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)
I’m not usually one to let something like this get under my skin, but on the heels of wondering what kind of life I can actually offer Ariadne, it sends a sliver of uncertainty through me. That’s the only excuse I have for saying, “Are you sure?”
She blinks. “What are you talking about?”
“Us. Leaving. All of it. Are you sure you want to walk away from this?”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that to me.” When I don’t immediately respond, she sighs and lowers her voice. “Asterion, I’ve had people making decisions about my life since I was born. I’m not going to stand for it any longer. I told you my decision yesterday. I stand by it. Just because things have gone off the rails doesn’t change anything. Not for me.”
I exhale slowly. “It doesn’t change anything for me, either.”
“Good. Then we can figure out what the fuck we’re going to do now. Come on.”
She leads me deeper into the penthouse. In the kitchen, she has a full pot of coffee brewing. There’s an empty mug in the sink, but that’s the only evidence that Dionysus was here. “Where did your fiancé take off to?”
“He decided it was smarter to give his report in person. I don’t know that it’s going to make much of a difference. Hera doesn’t seem like the type to handle disappointment well.”
That’s an understatement. I’d like to think that I’m overstating the danger, but I know better. That woman is a monster right down to her bones. Like recognizes like. Beyond that, we haven’t gotten lucky yet in this mess, and I doubt we’re going to start now. “Have you had a chance to look into that stuff you talked about?”
“Sort of.” She wraps her arms around herself and glances out the window. “But there’s something else we have to discuss first. When I talked to Dionysus this morning, he made me—us—an offer. It’s a good one, I think.”
“Tell me.”
I’m braced for damn near anything except what comes out of her mouth. She shifts from foot to foot. “Things are going to get ugly here very quickly. I think we both know that. He offered to send me to the countryside, to one of his residences there. It’s not a foolproof plan, but it’s better than walking around the city with a target on my forehead. And he offered to send you and Icarus with me.”
I stare. Yeah, I didn’t see that coming. Dionysus continues to surprise me. At least this time it’s not with drugs or threats. “That won’t end up solving anything.”
“I know. Circe will still come, and the Thirteen will continue to be a threat. But it would be a reprieve.” She finally looks at me. “And it would get you and my brother away from my father. I know he’s only threatening me directly right now, but that’s going to change when he realizes you aren’t actively working with him. He’ll kill you, Asterion. I can’t let that happen.”
I cross to her, closing the distance between us in a single step. As soon as I do, I can’t believe I stood here for ten fucking minutes without having her in my arms. It feels like a missing piece of me sliding home. I rest my chin on top of her head. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Don’t be naive. Of course I have to worry about you. You’re actively putting yourself in danger.”
“I won’t let him hurt me.”
She hugs me tighter. “The alternative doesn’t make me feel better, either. I know he’s a monster and he’s responsible for so much evil and that he’s hurt you and me and Icarus and even Theseus. I know that if he pushes you into a corner, if he makes you choose between us, that it will be no choice at all. But…he’s still my father.”
I stroke one hand over her hair. It’s small comfort that she’s stopped being worried about me being the one to hurt her. But that doesn’t give me an easy answer to the obvious distress she’s in. “I’ll try very hard not to kill him. For you.”
She laughs a little, the sound choked with emotion. “It really says something unflattering about both us and our current circumstances that that’s a sentence you have to say. But I appreciate it nonetheless. Thank you.”
The sound of heels on the tile floor has me twisting to put Ariadne behind me. At least this time, Hera doesn’t have a chance to sneak up on me, but from the smirk on her face, I get the feeling she announced her presence on purpose. She glances to where Ariadne peers around my arm and raises her dark brows. “Isn’t this cute and wholesome. How disgusting.”
“Hello, Hera.” Ariadne ignores my obvious attempt to stay between her and the other woman and steps around me. “I take it you spoke with Dionysus.”