Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Antigone snatches the knife from Hecate’s nerveless fingers and roughly wrestles her arms behind her back, driving her to her knees.
Psyche’s head jerks up, tear tracks marking her round cheeks. She opens her mouth, but Demeter puts a hand on her arm, no doubt worried what I’ll do to her precious daughter if she challenges me publicly. Demeter’s hazel eyes go hard. “You killed him.”
I shrug. There was a time in my life when killing a person, let alone two, would have given me nightmares for years. Now, I feel nothing at all. “He would have done the same to me.” I lift my hands, all too aware of the crowd. “Was it poorly done?”
They roar in response, the spectators of a public execution who showed up for violence and got more than they were promised. They’re pleased. They’ll remember this and show up for the next and the next, until I’m finished. It will be tricky to navigate them back to their normal lives once we’ve accomplished a full transition to power, but I have a plan for that.
I have a plan for everything.
I motion to my people, signaling for them to open the doors around the auditorium. Then I give my full attention to the crowd. “You’ve seen what we can accomplish together. The Thirteen are terrified of your power—and they should be. They’ve fled to the lower city, taking refuge behind a barrier identical to the very one that kept you trapped at the whims of their power. Will we stand for it?”
“No.” The word is more felt than heard, vibrating my body down to my very cells.
“Show them,” I say simply and point to the doors. “This is your city, not theirs.”
They manage to file out of the room in a mostly orderly fashion, helped along by my people at the exits. Within a handful of minutes, the final stragglers have dispersed. I can hear them chanting something out in the quad. Good. Things are coming along nicely. Now it’s time to button up this small mess.
I turn back to find Hecate on her knees, still being held by Antigone, her skin waxy and her chest heaving with each breath. “What have you done?” she whispers.
“What I had to.” More words press against my tongue. It didn’t have to be like this. I never wanted to be your enemy. You drew your line in the sand, and the only option I have is to step over it. I swallow them all down. I don’t owe her an explanation, and beyond that, it would weaken my position among everyone gathered.
I motion to Nerissa. “Get this mess cleaned up.” There’s much to do and little time to accomplish it. I walk out of the room, Antigone dragging Hecate behind me, leaving the bodies of the last remaining members of the Ambrosia family on the ground where they fell.
6
Atalanta
Hera smiles slowly, a predator sighting prey. “I’m surprised you dare show your face here.” Before I can come up with a response to that, she turns to the rest of the room, every inch a queen of Olympus in this moment. “Atalanta isn’t to be trusted. She’s been in league with Hermes this entire time. She’s likely been a mole in your operations, Athena—and Artemis before you.”
There’s a beat of silence where a small, naive part of me that should have died ages ago is certain no one will believe her. She’s Hera, after all, and at least half of this room is aware she was actively trying to kill her husband only a short time ago. Unfortunately—for me, at least—a lot has changed between then and now.
I take a step back, but that’s all I manage before Hades is pointing a gun at my face and Athena has one digging into the small of my back. “Ah, ah,” she says. “I don’t think so. Hands up and out. Slowly.”
There’s nothing to do but obey. Zeus is watching me with narrowed eyes, and Hades’s hand doesn’t waver on his gun. There’s no sympathy from the Dimitriou sisters, either.
I sigh. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. Nothing was. “Hermes saved both of your lives.” I direct my words at Zeus and Hera, who would still be subject to Circe’s tender mercies if Hermes hadn’t put herself in danger to orchestrate their jailbreak. She didn’t have to do that. In fact, I cautioned her against it. We don’t owe these people shit, and if they’re not as bad as their parents, they’re still plenty bad.
Just a week ago, Hera was intent on bringing down Dodona Tower to kill her husband. It doesn’t matter that she apparently was taking steps to empty the building. That wouldn’t have applied to everyone, and it sure as fuck wouldn’t have applied to people in the surrounding area. Even if they weren’t killed in the initial blast, science has more than proven that building debris in the air—and lungs—causes any number of health problems. Including ones that result in an untimely death. Who knows what the death count would have been by the end of her vendetta?