21. Charon

21

CHARON

I expected the summons, so I’m not surprised to find a text from Hades when I wake up in the morning. What does surprise me is that he wants Eurydice to attend. Maybe it shouldn’t. For better or worse, she’s the reason that we have Ariadne in the lower city. I have a feeling that Ariadne might be hesitant to share the information she possesses if the person she reached out to for help isn’t present. That doesn’t mean I want Eurydice involved in this any more than she already is.

Not that anyone has asked me what I want. I won’t be consulted when it comes to this situation. Hades might have all but explicitly agreed to let me figure things out between me and Eurydice, but that courtesy doesn’t apply to anything that will officially affect Olympus.

I sit up and drag my hands through my hair. My whole body aches after last night, a pleasant reminder of just how good it is when the three of us get out of our own way. At some point we need to have an actual conversation, because no matter how good the sex is, it’s only one part of the equation that creates a healthy relationship.

That’s what I want. With Eurydice…and Orpheus. The bond between them remains strong, even if there’s plenty of baggage to go along with it. The wound between them never properly healed, and I don’t know if having me in the mix is enough to keep it from festering further. Shit is complicated.

Either way, I can’t chase down those answers right now. As much as I want to prioritize Eurydice over politics, the fact remains that she inserted herself into said politics. I would have preferred to keep her away from all the bullshit and danger, but she’s also made it incredibly clear that she won’t be kept out of anything. Not even for her own safety. With that in mind, I reach over Orpheus’s sleeping body and lightly tap her hip. “Wake up, baby. It’s time to pay the piper.”

She stretches slowly, arching her back until the sheets slide off her breasts. I don’t think she’s doing it on purpose, but it’s incredibly distracting. Still, it’s best not to keep Hades waiting. I haul myself out of bed and make quick work of a shower before anyone can think to join me. Eurydice walks into the bathroom as I wrap a towel around my waist. She won’t be fully coherent until she has some coffee. I enjoy the soft, sleepy look on her face. There’s a trust inherent in witnessing these early morning moments, and I don’t want to lose the intimacy.

She makes a beeline for the sink and grabs her toothbrush. “I know for a fact that both my sister and Hades are night owls. Why are we being summoned this early in the morning?”

“You kicked the hornets’ nest, baby. The sooner we get things squared away with Ariadne, the better.” I haven’t heard of any other attacks since the ones on Triton and Poseidon, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t happened. Minos might not have been directly responsible for most of the recent assassination attempts—possibly excepting Triton—but he’s still a danger.

The problem is that he’s no longer the only danger.

I don’t know how we, as a city, deal with the now-public knowledge that there’s an assassination clause. I would love to think that it’s an upper city problem that has no bearing on the lower city, but for better or worse, we are one city. What happens here affects the upper city, and vice versa.

The thirteen positions of power that were previously considered unassailable now appear all too accessible for those willing to get their hands dirty. I don’t know how we move on from that.

I don’t have an answer as I get dressed. It’s above my pay grade. Normally that would be enough to have me put the problem aside entirely, but the ever-present worry that someone will attempt to kill Hades makes it my problem.

For whatever reason, Eurydice decides not to dress up for the meeting. Instead, she pulls on a pair of jeans that are more holes than fabric, and a knitted sweater that’s seen better days. She slicks her hair back into a ponytail, dabs on a bit of makeup that seems like nothing but makes her look well rested, and announces herself ready to go.

We walk back into the bedroom together to find Orpheus awake. He makes no move to get out of bed, just watches us with a tense look on his face. “Morning.”

I’m still deciding how to handle the situation when Eurydice props a knee on the bed and presses a light kiss to his lips. “We have to go to a meeting, but we’ll bring lunch when we get back. You should probably call your brother.”

Orpheus makes a face. “I don’t need to report to him like I’m a child.”

“I know. Just like I know Apollo worries. Be a good boy and throw him a bone.”

His expression goes slack for a moment, and then he chuckles. “It’s hard to argue when you say things like that.”

“How strange. I had no idea.” She grins and heads for the door.

I take a step to follow, but then half turn to him. “Go back to bed, Orpheus. You need to rest.” He doesn’t look as hopeless as he did when he first showed up on our side of the river, but we’ve been running him ragged, and he wasn’t particularly well rested before. “We’ll talk when we get back.”

“I’d like that.”

“Me too.” I turn and head downstairs. I find Eurydice standing out by my car. “Next time, wait inside the front door.” I want to believe the lower city is still safe, but the growing unrest in Olympus and the attack on the greenhouse proves otherwise. Until we figure out who’s causing problems in the lower city, I don’t want her going anywhere alone. Even the sidewalk in front of my town house.

