Chapter 33

33

ARES

T he others soon joined us in the corridor, and we all silently filed into the megaron. Tension pulsed through the room as everyone took a seat around the table. Just as with the first night, there was an obvious division between the monarchs.

At the opposite end of the table, the anti-Zeus contingent clustered together. I lowered myself into the chair beside the Archon’s throne, taking stock of the growing number of them. It seemed his recent actions—forcing Hera into a trial, no doubt—had turned more against him. Aphrodite and Dionysos were the first to sit, of course, but they were soon followed by Demeter, and surprisingly, Hephaestus.

Other than me, Zeus had Hermes, Poseidon, and Artemis with him. Athena and Apollo sat near the middle. And Selene…Selene took a seat beside me. To keep up our ruse, I assumed. Still, her position didn’t go unnoticed by the others. Dionysos and Aphrodite both stared at us, then dipped their heads together, whispering.

We were quite a sight to behold, with our muddy boots, our shredded clothing, and our wild, wind-swept hair. Despite all that, Selene’s beauty prevailed. Infuriatingly, this untamed bearing suited her. There was a feral edge to her now, reflected in the harsh glint in her eyes. I kept seeing flashes of that side of her, and I had to admit, I was drawn to it.

I shouldn’t be. I couldn’t be. Telling her how beautiful she looked had been a mistake.

Kissing her had been a mistake.

But god, her body had felt so damn good against mine.

Zeus pounded his fist on the table, signalling for everyone to quiet down and listen. I sat up a little straight in my chair. The excuse I’d given him wasn’t a good one. He wouldn’t take it as an acceptable reason for missing a night of Nekros, particularly since Erebus’s rain punishment was brutal. But I couldn’t tell him about Hestia, either. Not until I was certain he hadn’t been involved.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t certain if I could trust him.

“We’re here because of Ares. The bastard missed a ceremony, and it’s caused a fucking mess,” Zeus began. I winced at the bluntness of his words, but said nothing. If slathering me with insults made him feel better about the whole thing, then so be it. He shifted toward me, his chair creaking. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

“There’s not much to say. Selene and I went on a walk and got lost in the woods. And before we could find our way back, the sun rose. We had to take shelter in an abandoned building a couple hours from here. There were masks all over the walls.”

I paused, carefully watching the others for a reaction. If one of them had done it, mention of the masked building might cause a sharp intake of breath or a tensing of the jaw. They’d suspect we’d found Hestia. But none of them seemed surprised, just…curious. Even Zeus.

“A building with masks, you say?” Zeus shook his head. “This sounds like something you’ve made up.”

“I swear to Erebus that’s where we were,” I said with an emphatic edge to my voice. “And we got stuck there.”

Artemis narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. “Why were you two out on a walk together in the first place?”

“I thought that was clear.” Shifting closer to Selene, I draped an arm around her shoulder. For a moment, she tensed, clearly caught off guard. But then she sank into my touch and nestled her head into my chest. I tried not to think about how nice it felt.

“You two are involved. Out of nowhere,” she said.

“It just…happened,” Selene said.

Zeus grunted.

“You’re not actually going to let this happen, are you?” Poseidon stood, shoving back his chair. “Those two fucking each other has fucked us all.”

Selene flinched, and her mouth open and closed. I could tell she wanted to say something to him, but she wouldn’t. The duty-bound queen had returned the moment we’d walked through the palace archway.

“ Let it happen?” Zeus barked a laugh. “What would you have me do? Tell a fellow monarch who he can and can’t sleep with?”

“You can’t be serious,” Dionysos muttered. “You’ve had no problem trying to control the rest of us.”

I leaned back in my chair. What Zeus had done to Dion was particularly appalling, but then Hera had done the same thing to Zeus. He’d been upset, despite how much he’d insisted the mortal girl had meant nothing to him. Perhaps he was beginning to see the error of his ways.

“Your plaything was a mortal,” Zeus began.

“So was yours!” Dion shouted, shooting to his feet. He slammed his fists on the table, rattling the glassware. A seething hate flared in his eyes, and his quick, shallow breaths shook his shoulders. Aphrodite lay a comforting arm on his arm, but he shook her off.

“I think we’re getting a little off track here,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the commotion. “We should focus on what’s important. Don’t you both think?”

“A little off track,” Dion muttered. He shot a withering glance at Selene. “What do you see in this bastard? How could you choose to sit on that side of the table? I actually thought you were different, Selene.”

Face expressionless, Selene tugged on the ends of her sleeves. I’d seen her do that a few times now, always when placed in an uncomfortable situation. It was the only sign she felt any reaction to his words at all.

But when she tried to speak, her voice came out strained. “I…”

“Enough. Leave her out of this. It’s not her fault.” I unwound my arm from her body and stood, trying to project a sense of authority. As Zeus’s unofficial second, I could get away with issuing my own commands. And sure enough, it worked. Everyone fell silent. Dion even lowered himself into his chair.

I moved across the room and selected a bottle of wine from the side table. After uncorking it, I rejoined the table and poured everyone a glass. We needed to approach this with composure—or at least someone did. If the shouting began, it wouldn’t stop. Everyone was far too on edge and worried about what would happen now.

