28. Hephaestus

28

HEPHAESTUS

I watch Adonis do dishes over the rim of my coffee cup. My wife was right; I need to get moving if I don’t want to be late. But I can’t leave before I button things up with him.

He seems fine enough, but I don’t know if I trust that. He’s Olympian. He lies as well as the rest of them, even if he doesn’t seem to lie to me all that often. “You good?”

“Not really.” He rolls his head, his neck popping. “This whole situation is messy.”

“Messy” doesn’t begin to cover it. There were a few moments this morning in the kitchen when I forgot all about that, though. It was just nice to be there with Pandora while Aphrodite and Adonis drank their coffee. The casual intimacy relaxed something in me that I can’t afford to have relaxed, but I didn’t want it to end.

I still don’t.

That doesn’t prevent me from running my mouth. “You could walk away. We don’t have a choice about being here, but you do.” Pandora, too, but I know better than to try to push her again. She’ll make her own decisions. She always has.

“I really can’t.” He finishes the dishes and makes quick work of drying them. “Not from her. Not from you, either.”

My stomach does a strange swoop. “Adonis—”

“Be safe out there today.”

That makes me pause. “Are you worried about me?”

He huffs out a breath. “Of course I am. The public of Olympus are mostly good people, but the ambitious ones without moral compasses are looking at every single one of the Thirteen and sharpening their knives. You are one of the Thirteen.”

“No one is coming after me.” I say it confidently, even as a little kernel of doubt takes seed. Minos is hardly a caring father figure, but surely he wouldn’t put me in a position where it was likely I’d be killed…

Would he?

“You need to go,” Adonis says gently. “You can’t be late for meetings with the Thirteen. Your position is already rocky enough.”

He’s right, but I couldn’t give a fuck about the Thirteen and their rules and rituals right now. I’m starting to be able to read him better, though. I recognize the stubborn set of his mouth. There will be no arguing with him about this. “Just finishing my coffee.” I drain the mug. “This conversation isn’t over.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He plucks the mug from my hands and presses a quick kiss to my lips. “Now, go.”

I go.

Fifteen minutes later, I walk into the conference room where Zeus has called the Thirteen for what’s become a weekly meeting. It’s a waste of fucking time. There are alliances within the group, and plenty of them are at odds with each other. If Zeus says the sky is blue, Artemis will snarl that it’s purple out of sheer spite.

Not even their hatred for me and Minos is enough to unify them, though you wouldn’t know it by the glares I receive from every person in the room when I walk through the door.

Everyone except my wife.

She doesn’t smile, but her expression is carefully blank. Might as well roll out the welcome mat for me after the last two weeks. I walk around the table, careful to minimize my limp as much as possible even though my knee aches like a motherfucker.

I’m starting to think that pain will never go away.

I drop into the empty chair next to Eris. I should probably say something to showcase that she spent last night in my bed willingly and doesn’t hate me as much as she should, but the words don’t come. I’m not on her side, but that doesn’t mean I have to kick her legs out from under her when she’s trying so hard to keep her shit together.

Zeus leans forward and everyone around the table goes quiet. Neat trick. His cold gaze flicks over me, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit when he sees how close I’m sitting to his sister.

He turns that look on the empty chair in the center of the table. “Where is Hermes?”

Dionysus clears his throat. “She said duty calls and made a last-minute trip outside the boundary.”

Zeus doesn’t curse. He doesn’t so much as blink. “No one sanctioned that trip, Poseidon.”

Poseidon shrugs. He’s a big fucker with pale skin and deep red hair. “She’s Hermes. She doesn’t need approval.” His deep voice gains an edge. “Unless the laws have changed in the last few days?”

Zeus sweeps a look over the rest of the room. “Then we move on without her. Let’s begin.”

Before anyone can speak, the doors open and Minos walks in.

Shock makes me freeze. What the fuck is he doing here? He doesn’t even look at me, his attention focusing on Zeus as he smiles. “Everyone is so serious. Am I late?”

“Right on time.” Zeus doesn’t return his smile. “You have our attention. What do you want?”

Minos’s brows draw together the tiniest bit in genuine surprise. “I’m sorry? You invited me here today.”

“Yes. I did.” Zeus leans back. No one seems to breathe. “I tire of these games, Minos. You came to Olympus with an agenda, and I’ve indulged it. That’s finished now. You want something from the Thirteen. Let’s stop wasting everyone’s time and dispense with the games.”

A bold move.

I don’t know if it’s a smart one, but I keep my mouth shut as I watch Minos. Whatever he thought this meeting was about, he didn’t expect this. He also didn’t get to this point in his life without learning to think on his feet.

