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 brush a kiss to her lips. “I’ll update you as soon as I have information.”
“I’ll do the same for you.”
I don’t want to leave her alone, but there’s nothing else to do. I have to see what Aeacus is planning, and the fact that Minos has left me alone overnight instead of demanding more answers has me fucking worried. As I step out onto the sidewalk, I weigh which route is the better option.
In the end, it’s decided for me.
My phone pings with a text from Icarus, of all people.
Icarus: You better get back here. It’s bad.
It must be for him to reach out to me for… Is this a plea for help? I don’t fucking know. And I can’t forget that he might want Ariadne out of the city and free, but in his perfect vision of the future, I’m not involved. That fucker wants me dead. Which means this could be a trap.
But I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like a trap that he’s put together, at least. It takes me barely ten minutes to walk to Minos’s apartment building. He’s not as close as he wants to be to the center city, but he’s too close for my peace of mind.
I head up the stairs, but instead of going to the main penthouse where the family lives, I stop the floor below and go to the apartment that Minos likes to pretend doesn’t exist. It’s not much of a secret these days—both Ariadne and Icarus are aware of it, and Theseus found out about it before his falling-out with Minos.
Theseus. I don’t spend much time thinking about that fucker. He was always just another flavor of enemy. The competition that Minos liked to play one against the other. He’s not a friend, no, but spend more than a decade with a person and you build a kind of intimacy through shared experiences.
Or maybe Ariadne’s softness is rubbing off on me. I don’t fucking know why I pull out my phone, but when I realize my body’s moving on autopilot, I make no effort to stop myself from dialing him. I don’t honestly expect him to pick up. We haven’t talked in weeks. He might not be Hephaestus anymore, but he stayed married to that Olympian wife of his. Last I heard, he and Pandora had moved in with her. One big, happy, complicated family.
Something curdles in my stomach, and I’m surprised to find it’s jealousy. He’s living in a city that’s about to be ash, married to a woman I wouldn’t willingly turn my back on, and yet the asshole seems so happy it’s sickening.
I am so distracted by my thoughts that I don’t register that the call hasn’t gone to voicemail until Theseus curses and says my name again. “What the fuck do you want, Minotaur?”
That’s the question, isn’t it? I don’t know what I want. Or at least I don’t know why I called. I glance at the closed door to the apartment and take a couple steps back. “We aren’t friends.”
“No shit.”
“But if we were friends, I’d give you the courtesy of letting you know what’s coming.” I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I should just hang up and be done with it. But I don’t.
He’s silent for several long moments. “You’re right. We’re not friends. But I’m listening.”
“It doesn’t matter what the Olympians do or what plots and schemes they put into motion. The barrier is coming down. There’s no stopping it. If you’re smart, you’ll take you and yours and be ready to leave the moment it does. Escape in the chaos before either side has a chance to settle into a siege.”
He laughs, the sound filled with bitterness. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re being genuine or not. But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt this time. My wife is a Kasios. She might have relinquished her title at the same time I did mine, but she’s never leaving the city. Which means neither am I.”
I exhale slowly. Once Theseus sets his mind on something, nothing can dissuade him. Sure as fuck not me. I don’t point out that this decision puts Pandora in danger, too. I don’t ask what Adonis thinks of the situation. Their little poly knot is filled with fools with stars in their eyes. Eris might be ruthless to a fault and vicious as the day is long, but as Theseus said, she’s a Kasios, as are her siblings Zeus and Ares. That family is baked right into the foundation of Olympus. “It’s the wrong choice.”
“Without a doubt. But I’ll gut anyone who comes for her. Including you.”
I snort. “Your wife and lovers are safe from me. I have other priorities.” I hesitate, but there’s nothing more to say. I’ve delivered my warning. Whether he chooses to ignore it or do something about it is up to him. And yet I can’t stop myself from saying one last thing. “It’s going to happen soon. Be ready.”