“Right,” I said, inclining my head toward Zeus. He nodded back and took the first sip. “We made an unintentional mistake, and I am sorry for the consequences. Unfortunately, we can’t undo it, so we need to find a way to move forward.”

Poseidon barked a laugh and jerked a thumb my way. “Do you hear this shit?”

I gave him a blank stare.

“Ares has made his apology, and what’s done is done,” Athena said from halfway down the table. “The best we can do now is continue with the rest of the sacrifices and hope Erebus accepts them.”

Zeus leaned forward in his throne, swirling his wine. “Do you think that would work?”

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “This has never happened before, so I can’t say for certain. But we’ve received no message indicating we should just…give up. We finish the sacrifices. And if we somehow manage to finish this thing, perhaps Erebus will even decide to undo the punishment he’s given us.”

It was a good idea. And for the first time that evening, a few of the Olympians looked hopeful. Even Selene seemed pleased. She was nodding along, hands folded in her lap. No more nervous sleeve tugging.

“I don’t like it,” Poseidon said. “We can’t just go ahead with Nekros and pretend like nothing’s happened.”

Zeus scowled at him, a long-suffering sigh escaping from his lips. It was the first time I’d seen him visibly annoyed with the High King of Thessaly. “And what would you instead, eh? Stop the ceremonies and risk angering our god even more? I don’t think so. We’ll do Athena’s plan.”

“This is a mistake,” Poseidon said, punching the table with his finger. “You know they must have put Athena up to this. She likes to pretend she’s impartial, but she’s really one of them.”

Athena bristled. “No one has put me up to a goddamn thing.”

With a shake of his head, Zeus downed the rest of his wine, then wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “I’m going back to bed. I’ll see you all tonight. No one go wandering the woods in the meantime, eh?” He shot that last sentence at me, then strode out of the room without a backward glance.

Poseidon scowled and soon followed. Artemis and Hermes went, too. That only left the anti-Zeus crowd, Apollo, Athena, and…us. Me and Selene, who was starting to look achingly weary. I wrapped my arm around her again. For the performance. She leaned into me, sighing heavily.

It had been a long few days. The rain had injured us both, and we’d gotten little sleep—if any. She could do with the rest. I started to make the suggestion to her, but Aphrodite rose from her chair and darted to our side. She hopped up on the table, legs crossed demurely where they dangled over the edge.

“You actually got away with it,” she said with a laugh.

Selene tensed. “Got away with what?”

“Sneaking away together. Ruining our fucking ceremony.” Her smile widened. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think Zeus might actually have a heart, after all.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Selene leaned back, peering up at me with abject curiosity. “But he definitely lets you get away with more than everyone else.”

“I told you it would be fine.”

I knew she wanted more than that. A close alliance didn’t explain how easily he’d let it go, especially after the way he’d handled his suspicions about Selene and Hera. My actions had directly caused affront to our god. He should be far angrier with me than he was.

But my fate wasn’t the only one I was hiding from Selene. Zeus had received one, too. Three, in fact. Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis—the three sisters of fate—had all paid a visit to Zeus. He’d taken it as confirmation he was more important than the rest of us. Usually, only one of them ventured from their den to share a fate with someone.

And one of his fates was tied to me.

At my lack of elaboration, Selene stood. “Well, on that note, I’m going to get some rest.”

Aphrodite pouted. “Dion just opened another bottle of wine. Stay for a few drinks longer, at least.”

She hesitated. “I thought you’d all be annoyed at us, too. We ruined the ceremony, and Erebus has poisoned the rain because of it. Aren’t you angry?”

Aphrodite leaned forward with a conspiratorial smile, motioning Selene closer. “I’ve come close to ruining a ceremony, too. A few years back, I ventured into the woods with Demeter’s advisor, and…well. We got lost and barely made it back in time. God, she was a beautiful one. What happened to her?”

Demeter wandered over, shaking her head. “I knew it! You two were acting so strangely, and yet all you did was deny, deny, deny. She was my advisor , Aphrodite. You should have told me. As it was, I replaced her not long after. I can’t have my advisors hiding things from me.”

Aphrodite shrugged. “It was just a dalliance.”

“And I met up with the harpist down by the beach once,” Apollo said, calling out from his stool beside the harp. “After we fucked, we fell asleep. I only made it back in time because the tide came in.”

Selene’s cheeks went red at that. I doubted she was used to those around her speaking so frankly about sex.

Dionysos trailed across the floor with the promised bottle of wine. He came to a stop in front of Selene, eyeing her. There was some tension between them. Dion had made it clear he’d hoped for her alliance, for her to make a bold and beautiful statement against Zeus, like he had. And yet she’d ended up frolicking in the woods with me instead. That had to sting.

I watched him carefully. He’d clearly taken a liking to her. Perhaps it went further than the hope of an alliance. It wouldn’t be shocking for one of the Olympians to want her.

Look at her. She’s goddamn beautiful, even in her ruined gown .

I went still, realizing where my mind had gone.

No, not her. Anyone but her.

I was in real fucking trouble. I wanted the one person in this damned world that I could never have.