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 haven’t given you good reason to trust me, but I’m asking for it now. I’ll leave the city—without a fight, without causing any further problems, without any plots or plans.” I wrap my arms around myself. It’s impossible to channel the untouchable queen I was when I arrived in Olympus again. But she never existed anyway. “I only have one condition.”
“Here we go,” Atalanta mutters, but there’s no heat to her words.
“We need to get what remains of my people out safely. I have enough resources to settle them somewhere safely, but the city isn’t exactly traversable for us right now.” I’ve had the resources for years. Taking down Olympus wasn’t cheap by any definition of the word. If I’d gone a different route…
No. If I allow myself regrets, then they’ll crush me. I made mistakes. I miscalculated a number of things. People who I care deeply about died…
I rub my chest again. What is grief if not regret? I can’t banish it. Not when I know the last thing Antigone did was push me over the edge in an attempt to give me a chance to survive. She…
“Circe.” Hecate covers my fingers with hers. The skin on my chest aches, and I belatedly realize I’ve been scratching myself as if I can dig my heart out of my chest with my bare hands. She squeezes. “I’m sorry. For everything.” She pulls me into a tight hug.
I cling to her, letting the familiarity of her roll over me. So much has changed, from our bodies to our circumstances, and yet I would know her even in a world devoid of all my senses. “I’m sorry, too,” I whisper. “I should have come back for you instead of letting my hate and rage fester.”
“There was a lot of hate and rage to go around.” She kisses me lightly and leans back. “But we’re going to leave Olympus better than we found it.”
“I love you.” How could I not, when her brilliance shines through even the darkest times? No matter how many setbacks and losses she’s experienced, she has her eye on what the future could be, and she’s willing to use all of her considerable skills to bring it into reality.
“I love you, too.” She cups my jaw, her pretty face almost serene. “It will be worth it, Circe. I promise.”
I turn to find Atalanta watching us. I brace for jealousy—this triad is so new that surely there will be some kind of jealousy or balance problems—but she’s wearing a contemplative expression. I bite my bottom lip. “I’m glad to have found you, too, Atalanta.”
“I know,” she says simply. “But you’re acting like we’re making grand declarations before we all go die nobly, and I’m not interested in that outcome.”
Hecate laughs a little and disentangles herself from me. “You’re right. We’re being unbearably dramatic.”
Atalanta surveys me. “It’s best we let Olympus believe you died in the river. Nothing has hit MuseWatch about the possibility that you survived. If the public thinks you’re dead, it will be easier to get them to focus on the future instead of continuing their rampage as they search for you.”
I open my mouth to argue, but the logic is sound and it would be my pride talking. I sigh. “I guess Olympus has killed me after all.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Hecate bumps her shoulder to mine. It’s a testament of her resilience to be able to joke about this while the situation is still developing.
“I suppose I need to start making my plans to leave the city.” Alone, again. Except not entirely. I’ll have Nerissa and the few surviving people I brought with me to Olympus. If they will have me, which isn’t a guarantee at this point.
“The sooner, the better.” Atalanta doesn’t blink. “Hecate—or, Hermes, rather—needs to be the thing they unify against in order to pull them forward into a new form of government. I’m not leaving her here to do it alone without anyone to watch her back.”
If I leave Olympus and they spend potentially months in each other’s arms, they’ll have all the opportunity in the world to realize they don’t need to make their twosome a threesome. That I carry more baggage than the two of them combined. That I’m more trouble than I’m worth.
They’d be right.
I swallow down the words I’d need to convince them to let me stay, to hide until it’s time for us all to leave. If we have any chance of something developing outside of trauma and forced proximity, I have to do the right thing. I hate doing the right thing. “I don’t know the extent of my surviving people’s injuries, but it’s safe to assume our best option would be taking a ship.”
“You need to—” Atalanta cuts herself off and blinks. “You’re just giving in without a fight?”