Eurydice takes one look at my face and wisely decides not to argue with me about this. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” I open the door for her and move around to the driver’s seat. It takes no time at all to drive from my place to Hades’s residence. I park but make no move to get out of the car. “We’re going to talk today. Really talk. I want everything out in the air so we can deal with it, one way or another.”

“I would rather not.” She doesn’t look at me when she says it.

Yeah, I’m not surprised by that. “You don’t get the cocks without the men attached, baby. If we don’t iron our shit out, it’s going to blow up in our faces. I don’t want that for you, I don’t want that for me, and I don’t want that for Orpheus either. I know this shit isn’t easy for you, but it’s necessary.”

She seems to consider that for a moment and then reaches for the door. “Let’s go.”

I don’t press her. There will be plenty of time for that later, and she’s right that there’s no benefit to us putting off what comes next. When we make it to Hades’s office, I’m not remotely surprised to find Persephone there as well. The person who does surprise me, though, is Hera. She sits next to her sister on the couch, perfectly coiled rage in a pretty package. She and Persephone might share their mother’s coloring, but Persephone and Eurydice actually look a lot more like each other if you were to line the sisters up. Callisto—now Hera—is a blade sheathed in beauty. I don’t know what possessed her to marry Zeus, and frankly I don’t need to know, but the thing that no one seems to understand is that she was already one of the most dangerous people in Olympus before she took the title of Hera.

Eurydice crosses to her sisters, and they rise to meet her. They exchange hugs and kisses on the cheek, but the tension in the room doesn’t decrease in the least. When she’s done greeting them, I expect her to sit on the couch between them—clearly, they expect it as well. She doesn’t. Eurydice moves back to stand with me in front of the desk. A soldier ready to report. The comparison isn’t lost on me. A quick glance around the room says it’s not lost on anyone else present either.

“Persephone, if you would be so kind.” Hades motions to the door. He waits until she obeys and returns to her spot to pin us with his dark gaze. “I do not appreciate being cornered into giving my word without all the information. While I will not go back on it, I would like a full report. Now.” Even though he speaks mildly, his displeasure colors the air.

He’s furious.

I open my mouth, but Eurydice gets there first. She straightens her shoulders and lifts her chin, her voice calm and collected. “When I met Ariadne at the house party, we had an instant connection. I know that Apollo thinks she has more information than she’s sharing, so I took it upon myself to make friends with her in an effort to gather that information. We’ve been speaking secretly since then, and so when she came to me for help, it was the opportunity I couldn’t ignore.”

I don’t look at her, sure that any sharp expression would give away that she’s not telling the full truth. I don’t know what her motivation is for covering for the former Aphrodite, but I don’t like it. Now’s the time to speak, to let everyone in the room know that she’s still not telling the full truth.

I don’t. Maybe that makes me a traitor. I don’t know. At the end of the day, Eurydice has shared the relevant information. Hades isn’t a fool; he knows better than to trust other members of the Thirteen, and he has even less reason to trust Eris and her new husband, Theseus. Eurydice keeping Eris’s name out of this ultimately won’t change anything.

I will be asking her why she is still lying later. If I don’t like her answer, I’ll be the one to tell Hades the full truth.

Persephone starts to say something, but Hades holds up his hand, commanding silence. “You took an unnecessary risk.”

“It paid off.”

“That changes nothing. It was still a risk. Don’t do it again.” He steeples his hands before his mouth. “But I will give credit where credit is due. You’ve managed to pull off something no one else even got close to. If you can get the information out of Ariadne that we need to meet the threat that Minos’s benefactor presents, then I’ll seriously consider not tossing you to your mother’s mercy.”

Eurydice startles. “Excuse me?”

“Your sisters and I aren’t the only ones you answer to, Eurydice. I haven’t informed Demeter of this little stunt, but that doesn’t mean I won’t.” He raises his brows. “How do you think she’ll react when she hears about the risks you took?”

“That’s not fair,” she whispers. “What if Ariadne doesn’t know anything?”

“You took this risk, and so the consequences are yours. One way or another.”

Persephone makes an angry noise. “That’s not fair, Hades. She needs more security, and—”

“No.” He still doesn’t raise his voice. “I understand you wanting to protect your little sister, and I respect the desire. But she wants to play in the dangerous arena of politics. She’ll do it with or without our blessing, little siren. Which means we go about this in the proper way.”