He looks like he wants to argue but finally shakes his head and does as she commands. My sister only has to elicit a single shiver and Medusa releases me and moves to drape her coat over Persephone. This is fucking ridiculous.
I give Medusa a long look. “Do you need my sweater to complete the circle?”
She smiles, so fucking handsome that if I weren’t Hera and she wasn’t in a long-term relationship with Calypso, I might set out to seduce her. But even I know better than to cross Calypso.
Medusa shrugs. “The cold doesn’t bother me much.” She glances at Persephone. “As entertaining as this has been, clock is ticking.”
“Right.” My sister crosses to me and takes my hands.
It’s Psyche all over again. There was a time, not long ago, when we all shared a house and a life. I never realize how much I miss those simpler days until I’m in the presence of one of my sisters again. It makes me shudder. It makes meweak. All I want is to go back to that safety, and it’s not going to happen unless I can pull this off.
Persephone squeezes my hands. “What’s going on? What was so important that we had to talk in person?”
I might have told Psyche about the parasite, but Persephone is essentially queen of the lower city. If any of my sisters understandthe stakes of what we’re up against, it’s her. And so, for the first fucking time in so long, I tell the truth. “Circe is in the city.”
“I know. Hades said they weren’t able to reach the ship before she escaped, and she made landing on the coast.”
“No, Persephone. Circe isin the fucking city. She sought me out. She told me what’s coming. I need you to listen to me right fucking now because our very lives depend on it.”
Persephone goes still. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know if she gives a shit about the civilians, but she’s gunning for the Thirteen. She wants to dismantle our entire power structure and she can’t do that as long as the titles exist.” There’s no point in mentioning Hermes technically wants the same thing. Hermes isn’t the one threatening my sisters and mother. “She’s going to kill anyone who doesn’t step down. That means Hades. That means them.” I press my hand to my sister’s stomach. “Unless we leave. If we walk now, she’ll give everyone in the family a stay of execution.”
Persephone searches my face with hazel eyes nearly identical to mine. It doesn’t take her more than a moment to run through scenarios. My beautiful, cunning sister lifts her chin and I know I’m in trouble. “My husband has seen more sorrow than one person should ever bear. He will never step down, will never betray his people’s trust—ourpeople’s trust. I understand Circe was hurt by the establishment and by the last Zeus, but that doesn’t give her license to pass that hurt onto the people I care about.”
“Persephone—”
She shakes her head, cutting me off. “I know you hate Olympus. I know you hate the Thirteen and the legacy families and everythingelse about our lives since we came to the city proper. I understand, Callisto. I promise I do. But this ismy fucking familywe’re talking about.” She releases my hands and takes a step back. In this moment, I know that I’ve lost her. “Tell Circe that if she crosses the borders into the lower city, I’ll cut her throat myself.”
No. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. I stumble after her, suddenly losing all grace and poise. “Persephone, you have to listen to me. She already has people in the lower city. They have you in their sights—literally. If you don’t do what she wants—”
She shakes her head again. “Think, Callisto. It doesn’t matter if Hades steps down, because he’s a legacy title. Even if the Thirteen are gone, the people of the lower city will follow him, no matter what his name is, no matterwherehe is. Circe can’t let him live. And she can’t let me—us—live, either.”
“But she promised…” Even as I say the words, I recognize what Persephone is saying as truth. But desperation keeps me going. “If he left the city, if you left the city, she wouldn’t try to hurt us.”
“No. That’s my answer, Callisto.” She starts to turn back toward the boat. “I’m here for you, and I love you. If you want to seek refuge in the lower city, I will fight to make it happen. But I willnotask my husband to give the lower city and his title. Circe doesn’t have the market cornered on suffering, and it would do her well to remember that.”
I open my mouth to keep arguing, but I never get a chance to. A boom sounds, so loud that it makes my ears ring, and pain blossoms in my shoulder. I blink and press my hand there, my brain not wanting to process what the red against my skin means.
I’ve…just been shot.
Interlude II
Hermes
Hera is more resourceful than I realized. She also doesn’t listen worth a damn. It would make me like her more under different circumstances, but we aren’t in different circumstances. Hera, Persephone, Orpheus, Medusa, all standing out in the open without the slightest bit of concern about a sniper. I don’t know what they’re thinking.
“We’re in awar, people,” I murmur under my breath. I exhale slowly and pull the trigger at the same time. It would be the easiest thing in the world to riddle them with bullets and put an end to this once and for all. Hades would crumble without his beloved Persephone. Zeus wouldn’t, but it would still fuck with his head something fierce to lose his Hera. Following in Daddy’s footsteps and all that. Even killing Orpheus would serve me, because it would send Eurydice and Charon into a death spiral, which would further destabilize Hades, Zeus, and Demeter in the process. A neat solution. There’s only one problem.
Ilikethem.
Well, maybe not Demeter, even if I appreciate her cunning. Butthe others? When Hades disposed of the last Zeus, finally realized his potential, and fell madly in love with his new bride? I cheered just as loudly as the rest of Olympus. He’s what passes for a unicorn in this city—a genuinely good man.
But, no matter my personal feelings on the matter, I can’t allow them to have this meeting and go their merry ways to fuck up my plans.
I shut down the frenzy of my thoughts and focus on my targets. Hera’s got a wicked graze in her upper arm. I should have known such a small injury wouldn’t be enough to takeherdown.
Persephone gets a careful bullet graze across her back. Thankfully, Medusa is pinning her in place so I don’t have to worry about her jerking and endangering herself. Next is Orpheus, throwing himself forward to protect Hera. She’s so furious, I can practically feel the energy of it from here, high up on an abandoned building’s roof.
