Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“For fuck’s sake, stop playing games and speak frankly. What do you want?”
She shakes her head slowly. “I’ve been speaking frankly. I want the Thirteen abolished and a new form of government set up—one that represents the people fully, and not just a select few blessed to be born into the right families. I want to live in a city where a man can’t snatch up a person off the street, force them into marriage, and then murder them on their honeymoon…without a single fucking consequence.” She sucks in a breath and moderates her tone. “But what I don’t want is to see all those people murdered simply for being born into a privileged family. Doing that is no better than how he lived.”
There’s no question which he she refers to: my father.
She’s not done, either. She meets my gaze boldly. “You were just as much a victim of him as anyone else. You’ve fought to be a better man than he was. You have a wife you love. You have a baby on the way. Is holding a title you never wanted worth losing all that?”
I told Callisto that I don’t know who I am if I’m not Zeus. It’s the truth. But the last forty-eight hours have rocked my worldview down to its very core. I never thought I’d have a chance at love, never thought the future might be full of hope instead of dread.
I look at my wife. She’s got her emotions locked down tight, but I’ve spent months watching her every micro expression. She doesn’t believe I’ll choose her over Zeus. Why would she? I’ve given her no cause to trust me, not when it comes to this. “If I’m not Zeus, then you’re not Hera.”
She presses her lips hard together for a long moment. “I only became Hera to protect my family. Instead, it certainly seems like it just put them further in danger.”
As loath as I am to speak this vulnerability in front of Hermes, I have to know. “If I’m not Zeus and you’re not Hera, what reason do you have to stay?”
At that, her calm cracks a little. She looks like she wants to shake me. “Perseus, are you really going to pretend like I didn’t tell you I love you a few hours ago? That means something to me.”
“It means something to me, too,” I say softly. Her words are hardly a guarantee for the future, but right now we have no guarantee at all. I wrap my arm around my wife and turn back to Hermes. “I’m assuming you have a plan.”
“Of course I do.” She grins, looking a little like her old self again. “We’re going to the lower city.”
29
Hera
The less said about the trip back to the city, the better. Riding on an off-road vehicle was an adventure as a child and an excuse for freedom in my early teens. It’s significantly less comfortable as an adult. I cling to the harness holding me securely in my seat as Hermes hurtles through the night at speeds that mean a mistake will likely be fatal.
Of course, even allegedly recovering from a poisoning, she doesn’t make mistakes. She’s Hermes.
She fucking shot me…but then she rescued us.
I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to feel. Our circumstances have swung from vaguely hopeful to full despair to nebulous in a way I can’t quantify. Perseus loves me. He wants a future with me, even if our titles aren’t in play.
Unfortunately, the barriers between us and that possible future are high and thorny. Circe. My mother. Possibly the entire population of Olympus, or at least enough of it to be the majority. How can we possibly survive?
First, we have to survive Hades. He’s not going to be happy to see us. Just yesterday, he explicitly told me that I’m not welcome in the lower city. He has no reason to offer us refuge, especially when we are bringing this level of bad news.
There’s nowhere else to go, though. We could abandon the city but…I can’t walk away from my family. Perseus sure as fuck isn’t going to walk away from his.
As soon as that thought strikes me, I grab his hand. “Helen?”
His expression is grim as the wind whips his hair back from his forehead. “She went back to the city, so she should be safe enough for now. Even if Demeter fabricated some reason to call her back, she wouldn’t come tonight. I’ll call her as soon as I get to a phone.”
If she returns to the countryside to make her report, she’ll be taken, just like we were. The thought makes me sick. I like Helen. She might be a Kasios, but she has fought for everything she has. It’s admirable. “Hermes!” I call. “Do you have a phone?”