Hera visibly bristled. “You think that I’m scared of a child? A sea witch? Why do my brothers keep accusing me of foolishness? You forget who slaughtered theketea.”
Something hot and angry seared through me. I had no idea what or who theketeawere, but I hated the idea that they had been slaughtered.
Ryder’s hand squeezed mine. His nearness calmed some of the primal anger welling inside me.
“Look, Sister, you’ve angered her,” Hermes grinned. I instinctively glanced around for a pitcher of water.
“I’m not angry,” I said calmly. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
They shared a look. “I suppose they were before your time,” Hera sighed. “They were slithering sea monsters. They were a menace.”
“They were harmless,” Hermes sighed. “The islanders used to use them for transportation.”
“They might have been harmless,” Nix put in. “But Hera’s right. They were hideous. They needed to be put out of their misery.”
I had nothing to add, so I kept the conversation moving. It was weird to sit here with Nix and have a conversation as though he didn’t want to murder me. I didn’t trust him. This seemed like a ploy to lure me into a false sense of security.
Although he was a different person here. Hermes was too. The mountain tamed some of their harsh edges and softened their arrogance. They weren’t more likeable, but their sibling bickering made them more amusing.
“I don’t see the Fates,” I commented.
“You wouldn’t see them here,” Hera hissed. “You think I would invite those old hags to my temple? Hardly.”
My heartbeat picked up as I tried to keep my tone neutral. “But I thought they lived on Olympus? Are they in the village?”
Nix caught on right away. “Miss them? Nostalgic for some one-on-one time?”
I swallowed around a prickly lump in my throat. “I’m just curious.”
“Why don’t you ask your host these questions,” Hera dared. “Hermes is practically their neighbor.” When Hermes didn’t take her bait, she shook her head and offered more. “They aren’t allowed in Olympus proper,” Hera explained, already bored with the conversation. “Every time they’ve been here before they start planning my demise. I’m less than enthusiastic to let them visit the temple. They start rearranging furniture and picking out drapes. It’s obnoxious.”
“Why don’t they just cut your thread?” Ryder asked. His expression remained innocent, but I could see the challenge twinkling in his eyes.
Hera didn’t bite. “Because I would come back from the Underworld and rip their haggard heads from their wrinkled bodies.” She looked around at her wide-eyed brothers and sisters. “What?” she smirked. “I would do the same thing to any of you should I find myself on the other side of the River Styx. It’s better that you remember that now than test my conviction later.” Her tone remained casual, but her lethal glare swung to Nix and I wondered if his knees knocked together like mine.
I might not have figured out where the Fates were holed up, but I did learn that Hera was a complete sociopath.
That was probably an important thing to remember.
Dinner was cleared away by nymphs. They descended on our tables in skanky versions of our white robes. They flitted around us, flirting and laughing.
I wondered if they were here by choice or if Hera kept her servants in the same kind of captivity the Pantheon was known for.
Dessert was laid in front of us, followed by more wine. The other end of the hall had grown loud with laughter and shouting. I looked down at Ares as he sloshed wine down the front of his white tunic. His head tipped back and he bellowed his humor at the sky.
The men sitting around him did the same, finding his clumsiness hilarious. Bile churned in my stomach and clawed up my throat. I wanted vengeance for Eva and Ana, for his part in murdering my friends.
A chill slithered over me and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Turning away from Ares, I found Crete, also known as Hades, staring at me. His dark eyes held nothing in them but an unnerving emptiness I felt all the way to my bones. His thin lips pressed into a dissatisfied frown, as if he wanted revenge too. As if I’d messed up his life in an unforgivable way.
A wind gusted through the room, whistling through the columns. I tore my gaze away from Hades and looked to the entrance where three figures landed on graceful feet.
Orange and black hair whipped out from the middle woman, thrashing in the suddenly violent wind.
Eryn.
I recognized her immediately. She looked ethereal and dangerous in the low light of the lanterns. Her skin seemed to glow as bright as the candlelight and as subdued as the cloud-covered moon. She radiated danger and anger, barely restrained in her shocking face.
If it hadn’t been for the jagged scar slashing down one side of her face, she would have been beautiful.
