I shook my head and tried to reconcile everything I knew about Smith with his infamous godhood. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t figure it out. Zeus was a cruel, heartless man-whore. Smith had been compassionate at every turn. He had sacrificed greatly for me. He had done everything in his temporarily limited power to make sure I survived.
The two beings did not match up.
I didn’t know if Smith’s presence was a good thing for my case or a bad thing. But, I wanted to believe he would help me… and if need be, save me.
If Smith had been willing to risk everything for me in Omaha, he might be willing to save me here too. Besides, it was more than convenient for him to show up just as Hera brought me to trial.
This had to be more of his games… more of his plotting.
Maybe he had constructed this entire thing, all of the events of my entire life. Maybe I was nothing more to him than a pawn on a chessboard.
“What are you doing here, Smith?” Every voice fell silent at the sound of my voice. Resentment stirred in the air. They didn’t want to hear his answer as much as they wanted to figure out how he and I had a familiar relationship.
Hera’s sharp voice rang out from across the room, “You will address your king with reverence, Siren, or I will allow Poseidon to finish what he started.”
I met Smith’s stoic gaze and jerked with a sudden pang of fear. He might be here to save me from Nix, but he couldn’t save me from Hera. “Zeus,” I murmured reverently, trembling into a shallow bow.
His eyes regained some of the Smith I knew and loved. “The one and only.”
“Where’s Hon-”
“You’ve gotten yourself into some trouble, Siren.” Smith/Zeus cut me off with a warning glance. I hoped that meant Honor was safe somewhere.
“I didn’t mean to hurt Hades,” I said honestly.But I planned to kill Poseidon.I planned to murder him with my bare hands.I kept that juicy piece of incriminating evidence to myself.
“Whatdidyou mean to do?” Smith was colder here, removed and distant. He had always treated me with warm respect at home. He had taken care of me when nobody else would, he had provided for me when I had no one else. But now, there was a stark desolation to his blue eyes, a frigid aloofness that made him feel untouchable and superior. I couldn’t tell if this was a role he was forced to step into because he was king or if this was the real version of him and whoever he was back home had been a role he played to get what he wanted.
But what was it that he wanted?
I pulled back my shoulders and met his appraising gaze. “I meant to stay alive. I succeeded.”
Nix snorted a derisive laugh, his ire curling through the sound, sending a clear warning of his displeasure. “And yet whenever you’re in my presence you’ll do anything to die.”
My voice shook, but I felt the truth behind each word. “Death is more appealing when you can’t see the Underworld waiting for you.”
Low murmuring rippled through the room. Hera glided gracefully to her feet and took her place next to her husband. “You went through the Underpass?” she demanded.
I nibbled on my bottom lip, realizing I shouldn’t have mentioned that part. “We got lost.”
“You got lost?” Hera’s eyebrows lifted to her hairline, challenging my lie.
“We just followed the road…” I glanced back at Ryder. He nodded his agreement and struggled against the gods holding him in place.
Nix paced around me, unable to settle and be still. “So,” he began in the tone of a lecturing teacher. “You’re telling us that you left dinner last night, wandered down theRoad of No Return, walked into the Underpass, which is the only road that goes through the Underworld, met Hades, killed Hades, then somehow reappeared right here, in the middle of town?”
“Is it really called the Road of No Return?”
He shook his head slowly, amused that I would have the guts to ask that question. “It’s a nickname.”
“I brought her back,” Hermes called out. “I lost her when she went through the mountain, but as soon as she stepped out again, I brought her and the musician back.”
“Hermes, you’re implicating yourself in this?” Hera demanded.
He pushed through the crowd and stood between Ryder and me. His face was pale for a god; his golden Greek glow had disappeared completely. “I had no idea about the Underpass until they were already in it. And after they were gone for so many hours, I expected to find them dead. I couldn’t have guessed all that they’d gotten themselves into overnight.”
Zeus cupped his chin thoughtfully with one hand. His long fingers curved along the line of his jaw and scratched at barely-there stubble. Over the last year, I had speculated that maybe Smith was Zeus. Now I had my answer. And while he might have remained Smith to me in Omaha, here, on Olympus, there was no mistaking his godhood. This was the king of the gods, this was almighty Zeus.
“They are your guests, Hermes?” Zeus asked.
