Look at her. She’s goddamn beautiful, even in her ruined gown.
I went still, realizing where my mind had gone.
No, not her. Anyone but her.
I was in real fucking trouble. I wanted the one person in this damned world that I could never have.
34
SELENE
Dionysos took my arm and dragged me away from Ares before I even knew what he was doing. Aphrodite followed, along with Demeter. They pulled me over into the archway near the back, putting a column directly between our little group and the table. I didn’t much want to talk to them right now—I felt the exhaustion in mybones—but they didn’t give me much of a choice.
“I’m going to need you to explain something, my love,” Dionysos said, drenching my goblet with a long pour of wine. “How in Hades’s good name did you go from scrabbling around in the mud with Hera one minute and then vanishing into the woods withAresthe next?”
Aphrodite smirked, sliding a strand of her short black hair behind her ear. “I think there was probably something scrabbling there, too.”
Dionysos shot her a look. “I mean it. You looked ready to burn the whole world down. I thought…” He blew out a breath and darted a look around the column to make sure the others weren’t listening. “I thought you were finally making your stance known.”
I knew they’d question me about this. And while I hadn’t exactlyhatedthe kiss Ares and I had shared, us being ‘together’ was a terrible excuse. Mostly because it didn’t make much sense. From the very first day, we’d made our feelings about each other known. Desire wasn’t a part of it. Just plenty of hate.
And it seemed Dionysos had noted my rage when I’d faced Hera. It had awakened in me during the trial, lying dormant for far too long. And now it felt like I was right back where I’d started, pasting on smiles and pretending to go along with everything the Olympians wanted.
But I was in no shape to demonstrateanythingright now—other than tiredness. My skin still hurt from that brutal rain, and it had been far too long since I’d slept. I needed some time to gather my thoughts and get some strength back before I did anything else.
“Honestly? I’m not sure I can really explain it,” I eventually said.
“Of course you can’t. The heart wants what the heart wants.” Aphrodite beamed and looped her arm through mine. She was positively thrilled about this whole thing, even if she hated Zeus. It seemed her ire didn’t extend to Ares. Interesting.
“I suppose you’re right…” I trailed off.
“And the fight with Hera? Was that what yourheartwanted?” Demeter asked.
Aphrodite’s smile instantly vanished and she dropped my arm. It made me wonder—how did Aphrodite treat the mortals of her kingdom? She’d been close with Hera, after all. And if Hera had farms, did Aphrodite have them, too? I needed to find out exactly which Olympians supported those methods. But now was not the time to outright ask them.
And so I said, “The fight was something Zeus forced me to do.”
Demeter frowned, clearly not convinced. “All right.”
Demeter was smart. The way she observed the arguments and conversations of everyone else, I could tell she was making notes. Analyzing everything that occurred. And as long as she seemed impartial, no one had any reason to pay much attention to her. She could wait until the last moment to reveal where her loyalties lie, if needed.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she sneaked around the palace, either, keeping an eye on things.
Which meant...out of everyone here, she was the most likely to have seen or heard something when Hestia got captured. Surely she would have mentioned it if she had, but perhaps she hadn’t connected it to Hestia. Maybe she’d just heard the clanking of chains or a muffled scream. Something odd but inconclusive.
“All right,” I said, pasting on a false smile. “I think I’ve said as much about my sex life for one night, especially when I’ve seen some of you sneaking around, too.”
Demeter looked genuinely surprised by that. “Oh, dear god. Who?”
“You haven’t seen or heard anything?” I asked.
“Thankfully no. What did you see?”
I held back my sigh of disappointment. “Not much. Just a couple of hooded figures rushing down the corridor together. I was curious and tried following, but they vanished…”
When I realized I was rambling, I stopped. It was a flimsy explanation, but the expressions on their faces could be more likened to curiosity than suspicion. From what they’d told me, I supposed it wasn’t entirely unthinkable for two of them to engage in an affair.
“Well, it wasn’t me,” Dion said.
