40

40

Consequences

Walking away would only piss Hades off more, so I face him, arms crossed but with a deliberately sweet smile. “Didn’t you just curse yourself?”

“What?” He’s still glaring out the window with his back to me.

“‘Godsdamned.’ That’s you that you’re damning.”

Hades turns slowly and pins me with a look that could skewer a wild bull. “You picked the runt of the litter for your ally. Not even a discussion with me first. With that unexpected and supremely inconvenient soft heart of yours, I am damned.”

“Don’t call him that.” I eye him with deliberate patience. “And by that logic, you picked me, and so you damned yourself.”

Hades’ glare hones to dagger-sharp. “So I did.”

“Glad we can agree on something. I’m taking a shower and a nap—”

Suddenly, Hades’ demeanor shifts. Just slightly, in a way that’s hard to pin down. He’s still angry, but now it’s smoother, like the difference between a charging bear and a coiled rattlesnake. “Starting a collection, are we?”

I sigh like I’m dealing with an irritating gnat. “What are you on about now?”

His eyes narrow, but I widen mine and give him my most guileless stare. If he’s trying to make a point, I’m certainly not going to help him.

“First your thief-not-friend,” he says. “Now one of the champions. Falling at your feet.”

Falling at my feet? My laugh is edged in bitterness. He knows about my curse. “Are you being deliberately cruel because I didn’t consult with you about Zai?”

If looks could skewer, I’d be bleeding. “It’s possible the curse isn’t what you think. They seem to like you well enough.”

“They do not.”

“You’re willfully naive if you don’t see it.”

“And you’re hallucinating if you do. One is only an ally. The other told me to my face that we’re just friends. No one is falling at my feet. It is not possible, and you know it.”

Actually, the person who comes closest to disproving my curse is Hades. With that kiss last night. Although lust and love are two very different things—which I saw all too often back home. I’d not really understood others’ interest in one without the other, but as I stare at Hades’ full bottom lip, I’m starting to get it. On paper, my crush on Boone isn’t gone, but he’s never spun me out of control like Hades. It’s the difference between a cozy fire in a potbellied stove and burning down the entire house.

“Let’s circle back to your ally,” Hades says, thankfully oblivious to my thoughts.

The hard stare he levels on me would have most quaking in their boots. I just pinch the bridge of my nose. “What about Zai? We have an agreement.”

If possible, Hades goes even harder, eyes like flint. “And you believed him?”

Now he’s calling me gullible and careless. I raise my chin. “I do now.” Mostly.

Hades gets even quieter. “You can’t trust him.” But his control breaks over the next three snarled words. “Damn it, Lyra.”

I don’t mind being yelled at, but sworn at? No. I raise one eyebrow, crossing my arms. “You want to rethink your tone?”

Hades stalks across the space between us, and I swear smoke is lifting off of him in black tendrils. “No, I don’t want to rethink my fucking tone.”

He doesn’t stop coming, but despite the twisting nerves in my belly telling me I might have gone too far, I refuse to back up like a coward. I have to deliberately plant my feet to keep from running, though.

He jerks to a halt a mere foot from me, radiating a thousand nuances of frustration. “You will be the death of me, Lyra Keres.”

“Why?” I ask. His lips flatten, and I raise my hands. “It’s an honest question. Allying with Zai worked today. It worked.”

“You got lucky.”

I snort. “I picked the right ally, Hades. And growing up the way I did, I know what to look for. Thieves are, by nature and training, untrustworthy, backstabbing, and conniving. So just because I didn’t run this decision by your committee of dictatorness doesn’t mean I wasn’t smart about it.”

Hades stares at me, jaw working like he’s trying to figure out how to deal with me. Which I’m guessing doesn’t happen often to him. When he finally speaks, it’s softer. “Lyra, I swear if you don’t take this seriously—”

“If Zai hadn’t figured out the answer in time, then I’d have climbed down.” Hopefully without mishap. Which reminds me. “The others—”

“All made it safely down the worst part of the mountain. They’re still walking the rest of the way. And the one champion who fell survived.”

I blow out a breath of relief. “Amir.”

“Can’t be healed, since he’s not a Mind virtue, but is being looked at.”

I nod. “That’s good—”

He grunts. “Your stubborn insistence on saving everyone around you—”

“Maybe not Dex,” I mutter out the side of my mouth.

“What?”

What does he mean, what? Hasn’t he been paying attention? “Dex Soto. Athena’s champion. Took a swipe at me with my own relic. Tried to kill me on the road into town yesterday—”

“He did what?” His voice descends to something fiery.

I ignore the interruption. “He’s on my Save Last list.”

Hades stares at me with the kind of incredulity usually reserved for Felix and sometimes the other pledges. Only with them, it’s…belittling. With Hades, it feels like I won a small point. “You’re making lists now?” he asks slowly.

“I always make lists.”

“Like who to save last? Not who not to save at all?”

I shrug.

“You should know that Athena’s blessing gave Dex Soto foreknowledge,” he says. “I suspected it in the last challenge when he started climbing so fast, but this time he was dressed and ready.”

“So was Rima.”

He shrugs. “Trust me. Dex is getting information on the Labors early. I’m not sure how early, though.”

“Kim Dae-hyeon has a necklace that glowed when he asked the Fates a question,” I add, since we’re cataloging threats.

He nods, then says, “That’s not your only problem. I think you’re going to need to add some more names to your list.”

My heart falters a little. “Why?”

“You didn’t see those champions’ faces when Zai flew you away. You made more enemies today than the ones you already had.”

Well…hells. This is where my curse is going to start kicking in hard, then. “What was I supposed to do? Go it alone for every challenge?”

“You have me—”

A swirl of smoke like a tornado suddenly fills the room behind Hades, and when it dissipates, a massive black dog with three heads is standing in its place. Three heads filled with giant, razor-sharp teeth.