Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
He strokes a hand down my spine and back up again. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this casual touching between us. It’s not something we have to hide right now, and I want to melt right into him.
He considers for several minutes. I like that he’s taking this question seriously. He gives me hope, even if it’s undeserved. Finally, he says, “Nowhere cold. I’m fucking tired of winter. It will take some convincing to get me to go to Antarctica.”
I laugh softly. “Don’t you want to see the penguins?”
“There are penguins in places that won’t freeze my balls off.” Asterion traces abstract patterns against my skin. “You’ve talked about Rio and Carnaval enough times that I know it by heart. It’s one of the places both you and your brother want to experience. Maybe we’ll start there.”
“Carnaval isn’t for months yet. It’s in February.” I’m mostly poking at him to keep this conversation going. To keep dreaming before reality comes crashing back down around us.
“Always so difficult. Maybe we go to Canada, to the West Coast, and start driving south. We’ll take our time and see some shit and circle around to Rio in time for February. How does that sound?”
My heart feels too big for my chest. I want that. I want that so fucking desperately that it makes me shake. I don’t just want to visit places; I want to experience them fully. The picture he paints is exactly that. A wandering life with no true responsibilities, where we go where we want and drift as we need. The world is such a big place, and I want to see all of it.
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “That sounds good, Asterion. Really, really good.”
“Then consider it done. As soon as we get our papers, that’s our plan.”
“Just like that?”
He brushes my hair back from my face. “Yeah, sweetheart. Just like that. No reason to complicate shit unnecessarily.” He kisses me. “Stay until morning.”
It’s almost an order, but there’s a lilt at the end of the last word that edges into the territory of question. He didn’t have to ask, but I love that he did. “It is sunset.”
“Then stay a little longer.”
“Okay,” I whisper. “I’ll stay as long as I can.” Until we have to go back to the real world and face the fact that we are only two people in a fight against titans. It will take a miracle for us to get out alive. But Asterion believes we can make it happen…so I will believe, too.
And in my moments of doubt, he’ll have to believe enough for both of us.
23
The Minotaur
As difficult as it is to let Ariadne leave my sight, I don’t want her around for the next steps. I’ve got to get my hands dirty again. No matter who’s calling the shots, that’s one outcome I can’t seem to escape. Violence comes naturally to me.
Aeacus meet me at the same apartment as last time. The place is still dingy and dirty enough that I know they’re not letting anyone else in here to clean, and none of his people are doing the job. He looks like shit, too. I know what it’s like when Minos is riding your ass and you actually care about what he thinks. Theseus used to get the same hunted expression.
I don’t miss the guy, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t really know what to do without my ever-present competitor. We were never going to be friends—Minos made sure of that—but there’s something about him being the only other person in the world who has the same shared experiences as me that built an intimacy I never asked for.
He’s better off. Or at least he thinks he is. I mean to feel the same.
Aeacus drags a hand over his face. “About fucking time.”
“I said I’d get them, and I did. If you could do it faster, you should have.”
He curses under his breath but just motions me to the computer at the central table. It only takes a few minutes for his guy to get the zip drive pulled up and displaying the blueprints.
I stare at the lines. I hate this part of the process. It’s all waffling and planning and no action. It’s necessary, but that doesn’t make me enjoy it.
Aeacus’s guy does something to get the blueprints projected onto the blank wall across from us. I round the table to eye the layout. It’s not great. I’d hoped there would be some kind of clear way in that would allow us to dodge security. There doesn’t seem to be.
Of course it wouldn’t be that simple.
Though, if Hera keeps her word and gets everyone out…
But how the fuck is she going to do that? A bomb threat might clear out the neighboring buildings, but Zeus isn’t a complete fool and, to the best of my knowledge, his people aren’t disloyal. They aren’t going to abandon their posts, and if they leave the building, they’re going to make sure he comes with them when they do.