Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I love my sister. I’ll do anything for her. Even this.
Charon meets us outside the market. He’s a broad-shouldered white man with dark hair and blue. Normally, he’s got a calm energy that all people of incredible competence share. Today, his shoulders are too tight and he’s looking around as if he expects someone to attack at any moment.
He catches sight of me and nods. “I think it’s best we head back now. Hades will be crossing the river soon.”
“Yes, of course.” I want to be home before Hades is. He’s never in a good mood after meeting with Zeus, and if he arrives to an empty house, he might worry.
Medusa clears her throat. “I need to make some calls to have one of our people pick up what was ordered today.”
“Go ahead.” He looks at me. “Do you want to walk, or should I call a car?”
Pride says walk, but if I’ve learned one thing in the last year, it’s that pride is often enough to get me into trouble. My feet hurt, and there’s an ache starting in the small of my back thatwill become excruciating if I’m not careful. I know what my husband would say, and another time, I might play the part of the brat to entice a response, but these days his “punishments” are things like rubbing my feet or cocooning me with blankets on the couch in his study while he works...which invariably leads to me napping despite my best efforts.
“A car would be wonderful.”
He motions to the black sedan idling at the curb. Cheeky asshole.
It takes time to get home, and more time to direct where I want my purchases to go once they start arriving at the house. I’m tempted to start decorating, but exhaustion wins out.
Not a moment too soon, either.
Hades stalks through the door, his black jacket sweeping behind him. Anyone looking might assume him a villain in a movie, but I know better. I’ve always known better.
His shoulders drop when he sees me, his expression relaxing into a smile. “There you are.”
“Did you think I’d run off?” I start to rise, but the belly gets in the way. My center of gravity is off these days, and it’s never more apparent than moments like this, when I flounder like a turtle on its back.
Hades is at my side in an instant. “Don’t rise on my account.” He kisses me lightly. “Or at least ask for help.”
I place my hand in his, and let him leverage me carefully off the couch. He looks tired; significantly more so than when he left this morning. “It went badly?”
“Quite the opposite.” His hand drops to the small of my back, his fingers unerringly finding the spot that started aching about an hour ago and has now reached screaming intensity.
I rest my head against his shoulder. “Tell me about it?”
“Tomorrow. It’s late. Come to bed.”
“When I have these babies, I’m going to stop being so tired all the time.”
“When you have those babies, I suspect tired is all we’ll be.” He says it fondly.
We make our way up to our bedroom, and I don’t miss Hades watching me struggle up the stairs. he mutters something about installing an elevator, but I pointedly ignore that.
It’s only when w eclose the door to our rooms that he speaks again. “He’s talking about rebuilding. He’s got a lot of good ideas.”
I don’t remind Hades that he said he didn’t want to talk about this until tomorrow. I also don’t say that this Zeus is hardly his father. The truth is that he’s worse in some ways, because at least the last Zeus was only motivated by selfish desires. He was a monster, but a monster firmly entranced in his seat of power.
This Zeus is a monster who’s been threatened. Who’s flirted with the very real reality that he might lose everything. He’s far more vicious than his father...and far more dangerous.
“The situation isn’t the same as last time,” I say gently. “Even if he’s not an ally, he knows how vital you are to the lower city—and that he has no hope of ruling here. He won’t attack us.”
If he tried, my mother and sisters would do something horrendous. It might be too late to sav eme and the ones I love, but they wouldn’t stand for an attack like the last time.
I don’t tell him that. He knows. He’s thought through this five thousand times, and he’ll do it another five thousand times before I give birth, to say nothing of after.
Hades doesn’t need me to reassure him. He just needs me to be here while he works through it himself. “What did you say in response?”
“I told him that historically, the lower city sees to its own first...but that maybe it’s time for things to change there, too.” His gaze goes distant. “We’re one city. We should start acting like it.”