“Theseus,” Gage said with a nod. “And that fucker abandoned her on some island.”
“That's where Dionysus found her,” Gideon said. “And he married her. It was very romantic.” He shook his head. “But Ariadne was mortal, and she eventually died.”
“Oh,” I whispered. “He went after her soul, didn't he? Dionysus did.”
“Yeah,” Garret said. “Not just her. He also went to the Underworld to get his mother, Semele. She was mortal too.”
“What happened?”
“Dionysus found them both, and he was sneaking them out of the Underworld when a Cerberus found them. The Cerberus summoned Hades since the attempted escape involved a god. Hades arrived just as Dionysus blasted the Cerberus and freed himself, his mother, and his wife. He took his mother's hand, but before he could get Ariadne, Hades grabbed her. There was nothing he could do. It was save Semele or save no one.”
“So, Dionysus had to leave his wife behind,” I said. “Oh, fuck. That's awful.”
“Yeah.” Gage looked at Gideon, then at Garrett. “Something like that could make a god bitter.”
“We gotta tell Hades,” Garret said.
“He can't do anything unless we get him proof,” Gage countered. “We have to catch Dionysus.”
“What can Dionysus do?” I asked. “I mean, what's his god superpower or whatever?”
“He can make people mad,” Gideon said.
I snorted. “I can do that.”
“No, love. Mad as in insane. Dionysus's main magic is madness. He can drive a man into such a state of insanity that he'll murder his wife and children. In fact, Dionysus has done that very thing before.”
“Dionysus sounds like a dick,” I said. “I don't feel sorry for him anymore.”
“The man he attacked deserved it,” Gage said. “Granted, his family didn't, but the ones we love often pay for our sins.” He frowned at me. “Which reminds me—you're staying in the truck.”
“Good timing. We're here,” Garret said as he pulled off the road and parked among the trees. “That's the house.” He nodded down the long driveway he had parked along. At the end of it was a huge modern home with a sleek, white car parked before it.
“Are you sure, this is it?” I asked. “It looks normal.”
“We'll scout the area first,” Gage said as he removed his pants. Again.
“Wait,” I said. “How are you going to protect yourselves against madness?”
“The magic of gods doesn't affect us,” Gage said. “Hades protects us, remember?”
“Yeah? Then what about that love spell?”
The men looked at each other and grimaced.
“That was an exception,” Garret said. “I don't know why it worked. Even if an Olympian cast it, it shouldn't have affected us. But maybe we were vulnerable because we had only partially mated you.”
“Partially?” I asked.
“We accepted you, but you didn't accept us, Indie,” Gideon said.
“Way to go on making me feel bad,” I muttered.
“That's not why I said that. Just the opposite, in fact. I'm trying to reassure you that something like that won't happen again.”
“Exactly,” Gage said. “We're good now. We've made each other stronger.”
“Then I'll be fine too.” I lifted my chin.
