Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107826 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“You won’t.” My voice doesn’t so much as quiver. “You need this marriage, and you’re no Zeus to survive the reputation of being a spouse-killer. I am Olympus’s darling little rebel, and if the people of this city think you’ve hurt me, they’ll tear you limb from limb.” Probably. If they don’t whip out some popcorn to cheer on the fall of one of the Kasios family. Truly, it could go either way.
Public opinion is a fickle beast, but I don’t expect Hephaestus to know that. He’s shown absolutely no skill at manipulating the press to date, so I don’t expect him to start now.
When he speaks again, his tone hasn’t lost its quiet menace. “Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this.”
“Then she shouldn’t have come to Olympus. Have a nice day, Hephaestus. I certainly plan to.” I hang up and turn the ringer to silent. A quick check of my social media confirms the post is already blowing up. The comments are all gleeful speculation. Good.
“Aphrodite?”
I turn and freeze. Pandora stands in the doorway to my kitchen, her curvy body framed by the morning light. She’s wearing a bra, panties, and little else. Her body is… I swallow hard. Gods, I have the most inappropriate desire to pull her into my arms, to press my mouth to the soft line of her shoulder, to follow it down—
Stop that.
I smile slowly. “Good morning, Pandora.”
Her makeup has smudged a bit, and it’s truly unfair that it only makes her dark eyes more prominent and pretty. She gives me a long look. “What am I doing here?”
This, at least, I have a ready answer for. “Oh, you drank too much last night and Eurydice called me because she was worried you wouldn’t make it home safely.”
“So your solution was to bring me to your place?”
I shrug and sip my coffee. “It was closer and I was tired. I’m sure you understand.”
She gives me a look that says she sees through my bullshit but isn’t ready to call me on it. “Where is Theseus?”
“His name is Hephaestus now. He’s earned that.” I can’t quite keep the bite out of my voice.
Pandora shakes her head slowly. “Maybe to the rest of this city, but he’ll always be Theseus to me.”
That’s precious and sadly innocent. I sigh. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes.”
I expect we won’t be alone for long, but I don’t rush through my process. “Caramel?”
“Sure.”
I can feel her watching me, but I keep my movements smooth and slow. A few minutes later, I slide her cup to her. “Let me know how that is.”
She has the strangest expression on her face. “You look different when you’re like this.” She sips the coffee before I can decide how I’m supposed to respond to that. “Oh, this is good. Thank you.”
“Of course.” I lean against the counter and reclaim my cup. “You should be more careful in Olympus. If Eurydice hadn’t called me, you could have gotten into trouble.” True, she only called me because she and I arranged this little meetup ahead of time, but Pandora doesn’t need to know that.
I didn’t have a firm plan to use Pandora against Hephaestus at the start of this, but she’s too good a lever to overlook. And turnabout is fair play. If he thinks I have my hands all over her, it will twist the knife and he’ll be so busy chasing his tail, he won’t have time to enact whatever plan Minos has put together.
And if it doesn’t distract him? Well, I’ll deal with that when the time comes. I’m adaptable like that.
“She’s the one who invited me to the lower city.” Pandora makes a face. “Though I didn’t get to enjoy it very much.”
It’s exactly the opening I need. Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. I smile. “I’m more than happy to take you there sometime if you want.”
Pandora leans back against the counter, mirroring my position. “I was under the impression that Hades didn’t like the rest of the Thirteen all that much. Why would he give you unlimited access to his private club?”
Apparently she’s been paying closer attention than I realized. Oh well, I planned for this possibility, too. “He and I have an understanding.” Unlike some of my peers, Hades can see the writing on the wall. If Minos gets his way, then the murder of the last Hephaestus is only the beginning of the trouble we’ll see.
It doesn’t mean he likes my methods, but he’s agreed to stay out of my way as long as I don’t endanger any of the precious citizens of his lower city. He wouldn’t thank me for including Eurydice in my plans, but what Hades doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
And what Persephone doesn’t know won’t hurt me.
For a moment, Pandora looks tempted, but then she shakes her head. “No. I appreciate the offer, but Theseus wouldn’t like it, and I’m not going to be the instrument you use to hurt him.”