“Thank you,” Horus grinned. “Did you hear that we're having a girl?”
“No, I didn't. That's wonderful! Grab yourself a beer, man. Let's shoot out the lights!”
Horus scowled at Austin, then returned his stare to the rest of us. “We leave you for an hour and return to find you plastered like Pan with one of his floozies.”
“Hey! I don't have floozies, I havenymphs, and we're celebrating! You're supposed to be celebrating with us.” Pan snatched a bottle from the table and pulled the cork out with his teeth.
Pan spat the cork at Horus and it bounced off Horus' forehead. Everyone went silent, even the lions. Horus blinked slowly, pressed his lips into a thin line, and narrowed his eyes at Pan. Pan paused with the bottle halfway to his mouth, his eyes widening. Horus snatched the bottle from Pan, put his pointer finger on Pan's forehead, and pushed Pan out of the way as he stepped up to the table with his wife.
“We've had a great victory today.” Horus paused to smile at Hekate. “A couple of them. But we should remember that lives were lost along the way. Two of them were very young lives.”
The silence turned somber.
“To those who we weren't able to save.” Horus lifted the bottle.
“And to those who we almost lost,” Hekate added as she laid a hand on her belly.
The rest of us raised our glasses, then drank.
Horus turned to look at Pan. “Now, don't you feel like an ass?”
“Not at all,” Pan announced as he pulled out his cellphone. “So, maybe I should try harder.”
Pan tapped his phone and a recording played. It was Horus' voice saying, “I bless the day you came into my life, Godhunter.”
Horus narrowed his eyes at Pan. Pan snatched the bottle from Horus and ran away.
“Pan!”
“I bless the day you came into my life, Godhunter.” Pan laughed giddily as he played it again. “Come on, Horus, it had to be recorded for posterity.”
“You're going to rue the day you recorded me, Pan!” Horus ran after his bestie.
“Can I have a copy of that?” I called after them.
“I'll text it to you!” Pan called back.
Chapter Forty-One
The party got really wild after that. It lasted all day and most of the night. The great thing about being a goddess is that even when you manage to get drunk, you never have to worry about a hangover. I woke the next morning feeling better than I had the night before. And so damn happy. Viper was safe and Adro had been stopped. Yes, it was sad that Adroa died, but the star had saved Hekate's child and nothing could dull that happiness.
I got dressed and headed upstairs to grab my children before they started knocking on the tower door and woke up the pile of sleeping men in my bed. The kids were already awake and playing Candy Land in Lesya's room. They abandoned the game when I walked in and rushed me.
I laughed as I scooped them up. “Are my wild things hungry?”
“Yes!” They declared.
“Okay, but let's be quiet until we get to the elevator. Your daddies and uncles are sleeping.”
I set them down and we crept downstairs, then snuck past the bed of beautiful men, giggling to ourselves because that's what you do when you sneak past gorgeous, naked, sleeping men. Finally, we made it out to the hallway and into the elevator. As we headed downstairs, we made a plan for breakfast because food is serious business. I stroked their hair and silently gave thanks that my children were safe and happy. They could have been among those lost lives Horus had mentioned, but they'd survived.
Samantha had told me that the pain from Adro's spell had knocked all of them off their feet. Fallon had tried to get to the children but even he couldn't manage to crawl more than a few inches. The kids had screamed and then cried when it was over but less than an hour later, they were back to playing as if nothing had happened. The resilience of children amazes me.
“Do you want to talk about what happened yesterday?” I asked them as we stepped around snoring lions who'd passed out in the hallway and made our way to the kitchen.
“I was sore,” Vero said. “I think I had a bellyache.”
“We all did,” Lesya said. “Even Zariel and Aunty Sam. It was weird.”
