Chapter 15

15

ARES

M y sorrow made it hard to focus on what we must be done. Hestia was dead. Someone had stabbed her with a wooden stake and left her as a pile of ash on the ground. Grinding my jaw, I glared at Selene, who’d hidden herself near the back of the gathered Olympians. It had to be her. No one else would touch Hestia. She’d been kind. Always a calming, steady presence in the middle of all the scheming, all the backstabbing, all the furtive looks and wicked lies.

She had been the best of us.

Selene insisted she’d come here to do her duty. What if she thought revenge was her duty? It wouldn’t surprise me. Last night, I’d seen the viciousness she tried so hard to hide. There was far more to her than met the eye, far more rage simmering beneath the surface than she wanted everyone to know.

No, Selene was pure vampire, Titan or not. And she hated every single one of us.

As Zeus began his yearly speech about the origin of the Olympian vampires, I edged around the back of the circle until I stood directly behind Selene. Her shoulders stiffened, as if she sensed me there. But she didn’t turn, likely refusing to give me the satisfaction of her attention.

So when she spoke quietly beneath her breath, it caught me by surprise. “I won’t be baited into angering your god, Ares. Now is not the time.”

My hands clenched, and I pressed my lips together. I hated that she was right. Zeus wasn’t as harsh with me as he was with some, but I’d never fragrantly broken one of his rules. And they weren’t even his rules, at least not for Nekros. Erebus had given us the world. All we had to do was give him a little something in return, willingly, quietly, and obediently.

I closed my eyes, and Hestia’s face flashed before me. Grief nearly made me double over, my body so heavy from the pain. But I couldn’t let it. Not yet. I had to make it through this damn sacrifice first.

“By the order of Erebus, the First Crown of Hellas hereby sacrifices the greatest delicacy on all the earth and the source of all our power.” Zeus stood tall beside the statue, a gruesome, towering thing carved in the likeness of Erebus. Of course, none of us had ever set our sights on the god. Zeus merely insisted this was what he looked like.

I had to hope he was wrong. At a staggering twelve feet, he rose on powerful legs that were as thick as columns. But where his arms would be, there were twisting branches that tunnelled into sharp claws. Wings erupted from his back, edged with dozens of sharp talons that looked like blades. His eyes were wild and unseeing, and his mouth opened wide in a silent scream.

Thirteen columns circled his statue, where we’d place our crowns one by one over the course of Nekros. Zeus moved to his, while the rest of us spread out to stand behind ours.

“The First Crown is mine,” Zeus continued as soon as everyone was in place. He reverently rested his solid golden crown on the top of the pillar. “Bring out my sacrifice.”

That was…a bit of a lie, of course. Erebus had created Aphrodite first. The First Crown was hers, by all rights, but Zeus had claimed it when the lands were first divided into kingdoms. Aphrodite had let him take it. Lately, though, I’d noticed a glint in her eye when she looked at him, as if she were plotting his demise.

Two vampire servants emerged from the shadows, dragging a crying mortal woman between them. Her stained white dress tangled around her bare legs, and long and stringy hair hung in her face. Sobs shook her entire body. I swallowed, and something in my chest stirred. I’d been attending Nekros for nearly two hundred years, and yet…well, it was just a waste.

Hestia had hated it, too. It was one of the reasons she’d never wanted power. She didn’t want to have to take part in this shit.

The servants tossed the mortal at Zeus’s feet. She scrabbled against the dirt, peering up at him. “Please.”

Zeus’s laugh was hollow. “You should be thankful you’ve been given this opportunity. It is an honor to serve your vampire gods this way.”

“You are no god.” She spat at his feet, and the spittle hit his column.

I sucked in a sharp breath, and the world stilled. Zeus’s face transformed. His expression hardened, and all the wicked mirth in his eyes disappeared. He leaned down and clutched the girl’s hair in his fist, then dragged her to her feet.

“I take great pleasure in knowing my face is the last thing you’ll see before I tear your flesh from your neck. And the last thing you’ll feel is pain.” Zeus flashed his canines. He sank his teeth into her throat and ripped with his furious strength. Blood sprayed the statue. The girl let out a wordless scream and crumpled, her legs giving out from beneath her.

It only took a heartbeat for her to die.

Across the way, Selene’s body trembled. She wore her hair down, but had tossed most of it over one shoulder, so I could see part of her neck. A vein fluttered, frantic from a rapid heartbeat. I doubted she’d witnessed anything like this in Troy. Knowing what I did about her mother, I wasn’t sure if her reaction was excitement or disgust. Perhaps a little of both?

As if sensing my gaze, she looked away from the sacrifice and met my eyes. I mouthed my words, hoping she could understand them. “Your mother always hated this part. She often retched after Zeus made her drink.”

Every monarch was required to partake, but we each took a small sip and nothing more. Everything else was left by the feet of the statue for Erebus to take. At some point, the body and blood vanished. None of us had ever seen where they went. Whatever Erebus did with them, he did not say.

And we knew better than to demand answers from a primordial god.

And right now, I just didn’t fucking care. Every part of me ached.

Selene answered me by lifting her chin. The trembling had stilled, and I could no longer see the fluttering in her neck, though I was certain her calm was nothing more than a mask.

Zeus scanned the gathered monarchs, blood staining his lips and chin. And much to no one’s surprise, his gaze settled on Selene. “I believe the neophyte should drink first.”