Ares frowned. I expected him to argue, but he looked at the archway, his expression darkening. “You’re right. We don’t want to be in his path when he walks out of that kitchen.”
Together, we left the palace and walked down the hill to the amphitheatre. Tonight, only papery thin clouds caressed the sky, barely blotting out the vibrant rays of the blood moon. Ares looked up, noticing it, though he made no comment. It’d been here two nights in a row, which was unusual. It was as if the moon had painted itself red to match all the blood we planned to spill.
The stone wall opened up before us. Inside, the others had already gathered around the statue of Erebus. They turned toward us when they heard our approach. Artemis glared. Hephaestus winced. No one looked happy to see us. Except, perhaps, Hera, who was practically gleaming.
I bit the insides of my cheeks. If I hadn’t thought she’d killed the mortal in the kitchen, I certainly thought it now. Her body was practicallybuzzingwith vicious excitement. Slowing my steps as we approached the group, I cast an uneasy glance at Ares. He returned it with one of his own.
“You’re late, and you almost missed all the fun.” Hera clapped. “Where’s Zeus?”
Dionysos cleared his throat and stared at his boots.
Something was wrong—something more than just the kitchen death. And when Hera gleefully danced to the side to reveal the mangled body curled beside the statue’s feet, I suddenly understood everything. Because even in death, she was stunningly beautiful. Bold red lips, raven hair, eyelashes that were long and lustrous.
Zeus was late, so they’d already begun tonight’s sacrifice.
And the sacrifice was his human lover.
21
SELENE
“Please tell me this is not what it looks like,” Ares said quietly, his hand tensing around the wooden dagger strapped to his waist. Hermes, the king with the orange hair and horns, moved from behind his column and joined Ares. Together, they were a shield, ready for battle.
“I’m afraid it is exactly what it looks like.” Dionysos met my gaze. Any last remnants of revelry had vanished from his eyes. In three short days, he’d lost so much—toomuch. And while Zeus’s lover likely meant nothing to him, he understood the implications. He knew where this would lead, and it wasn’t a path any of us wanted to take. Except Hera, who continued to watch us all, smiling wickedly.
She thought she’d won. Gods, she was a fool.
“What’s the matter, Ares?” Hera pushed through the gathered monarchs and flicked the top button of his shirt. Her eyes then swung to me. “I have done myduty. Here is my blood sacrifice, as commanded by our esteemed leader, Zeus. Now you must finish it.” She tipped back her head to gaze up at the sky. “Erebus is watching, after all.”
“How many of you drank?” Ares asked, looking around.
“All of us,” Athena called out, sighing heavily.
She leaned against the hilt of a broadsword she’d shoved into the ground near her column, as if she anticipated a brewing fight. The columns of Hera and Zeus were adjacent to hers. Crowns sat atop them, their white marble bases stained with blood.
“All of you?” His frown deepened. “Evenyou, Athena?”
“She gave us little choice. It’s the second night, so it was her turn for the sacrifice. This was who she brought. And when Zeus was late…well, we didn’t want to risk anything going wrong.”
“What are you all droning on about?” Zeus called out from the arched entrance, his voice a softer tone than I’d heard before. He almost sounded weary.
Ares and Hermes shifted to face him, still shoulder-to-shoulder, still standing tall like a shield. It would block his view—for a moment longer, if that. Before he reached us, I knelt beside the corpse and took a small drink of her blood. When I looked up, I caught Aphrodite watching me.
“We have to finish the sacrifice,” I whispered.
She nodded, then passed me the chalice. “For Ares. He’ll need to drink it, too.”
I took the chalice and slid it through the puddle of blood, drawing in enough for both AresandZeus. I didn’t know how I’d get the Archon to drink it, but I’d worry about that later. Right now, I had to get away from the body.
I strode toward the rear outskirts of the group, where Athena leaned against her sword. She squinted at me, frowned. “You don’t look particularly ruffled.”
“Neither do you,” I replied.
“You experience this kind of thing a lot in Troy?”
“Thankfully, no.”
Zeus was halfway across the arena now. In only moments, he’d reach the gathered monarchs. And unless he decided to turn right back around and return to the palace, he’d spot the corpse.
