Her sisters flanked her. The one to her left had red hair the color of a ruby. Her eyes never stopped flashing with lightning as they surveyed the room with keen awareness. The one to her right was taller than them both and seemingly made from granite. Her alabaster skin was as hard and muscled as the stone surface of the mountain and her silver hair wrapped around her waist in a complicated series of knots and bonds.
One was named Meg and the other Alecta. I didn’t know which was which, but I knew they we deadly And I knew one would betray her.
Eryn seemed to know it too, by the way she kept them just slightly in front of her. She watched them as closely as she watched the rest of the room. I read her expression as if it were my own. Nothing would get behind her. She would let nothing stab her in the back.
Movement and chatter in the room stilled with their arrival. I saw several of the guards glance at Hera as if she would explain why they were suddenly here.
She lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug and kept the answer tightly sealed behind an innocent smile.
She’d obviously called them, but for who? Me? Ryder? Nix? Why were they here and what destruction had they been permitted to wield?
Eryn nodded at her sisters and they moved through the room. They stepped over broken wine glasses and spilled food. They did not break stride even though Ares reached for them lecherously and the killing glares from the rest of the godhood would have had me cowering in the corner.
Eryn did not stop until she stood directly in front of me. Her long finger extended to point directly in my face.
“I will protect you, Siren, until you cross me. And when you do, I will be the first in line to slit your throat.”
Chapter Seventeen
Rage bubbled through me. It started in my toes and worked up through my legs, extending out to my fingers and filling my head with righteous indignation. My chest burned with the acid of the accusation.
I jumped to my feet. The table next to me tipped over and tossed the food I had barely touched. The pretty silver serving tray clattered against the smooth marble floor.
Embarrassment mingled with fury, but I refused to let these gods and goddesses intimidate me.
I pointed my finger at Eryn and said, “That all depends on what side you’re really on.” Her face flushed with anger. Power rippled through her, darkening the sky overhead and bringing out the bright flashes of lightning that speared through the black clouds.
“You doubt my loyalty to Olympus?” she hissed. Her sisters stepped forward and took arms at her sides. Light sparked at their fingertips.
I licked my dry lips and ignored the room of deities watching me closely. “I couldn’t care less about your loyalty to Olympus,” I threw back at her. “My problem is your attitude towards me. As long as you’re not on his side, then there won’t be a reason for you to fear me.” I jabbed my finger in Nix’s direction. It took all of my will power to restrain myself from scratching his eyes out when his low chuckle followed my point.
“You think I fear you?” she laughed haughtily.
I took another step forward, placing myself directly in front of the three deadly Furies. “I think this entire mountain fears me.”
She didn’t have a response for that. Her throat worked to swallow a bitter response, but she didn’t disagree. Somehow I knew she wouldn’t.
Exactly why these gods had reason to fear me was slowly working itself into place, but I didn’t have all of the answers yet. I needed my mother for those.
I looked back at Ryder. He’d slid to the edge of his seat, ready to jump in if I needed him. One foot bounced rapidly while he struggled to keep his calm but other than that, he remained the picture of cool and collected.
“I think I’ve had enough dinner,” I told him with a jerk of my chin.
“You and me both, Red.” He pushed up from his settee and managed not to knock his tray of food over. Linking his hand with mine, he led me out the back way.
I chanced one glance back at the room I was leaving behind and wished I hadn’t. They watched me go with a communal aggression that became palpable frustration in the sky. A lightning storm like I had never seen before waged war in the churning clouds. Every color of lightning bolt cut through the sky in angry slashes. Sometimes they would run into each other and an explosion of sparks and light would vibrate overhead.
It was awesome and terrifying all at once.
I reminded myself that these were gods. I was just a mortal.
And yet why didn’t they chase me? Or put me in my place? Why did they let me get away with so much?
“What am I?” I whispered. We had walked for a while before I’d dared to make any sound. The question had been weighing on my mind for a long time, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words aloud until now.
I was too afraid of the answer.
“Ivy Pierce,” Ryder replied. “You’re just this girl I know from school.”
