looks like he’s about to hog-tie me, so let’s table this discussion for later.”
“Deal.” The fact that there will be a later is still processing. I touch my bandage again. I’m alive. More than that, I have a future that I barely dared dream about. One I thought completely impossible for me.
Adonis slips back into the room and gives us a quick update. We’ll be here for a bit. Apparently stab wounds aren’t something you can just check out of a hospital with the same day you’re admitted…especially if they’re stomach wounds.
“Eris.”
I focus on Theseus. “Yes?”
“You don’t have to.” He looks markedly uncomfortable, which means he’s about to try to be sweet or comforting. “Resign, I mean. I can’t pretend I know your whole history, but you fought hard to get that title. You shouldn’t have to give it up.”
That’s the thing. It doesn’t feel like giving up anything. It feels like a release. “You said Minos made you feel like a weapon. My father did the same.” Gods, why is this so hard to say? “I’m done being a weapon for other people. I’m not going to pretend I won’t keep fighting for Olympus, but I…don’t want it to be this way. Or the way I was. I want something else. I want you. All of you.”
For the first time in my life, I want love.
Not power.
More, I can have it. With these three. Together.
ENJOY THIS SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEXT UNSPEAKABLY HOT BOOK IN THE DARK OLYMPUS SERIES, MIDNIGHT RUIN.
1
EURYDICE
The music is a deep, throbbing beat that seems to soak into every molecule of the room, inciting the occupants to sin. Or, if not inciting, then at least smoothing away any lingering worries about clinging to the perception of purity that the upper city values so highly.
We’re not in the upper city now.
I glance at my phone for the fifth time in ten minutes and curse under my breath when the text I’m waiting for finally comes through.
Ariadne: My dad put us on lockdown. I’m sorry, but I can’t come tonight.
I’ve spent three weeks and half a dozen failed attempts trying to get Ariadne into Hades’s kink club. Lying through my teeth about how no one will know who she is. Feeling guilty for coaxing her into what is essentially a trap when she shows all evidence of being a lovely person. That guilt has faded thanks to the events of the last month.
People are dying and the fault lies with the Vitalis family. With Ariadne’s family. Her father might be the one pulling the strings, but the little hints Ariadne gave Apollo at that house party six weeks ago weren’t enough. She knew this was coming and she didn’t warn us.
That makes her the enemy.
An enemy that’s not walking into my trap tonight. I sigh. Not that this is much of a trap, exactly. It’s more that I’ve been tasked with attempting to coax her over to our side. If that’s not possible, then I suspect someone will just flat out take her, but I’m the carrot in this situation.
Not that anyone knows it.
I look around, my guilt flaring for a completely different reason. I’ve been in my brother-in-law’s sex club half a dozen times in the last couple months. I have no doubts that Hades is aware of it, though I’m careful to only show up when I know he and Persephone won’t be presiding over the activities.
This is the first time I’ve come alone.
It feels weird not to have Charon as my ever-present shadow. He wouldn’t have approved of tonight’s activities, so I snuck out without telling anyone where I was going. The club manager, Hypnos, has seen me around enough now that the bouncers didn’t stop me when I walked through the door. Zir doesn’t know my arrangement with Charon, which works well enough for me. Charon initially allowed me access to the club, with one caveat: I’m only allowed to watch. He’s loosened up the rules a bit, but it’s hard to be comfortable indulging when he’s looking over my shoulder.