Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 95187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“I know what the rest of the Thirteen—and the city itself—thinks of me.” His lips shift into something that’s almost a smile. Almost. “A fool with too-large shoes to fill. The Thirteen step carefully around me, but only when they’re in my presence. You don’t think I keep track of where they go and who they talk to? You think I’m not monitoring my wife?”
It could be a bluff, but I don’t think so. From my understanding, Zeus and Hera might have a privately contentious relationship, but it’s mostly just posturing and icing each other out. He has no reason to think that she’d go to such lengths to plot against him. Even so… “How much do you know?”
“We’re wasting time.” He doesn’t shift the slightest bit. “I’m aware of the little games she played with Ariadne and the Minotaur—and of the plot to ensure my death. And I’m aware that the original plot might have failed, but she still has her aims.”
I almost ask him if he’s aware that she’s pregnant, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. I’m still not even sure if it’s the truth. I can’t read Hera particularly well, and it hasn’t been nearly enough time for evidence of the pregnancy to be visible.
I move slowly to the table and sink into the other chair. “Are you here to kill me?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “For better or worse, we need you. Your people won’t follow me, and you have no immediate family to pick up the title. It would fall to the eldest of Triton’s daughters, and that’s a mess I don’t relish dealing with.”
I can’t help my wince. Triton is another cousin, though he’s once removed from the line, which means the title passed to me even though I’m younger. He’s only been dead a short time, but not having him constantly attempting to undermine me fills me with enough relief to feel guilty. He kept his seven daughters under lock and key for most of their lives, with the exception of the youngest, who slipped through the barrier and took off for Carver City. That was a few years back, I think, and it means that she now has more life experience than the rest of the sisters combined. They’re not bad girls, but they’re so sheltered they have no idea they’d be walking around with a target attached to them if they were Poseidon.
“What I’m suggesting,” Zeus continues, “is that it’s time for the legacy titles to do what we were meant to.”
Alarm bells peal through me, but I fight to keep my expression controlled. I don’t think I do a very good job of it. “There are Thirteen seats for a reason.”
“That makes sense in times of peace. Not in times of war. We have to be decisive.” He leans forward suddenly, making me flinch. “I’m not going to argue with you, Poseidon. I know my wife came to you with the same reasoning and you agreed with her. The difference is that she’s only Hera and I’m Zeus. If we can convince Hades to join us, we have the power to protect the city.”
Only Hera. I might laugh if the situation wasn’t spinning wildly out of control. “Hades will never stand with you against the Dimitriou women.”
“Not even if it protects his people? If the upper city falls, the lower city stands no chance. Their barrier might appear to be holding strong now, but it won’t hold forever. We both know Circe is too smart to have left something like that to chance.”
He has a point. I don’t like it, but he does. I swallow hard. “I can’t fault your logic, but it’s all theory. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who holds the reins for Olympus because we’re outgunned by our enemies.” I clear my throat. “And Circe will never bargain with a Zeus.”
“I’m aware.” He taps his finger on the gun again, and even knowing it’s coming, I can’t help flinching again. “My wife agrees with you. She would bargain with our enemy to save herself and her family. She’d open the gates and sacrifice every person in Olympus as long as the people she cares about are safe.”
He’s not wrong.
Zeus continues, apparently not needing an answer from me. “I’m not going to bargain with Circe.” This time he does smile. I really wish he didn’t. It’s disconcerting in the extreme. “I’m going to kill her and every general she has fighting at her side. And then I’m going to sink those fucking ships before they have a chance to attack.”
My mind races at the possibility of going forward with this plan without the majority vote by the Thirteen. It’s risky in the extreme, but if we could pull it off… Without the ships, there is no attack. I don’t like the idea of the loss of life that will result, but I like even less the potential loss of life in the city. At least the people on those ships signed up to fight. They’re soldiers, not civilians. Probably.