Chapter 10

10

SELENE

A s soon as my arse touched the seat, Zeus held his goblet aloft and resumed his speech as if nothing at all had happened, ignoring the palpable tension that settled over the table like the mist-heavy clouds outside the palace walls.

“As I was saying, we have come to the Isle of Aiaia to ensure our continued dominion over this land. Our lives and reigns are a gift to us from Erebus. During our time on this island, we will abide by three rules. First, he requires we do this in peace. No one may commit violence against another.”

“Does that include you, dearest Zeus?” Hera muttered, rolling her eyes. “Because last I heard, you’re more than happy to slay other monarchs who displease you.”

“Second rule,” Zeus said through clenched teeth, “includes no worship of Gaia, even in her holy temple. To do so means forfeiting any right to peace, as was the case with High Queen Theia. You do understand how that works, Hera? If not, you’re free to test it.”

I fought the urge to fidget with the sleeve of my gown. Zeus acted like this was a recent development, but my mother had worshipped Gaia in secret for centuries. Zeus never bothered to visit Troy. To him, it was a backwater city ruled by a humiliated Titan. It was beneath him .

But if he stepped foot inside the gates, he’d see evidence of Gaia everywhere—more and more monuments had sprouted in the streets as the years had passed. Symbols were etched into doors. Green flags fluttered along the palace walls. Little did he know just how deep it went.

“Bah!” Hera waved her hand in dismissal. “You don’t care about Gaia. You would have taken any excuse to rid yourself of the last Titan. And now that her daughter is here, you’ll find an excuse to get rid of her, too.”

“She’s not wrong.” Dionysos kicked his feet up on the table and crossed his ankles. “When I went to meet Selene on the steps just now, I saw our beloved Ares stalk past, smelling just like her. He must have ambushed her before she reached the palace. That or they were fucking, but I’m pretty certain it wasn’t the latter.”

My cheeks burned.

Athena, much to my surprise, frowned and turned my way. “Is that true, High Queen Selene?”

As much as I didn’t want to bring attention to it, I also didn’t want to get caught in a lie. So I nodded. “Yes, he approached me just outside the amphitheatre.”

Athena’s frown deepened. “Was this by Zeus’s command?”

Ares didn’t answer.

“I see,” Athena said, sighing. “Zeus, you may have proclaimed yourself the Archon, but you are just as beholden to the Hellas Agreement rules as the rest of us. For better or for worse, Troy is part of that. If you or Ares break it, you do so at your own risk. Erebus will likely find pleasure in wiping you off the board, just like you did with Theia. I will not be a part of it.”

Athena pushed up from her chair, and Hera quickly followed. But the stern-faced queen shot Hera a look of pure disdain.

“I will not be a part of your machinations, either. For too long, you have sowed discord amongst the Olympians. I am tired of all of this. If we don’t find a way to work together, I fear for our future. Now good night. I will see you tomorrow for the first sacrifice.”

And with that, Athena lifted her pointy chin and left the room.

Silence descended. I met Ares’s stormy gaze across the table, lifted the blood-filled goblet to my lips, and took a sip. It was rich, and so, so sweet. Instantly, a liquifying pleasure swirled through me, melting all the tension in my shoulders. My canines ached, and a sudden, feverish desire pumped through me. I yearned to sink my teeth into the nearest human and drain him dry.

I blinked, fighting the bloodlust and clearing the haze from my eyes. As the red mist faded, the face of Ares came into view again. His head was cocked, and he watched me carefully, an inscrutable expression on his face.

“Delicious, eh?” Zeus asked, seizing control of my attention. And when I looked his way, something in his eyes turned my stomach. His smile was feral, and the way he leaned forward made it clear he was desperate to say something he knew I would hate. Likely something about my mother.

“Well, I suppose it’s, ah…” I said carefully, trying to read his face. What kind of answer did he want here? If I said the wrong thing, I knew it would cost me.

“Where would you say it hails from?” he murmured, still smiling.

I blinked. “Pardon?”

He leaned further forward, shoving his elbow into Poseidon’s plate. “Where would you say it hails from? Naxos, perhaps?”

“Zeus,” Hera warned.

Dionysos suddenly shot to his feet and swiped his hand across the far end of the table, knocking goblets, fruit, and platters of uncooked meat onto the floor, along with the remnants of wine left in the pitcher. It all shattered in a spectacular crash, but Zeus didn’t even blink.

“I knew it,” Dion slurred, pointing a shaking finger at the Archon. “You took her, didn’t you? You took her and lied to my face when I asked you.” His voice cracked, and his hands dropped heavily to his sides. “She was mine , Zeus.”

