“I should report this to Erebus. He would punish you for your insolence,” Zeus said in a dangerously calm voice. “Or did you forget the Hellas Agreement already? No violence against your fellow monarchs during Nekros.”
Hera flashed him a vicious smile. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me,” he replied. “Throw another goblet and see how I respond.”
Aphrodite looked between Zeus and Hera, then quickly stood. She gently placed her hand on Hera’s elbow and squeezed lightly. “Come, Hera. Let’s get some air.” Her eyes shifted to the flushed face of Dionysos. “You too, Dion.”
Hera clenched her jaw, eyeing the only remaining goblet on their end of the table. But after a moment, she sighed and turned away. “Yes, all right.”
She took one step toward the open doors, but then Zeus pounded his fist against the table. “No.”
Hera froze.
“What do you mean, no?” Aphrodite asked, frowning. “Things are getting out of hand, and I think everyone could use a break.”
“No one is to leave this room until the welcome feast is over,” Zeus said. “It is essential we do things properly. The last thing we want is for Erebus to question our continued loyalty to him.”
“Athena already left,” Aphrodite pointed out, folding her arms.
“Athena did not throw a goblet at her Archon’s head.”
Aphrodite merely shook her head, clearly stunned to silence. Hera plopped back in her chair, and Dionysos stormed away—over to the corner, where he folded his arms and scowled at the wall.
Zeus lifted his brow and scanned the table once more. “Does anyone else have something they’d like to say? The sooner we get through this, the sooner we can go our separate ways for the night.”
No one said a word. Then, much to my dismay, Zeus turned his attention back to me. “Now, where were we? You never answered my question. Tell me,High Queen Selene, what do you think of that blood?”
“It’s lovely,” I said.
With a grunt and a nod, Zeus settled back on his throne and continued rambling about Erebus and how pleased he was to be on the Isle of Aiaia to celebrate the creation of the Olympian vampires.
After a moment, I released a pent-up breath, barely listening as he continued to rattle on. This was all…a lot. And it was only the first night. How would we ever make it through the next two weeks without killing each other? Perhaps it truly was Erebus and his threats that had kept them at peace for so long.
Zeus continued to drone on, and I reached for my goblet. More blood would go down nicely right now. I needed to steady my nerves and tamp down the temptation to check on Dionysos in the corner. My heart hurt for him, it truly did. What Zeus had done was cruel, if not unsurprising.
As I took a sip of blood, I felt the weighted attention of someone’s eyes. I swallowed the liquid and met Ares’s gaze over the lip of the goblet. His brow arched in skepticism.
My eyes still locked on his, I downed the rest of the blood, placed the empty goblet on the table, and swiped any stray droplets off my mouth with the back of my hand. Ares’s gaze never wavered, and after a moment, he smiled crookedly.
An unsettling heat filled my belly. Swallowing, I diverted my gaze to the end of the table, where I found Hera watching me, too. And she looked murderous. All because I’d continued to drink the blood—as if I’d had any choice.
Sighing, I leaned back in my seat. This was going to be the longest two weeks of my life.
11
SELENE
Once Zeus had finished his speech and the harpist had returned, the Archon dismissed anyone who wished to return to their rooms. I remained in my seat while Dionysos fled out the door, closely followed by Hera and Aphrodite. Demeter stayed, lounging in her seat at the far end of the table—alone—and sipping a goblet of wine.
After a while, I rose and joined her. Demeter hadn’t made much of a fuss during the earlier confrontations, and no one seemed to mind she was still here. I didn’t think sitting with her would be making any kind of statement. Hopefully.
“You’ve entered the viper’s pit, little bird,” Demeter said quietly when I sat, swirling the wine in her goblet.
“I have fangs of my own,” I replied.
The older vampire nodded. “I’m sure you do. Just be careful who you bite. ‘Cause they’ll bite you right back.”
“I don’t know whether you’re warning me about Hera or Zeus.”
