“Can I explain before the two of you just start attacking me? Get out of my face and go sit down. You’ll get your answers. Keep your fire and spells to yourselves and let me speak.”
Charley just flounced back to the bench and plopped down. I joined my monsters and snuggled in. I wanted Hephaestus back and for this to be over more than anything, but we needed to know what we were walking into.
“Okay, the Fates. They spin our strings, and they cut them, but they need an outside action to actually do the killing. So, the Fates cut Demeter’s string, but they still needed Hephaestus to make a weapon and someone to use it on her. That is why they went to the Horae and told them to help Hephaestus. Whatever strings they are planning on cutting need more than him there to actually get the job done. Does that satisfy you?”
Charley was okay with this, but I wasn’t. I still had questions. I was good at my job because I asked a lot of those.
“Okay, so the Fates can cut the strings of Olympians and demigods. What about humans who were cursed by Olympians and changed into monsters? They technically have Olympian magic in them now.”
I saw the look that passed over Hades’s face.He didn’t know.Charley, Finn, Solron, Barbatos, and I would be safe when we went, but Hades was askingmymonsters to go knowing the Fates said strings were getting cut. And he couldn’t know for sure if the Fates had strings for them that were getting cut as collateral damage. And my monsters knew it too. Kimon tightened his arms around my waist and squeezed me.
“We’re still going, baby bird. You aren’t setting foot in Olympus without us.”
“Damned straight!” Pavlina said. “Hades doesn’t know for sure, so there’s a fifty-fifty chance I kill Athena or she kills me. I’ve got a weapon, venom, and webs. She cursed me with that. It’s only fair I get to slow her down with them so I can kill her.”
Tryphon’s tentacle wrapped around my ankle.
“We need this, River. Poseidon needs to die, and so does anyone else who would want that weapon. Kimon and Demos might not need it, but Pavlina and I need our revenge. We need closure, and we need to end this before anyone gets bright ideas about coming to the Underworld.”
I knew they needed this. Even Demos and Kimon might need their revenge, and I got that. I had never really been about killing my enemies before I got kidnapped, but I’d done my share of petty revenge before. But that was it. It was petty and passive-aggressive. I eventually grew out of that, but I still understood that urge.
I also knew that even if they didn’t need closure by killing the gods that cursed them, they wouldn’t let me go without them. It wasn’t like I could ask anyone here to go in their place either. The demigods here would all have strings, and the humans weren’t fighters. They’d all be slaughtered and get me killed too. Plus, we had cut many of the human population down when the monsters revolted at the arena.
“You’re all leaving first thing in the morning,” Hades said. “With the time difference in Olympus, you’ll get to the gates late at night when everyone is asleep.”
My monsters all started whooping and letting out battle cries. I should have felt good about seeing Hephaestus again and being closer to ending this.
Hint. I wasn’t now that I knew about those strings.
Chapter 13
Hephaestus
E
ven with the Horae on our side, the Fate’s little spoiler, and my weapons, sneaking that many people into Olympus was risky. I could sneak in and out of Zeus’s palace with ease because I’d done it before, and it was just me. Getting that many people inquietlyand without being seenwas going to be a problem. In the time I’d spent around River’s other mates, they weren’t exactly the silent type. I considered them my brothers and sisters now and loved their little quirks, but they absolutely could not start throwing jabs at each other until we were safely in one of these secret soundproof rooms.
But I knew deep down Hades wouldn’t have trusted them with Persephone’s life if they weren’t on mission when needed. My little Hellspawn wasn’t even close to a trained assassin. She was a fucking animal healer, and I thought that was amazing. There used to be a time if an animal was sick, it was just killed without trying to treat it. River had an advantage that she could hear them, but she told us all about the years she spent in school learning how to help them.
And I loved that she did that. Even though she was the one to kill Demeter, I didn’t want her to do that again, killing my family. She had a temper on her, and she could be twisted about things in a way I adored. But despite what happened with Demeter, she wasn’t a killer like the rest of us. I don’t think she’d fully processed what happened with Demeter. Or, maybe she had. I was gone so much after that, and I didn’t have long with her before Zeus snatched me like Hades and I knew he would.
I was still hiding in the walls and spying on Zeus until it was time to go back to the Horae and sneak everyone in. I still had a few hours to go, and Zeus was furious.
“What do you mean you can’t get in? Just kick the fucking door down!”
“If Hephaestus could make a weapon that could kill us, don’t you think he also made a door I can’t get into? I’m down for the count. I have to heal before I make any more attempts to break in.”
What the fuck did Ares do? My volcano wasn’t booby-trapped unless you considered the location. Ares had a habit of punching things. I’m sure his knuckles were so calloused, beating my door did nothing, and healing a broken hand was nothing to us. Zeus knew this too.
“If you broke something, you should be healed by now, Ares! Get back to work.”
“His forge is in a fucking volcano! I tried an alternate route. I have lava burnson my ass.Seriously, it nearly melted my perfect ass right off. I have to regrow my ass, Zeus. If he’s in there, I’m going to find those weapons and murder him with them. You’ve seen my ass, right? It’s nicer than anyone’s ass in all of Olympus.”
I guffawed so loudly I nearly gave away my position behind the wall. Only Ares was dumb enough to break into my forgethrough the lava.He probably thought he was so powerful it wouldn’t burn him. Ares had never been a smart Olympian, but at least he had a nice ass going for him. Until he burned it off in my volcano. I could not stop giggling like a child.
“I don’t want to hear about your ass again, Ares. We’ve all seen it, and we’re tired of you showing it off. I want results!”
“Regrowing your ass is painful, you wanker. It’s not just that my ass is fabulous, and I’m mad about it. It fucking hurts. I’ll bet he did something to that lava.”
