Chapter 24

24

ARES

“ I ’ll kill her. She should die for what she’s done.” Poseidon paced inside the megaron, storming from one end of the empty feasting table to the next, while Apollo, Demeter, and I looked on.

It was an odd assortment we’d gathered after that disaster of a sacrifice. Demeter tended to avoid Poseidon as much as possible, and I couldn’t remember the last time Apollo had sought my company. But he’d spotted me heading toward the megaron, and he’d jogged after me to catch up.

Clearly, there was something on his mind.

There was something on all our minds.

“Calm down, Poseidon,” Demeter said with a scowl. “You’re acting like a—”

“If you don’t like how I’m acting, you can get the hell out of here.” He pointed at the open door.

I sighed. “Demeter’s right. This isn’t productive.”

“I can’t believe you, of all people, are all right with this,” he countered, whirling toward me.

“Me?” I arched my brow, spreading my arms wide on either side of me. “Hera murdered Hestia. I am more than all right with her death. The punishment fits the crime, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Oh, come off it.” Poseidon scoffed. “Hera never would have killed Hestia. None of us would have. It was that Titan filth, and if none of you stand up for what’s right and kill the bitch, then I will.”

“You will not lay a hand on her,” I said, my voice growing cold.

Selene was mine . Mine to kill and no one else’s.

Demeter looked at me strangely, then shifted her attention back to Poseidon. “Like it or not, she passed her trial. You can’t kill her without breaking the Thirteen Crowns, and—”

“The Thirteen Crowns is already broken. Selene saw to that,” Poseidon snapped.

“ She did not see to it,” Demeter said with an exasperated sigh. “If anyone did, it was Zeus. He could have let the whole thing wait if he’d wanted. But he forced the issue now because he broke his own damn rules about frolicking around with mortals. So if you’re that pissed off, take it up with him.”

Poseidon ground his jaw, shot me a dark look, and thundered across the room. He vanished out the door without another word, but I wasn’t naive enough to think that was the end of it. Poseidon hadn’t wanted Selene to come here in the first place, and he’d had it out for her since she’d stepped foot on the island. Not that I could much blame him. I had it out for her, too.

But he needed to stay the fuck away from her.

I stared after him, wondering if I should follow. Selene seemed like a more competent fighter than any of us had realized, but Poseidon was brutish and twice the size of her. The thought of him wrapping his blue hands around her slender neck made my teeth grind. I narrowed my eyes, shoulders tensing. I couldn’t risk him going anywhere near her.

But before I could make my first step toward the door, Demeter moved in front of me, blocking my path.

“Mind explaining the sudden change of heart?” she asked, her crimson eyes raking across me.

“Change of heart?” I repeated distractedly, my gaze returning to the doorway.

There wasn’t time to even attempt to understand what she was talking about. We all knew where Selene’s rooms were. The same place Theia’s had been—out in the east wing away from all of ours. Just like her kingdom. Poseidon would have no trouble finding her.

And then he’d barge into her room and—

“About Selene.” Demeter frowned. “I was under the impression you wanted her dead. In fact, she told me herself that you threatened her when she first got here.”

For fuck’s sake. I dragged my gaze from the doorway and finally looked Demeter dead in the eyes. She pursed her full lips, head cocked. No one knew what the Fates had told me, and if I was going to confide in my fellow monarchs, I wouldn’t start with her. She kept her loyalties close to the chest. No one knew where she stood, and I could tell she liked it that way.

“Selene…” I trailed off. But then I got control over my thoughts. “We’re two nights into Nekros, and the whole thing is on the verge of imploding. If Poseidon kills Selene, we’re fucked.”

“Hmm.” Demeter didn’t look convinced.

Suddenly, a dark, sombre song filled the air. Apollo sat beside the harp, his blond head ducked low as he plucked the strings, weaving together a melancholy tune. It was one I didn’t know, but I swore it felt oddly familiar, like I’d once heard it in my dreams.

And something about it felt like Selene.

“What is that?” I asked sharply.

Apollo’s fingers moved deftly over the strings, and his spoken words almost seemed like a melody. “It’s called ‘To the Witching Hour’ and the sound is meant to mimic the feeling that mortals get during the darkest part of the night. It’s meant to sound like dread.”

I frowned. “I have to go.”

Stepping around Demeter, I rushed into the corridor, the eerie tones of the harp fading behind me. Along the dull stone walls, the torches crackled and flamed. I took the path toward the east wing, my pace brisk. The conversation with Demeter had taken up too much time. By the time I reached Selene’s rooms, Poseidon would already be there. I could only hope Selene had suspected that one of the others might show up outside her door, itching for a fight. If she was ready for him, she might survive.

The corridors blurred by as I broke out into a jog. Soon the gleaming halls gave way to dust-shrouded floors, stone slabs cracked and warped from the fight between Zeus and Circe all those decades ago. Cobwebs clung to every corner, and the light of the torches dimmed, as if they wished to reflect the grim state of the wing.

Within moments, I’d found Selene’s door. It was shut, and there were no signs of a disturbance. I pressed my ear to the wood. All I could hear was the scratch of pen on parchment, broken only by the occasional sigh.

An odd emotion—one I couldn’t name—tightened my chest. Poseidon hadn’t come here. All was well, at least for now. My fate was not threatened, and Nekros could continue. The pact of peace had yet to fail, despite everything that had happened.

And yet.

And yet…

It was as if my body lifted my fisted hand of its own accord. Then it knocked.