I shouldn’t be. Icouldn’tbe. Telling her how beautiful she looked had been a mistake.
Kissing her had been a mistake.
But god, her body had felt so damn good against mine.
Zeus pounded his fist on the table, signalling for everyone to quiet down and listen. I sat up a little straight in my chair. The excuse I’d given him wasn’t a good one. He wouldn’t take it as an acceptable reason for missing a night of Nekros, particularly since Erebus’s rain punishment was brutal. But I couldn’t tell him about Hestia, either. Not until I was certain he hadn’t been involved.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t certain if I could trust him.
“We’re here because of Ares. The bastard missed a ceremony, and it’s caused a fucking mess,” Zeus began. I winced at the bluntness of his words, but said nothing. If slathering me with insults made him feel better about the whole thing, then so be it. He shifted toward me, his chair creaking. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”
“There’s not much to say. Selene and I went on a walk and got lost in the woods. And before we could find our way back, the sun rose. We had to take shelter in an abandoned building a couple hours from here. There were masks all over the walls.”
I paused, carefully watching the others for a reaction. If one of them had done it, mention of the masked building might cause a sharp intake of breath or a tensing of the jaw. They’d suspect we’d found Hestia. But none of them seemed surprised, just…curious. Even Zeus.
“A building with masks, you say?” Zeus shook his head. “This sounds like something you’ve made up.”
“I swear to Erebus that’s where we were,” I said with an emphatic edge to my voice. “And we got stuck there.”
Artemis narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. “Why were you two out on a walk together in the first place?”
“I thought that was clear.” Shifting closer to Selene, I draped an arm around her shoulder. For a moment, she tensed, clearly caught off guard. But then she sank into my touch and nestled her head into my chest. I tried not to think about how nice it felt.
“You two are involved. Out of nowhere,” she said.
“It just…happened,” Selene said.
Zeus grunted.
“You’re not actually going to let this happen, are you?” Poseidon stood, shoving back his chair. “Those two fucking each other has fucked us all.”
Selene flinched, and her mouth open and closed. I could tell she wanted to say something to him, but she wouldn’t. The duty-bound queen had returned the moment we’d walked through the palace archway.
“Letit happen?” Zeus barked a laugh. “What would you have me do? Tell a fellow monarch who he can and can’t sleep with?”
“You can’t be serious,” Dionysos muttered. “You’ve had no problem trying to control the rest of us.”
I leaned back in my chair. What Zeus had done to Dion was particularly appalling, but then Hera had done the same thing to Zeus. He’d been upset, despite how much he’d insisted the mortal girl had meant nothing to him. Perhaps he was beginning to see the error of his ways.
“Your plaything was a mortal,” Zeus began.
“So was yours!” Dion shouted, shooting to his feet. He slammed his fists on the table, rattling the glassware. A seething hate flared in his eyes, and his quick, shallow breaths shook his shoulders. Aphrodite lay a comforting arm on his arm, but he shook her off.
“I think we’re getting a little off track here,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the commotion. “We should focus on what’s important. Don’t you both think?”
“A little off track,” Dion muttered. He shot a withering glance at Selene. “What do you see in this bastard? How could you choose to sit on that side of the table? I actually thought you were different, Selene.”
Face expressionless, Selene tugged on the ends of her sleeves. I’d seen her do that a few times now, always when placed in an uncomfortable situation. It was the only sign she felt any reaction to his words at all.
But when she tried to speak, her voice came out strained. “I…”
“Enough. Leave her out of this. It’s not her fault.” I unwound my arm from her body and stood, trying to project a sense of authority. As Zeus’s unofficial second, I could get away with issuing my own commands. And sure enough, it worked. Everyone fell silent. Dion even lowered himself into his chair.
I moved across the room and selected a bottle of wine from the side table. After uncorking it, I rejoined the table and poured everyone a glass. We needed to approach this with composure—or at least someone did. If the shouting began, it wouldn’t stop. Everyone was far too on edge and worried about what would happen now.
“Right,” I said, inclining my head toward Zeus. He nodded back and took the first sip. “We made an unintentional mistake, and I am sorry for the consequences. Unfortunately, we can’t undo it, so we need to find a way to move forward.”
Poseidon barked a laugh and jerked a thumb my way. “Do you hear this shit?”
