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)
My worry accelerates to pure alarm. “Mother—”
On either side of me, Eurydice and Callisto protest loudly, and I can hear Psyche doing the same on the other end of the call.
“Fuck no.” Callisto slices a hand through the air. “That sounds like a goodbye. What are you planning?”
“I love you girls. Stay away from the bridges. They aren’t safe to cross any longer.” She smiles warmly and cuts the call.
I stare at the blank screen for a beat. “What is she doing?” I dial her back, but she sends it directly to voicemail. “Mother, what are you doing?” I turn to Callisto and then Eurydice. “What is she doing?”
Eurydice is glaring at her phone. “Psyche isn’t picking up, either. I think she has her phone turned off.”
“She’s leaving it behind so Circe can’t track her. Or anyone else.” Callisto shoves to her feet and digs her hands into her long dark-brown hair. “We’re panicking over nothing. Mother has never met a circumstance she hasn’t come out on top of. This will be no different.” She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself more than us.
“Mother didn’t plan on Eros getting shot,” I snap. “She didn’t plan on Circe.”
“She never moves without a plan, and a good one at that.” Callisto spins on her heel and nearly topples over. “Damn it, pregnancy is making me feel half-human. I can’t think.”
“We need to do something.” Eurydice stands, too. “If we—”
“No.” I hate that I have to cut this off at the knees, but I can’t let them run off and put themselves—and Mother—in danger. “We don’t know what she’s planning, and she’s right about the bridges. There are large crowds on the upper city side of both of them. They can’t cross because of the barriers, but we can’t cross, either. They’re attacking anyone who tries to get to the lower city. It’s not safe.”
“I don’t give a fuck about safe, Persephone,” Callisto snaps.
“They’ll kill you.” Now I’m standing, too, surging to my feet in a dizzying rush. “Which means they’ll kill your baby. What do you think your husband will do then?” I rush on before she can respond. “He’ll try to play the hero and get murdered, too. And it won’t change a single damned thing. Mother will still enact her plan, except you’ll be dead.”
“But—”
I spin on Eurydice. “The same goes for you. I was careless crossing the River Styx, and Orpheus paid the price. Charon is still recovering from the injuries he sustained during Circe’s last attack. Will you be responsible for their deaths?”
Eurydice flinches. “That’s not fair.”
“I’m not trying to be fair. I’m trying to keep the people I love alive.” I’m not proud of the way my voice breaks on the last word. I hold up a hand. “I will speak with Ares and Athena and see what can be done, but I want you both to promise me that you won’t leave the house.” It’s not lost on me that this is the same promise I chafed at giving Hades.
Eurydice looks like she wants to scream but finally says, “I promise.”
We both look at Callisto. Her fists are clenched at her sides, her expression thunderous. “This fucking city. It takes and it takes and it takes, and the moment someone comes along with a pretty face and a rousing cry, they’re ready to kill every single one of us. It makes me sick.” She turns and stalks out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
“That wasn’t a promise.” Eurydice laughs a little, the sound fractured.
“No, it wasn’t.” I sigh. “But I think it’s as good as we’re going to get.”
21
Circe
I’m not surprised to find Demeter waiting for me on the morning three days after Peitho’s execution and Eros’s mostly accidental death. A few hours ago, my people reported that she’d started for the city. Judging by the intervening time, she didn’t make any long stops on the way.
She’s dressed in one of her usual floral wrap dresses that manage to showcase her soft, curvy body without appearing to attempt to harken back to a younger age. It’s tastefully done, just like everything about Demeter. She doesn’t smile when she sees me. “Circe. We need to discuss your plans.”
I raise my brows. “First, I’d like to know why you had a doctor out to your country house the day before yesterday. Is there something you’re not telling me? Did you suffer some injury in the scuffle a few days ago and neglect to inform me?” Or was she hiding something more insidious?
Demeter doesn’t laugh off my question or so much as attempt to dodge it. She meets my gaze directly, her hazel eyes sparking with what appears to be righteous anger. “No, Circe, I’m perfectly healthy and uninjured. My daughter, however, has suffered greatly in her grief for her husband. I’m concerned for her, so I brought in our family doctor to monitor the situation and prescribe her some medications to get her through the day, at least for now.”