“I am here to fulfill my part. The sacrifice’s blood will be spilled.”
He nodded, though he didn’t look convinced. “You look just like her, you know? Your mother, I mean. All that ginger hair. The little nose and the sharp chin. Those freckles that defy all odds. She played her part during Nekros for nearly two hundred years, but she turned against us in the end. And she died for it. I have no reason to believe her daughter would want to commit to peace after that. I know I would not.”
My heart pounded. “Move aside, Ares. I will not say it again.”
The vampire king didn’t move. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if he meant to fight me here in the shadows of the amphitheatre. Would he try to eliminate me before I could step foot inside those ancient walls? The birthplace of the Titans, the source of all vampiric power. I braced myself. I was ready to fight him if I must. He was bigger and stronger, but I’d trained for this.
Tension pounded between us. And then his hand flinched toward his back. Hissing, I moved with preternatural grace. I swept my skirt aside and grabbed the wooden dagger, but I wasn’t fast enough. Ares already had me pressed against the wall, my cheek scraping the rough stone. Something sharp pressed against the back of my neck. My veins pulsed, and a heady, intoxicating anger pumped through me.
I palmed the stone and started to shove, but Ares wrapped his hand around my head, pushing my face harder against the wall. And as he held me there, the prophecy of my death echoed in my mind.
“I should kill you now and be done with it,” he murmured into my ear. “I’m certain you’re guilty, and you have no place on this island with us.”
I clenched my teeth and shoved, but I didn’t budge. I couldn’t. Ares was far too strong. Tears of burning anger filled my eyes. He could think what he wanted, but if he did this, it would ruin him. Even if the other monarchs did nothing to retaliate, Erebus would never accept it. His rules were clear. No murder during this fortnight. Not of vampire monarchs, at least.
And so I began to laugh, a low hum that came from the depths of my soulless heart. It was more a curse than a laugh. “At least my ruin will bring about the death of my greatest enemy, and your fate will be far worse than mine when Erebus is through with you. Who do you think will take your kingdom when you’re dead? Without an heir, your crown will be ripe for the taking. I heard Hera, in particular, really hates you. Maybe she’ll take it.”
Ares tightened his grip on my neck and leaned forward. His breath came hot on my cheek. “It is notyourcrown. And it is certainly not your kingdom. I’m only taking back what is rightfully ours, whatyourfamilyruined.”
“It has never been yours. And it never will be.” I smiled against the stone. “I cannot wait to watch on from the halls of Elysium when you lose everything.”
His fingers tensed against me, but then they vanished from my skin, along with the rough bite of the wooden blade. My heart roared through me, and when I turned, Ares was gone. The only thing that remained was the silent guard, the trembling sacrifice, and Orpheus’s steady gaze.
“Your Majesty,” my advisor murmured, his face blank but for the third crease between his brow. “This delay has been quite draining, I must say. We need to make haste for the palace.”
I could read between his words in a way I couldn’t with anyone else, not even with my mother when she’d been alive. He was shaken. And he was worried. Despite everything he’d done to prepare me for Nekros, he’d never warned me of this. If his trembling hands were any indication, it was because he hadn’t expected it. From the beginning, this island had been free of fatal violence between monarchs.
If Ares yearned to rebel against the Hellas Agreement, I’d have to watch my back every hour of every day here. All my life, I’d relied on my immortality, but Zeus had somehow taken that away from me, just as he’d taken it from my mother.
“All right, let’s go,” I called over my shoulder. “It’s time for me to meet the rest of them. And if this all goes wrong, I need you to be prepared to run.”
7
ARES
She shouldn’t have come here. The Titan was a bloody idiot if she thought she’d survive this place. The peace treaty and the Hellas Agreement be damned. The Olympians were on the brink of war. All it would take was one wrong move—one wrongbreath—and all of Hellas would burn the fuck down.
And I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t want to watch it happen.
Starting with Troy.
Rolling back my shoulders, I strode through the golden doors of the megaron, where Zeus and Poseidon were deep in conversation about…who the fuck knew what. Those two were always scheming. Probably something to do with Hera, who had taken a seat at the far end of the table, as far from Zeus as she could get. She propped her chin on her fisted hand, her youthful, pixie face twisted into a scowl.
I took my seat near Zeus, right beside Hestia. My advisor—and dearest companion—leaned in close. Wavy silver hair fell into her youthful face. “Is she here?”
“Unfortunately,” I said.
Hestia’s crimson eyes flared, and a sigh escaped her lips. She knew just as well as I did how this would end. As one of the original thirteen Olympians, she’d been here through it all and had witnessed the strain on peace, and how it grew thinner and thinner as the years bled by.
I was certain it wouldn’t be this bad if she hadn’t refused the thirteenth crown when Erebus had first offered it to her. Troy should have gone to her, not to the Titan. But Hestia, being the woman she was, had refused power.
“How was she?” Hestia whispered into my ear.
“About what you’d expect. As cold as a corpse and full of hatred toward me.”
Hestia patted me on the arm. “Well, you did attempt to kill her after telling her that Zeus murdered her mother.”
I arched a brow. “Are you defending the Titan?”
