I patted her shoulder and swallowed. The raw softness in her made me feel unsteady. I’d been told what Hestia was like, but it was another thing to experience it in person. She defied everything I’d ever known about Olympians. They had been created to behave a certain way, twisted by Erebus’s power. And yet she’d been immune to it. She’d kept a tight grip on her humanity instead.
“Ah, Odysseus,” Ares called out, waving toward someone behind us.
I turned to find a very mortal man jogging toward us from the estate on the hill. The quickening wind whipped his long dark hair, along with the cloak that hung from his broad shoulders. He was a tall, imposing figure with the orange sky silhouetting his form. When he reached us, he took one look at Hestia, the manacles still attached to her wrists, and collected her into his arms.
“What happened to her?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Ares answered grimly, still waiting in the boat. “I need you to look after her for a few days, until Nekros is over.”
“Of course. I’ll make sure she feeds.” He paused. “Who did this to her, Ares? Don’t tell me it was Zeus. Because if it was, I swear to the fucking gods who hide in their primordial realm that I will—”
“I don’t know who it was, but I intend to find out,” Ares cut in.
Surprise lifted my brow. This was all very unexpected. Ares working with a mortal man? And he was almostcloseto admitting Zeus could have harmed Hestia, too. At least he was finally considering the idea, even if he wouldn’t fully admit it.
Odysseus pointed a long finger at Ares. “You find out who did it. And then I’ll find someone to take care of it if you can’t.”
Ares nodded, then beckoned me toward the boat. “We need to go. Daylight is waning.”
Odysseus glanced at me as he turned to go, but came to a jolting stop before he’d taken a step. His gaze swept across me, his eyes widening. He clearly hadn’t registered much about me until now.
“Are you…are youSelene?” he asked incredulously.
I smiled and lifted my hand in a wave. “Hello, it’s lovely to make your acquaintance.”
From the boat, Ares loosed a grunt.
Odysseus shook his head and muttered something to himself—something about ‘bloody vampires’—before withdrawing from the shore. Without another word, he carried Hestia toward the house on the hill.
I returned to the boat and climbed inside. Ares didn’t say a word as he messed with the sails, preparing for our departure. Things had been tense between us on the way here, but it felt heightened now. Even though Hestia had slept, she’d still been a steadying presence, a distraction from the mutual hatred we shared.
Now there was nothing to muddy the waters. We were stuck in each other’s company until we reached the palace, and that would be hours from now. Plus, I had to admit I was intensely curious about his mortal friend. They clearly knew each other well. Did Zeus know about him? About his hidden island near Aiaia?
But the winds had picked up, gusting in one direction and then the next. The skies quickly darkened and clouds rolled across the moon. Darkness obscured the view ahead, making it difficult to see our destination. It required a lot more concentration and teamwork to steer the boat in the right direction, and I got lost in the work of it, focusing my attention on the ropes and the sail.
It wasn’t until we were halfway across the strait that I realized something was wrong.
Ares had moved to the bow of the ship. He gazed out at the wave-swept sea, his hands clenched by his sides. Deck rocking angrily beneath me, I stumbled toward him, clutching the side of the boat. Even during my lessons, I’d never been out on waters like this.
“What’s wrong? Is there a storm coming?” I shouted to be heard over the roar of the sea.
A muscle in his jaw ticked, then he shook his head. “There’s a creature who lives in these waters. She normally leaves me be, but she’s been circling us since we left Thrinacia.”
“I’m sorry, did you say a ‘creature’?”
“A large beast, yes.” His eyes darted north, and I followed his gaze. The flash of emerald scales undulated just beneath the surface, stretching out so far that I couldn’t see the end of them. And then they suddenly vanished. A moment later, a spiked tail whipped from the waves and tore through the air.
Ares dove toward me. He wrapped his arms around me and slammed onto the deck, his body shielding mine. An ominous crash sounded a second later. The boat trembled and shards of wood exploded all around us. Ares continued to hold himself over me, the heat of him burning through my clothes.
Even as the debris rained down, he was an immovable stone.
Another explosion sounded to our left. The boat groaned. The world itself seemed to tip to the side, shooting us up into the air.
Suddenly, Ares’s lips found my ear. “We’re going to end up in the water. Try to hold on to me. If you lose your grip, find a plank of wood. Understand?”
“We’re going to end up in the water,” I repeated numbly. As soon as I’d seen the scales, I’d known this was where we were headed, but I’d tried to shove the thought out of my mind. Ares voicing it made it all too real.
The last time I’d fallen into the sea, I’d nearly drowned—an eternal torture for vampires. I didn’t know how to swim. And while it sounded like Ares planned to keep my head above water, all it would take was one brutal wave to rip me away from him.
