“You’re going to hit something. Probably me.”
She scowled, his grip a branding heat on her already fire-flushed skin. “Cleito’s a Chaos Wizard, so in essence, she already knows everything. She just needs Zeus’s help to pull the right answers out of the mess in her head, and there’s a good chance Zeuswantsus to get the information.” Excitement lifted her from her chair, leaving Carver’s hands empty but her elbows still warm from his touch. “It’s the answer we’ve been looking for—howto get Cleito somewhere calm where she can concentrate. The automaton heads will give us the anonymity we need to walk right into the castle, no one will—successfully—get in our way if my hands are flaming, and we can steal her from Eryx.”
His eyes narrowed. “Everyone will knowsomeoneon the island has magic.”
“So? Let them.” She shrugged.
“They’ll hunt you.”
“They won’t know who I am.”
“And if they do?” he growled.
“They won’t. Carver, relax.”
“Relax?” He stood and rounded the table, that thundercloud hanging over his brow again. “You’re talking about kidnapping.”
“Oracle-napping. She’s an adult.”
“Semantics don’t change what it is. And I know from experience that women don’t like to be carried off in the dead of night without a choice.”
Bellanca stepped back from the table. She didn’t like anyone looming over her, even Carver. “Your brother was high-handed with Cat at first, but it worked out in the end. They’re blissfully happy and rule a continent.” Or Bellanca assumed they were and still did. The new Thalyrian royals had hit a major snag because of this infighting on Mount Olympus, but Cat and Griffin had gained all the ingredients they’d needed to find their happiness and kingdom-wide peace again. She’d seen the potion.
Uncertainty drew Carver’s soot-black brows together. “Cat made us pay for weeks.”
“That was completely different.” Bellanca flapped her arms again. “Don’t you get it? It’s not a kidnapping. It’s arescue.”
“But we’re not doing it for her. We’re doing it for us. We want Cleito’s power and knowledge. It’sexactlythe same.”
The oracle-napping scheme cooled inside Bellanca, but shedidn’t let Carver’s arguments put out the flame. “You’re wrong. Cat was happy where she was and shouldn’t have been dragged from her home like that, despite Griffin’s good intentions, but Cleito isn’t happy. She’s terrified, abused, andon a leash. We would never treat her like that.”
Carver watched her for a moment, preternaturally still, then finally nodded. “She’sveryclosely guarded.”
“We’ll get her at night.”
“How? We don’t have a team. It’s just us.”
“Wearea team.” Or did Carver not feel that way anymore? Alarm twisted sharply in her chest. “Aren’t we?”
“I just mean we’re used to being more than a team of two for anything like this.” The knot gripping Bellanca’s heart loosened as he speared a hand through his hair, shoving it back. “But I also don’t trust anyone else. No matter how friendly I am with Dex or Silas, there’s no way they wouldn’t turn on us if it meant keeping themselves or their families safe.”
She nodded her agreement. “Same with Dimitri. He’s open to change, but that doesn’t mean he wants to make it. And if anyone decided to dangle one of his sisters or Lilika in front of Eryx to scare him into talking or sabotaging us, he’d do it.” And Bellanca couldn’t blame him. She was sure there were Atlantians who wanted to rise up; they just hadn’t swum on the tide that would float them to victory. She’d spent most of her life complying with atrocities. She understood what it was like, and how and why it could happen, even for strong people who hated every second of it. But it only took one person, in her case Cat, to show her she wasn’t alone in a fight—and that maybe she could win it.
“It’s just us, isn’t it?” The sudden intensity on Carver’s face brightened the dawn-dull room like wildfire. “You and me. Together.”
Magic licked through her, not out of control, but persistent and precise. It seemed to reach for him, as if he offered something to complete her power. She nodded. “It has been since we set foot here.”
“We only need each other.”
She took a moment to answer, not sure they were only talking about their mission anymore. It didn’t matter. It didn’t change the truth for her. “We only need each other,” she echoed hoarsely.
Carver’s steady, storm-gray gaze held hers. He stepped closer. “Us? Even after?”
Little flames snuck through her blood, carried by her fast-beating heart to every part of her body. Chest tight, skin hot, she asked, “After?”
“Once you’re the queen of Atlantis, you won’t need a fake king.” Carver took another step closer. “You can live your life as you want. You’ll make the rules, no partner needed.”
Her stomach hollowed at the thought of ruling without him. “I’ll always want my partner.”
