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)
“Oh yes, do run away like a damned coward.”
I spin on my heel. My knee buckles, but I manage to keep my feet and resist wincing as pain shoots up my leg. I point at her. “That’s where you and I are different, Pandora. You can drag your bleeding heart all over this city, wasting it on people who wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire. I don’t give a fuck about them, just like I don’t give a fuck about anyone back in Aeaea. I give a fuck about you, and I can’t keep you safe if you’re off gallivanting around with one of those monsters.”
She sits back, her expression sad. I hate that I made her sad, that it seems to be the rule rather than the exception these days. I disappoint Pandora. I disappoint Minos. I’m fucking up. Pandora picks up her e-reader, but her voice follows me as I leave the room. “I’ve always had a monster at my side, Theseus.”
No reason for her words to plague me. I know what I am. I’m not the good guy. That was never going to be my role, and damn Pandora for pretending like I’ve ever had a choice.
In our world, you’re either predator, or you’re prey.
I had to be predator enough to protect us both. Apparently I still do.
I make my way through the penthouse to where Minos’s office is. The door is cracked, so I can hear his deep voice as he speaks to someone on the phone. I lean against the wall, waiting.
“Things are proceeding according to plan, more or less. The shipments are currently waiting in the harbor, but Poseidon has no reason to question their contents.” A pause. “No, I haven’t been able to get to the lower city. The outer barrier might be faltering, but the one on the River Styx is still strong enough to repel us if he decides to make it so, and he’s not my biggest fan.”
That’s the understatement of the year. Though, honestly, it’s a toss-up who among the Thirteen wants us dead the most. Zeus or Hades, perhaps, but we can’t discount Hera, Artemis, Athena, and my darling wife. All are formidable in their own way—even Hera, despite our reports saying it was all but an empty title. That may have been true with past Heras, but it’s not with this one. I would hesitate to give her my back, for fear of ending up with a knife slipped between my ribs.
Minos clears his throat. “The public is responding exactly as you anticipated. They’re doing most of the work for us. One of them even tried to kill Athena this morning, which is significantly more ballsy than I expected so early in the process.” A beat. “Yes, the timeline is intact. It’s a waiting game until the ship docks and our…packages…are unloaded. I’ll, of course, keep you updated.” A pause. “Stop lurking in the halls and get in here.” He’s lost the false cheer in his voice, but I prefer him this way.
When it’s just us, Minos never pretends to be anything other than what he is. A predator, just like me.
I step into the office. It’s nearly identical to the one he set up in the country house he bought from Hermes. A large, dark wooden desk dominates the space with a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city behind it. The other two walls are lined with bookshelves, though in all the time I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him read. Ariadne is the reader of the family, but Minos would never allow her bent and dog-eared romance novels to populate the shelves of his space.
“Shut the door.”
My stomach drops, but I obey. I clench my jaw and keep the limp out of my stride as much as possible as I cross to sink down in the chair across the desk from him. Even with that effort, his gaze lingers on my injured knee and distaste flickers across his features. He grabs a tablet and his fingers sweep over the screen. “I’d like you to explain this to me.”
He spins it to face me, and the sinking feeling in my stomach gets worse. It’s a MuseWatch article on the home page. The photographer caught me right as I was walking up to Aphrodite’s building, and I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking in that moment, but I can’t deny that I look…lost. The headline is even worse.
POOR HEPHAESTUS. AT HOME WAITING FOR HIS WIFE WHILE SHE’S OUT PHILANDERING.
I skim the article, which is pitying, but significantly more sympathetic than previous ones. Adonis’s plan is working, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about being painted as some poor sap waiting with his heart in his hand while his wife runs around town with anyone who will have her.