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)
I follow her gaze a few beats too slowly to find Dionysus behind the wheel. He looks like shit, but that seems to be the new normal for everyone in this cursed city. His pale skin is nearly green, his dark hair greasy, and his impressive mustache drooping. His clothes look slept in, too, the purple suit rumpled and somehow dim, as if the very color has leached out of it.
“I do, in fact.” He puts the car in gear and pulls out perfectly slowly, as if we’re not running for our lives. “They’re already waiting for us.”
“Dionysus, I appreciate you more than words can say. Thank you.” Hermes laces her fingers through mine, gripping my hand tightly. I peel my eyes open to find her expression relaxed and cheerful, none of her tension present to be witnessed. The fact she’s giving me even a hint of what she’s feeling is a privilege I’ll appreciate when every breath isn’t agony.
“Circe’s people are combing the city. It’s creating an unfortunately hostile environment.”
She huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, you can say that again. Why haven’t you gone to the lower city? Hades would shelter you. He wouldn’t even mind because he likes you.”
“You are being very generous with saying he likes me.” He’s silent for a beat. “I can’t leave them, Hermes. It doesn’t matter if Circe is focusing her efforts on the legacy families and the Thirteen themselves. My people are scared, and even if I haven’t always been a good leader to them, I’m not going to abandon them to save my own skin.”
It strikes me in a strange sort of way that all the Thirteen have people. Hades with the lower city, Zeus with the upper city, yes, but each of the Thirteen has a section of the city that they see as theirs. Some take that responsibility more seriously than others. Demeter and Poseidon have always been aware of how their communities surrounding the commerce of the city are vital and need to be protected. Apollo’s team is smaller, but he is incredibly protective of them. Ares and Athena look to their soldiers and assassins with a level of responsibility they take seriously. Hephaestus and Aphrodite keep smaller staffs, but they’re handpicked. Hera has her orphans and her trio of bodyguards. Even Artemis has people, though she loads her team with her cousins.
Hermes is the only one who stands alone, an island to herself.
Except for me.
I squeeze her hand back, earning a surprised look. “You’re not alone.”
She raises her brows. “You’ve lost more blood than I thought. You’re talking silly.”
“No, Hermes…Hecate.” Her real name feels strange on my tongue, but in the perfect clarity of agonizing pain, I finally realize how I’ve intentionally looked away from that part of her. I met her as Hecate, but it was only a short time later that she became Hermes, and then it seemed important to focus on the future instead of the past haunting her. A mistake, and one that might cost me a future with the woman I love. “I’m serious.”
“I know.” She says it softly, as if trying to placate me. She still doesn’t get it, but I don’t have the energy to get through to her. Not when I’m not sure if I understand it, either.
Another too-long blink and Hermes is helping me out of the car, Dionysus coming up on my other side to support me. We’re in some kind of warehouse, large and echoing, and then a smaller room where they lay me out on a bed.
Hermes looks around and whistles. “Nifty.”
“Quite a few of my employees don’t trust the rest of the Thirteen enough to go to a hospital in the event of an accident.” He’s still speaking stiffly, though it seems like he’s softened a little. “They’ll be here shortly.”
“Who is they?” I manage.
“Iaso. They have plenty of experience dealing with accidents in the workplace.” He runs a hand through his hair and winces. “They might not have a degree, but they’re experienced.”
“What do you mean they don’t have a degree?” Hermes’s voice goes low and dangerous. “If they hurt Atalanta further—”
“They won’t.” He holds up his hands and takes a step back, his blue eyes wide. “You and I might have fallen out, but I’m not a butcher, Hermes. Atalanta has been wronged by the Thirteen more than she deserves. I wouldn’t add to that if there’s another option.”
“Lying right here,” I mutter. “Can hear you.”
Dionysus pats the air right above my head. “Yes, you are, and you’re doing a great job breathing. Keep it up.”
I narrow my eyes, irritation temporarily overriding the pain radiating through me. “The doctor will be fine, Hermes. We don’t have a better option.”
“Sure we do. We could…” She trails off under twin glares from me and Dionysus. “Okay, fine, but if this doctor moves wrong, I’m going to slit their throat.”