He smiles at Zeus, as if he can beam his charm right into the other man’s head. “But you like games so much in Olympus. I’ve merely been honoring my new home by indulging in them.”

“You haven’t answered my question.”

I flick a glance at Artemis. She’s not keeping her expression as locked down as the others. If there wasn’t a table between them, she might have tried to attack Minos. I’m so used to her looking at me like that after I killed her cousin that it’s almost not worth mentioning. The way Hera reaches out and touches her arm beneath the table is, though. Especially when Artemis slumps back in her chair in response. I didn’t think those two liked each other much.

Minos spreads his arms, every inch a showman. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you’re accusing me of being behind those attacks on the Thirteen I keep reading about in MuseWatch.”

“Why wouldn’t people assume that?” Zeus’s voice has no inflection. No anger. No frustration. It’s eerie. He glances at me again. “You’ve done it before.”

“As I said, I am embracing the customs of the city that’s adopted me and mine.” Minos’s smile goes cunning. “No one under my command has made any attempts on the lives of anyone in this room. Feel free to verify that information.” His gaze cuts to Apollo. “Though I have a feeling you already have.”

The way Apollo’s jaw clenches verifies that.

Minos had said he wasn’t behind the attacks, but I wasn’t sure I believed it. Now I am. He’s always been a fan of letting other people get their hands dirty while he enjoys his lavish lifestyle without fear of consequences.

The bitterness of the thought gives me pause. I’ve never been ignorant of the man’s faults, but I’ve never felt this grinding frustration with them, either. He doesn’t care that my wife almost died yesterday. Realistically, there’s no reason for him to care.

There’s no reason for me to care, either.

But I do.

I don’t want her dead. If Minos was behind the attacks, he could call them off; at least the ones against her. But he’s not, which means he’s riled up the beast that is the Olympian populace and then he set them loose on those in charge.

There’s no controlling it now. Every one of the Thirteen is a target.

Even me. Maybe even especially me.

“Are you done with your baseless accusations?” Minos manages to sound imperial and disappointed, both at the same time. “I have come here out of my feeling of responsibility to you for allowing me and mine citizenship, but if you’re going to act as if I’m the enemy, I can spend my time elsewhere.”

“You are the enemy. We treat enemies accordingly.” Zeus flicks a hand. “You may go.”

For a moment, it looks like Minos might argue, but he shrugs. “Very well. I look forward to the next Dodona Tower party.” He turns and walks at a perfectly reasonable pace to the door.

It closes behind him. The silence is a barbed thing, threaded through with shock as every single person in the room tries to process what the fuck just happened. Even me. Zeus has more balls than I gave him credit for. I don’t know that it’ll be enough, but I’m a little impressed despite myself.

I shake my head, and it’s as if my movement brings the others to life. Every person at the table starts talking at the same time. Well, every person except Zeus and Hera.

He lets them talk in circles for a few minutes before he raises his hand. It’s a testament to his power that it only take a few seconds for silence to fall. Zeus sweeps a look at each of us. “You will all accept secondary security from Ares.” He keeps speaking even as most of them protest. “It doesn’t matter if Minos is behind the attacks on our people. The security most of you have is not enough.”

Hades lifts a brow. “Ares’s people are not welcome in the lower city.”

Zeus clenches his jaw, a tiny movement, but he might as well have shouted his frustration. “You are making a mistake.”

“If Hades doesn’t take the security, neither am I.” Artemis shoves to her feet. “You should have killed him from the start.”

“We cannot afford more changeover.” Zeus doesn’t raise his voice.

My reluctant admiration for him grows. I don’t like the fucker, and he doesn’t seem to have a drop of charm in his body, but he gets shit done. It probably won’t be enough to balance whatever Minos’s next steps are, but he’s a dangerous man.

They start arguing again, and I let the conversation roll over me. I won’t be taking Ares’s people, but there’s no reason to speak my intentions. I’ll just leave without them when this meeting is done.

Next to me, my wife is doing the same.

I lean close and lower my voice. “Take Ares’s security.”

“I intend to.” Her answer is so soft, it’s almost lost in Athena pointing out she has her own security force and Ares shooting back a question on how that helped her against the sniper. “You should take the offer, too.”

“I’m not in danger.”

She touches my arm. “If Minos is telling the truth…yes, you are. No matter what else is true, you’re one of the Thirteen now. One of us.”

I almost argue, but stop when it hits me. She’s worried about me. I search her face for any sign of the sly smile or a lie, but for the first time in our marriage she seems perfectly earnest. “One would think you’d paint the target on my back yourself,” I say slowly, testing these new, uncharted waters.

“That’s just it, Husband.” She smiles sweetly, only the tiniest edge present. “I’m the only one who gets to kill you. I’ll bury anyone else who tries.”