“I will deal with you back in the lower city as well. See to my wife. Now.” Everyone files out of the room except for Imbros, Perseus, Hades, and me. Hades turns to give me his full attention, and for the first time since meeting my brother-in-law, I have to fight not to take a step back. His voice is quiet, but somehow that’s even scarier than if he were yelling. “I have stood by and allowed you to involve your sister in your little schemes and plots. No longer. You may be her family, Callisto, but I’m her husband. It’s increasingly clear that you don’t give a fuck about anyone except for yourself.”
I can’t speak. It feels like he’s reached out and wrapped a hand around my throat, cutting off my words, cutting off my air. It’s not true. I love my sisters and my mother more than anything. I would burn the fucking world for them. I never wanted Persephone to get hurt. The entire reason we were meeting is to avoid that very outcome.
But I can’t find the words to say any of it.
“That’senough, Hades.” Perseus steps in front of me, not quite blocking my view of my brother-in-law but clearly conveying that if Hades wants to get to me, he’ll have to go through my husband first. “We’ve all been making mistakes lately, so I think it’s time for a little grace.”
“You’ve had grace. You’ve abused it. Zeus. Hera. Stay out of the lower city. You arenotwelcome there.” He turns and stalks out of the room, the door swinging softly shut behind him.
20
Zeus
I watch Callisto deflate before my eyes. Her shoulders slump. Her head bows. The only sign of the woman I’ve come to know is her clenched fists at her side. We stand there in silence as Hades’s team finishes up and whisks from the room. There’s a disturbance in the hallway, likely the second team acquiring Orpheus. It happens so damned fast. Despite myself, part of me admires how effective he is. If there’s a leader that I would have chosen to model myself after, it’s Hades.
But that ship has long since sailed.
With how tentative and tumultuous things are between Callisto and me, I hate to bring up what we need to do next. Unfortunately, hiding from the truth won’t make it less likely to kick you in the teeth. “Are you going to tell your mother? Or shall I?”
She lifts her head, her expression wan. “Do we have to?”
The look we share is full of so much acknowledged misery that I almost laugh despite myself. Only knowing I’ll soon be on the phone with Demeter herself, explaining to her how two of her beloveddaughters were hurt under my watch, keeps my lips from curving. “You know we do.”
She tilts her head back and stares at the ceiling, obviously contemplating options that won’t require the phone call. In that moment, I take the opportunity to survey her again. For all she told me, her wound is just a graze, for all the doctor informed me that both her and the fetus are fine, it’s still hard to believe she’s okay.
Likely because she’snotokay. Getting shot is hardly a normal experience or without its trauma. Callisto showing even the slightest sign of buckling indicates that she’s significantly more affected than she appears.
Finally, she says, “You tell her. If I do, then it’ll become a fight, and I need my mother to listen when I see her next. I need her to see things my way.”
See things her way.Her sister said several things before being whisked out of the room. I have questions about that—and the meeting itself. Callisto was very careful to ensure I had no knowledge of it, and she didn’t even bring her trio of ever-present guards with her. That seems to indicate a level of secrecy that has nothing to do with her ongoing plans to murder me. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.
I cross my arms over my chest. “I’ll call your mother and take the fall, on one condition.”
“Oh, we’re bargaining now?” She raises her eyebrow, seeming to settle a little bit more within her skin. “All right. Let’s hear it. What’s your condition?”
It’s a risk, but everything we do these days is a risk. She already knows I feel enough for her to complicate things. And if shedoesn’tknow, then it’s because she’s being intentionally obtuse. Everyone else fucking knows. “After this call, once we get the all clear from your doctor, you’re coming home with me tonight. And you’re staying there all night. Tomorrow, you’ll accompany me to the countryside.”
She narrows those pretty hazel eyes. “Not to stay in the countryside.”
For all that her mother’s scheming is enough to keep even the most composed person up at night, Demeter cares for her daughters deeply and would throw herself in front of a tank to save them. It would never come to that, of course. She has schemes within schemes within schemes, all designed to secure power and increase it. If a tank threatened, she’d bribe the driver and turn it on her enemies. If bribery didn’t work, she’d find something to blackmail them with. She’s formidable in a way even my father was wary of. There are few places safer for my wife than at her mother’s side.
But I don’t want Callisto so far from me. Selfish. Foolish. Pick your insult. It’s all true and more. I’m a damned fool for her; despite all her murderous impulses, I don’t want her to leave the city proper. “Not to stay. Poseidon thinks Circe might be planning something in relation to the mountains. It’s possible she has knowledge of a pass through them that’s been lost in Olympian history. I’m going to take some of Ares’s people and look into it. You can use the opportunity to spend some time with your mother and Psyche.”
“That’s…thoughtful.” It sounds almost like an accusation coming from her. She’s not entirely wrong to be suspicious. If she’s ensconced in her family’s bosom, she’ll at least be safe while I investigate the perimeter.
“Do we have a deal?”
She only hesitates a beat. “Yes.”
Now for the truly challenging part. I pull out my phone and dial Demeter before I can think too hard about what’s coming. I barely let her get a greeting out before I cut in. “There was an incident involving Persephone and Callisto. They’re both fine and expected to make a full recovery.”
“A full recovery.” I’ve never heard three normal words sound so threatening. Not even my father could quite pull off the same level of polite menace. “I am going to need more details than that, dear Zeus.”
I glance at my wife and then partially turn away from her. I may take the fall for this, but she’s not fully free from blame. “They were meeting on the banks of the River Styx. There was a sniper. They and their two guards were all wounded but not severely enough to endanger their lives. The worst was Orpheus, who needed surgery, but he came through just fine and is well enough to be transported back to the lower city, alongside Persephone and Medusa. That was the first order Hades issued upon arriving at the hospital.”
“He did what?”
Maybe I’m a coward, but if I’m willing to take the fall for my wife, I’m sure as fuck not for Hades. If I can throw him to the wolf that is Demeter in the process? All the better. Lethimdeal with her fury. “He charged in here and took both Persephone and her guards to the lower city. I’m not sure that any of them were actually discharged.”
