Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Isabelle

As soon as Ursa leaves, everyone in the room starts arguing. Sienna thinks this deal is a good idea. Cordelia doesn’t want to agree, but she’s in a crappy position of having to worry about me versus worry about the entire territory. Neither Gaeton nor Beast wants me anywhere near Olympus.

They especially don’t want me there when my sister rises to her feet and levels us with a look. “It’s decided. Izzy is going and she can take one of you as escort.” She holds up a hand before either of them can get a word out. “You just got back here. You can absolutely not leave again. I’ll allow you to pick which one will act as escort and which will stay behind.” She motions to Muriel, Sienna, and David. “We’ll let you discuss it amongst yourselves, but don’t take long. Dinner’s going to get cold.”

Gaeton is on his feet before the door shuts. “This is a shitty ass idea.”

Beast moves around the couch to glare down at me. “You shouldn’t have agreed.”

I feel a little silly sitting here while they glower down at me, so I join them on my feet. “There wasn’t another option.”

“You keep saying that, but you didn’t give us a chance to find another option.”

They’re right and they’re wrong, all at the same time. All afternoon, in between worrying about whether or not they’d show up for dinner, I listened as Sienna lounged on my bed and posited scenarios to get us out of this conflict with Ursa. Eighty percent of those scenarios ended in a conflict that could cause the death of one or both of the men I love. I won’t let us get to that point, not if there’s another option.

“I just found you two again. I don’t want to lose you.”

Gaeton takes my hands. “And what the fuck do you think is going to happen if Triton figures out you’re delivering a message to his favorite daughter from the fucking Sea Witch?”

Nothing good. Those two have a long history, and I want no part of their war, either. “I know Zuri. Or at least I’ve met her before. No one will have any reason to suspect me.”

Gaeton shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

I give a choked laugh. “Funny, coming from you.” I glance at Beast. “Either of you. What happens the next time there’s a fight and you’re needed? You’re generals. Danger comes with the territory. I—” I wish I could keep them safe, could guarantee that they’ll always come home to me without injury. I’ve grown up this world. I know it for a lie. “I will not stand in your way or prevent you from doing what you need to do. I need you to give me the same respect.”

Beast’s hands land on my hips and he leans against my back. “I think you can understand why we’re having trouble with this.”

Of course I can. This life isn’t easy under the best of circumstances and this hardly qualifies. I release a shuddering breath and relax back into him. “I know. But you understand why I have to do this.” Anything to protect my family. Anything. I lost my father. I can’t lose anyone else. I won’t.

Gaeton sighs, his shoulders dropping. “Yeah, we get it.” He meets Beast’s gaze over my shoulder. “Who goes with her?”

“You do.” He doesn’t hesitate. “I’ll stay here and help ensure Ursa keeps her word. Isabelle, can you get in contact with Zurielle and set up a meeting or however you want to go about it? Once we have a time frame, we can get the finer details down.”

And, just like that, they shift gears from arguing with me to spending their energy on ensuring this goes off without a hitch. I should be relieved. If Ursa keeps her word, it means we avoid the threatening war. It means I keep the people I care about safe for a little while longer.

It means I throw Zurielle Rosi under the bus to save myself.

No one questions that part. I shouldn’t, either. If there’s a choice between this girl I barely know and my family, I will choose my family every time. I know what my father would say, what he would do. Family first. Always. It’s one of the few rules I’ve always followed. This just doesn’t feel right.

“This is wrong.” I don’t realize I’m going to speak until both my men look at me. “We shouldn’t have agreed to this.”

“Isabelle—”

I shake my head. “I don’t know if Zurielle trusts me, but she’s naïve and sheltered, and she hates it. She’s not going to look for the poison in this offer. She’s going to jump at it with both hands.” I don’t have to know her well to know that. I might not have always loved living under my father’s rules, but Zurielle hates it. I understand her feelings in a way only a youngest daughter can. “She’s going to take Ursa’s deal.”

“That’s her choice.” Beast frowns. “She gets a choice, which is a better offer than I was expecting.”

It’s Gaeton who seems to understand. He crouches down in front of me. “You can’t save everyone, Isabelle. Sometimes you have to choose who’s worth your blood and sacrifice, and let the other pieces fall where they may.”

“She’s so young, Gaeton.” I don’t know why I’m still arguing this. Because it could have been me a few years ago? “She’s like twenty-one. Maybe twenty-two. She doesn’t know enough to be afraid.”

He takes my hands, his dark eyes serious. “If you want to cross Ursa, say the word. We’ll figure out a different way.”

They would. They might question me, but they’ll adjust our course and shift to figuring out how to neutralize the threat Ursa offers. If we go that route, people will die. Maybe Ursa. Maybe one of the men I love. When it’s laid out like that, it seems a simple choice.

Then why do I feel like I’m selling my soul?

“Will she keep her word?”

Gaeton’s gaze doesn’t leave my face. “Likely. No matter what game she’s playing, Olympus will mobilize if the Thirteen think for a second that we’re snatching their people off the street and harming them. Hercules came of his own choice and no one died in the conflict with Zeus. Ursa’s too smart to stir that hornet’s nest. We can’t guarantee anything, but I’d bet on her pulling some manipulative shit that’s designed to fuck with Triton but doesn’t include murder.”

I look up at Beast. “Do you agree?” I’m looking for an excuse, and I know it. They know it, too.

He cups my chin. “Are you looking for permission or forgiveness?”

