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)
By the time I manage to get him off the phone, the sun is sinking toward the horizon. I send a quick text to Hermes, but she leaves me on read. Typical.
Then I change into one of my rarely used suits and head for the restaurant where Ariadne will be tonight. Pan’s restaurant, the Dryad, in fact. It’s a small miracle that Dionysus is still allowed through the door after what he let happen, but that’s just Olympus. They take the old saying of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer to heart in a way I’ve never seen before. Not even on Aeaea.
I don’t bother to come to the front door. I’ll be turned away for sure. Instead, I slip in through the kitchens. The head chef turns with a vicious look on his face, but I hold up a wad of cash before he can order me out. He stalks to me, a tall, lean Black man with dark-brown skin and a shaved head. “I’m not giving private shows. Get out of here. I’m busy.”
“I don’t want any trouble.” I hold up the cash again. “A friend of mine is having dinner here tonight, but she’s on the anxious side, so she’s not likely to eat if left to her own devices. I just want a chance to feed her.”
The chef narrows his eyes. “I know who you are.”
Everyone seems to these days. At least he doesn’t accuse me of coming here to murder him. “Like I said, I’m not here to make trouble. You have my word.”
He doesn’t seem like he believes me, but he grabs the cash out of my hand and shoves it into the back pocket of his pants. “All of the individual dining rooms are claimed tonight. The only thing I have to offer you is my office.”
Hardly a romantic location, but at least it’s guaranteed to be private. “That will work.” Guess that shit this morning did fuck me up, because I’m determined to show Ariadne that I’m good for more than fucking. That I’ll take care of her better than anyone else in this fucked-up world. And if anyone dares to threaten her? Well, killing is what I do. What I’m good at.
It would be a privilege to kill for her.
18
Ariadne
Dinner at the Dryad is horrendous. Not the food. It looks lovely and smells appetizing, but I can’t bring myself to do more than push it around on my plate. My stomach is tied in knots and my tongue feels too thick in my mouth. Luckily, it seems my presence is the only thing that’s required tonight. They might as well have brought a cardboard cutout for all that the people present expect me to engage in conversation.
I try to focus on the discussions around me, swirling faster than a raging river, but it’s all white noise. Every single member of the Thirteen is here… Well, except for Hades. He hasn’t crossed over to the upper city since erecting the barrier along the river. But the other twelve? They’re here. Even Hermes.
Some of them—Artemis, the new Hephaestus, the new Aphrodite—watch me as if they expect me to pull a gun out and start shooting. Or as if they’d like to push me into traffic. Demeter and Hera lean close to each other and speak so softly that I can’t pick up their words. It’s enough to make me wonder if Demeter is aware of what her daughter’s plotting. With that family, it’s difficult to say.
Ares is here with her two partners, Achilles and Patroclus. The trio is beautiful enough to make my eyes hurt, and they all watch me warily. Zeus sits between his sister and his wife, and yet he might as well be on the moon for all he appears to be present. His cold blue eyes are watching something a thousand miles away.
Next to me, Dionysus and Hermes chat easily, belying the tension I picked up from him when he mentioned her previously. There are a couple of other partners here; Apollo has brought his fiancée, Cassandra, and Athena has Atalanta at her side, though I can’t tell if she’s there as a bodyguard or a girlfriend.
“Ariadne.”
I turn my head slowly, belatedly realizing that it’s not the first time Dionysus has said my name.
His dark eyes are sympathetic as he takes me in. “Are you okay?”
No. I’m not even a little bit okay. I try for a smile but give up halfway through. “I’m a little overwhelmed.”
“Understandable. All of us together is a little much.” His grin is crooked. “If you need some air, there’s a stairway back by the bathroom. Technically, the balcony that it leads to is designated for employees taking a smoke break, but I don’t think anyone will begrudge you a few minutes up there.” He squeezes my arm. “Take as long as you need.”