“She’s not wrong.” Dionysos kicked his feet up on the table and crossed his ankles. “When I went to meet Selene on the steps just now, I saw our beloved Ares stalk past, smelling just like her. He must have ambushed her before she reached the palace. That or they were fucking, but I’m pretty certain it wasn’t the latter.”
My cheeks burned.
Athena, much to my surprise, frowned and turned my way. “Is that true, High Queen Selene?”
As much as I didn’t want to bring attention to it, I also didn’t want to get caught in a lie. So I nodded. “Yes, he approached me just outside the amphitheatre.”
Athena’s frown deepened. “Was this by Zeus’s command?”
Ares didn’t answer.
“I see,” Athena said, sighing. “Zeus, you may have proclaimed yourself the Archon, but you are just as beholden to the Hellas Agreement rules as the rest of us. For better or for worse, Troy is part of that. If you or Ares break it, you do so at your own risk. Erebus will likely find pleasure in wiping you off the board, just like you did with Theia. I will not be a part of it.”
Athena pushed up from her chair, and Hera quickly followed. But the stern-faced queen shot Hera a look of pure disdain.
“I will not be a part of your machinations, either. For too long, you have sowed discord amongst the Olympians. I am tired of all of this. If we don’t find a way to work together, I fear for our future. Now good night. I will see you tomorrow for the first sacrifice.”
And with that, Athena lifted her pointy chin and left the room.
Silence descended. I met Ares’s stormy gaze across the table, lifted the blood-filled goblet to my lips, and took a sip. It was rich, and so, so sweet. Instantly, a liquifying pleasure swirled through me, melting all the tension in my shoulders. My canines ached, and a sudden, feverish desire pumped through me. I yearned to sink my teeth into the nearest human and drain him dry.
I blinked, fighting the bloodlust and clearing the haze from my eyes. As the red mist faded, the face of Ares came into view again. His head was cocked, and he watched me carefully, an inscrutable expression on his face.
“Delicious, eh?” Zeus asked, seizing control of my attention. And when I looked his way, something in his eyes turned my stomach. His smile was feral, and the way he leaned forward made it clear he was desperate to say something he knew I would hate. Likely something about my mother.
“Well, I suppose it’s, ah…” I said carefully, trying to read his face. What kind of answer did he want here? If I said the wrong thing, I knew it would cost me.
“Where would you say it hails from?” he murmured, still smiling.
I blinked. “Pardon?”
He leaned further forward, shoving his elbow into Poseidon’s plate. “Where would you say it hails from? Naxos, perhaps?”
“Zeus,” Hera warned.
Dionysos suddenly shot to his feet and swiped his hand across the far end of the table, knocking goblets, fruit, and platters of uncooked meat onto the floor, along with the remnants of wine left in the pitcher. It all shattered in a spectacular crash, but Zeus didn’t even blink.
“I knew it,” Dion slurred, pointing a shaking finger at the Archon. “You took her, didn’t you? You took her and lied to my face when I asked you.” His voice cracked, and his hands dropped heavily to his sides. “She wasmine, Zeus.”
“Vampire gods are not to frolic with mortals,” Zeus said, lifting his shoulder in a shrug. “If you had heeded my warnings, this wouldn’t have happened, and she’d still be alive.”
Hera snorted. “As if you have any right to say who can and cannot sleep with mortals,my love.”
“Jealousy does not become you, Hera.” Zeus clambered to his feet.
“Not this again,” a soft male voice muttered, just as Hera and Zeus launched into an all-out shouting match.
I sought the source. A vampire king sat sandwiched between Poseidon and Zeus, but he’d scooted back his chair to get out of the line of any flying debris. With dark hair and deep brown skin, Hephaestus looked just like his sister, Artemis. Well, they’d been siblings once, back when they’d been mortals. Now they were rival monarchs, just like the rest of us.
“You pledged your loyalty to me, Zeus,” Hera hissed, her youthful face now crumpled and full of rage—or pain. Perhaps both.
Truly, I didn’t know why she still cared. Archon or not, Zeus was a bastard, and Hera could do far better.
“Loyalty to you and your kingdom. And I kept my word on that. What I never promised was monogamy.”
Hera hissed again and launched her goblet across the table. Zeus ducked, and it soared over his head. The goblet crashed into the wall, then clattered to the floor. Droplets of blood sprayed the hall.
A heavy tension pounded through the room. I swallowed, not daring to move.