Just like that, I’m trying not to cry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I close my eyes for a long moment and fight for control. “This is dramatic, and I’m sorry. I know every single member of my family has had to make hard calls at one point or another and they all put us first. I know you two have done the same. This isn’t even that hard of a call. I don’t know why I’m struggling.”

“Because it’s your first.” Beast’s hand is so devastatingly gentle on my face. “For better or worse, Orsino kept you away from so much of what it takes to maintain the safety of the people in this territory. There will be other decisions like this in the future, and they’ll be more complicated and won’t always have a happy ending. It’s the way our world works.”

I know that. I truly do know that.

“I’m sorry.” I sigh and open my eyes. “I’m ready.”

Gaeton pulls me to my feet and envelops me in a hug. A breath later, Beast is pressed against my back, the weight of them steadying me just as much as their words did. Gaeton kisses the top of my head. “We’ll be in and out and back to Carver City by morning.”

We’re doing this. I know we’re doing it.

I just hope I find some peace about it.

Zurielle Rosi meets us in a tiny bar in a part of Olympus I’ve never been to. It’s enough to have Gaeton on full alert, but there’s no trouble as we slip through the door and make our way to the table in the back. It’s bathed in shadows, but I make out the slim form of Zurielle. She’s a pretty Vietnamese woman with long dark red hair, and she looks both terrified and excited when she sees me. “Isabelle.”

I slide into the chair across from her and feel Gaeton take a position at my back. It’s not exactly unobtrusive, but no one around us is paying the smallest bit of attention. “Hi, Zuri.”

“I almost didn’t believe it when I got your text.” She glances at Gaeton. “I see you’ve worked things out.”

“Yeah, it’s a little more complicated than that, but we have.” There’s no use stalling. I lean forward and lower my voice. “I have a message for you.”

She frowns. “That’s what you said, but you were really vague before.”

I still don’t know why Ursa wants me to be here instead of just sending a text with the message, but the woman has her reasons and I’ve made my decision. I glance around the room. “You know who Ursa is?”

She flinches. “The Sea Witch? Yes, I know who she is.”

“She told me to tell you…” It takes me a few seconds to get myself together. “She knows where Alaric is, and she’s willing to help reunite you.”

The hope in Zurielle’s brown eyes make me feel like a monster. She grabs my hands, gripping me tightly enough that I have to fight back a wince. “She can reunite us?”

Even though I should leave it at that, I can’t help myself. It’s too big a coincidence for me to have met an Alaric at the Underworld and to have the same name thrown around by Ursa and Zurielle. “He’s a tall guy, right? White, handsome, dark hair and blue eyes?”

“Yes, that’s him.”

I can feel Gaeton’s tension at my back, but I’ve gone too far to turn away now. “Zuri, he’s in the Underworld. You don’t need Ursa to find him.”

“I know where he is, Isabelle. It’s not the where that’s the problem.” She lets out a long exhale. “Thank you for delivering the message.”

“Don’t thank me. Not if you’re going to play right into her hands.”

She gives me a sad smile. “Some people are worth the risk.”

I can’t claim that’s a lie without being the worst kind of hypocrite. “Please be careful.”

“Thank you for delivering the message,” she repeats. She gives my hands one last squeeze and rises. “And you be careful leaving town tonight. There are strange things going on in Olympus.”

Before I can decipher that, she’s gone, hurrying out the door and into the night. I twist and look up at Gaeton. “Did I just make a mistake?”

“No.” He’s not looking at me, though. He’s studying the room as if assassins will burst from the walls at any moment. “You delivered a message and now she’s going to make a choice.”

“A choice that Ursa seems to have carefully orchestrated.”

“Zurielle is smart enough to see the strings. If she chooses to ignore them, that’s her choice, Isabelle. You have to let her make it.”

“What if she makes the wrong one?”

He pulls me to my feet, his expression serious. “Sometimes shitty things have to happen to keep our people safe, love. It’s the burden your father never wanted you to have.” He looks around again. “Do you want to leave?”

For a second, I think he’s talking about the bar, but then his true meaning penetrates. “You mean leave Carver City?”

“I don’t have to talk to Beast to know he’s with me in this. We’ll follow you wherever you need to be. Whether that’s Carver City or somewhere else.”

As if it’s just that easy.

Looking up at him, I realize that for Gaeton it is that easy. He would walk away from Carver City without a backward glance if I asked it of him. The knowledge leaves me dizzy. “I—” I take a breath and stop. He’s making a serious offer. I have to do it the honor of actually considering it.

The freedom of leaving the city tempts me. I’d have to be dead for it not to tempt me.

But walking away means leaving my sisters behind. Worse, it means leaving them vulnerable because I’d be taking Beast and Gaeton with me. If I stay, though, I can no longer look to the stars and hope for something different. If I choose to stay, I have to choose to be part of it.

I’ve already made my choice. I made it the second I took Ursa’s deal.

It might take some time to come fully to terms with what that means, with what it will cost, but my choice is made. I go on my tiptoes and kiss him. “Take me home. Our Beast is waiting for us.”

He studies me for a long moment and then nods. “Let’s go.”

We slip out of Olympus as smoothly as we slipped in. After all, no one is looking for us. I don’t know how long it will take for the guilt to fade. Maybe it never will. Maybe that’s just a burden I’ll have to bear, the knowledge that my family and my men will always outweigh any allegiance I have for others. They come first. They will always come first. My father’s voice seems to whisper to me in the back of my mind.

Family first. Always.