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)
Being left behind—choosing to stay behind—feels strangely inevitable.
At least I’m finally good for something.
Poseidon shoves me to my knees at the end of the dock. People mill around, not sure what to do in the wake of the barrier coming down. They better figure it out and fast. Circe isn’t going to go easy on them. The thought almost makes me laugh.
At least until I look up as a woman strides toward us, someone who wasn’t on the docks previously. Athena looks as untouchable as always. Her black suit doesn’t have a speck on it, and neither does the gun she’s holding loosely at her side. She stares down at me as if I’m the most worthless piece of shit on this planet.
This time, I do laugh. She’ll have to join the club of people who hate me. It was down a member with my father’s death, but now it’s right back up to where it should be. My laughter takes on a hysterical edge. “You’ll never catch them now.”
“There are larger things to worry about than your traitorous sister.” She turns to Poseidon, and my laughter dies in my throat.
He’s as soaked as I am, and his clothing leaves little to the imagination. I easily trace his obscenely broad shoulders and thick gut that looks like it would break the hand of someone who tried to sucker punch him. His features are rough-hewn but handsome enough, and the motherfucker has freckles.
He glares down at me as if he wants nothing more than to kick me over the edge of the dock and let me drown for real this time. The thought should bring panic, but I’m all panicked out. All I have left is a blessed numbness that cascades down my body and offers relief.
“Are you going to kill me?” I’m rather proud that my tone sounds completely disinterested, despite my heartbeat fluttering in my throat.
Athena shifts her gun at her hip as if she’s considering it. “We might as well. If we had shot the lot of you the second you arrived at Olympus, none of this would’ve happened.”
It’s cute that she thinks so, even though she’s wrong. If my father failed, I’m sure Circe had half a dozen other plans in place. She was always coming for Olympus. They’re fools if they think otherwise. “If you say so.”
Athena lifts her gun, but Poseidon reaches over without looking and grabs her forearm. She sneers at him. “Touch me again without permission, and you’ll regret it.”
He releases her immediately, but he angles his body between me and her. “There’s been enough death today, and there will be plenty more in the near future. He doesn’t need to die. He’s not a threat.”
I look at him with more interest. He’s a fool, but most people are when it comes to me. They value physical strength and violence, and even if you accomplish your goals in another way, it’s seen as less valuable. All that means is he’ll be easier to manipulate.
Athena huffs out a breath. “Fine. Then you deal with him.” She turns and stalks back to her team, Atalanta easily falling in one step behind her.
Poseidon and I watch her go and then turn back to each other. I offer him my best charming smile. “Is this the part where you let me go, handsome?”
It’s hard to tell in the shadows, but I think he might be blushing. I have the space of one heartbeat to feel victorious about getting under his skin so quickly before his expression shuts down and goes cold. “And let you run amok in the city even more than you already have? Absolutely not.” He grabs the back of my neck and hauls me to my feet. “You’re going into a locked room where you can’t cause any more trouble.”
“Kinky. You can be the sexy jailer and I’ll be the sexy inmate.” I don’t know why the fuck I say it. I’m usually better at knowing when to keep my mouth shut. But fear has a way of undercutting all my strategies.