31. Eurydice

31

EURYDICE

Minthe climbs out of the driver’s seat and surveys us. “Where’s your security detail, Persephone?”

“It’s Medusa. I’m here to pick her up.”

Minthe props her hands on her hips. “You know the kind of danger we’re facing right now, and you went out without a security detail? Are you out of your damn mind?”

“It was a two-minute drive, and I knew that you, Medusa, and Calypso would be here when I arrived,” she says mildly.

I raise my brows, but Orpheus leans close to say, “In case you’re wondering, you won’t be able to successfully use that line of reasoning on us. I bet it doesn’t work on Hades either.” He’s not exactly speaking quietly though.

I laugh a little. “I’m simply taking notes from my big sister.”

“Don’t start that.” Persephone points at us. “And don’t start calling me a hypocrite either. Let’s get inside and meet up with my security detail.”

The apartment is roomy, but not nearly roomy enough to comfortably fit seven grown adults in the main living space. Medusa isn’t any happier with Persephone showing up on her doorstep than Minthe was. “You were supposed to wait at the house for me to come get you.”

“I decided to skip a step.” She inhales deeply and closes her eyes. “Is that…pie?”

“Cookies, actually.” Ariadne speaks from her place in the kitchen. “I bake when I’m stressed.”

I move around my sister and make my way to Ariadne. She looks better than she did yesterday, the color back in her cheeks. There are still circles beneath her eyes, but I don’t think any of us are sleeping particularly well these days. “How are you doing?”

“Oh, you know, absolutely stunning. It’s not every day that I betray my father and country, and—” She shakes her head. “I made the right choice, but my emotions are all over the place. I don’t expect that’s going to resolve itself anytime soon.”

“Did you say cookies?” Persephone nudges me aside to peer at the wire racks in front of Ariadne. “They smell like a pie.” Truth be told, the cookies look more like pies than cookies. They are little triangles, puffed up, and appear to be filled with apples.

“I guess they’re kind of like apple pie cookies.” Ariadne stares at my sister’s stomach for a beat too long. “Would you like one?”

“Yes, thank you.” Persephone carefully picks one up and inhales deeply. “You can’t stay here indefinitely.”

“Excuse me?” Ariadne says at the same time that I snarl, “For fuck’s sake, Persephone.”

My sister takes a bite and moans in a way that’s uncomfortably sexual. But when she speaks, she’s all business. “In the lower city, I mean. My husband offered you sanctuary because he’s a good man and the thought of someone suffering when he could save them is unbearable. I, however, am a mean bitch with a vast amount of experience in politics.”

“Hades gave his word,” I say.

“Yes, he did. Which is why I need you to release him from it.” She holds Ariadne’s gaze. “My husband will do everything in his power to protect you if you want to stay here, but I think we both know that he will fail. Not because of your father, and not because of Circe.”

Ariadne’s shoulders slump, and she looks so defeated that I want to hug her. “There’s no reason to think he’ll come for me.”

“On the contrary, you wouldn’t have made this bargain if you thought anything else.” She takes another bite and makes another godsawful sound. “I’m sorry, these are just so good, and I can’t stop eating them.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“I have no intention of turning you out without a plan. I’m not a monster.” She pops the last bite of cookie in her mouth and chews slowly. “There’s one way to ensure you will be folded gently into Olympus, though I think we can all agree it would be best you don’t stay in the city proper.”

I am battling the urge to throttle my pregnant sister. I know she can be ambitious and occasionally ruthless, but I’ve never seen her turn it on someone who didn’t deserve it. I’m sure in her mind Ariadne is fair game since she is Minos’s daughter, and Minos is the source of so much pain and suffering in our city right now. But Ariadne helped us. Hades gave his word.

“You have an offer. I would like to hear it.” Ariadne’s mouth twists. “Especially since it sounds like I don’t have much choice.”

“I’ve taken the liberty of speaking with our current Aphrodite, and they have agreed to find you a nice, kind match. There are a lot of lesser houses who reside in the countryside. Aphrodite will provide you with a small list of suitable candidates, and I will personally vouch for each one. We have no desire to marry you off to someone who would mistreat you after the service you’ve done for Olympus. But you can’t stay here.”

I really am going to throttle my sister. “That’s not fair.”

But Ariadne shakes her head and lifts a hand to stop me. “On the contrary, it’s a better deal than I anticipated. I fully expected to suffer some sort of unfortunate accident in the next couple weeks. At least this way, I get to live.”

Maybe I really am naive, because her words shock me to my core. “You made this deal thinking you wouldn’t survive it?”

“I made this deal because I had no other choice.” She turns to my sister. “I accept your terms.”

Persephone nods. She doesn’t look particularly happy, and that’s the only thing that keeps me from losing my shit. I know my sister doesn’t see things that way, but it’s hypocritical in the extreme. I’m essentially in the same boat as Ariadne, but she would go to great lengths to make sure I was never hurt because of the family that I was born into.

Persephone motions to Medusa. “There’s a safe house set up for Ariadne. I need you to arrange transportation for her there.”

Medusa pulls out her phone. “Consider it done.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “In the upper city or the lower city?”

“If I told you that, it wouldn’t be much of a safe house, would it?” She shakes her head. “We can fight about this later if you’d like. Right now, there’s business to attend to. You wanted to be on Hades’s payroll. This is what that looks like. Making hard decisions to protect the lower city.”

