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)
He smiles, taps my chest a few times, and moves around me to walk back to the others. It’s only as I turn to follow that I realize I recognize the pattern. It’s the one I tap out when I’m concentrating. He’s been paying attention.
With that bolstering me, I find the strength to turn to face the rest of the room. “Fine. Let’s move on.”
“Gladly.” Athena continues to walk us through the plan.
It’s simple enough. As soon as we’re done here, we’ll split off to our respective launch locations and wait for the agreed-upon time to slip into the dark water and head for the ships. She’s planning on Icarus failing, which leaves us to deal with five ships. Each pair of boats will hit one, her and Hades’s people scaling the sides and going to our best assumption of where the captain’s quarters are—and where the rest of those in charge will be sleeping. After killing their targets and setting explosive charges, each team will make an announcement that the crew has fifteen minutes to abandon ship before it goes down—and that any attempt to make landing on Olympus’s shores will result in a quick and fatal end. Then it’s back to the boats and a quick retreat to shore, just in time for the charges to blow and sink the ships. Simple.
Except for the fact that there are half a dozen points off the top of my head where everything can go wrong. The captain’s quarters are nowhere near where we need to set the charges, and even in the middle of the night, there will be people awake and moving about. Getting to the designated locations will likely mean killing anyone we come across.
I glance at Icarus, seeing the same knowledge reflected in his expression. He doesn’t protest, though, likely for the same reason I don’t. There’s no other way. Making the announcement is a compromise Athena didn’t want to make, but it still feels like it’s not enough. There will be lifeboats to allow the crew to get to safety. Probably. The nearest non-Olympian coastline is only a few hours of rowing, which isn’t ideal but it’s still better than mass murder. I just hope they won’t try to row to the nearest shore.
Athena stops and turns to face us. “Anything to add?”
Hades shrugs. “Seems simple enough.” He glances at me. “The only risk is of one of her generals betraying us instead of Circe.”
“The generals won’t betray us,” I say. My face heats when everyone turns their attention on me, but I’ve dealt with the uncomfortable sensation of being the center of attention enough times in the last few decades that I’m able to keep speaking. “Circe has no reason to expect them to sail away, and she certainly has no evidence to support an attack. She knows Olympus’s politics well enough to recognize that the Thirteen will never vote to go to war. Zeus’s coup will catch her flat-footed.”
“That’s the plan,” Athena murmurs. She cuts a look to Zeus, the threat clear in her tense stance. “Though the coup won’t last past dawn.”
As long as he keeps his word. I don’t say that aloud, though. There’s no reason to introduce doubt right now, when we need to trust each other the most. “When the other ships are gone, Hades’s people can continue with the plan to plant the charges and remove Circe and the others, and the rest of the boats will assist with the evacuation efforts.”
“Poseidon.” Athena sighs. “We’re under no obligation to ferry them to safety. To suggest that is absurd. They have their own boats. They’ll be fine.” And if they’re not, it’s not our problem. The unsaid words sit there in the space between us, the knowledge that most people in this room don’t care about an enemy crew, recruited under duress or not.
“I insist.” I look around, meeting each of their gazes in turn. “This all started because most of the people in this room stood by and did nothing to curtail the last Zeus’s abuse of power. If we want to end the cycle, this is how we do it.”
“They’re the enemy,” Medusa scoffs. “They wouldn’t give us the same courtesy.”
“All the more reason to extend it to them.” I speak softly, all too aware that Medusa has history with the title Poseidon. It’s my uncle’s abuse of power that resulted in her ending up under Athena’s command, indirectly responsible for her landing in the lower city. Knowing that makes me cautious with her.
Athena crosses her arms over her chest and glares. “Then you can play savior if you want. The rest of us will stick to our plan.”
Zeus rises, effectively ending the discussion. “Let’s get moving.”
There’s nothing left to say. It’s only as we’re walking out the door and breaking off to our respective destinations that I realize I should have pushed harder to keep Icarus behind. He keeps pace at my side, but it seems like every step he takes bows his shoulders more. I hate it. I want to protect him and I don’t know where to begin. “Icarus.”