Interlude 2Persephone
“You need to rest.”
I turn to face my husband, the love of my life, the best man I’ve ever known. “You first.”
Hades grimaces. “We still haven’t found Circe’s people in the lower city. And there’s the woman herself to deal with once that’s done. I’ll rest when the lower city is safe.”
“Exactly.”
He huffs out a breath. “I’m not pregnant with twins.”
I press my hands to my stomach instinctively. I’m not far enough along to feel the babies move. They aren’t even reallybabiesyet, but the love I already feel for them goes beyond measure. It has my chest trying to close, my throat burning, a sensation as deepand uncomfortable as fury. This entire experience would be fraught enough to navigate with my husband’s overreactions to anything resembling a threat to me and the pregnancywithoutthere being a very real and present threat to both.
Hades presses himself to my back and wraps his arms around me, his hands resting gently over mine. “Promise me you’ll stay in the house while I’m out today.”
I hate this. I hate even more that I don’t have a good reason to deny him. My husband isn’t the one putting me in a cage currently—Circe is. “Being in the house didn’t stop her from sending pictures from her snipers to Callisto. It didn’t stop her people from attacking the club.”
“I know.” He rests his cheek against my temple. “But short of sending you out of the city…”
I turn in his arms. It’s already more awkward than it was a couple weeks ago. If I manage to reach full term, we’ll barely be able to touch each other over the size of my stomach. Gods, I hope we make it to that point. Seeing my fear reflected on Hades’s face has me speaking something I never thought I would. “What if they’re right?”
His gaze shutters. “Be more specific.”
Okay, so he’s going to be difficult. I give him the look that statement deserves, but I still obey the light command. “I don’t mean the murder, and I certainly don’t mean all the other things Circe and the others have done in pursuit of this goal, but…” I swallow hard. Why is this so difficult? “I know being the protector of the lower city has been your entire identity since you were a child too young to shoulder it. What would our life be like if there was a different form of government here in Olympus? If we didn’t have enemies sendingthreatening photos to our family members?”
He leans forward and presses a kiss to my forehead. “I don’t know, little siren. But abandoning the city to Circe won’t create some kind of utopia. It will be trading thirteen tyrants for one. I won’t damn our people to save myself.”
“I know.” And I do. I could point out that I wasn’t suggesting bolting to save our own skins, but he knows that, too. We’ve done some variation of circling this topic half a dozen times over the last week. There are no good answers, only bad ones. “I’ll stay in the house today.”
“Thank you.” He gives me a proper, if brief, kiss and steps back. “I have to go.”
“Come home to me.”
“I’ll do my best.” It’s as close to a promise as he’s willing to make.
I watch him walk away just like I always do these days: with my heart in my throat, determined to memorize every moment as if it’s enough to preserve the short time of happiness we’ve had together. It’s not enough. It’sneverenough. Maybe that makes me greedy, but I don’t care.
I find Eurydice and Callisto down in the library. Seeing them together is confirmation of Hades putting Eurydice on unofficial guard duty for Callisto while she’s in the lower city. My husband offered sanctuary to my sister and brother-in-law, but he doesn’t trust either of them. I don’t exactly blame him considering the events that led us to this place.
Even so, Callisto is family and she’s made more sacrifices thanany of us. I sink down next to her on the couch and lean my head on her shoulder. “This is a mess.”
“We passed mess a month ago and are well into disaster.” She slumps against me. “I’m sorry I got you shot.”
“I share equal blame in that.”
Eurydice crosses her arms over her chest and gives us a long look. “You both had what amounted to scrapes, and Orpheus needed surgery because he threw himself on top ofyou.” She nods at Callisto. “I’msurethat means you’ll stop giving him grief over events I’ve long since forgiven him for.”
Callisto groans. “I suppose I’ll let it go—providing he doesn’t do the same goofy shit again.”
“If he does, that’s my business. Not yours.” Eurydice doesn’t flinch when our elder sister glares at her. She’s come such a long way in such a short time; my sweet, innocent baby sister has become a member of our staff who can hold her own.
My phone rings before this conversation can devolve into a fight. I awkwardly twist, cursing when it takes two tries to angle my body enough to pull the phone from my back pocket. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to function for five more months like this.”
“Worse than this,” Callisto says miserably.
I flick my fingers at her stomach, still flat except for a nearly imperceptible curve. “We are not experiencing the same level of discomfort.” My smile falls away when I see the name across the screen of my phone. “It’s Mother.”
Eurydice drops down on my other side. “Well, answer it. Let’ssee what she has to say.”