To protect the lower city…or to protect Hades?

I don’t ask the question. It’s not fair, and I’m certain I won’t like the answer. Instead, I turn to Ariadne and take her hands. “If you have any reservations about this at all, tell me now and I’ll fight this. I promised you safety, and you’re in this mess because you believed me.”

She gives my hands a single squeeze and slips free. “Like I said, I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into when I called you. It was only a matter of time before my father bargained me away in marriage. At least this way, I’m making a choice for myself instead of having him make it for me.” She won’t quite meet my gaze. “And there was the other thing.”

Right. I’m not in danger of forgetting that. Still… “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

I glance at where Orpheus stands just outside the kitchen, leaning against the wall. I’m not sure what he thinks of the situation. The few times he’s met my sister before coming to the lower city, she was firmly wearing her sunshine mask. Bright and happy with not a single harsh thought to her name. That’s not the woman who stands before him now. He catches me watching him and offers a small smile of solidarity.

“Eurydice, I would like a word. Privately.” Persephone motions to Minthe. “Come along.” When Orpheus takes a step forward, she pins him with a glare. “What do you think you’re doing?”

To his credit, he doesn’t wilt. He also doesn’t puff out his chest and lean too hard into bravado. He just meets her gaze steadily. “I gave Charon my word I wouldn’t let her out of my sight.”

My sister raises her chin, hazel eyes flaring. “I outrank Charon and I’m telling you to wait inside.”

“With all due respect, Persephone, I’m not on Hades’s payroll. I don’t answer to him, and I don’t answer to you.”

For a moment, I think my sister might be provoked into actual violence. It never would’ve been a fear of mine three months ago, but three months ago she wasn’t pregnant with twins and riding the waves of emotions and hormones that I find terrifying.

She gets herself under control though. “So be it.” She turns and leads the way through the apartment and out the door. Our strange little group ends up clustered around one of the trees that line the street in front of Medusa and Calypso’s apartment. My sister draws herself up and gives me her full attention. “You have something to say. Say it.”

“This is shady and underhanded. Hades gave his word that Ariadne would be protected, and the first thing you two do is marry her off to some asshole?”

She lifts a brow. It’s an expression I’ve witnessed her husband make a hundred times, and it’s incredibly disconcerting to see on my sister’s face. “We grew up with those so-called assholes. They were our playmates and friends and companions until ten years ago when we came to the city proper. If things had fallen out differently with Mother, we would’ve married them. I’m not going to allow anyone who is a monster on that list. They’ll treat her well, and it will remove her from the firing line.”

She has a point, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to let her have it. “It’s still not her choice. It’s not right.”

“Surely you can’t be that naive, even with how thoroughly we’ve protected you. Minos has been shopping her around since he arrived in Olympus. You know the kind of people who populate the legacy families in the upper city. Can you honestly say that they are better options than the one I’m giving her?”

I open my mouth to say exactly that, but I can’t quite manage it. Because she’s right. Almost to a person, the scions of the legacy families are predators. There’s a reason my sisters worked so hard to avoid a marriage match. Ironic, that. All three of them are married to three of the most dangerous men in this entire city. Eros and Hades treat Psyche and Persephone like spun glass, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re still predators.

It just turns out that my sisters are too.

I don’t know where that leaves me. I might be stronger and more capable than they give me credit for, but that doesn’t mean I’m fully comfortable swimming in the depths alongside them.

“I hear what you’re saying, and I don’t necessarily disagree, but that doesn’t mean I like it.”

My sister’s smile is knife-sharp. She’s never looked more like Callisto in this moment…or more like our mother. “Now you’re getting the idea.” She glances at Orpheus and leans close. “Now, I think we need to talk about—”

A strange sound cuts her off. For a moment, I think a car might be backfiring, and I actually turn to look for the source. That’s when I see the van. It’s completely nondescript. I notice too late that the plates have duct tape over them. Even as I watch, the back door slides open, and two people appear, dressed in black with masks over their faces marring their features.

Too late, I notice the guns in their hands.

My body locks up. A distant part of me screams to move, to hit the ground, because that’s what you do when people are about to shoot you. The rest of me can’t believe this is happening. My instincts are all fucked up. Time seems to slow down and speed up, all at once.

One of the muzzles flares as they fire. I feel silly, because no one could mistake this for a car backfiring.

I hear a scream, and then a hard body hits me in the side, taking me roughly to the ground. A hand catches my head right as it’s about to bounce off the concrete, but that doesn’t stop my body from flaring in pain in half a dozen locations. There are a few more gunshots. Then tires squeal as the van takes the corner on two wheels and flies away.

Reality comes crashing down on me in waves. The dozen cuts and scrapes from my fall. The weight of a body on top of me. The scent of…Orpheus.

Just like that, time slams back into motion.

“Orpheus!” I run my hands up his chest and cup his face, lifting it so I can look him in the eyes. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

He blinks down at me and gives himself a little shake. “I should be asking you that. I don’t think I’ve ever tackled someone before. If there’s an art to it, I don’t know it.” He gently feels around the back of my head. “Did I catch you in time?”

I’m about to answer when a low curse reminds me that we weren’t the only two people standing on the sidewalk. Panic flares. “Oh my gods. Persephone!”