I turn away. “No Icarus tagging along? Did he finally wise up and run?”
“I asked him to stay.” Poseidon hands over that piece of information with a frankness that sets my teeth on edge. The man hasn’t learned to lie in all the time I’ve known him, and the secondhand embarrassment is almost too much to bear. I would never expose myself like that to someone who might as well be an enemy. I don’t wish him harm, but he should know there’s no guarantee I won’t use any and all information against him. He should act as if I’m a threat in order to protect himself.
I make myself turn back to face him. If he can be brave enoughto hold a frank conversation, then I suppose I can meet him halfway. “Why? It was clear that he loved you, and you him.”
“Yes,” Poseidon says simply. “But neither of us are our own people right now. I have responsibilities to Olympus, to my people, and Icarus has responsibilities to his. When this is over, I’ll go to him.”
As simple as that. Something strange and insidious takes root in my chest. What would it be like to love someone that much? To be willing to walk away from the things we’ve been taught to want more than anything? People lie, cheat, steal, and murder to claim one of the Thirteen titles of Olympus.
Poseidon is going to set his down for the sake of love? I’m…jealous.
Apparently my silence speaks for itself, because he continues. “Triton might have kept his daughters sheltered to a criminal degree, but Pallas is smart—and kind and fair. It will take her a little bit of time to understand exactly what she needs to do to be Poseidon, but I’ll be there with her until she’s steady on her feet.”
In the end, there’s not really much say, is there? This isn’t my choice, no matter how little I like it. It’s his. “Okay.”
“Okay?” He repeats it almost as a question but then gives himself a shake. “I’ve received the bare-bones update from Athena and Ares, but is there any additional news?”
I’m pathetically grateful to be back on solid ground once more, even if that solid ground is currently a shit show. “Circe has us on a wild-goose chase. There have been half a dozen sightings of her around town, but every time we rush out to apprehend her, it’s either a mistaken identity or she disappears like a ghost. We’re wastingtime and resources, which is no doubt exactly what she wants, but I don’t know what the fuck else to do.” I hate admitting inadequacy, but there’s no one here to witness it except Poseidon himself.
He scratches at his beard. “I told Demeter to keep an eye on the mountains bordering the countryside.”
My head jerks up so fast that my neck twinges. “What did you say?”
“It’s all patterns, isn’t it?” He motions vaguely with his big hand. “Every step of the way, Circe is showing us something over here”—he wiggles his fingers—“while she’s doing something over here that furthers her goals.” His other hand comes from behind his back, where it has been hidden previously. “She did it with Minos and his party and the assassination clause, sowing discord in the city.”
The pieces click together faster and faster. “And in the lower city, with Hades. She had him chasing his tail while she was filtering people into the city and setting up the blockade.”
“The blockade was a distraction, too.”
Maybe, maybe not. There’s no way she could have known about Icarus’s blackmail, or that it would work. She was betting on the Thirteen not being able to unify to vote and attack her—a bet she would have won if not for the temporary coup.Weweren’t sure until we were on the water that Icarus’s former patrons would obey his order to abandon Circe, sending four of the five ships back to Aeaea. There’s no wayCircecould have known. If we hadn’t acted, I suspect those ships would have actually taken action at some point.
But Poseidon is right. Circe has hedged her bets from the beginning. She did it with the ships, too. Otherwise she would have beenaboard when we attacked. Or the ships would have used their weapons on the city the moment they had a chance. Instead, they sat out in the water, igniting terror and confusion and cutting off our trade. Even so…the mountain pass? “There’s no way through the mountains.”
“Isn’t there?” Poseidon shrugs. “Maybe that’s the truth. Or maybe we just assumed it was the truth because the barrier made us complacent. All our maps of those mountains predate the founding of the city and the formation of the barrier. There might be passes that have changed in the intervening time. That kind of thing wouldn’t necessarily be visible by satellite. We’d never know.”
Circe shouldn’t know, either, but there’s no space forshouldn’twhen it comes to that woman. I nod slowly. “I’ll talk to Ares and have her divert some of her people to scour the foothills that make up the perimeter around the civilian encampment. There’s no guarantee that we’ll find a pass even if it exists, but at least we won’t be caught flat-footed if there’s an attack from that position.” Even as I say it, it feelsright.
Of course Circe would attack from where we least expect it. Of course she would have me chasing my tail in the city proper while she sinks her claws into the civilians in the countryside—where we evacuated them. Again. “Fuck.” I rub my hands over my face. “Do we bring them back to the city?”
“I don’t know.” Poseidon looks just as agonized as I do. “There don’t seem to be any good choices.”
“Truer words, Poseidon, truer fucking words.”
14
Zeus
My wife doesn’t make it home in time for dinner. I should have expected that. Not just because of how tumultuous our relationship is, but because of everything that happened today. My losing control in the bar. The fucking video being released not an hour later. Everything.
I should be more understanding. If I were a better man, I would be. But as the minutes tick by into hours, all I can hear is Atalanta’s voice in my ear.
Do you know where your wife is?
Foolish of me to think she would come tomefor comfort. She hates me. She’s told me so often enough to have it inscribed on my bones. The only time she lets down her mask is when she’s orgasming, and even then it’s done in the dark. If she’s looking for comfort, she’ll have gone to her mother, her sisters, or…her lover?
That thought of her in the arms of another drives me out of my fucking mind. Not enough to lose control, though. The only time she actually manages to get under my skin so effectively is when she’s inthe room with me. So I don’t dump the entire dinner that I ordered catered—her favorite—in the trash. I meticulously pack it away and store it in the fridge. Even as I go through the motions, I can hear my father’s mocking laughter in the back of my mind. Telling me I’m a fool, a cuckold, a little bitch. Why bother with this small act of kindness when she’s in someone else’s bed?
I don’t have an answer now. I don’t think I ever will. This marriage is nothing more than a sham, no matter what high hopes I harbored in my deepest, darkest heart. Shattered now. And I have no one to blame but myself.