“Vampire gods are not to frolic with mortals,” Zeus said, lifting his shoulder in a shrug. “If you had heeded my warnings, this wouldn’t have happened, and she’d still be alive.”

Hera snorted. “As if you have any right to say who can and cannot sleep with mortals, my love .”

“Jealousy does not become you, Hera.” Zeus clambered to his feet.

“Not this again,” a soft male voice muttered, just as Hera and Zeus launched into an all-out shouting match.

I sought the source. A vampire king sat sandwiched between Poseidon and Zeus, but he’d scooted back his chair to get out of the line of any flying debris. With dark hair and deep brown skin, Hephaestus looked just like his sister, Artemis. Well, they’d been siblings once, back when they’d been mortals. Now they were rival monarchs, just like the rest of us.

“You pledged your loyalty to me, Zeus,” Hera hissed, her youthful face now crumpled and full of rage—or pain. Perhaps both.

Truly, I didn’t know why she still cared. Archon or not, Zeus was a bastard, and Hera could do far better.

“Loyalty to you and your kingdom. And I kept my word on that. What I never promised was monogamy.”

Hera hissed again and launched her goblet across the table. Zeus ducked, and it soared over his head. The goblet crashed into the wall, then clattered to the floor. Droplets of blood sprayed the hall.

A heavy tension pounded through the room. I swallowed, not daring to move.

“I should report this to Erebus. He would punish you for your insolence,” Zeus said in a dangerously calm voice. “Or did you forget the Hellas Agreement already? No violence against your fellow monarchs during Nekros.”

Hera flashed him a vicious smile. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me,” he replied. “Throw another goblet and see how I respond.”

Aphrodite looked between Zeus and Hera, then quickly stood. She gently placed her hand on Hera’s elbow and squeezed lightly. “Come, Hera. Let’s get some air.” Her eyes shifted to the flushed face of Dionysos. “You too, Dion.”

Hera clenched her jaw, eyeing the only remaining goblet on their end of the table. But after a moment, she sighed and turned away. “Yes, all right.”

She took one step toward the open doors, but then Zeus pounded his fist against the table. “No.”

Hera froze.

“What do you mean, no?” Aphrodite asked, frowning. “Things are getting out of hand, and I think everyone could use a break.”

“No one is to leave this room until the welcome feast is over,” Zeus said. “It is essential we do things properly. The last thing we want is for Erebus to question our continued loyalty to him.”

“Athena already left,” Aphrodite pointed out, folding her arms.

“Athena did not throw a goblet at her Archon’s head.”

Aphrodite merely shook her head, clearly stunned to silence. Hera plopped back in her chair, and Dionysos stormed away—over to the corner, where he folded his arms and scowled at the wall.

Zeus lifted his brow and scanned the table once more. “Does anyone else have something they’d like to say? The sooner we get through this, the sooner we can go our separate ways for the night.”

No one said a word. Then, much to my dismay, Zeus turned his attention back to me. “Now, where were we? You never answered my question. Tell me, High Queen Selene , what do you think of that blood?”

“It’s lovely,” I said.

With a grunt and a nod, Zeus settled back on his throne and continued rambling about Erebus and how pleased he was to be on the Isle of Aiaia to celebrate the creation of the Olympian vampires.

After a moment, I released a pent-up breath, barely listening as he continued to rattle on. This was all… a lot . And it was only the first night. How would we ever make it through the next two weeks without killing each other? Perhaps it truly was Erebus and his threats that had kept them at peace for so long.

Zeus continued to drone on, and I reached for my goblet. More blood would go down nicely right now. I needed to steady my nerves and tamp down the temptation to check on Dionysos in the corner. My heart hurt for him, it truly did. What Zeus had done was cruel, if not unsurprising.

As I took a sip of blood, I felt the weighted attention of someone’s eyes. I swallowed the liquid and met Ares’s gaze over the lip of the goblet. His brow arched in skepticism.

My eyes still locked on his, I downed the rest of the blood, placed the empty goblet on the table, and swiped any stray droplets off my mouth with the back of my hand. Ares’s gaze never wavered, and after a moment, he smiled crookedly.

An unsettling heat filled my belly. Swallowing, I diverted my gaze to the end of the table, where I found Hera watching me, too. And she looked murderous. All because I’d continued to drink the blood—as if I’d had any choice.

Sighing, I leaned back in my seat. This was going to be the longest two weeks of my life.