I sighed. “Cronus. I know you can beat him. We all do.”
His chest puffed up. “Of course I can.”
I nodded. “Good. Then just agree to his terms.”
His face twisted into a scowl. “Never. You will never be his.”
I stroked his cheek. “No, love. I’m yours. Always yours. But if this is what we need to do to get him to agree, then do it.”
I trusted Cronus to beat him; he was strong enough.
Narida cleared her throat. “I just want to remind you that this deal is bound in blood and if you lose … he will be able to take her and the child.”
#ThatSoundedPermanent #NoTakeBacks
“Never,” Cronus growled.
Hyperion stepped up and placed a hand on Cronus' shoulder. “We won’t let that happen, brother.”
Cronus took in a deep breath and the sky flashed from black to gray to light again in rapid succession until finally he nodded. Reaching out, he grasped me lightly behind the neck, “If it looks like I’m losing, go to Thanatos. He’ll hide you,” he whispered in my ear. “The blood bond will be focused on Titan energy.”
I nodded. The god in our back pocket.
#HolyFuck #WeWereDoingThis
Cronus looked at Hype. “Go get him. I’ll agree to the terms.”
Chapter 9
The deal was struck. Zeus had a fucking grin on his face the entire time, but he at least stayed silent as Narida performed her blood oath, the magic settling in the air around us while blood swirled in arcs across the joined hands of the Titan and the god. They spoke for the others in their group, so this one spell was all that was needed.
“We’ll start in the morning,” the crone declared. “Be back here in twelve hours’ time. You have half a day to mentally prepare. Use it wisely.”
She’d stepped into her adjudicator role far too easily—being in charge and playing with powerful beings was clearly something she enjoyed. I hoped we hadn’t underestimated her fear of Cronus and that this wasn’t all a big act.
I was waiting for an ambush on all sides.
“See you tomorrow,” Zeus said, saluting and disappearing.
The remaining Titans turned to Cronus. “Wait here for the others to return with the demons,” he said. “Then we’ll train while figuring out all the ways Zeus is going to cheat. Blood oath or not, that bastard is up to something.”
Hyperion nodded. “I agree, and I think it might be a good idea for us to have a backup plan or two in place if shit goes south. There are ways around the blood oath that I don’t think Zeus knows, so if this ends up in a way we don’t want, I might still be able to siphon the sins from him.”
Cronus nodded. “Yes. But that won’t mean shit unless we have a proper container for them.”
I cleared my throat. “What happened with the box before? I mean … why didn’t it seal properly after Death?” I didn’t like to think of the moment Cronus died, and it was a little hazy in my memory, but I had remembered him ready to put Death in the box when it leapt for him.
Cronus growled. “Hephaestus clearly rigged the box to be strong enough for all the sins except Death. That’s why it didn’t fade into it like the rest, and could take me along for the ride. It’s also why it’s cracking now.”
Hyperion nodded. “He didn’t make that box to last, like he promised. Damaged as it is, we need to find something else.” He rubbed at his face, looking uncharacteristically weary. Theia walked over and wrapped her arm around him, offering comfort in the way only a lover could. She knew his tells, and that he was reaching his limit of stress.
Made me happy that they had each other. They’d been through a lot and deserved some happiness.
“I’m going to check into something else,” Cronus finally said. “I heard whisper of a possible way to defeat them while I was in the underworld. A way that doesn’t involve going through someone untrustworthy like Hepatitis.”
It couldn’t have pleased me more that my nickname for him was catching on.#HowYouLikeThatYouDisease
“I’ll be back,” Cronus told his family, hand in mine, bringing me along. We didn’t go far, ending up where Narida was apparently planning the tasks for tomorrow, out in a green patch of land, drawing a huge circle on the grass. Girl was taking this seriously. I had a sneaking suspicion she wanted to add it to her Instagram stories for extra likes.
