I had always been skeptical about the idea of having more than one man, but knowing Orion had opened my heart in such unexpected ways. But even before I began warming to the ideaof loving two men, I only ever dared to fantasize of having them both…together. Perhaps that was just prejudice from my old life, but it never occurred to me that two men could also want something like that.
And yet it had all felt like the most natural thing in the world when we were in the archives.
“Thank you!” said the Ktínos woman with a toddler on her hip who was whining and making grabby hands at the bread I had just given them. “We missed you, my lady.”
“I also missed seeing all of you,” I admitted honestly, returning her smile as she made way for the next person in line. There were only a few people left, and the sky was beginning to darken.
“So… do I really need to ask or are you going to ever tell me what the fuck happened with Orion?” asked Ares once the last person was served.
“I think that was you asking,” I noted evasively.
“Alright,fine, so what the fuck was that?” he insisted, unabashedly nosey as usual.
Thankfully, Sofia gave him a smack on the shoulder.
“It is hardly your business,” she chastised him despite the fact I knew she was every bit as curious as he was.
“So?” he challenged her, tail swishing in aggravation that he had been repressing all day.
“You have to ask Orion,” I informed him and began to help prepare the dishes to be washed. Knowing that Ares would never even entertain such a ludicrous idea.
“Thárrosi!” he shouted in a mock injury as his hand slapped against his chest. “Why do you threaten me?”
“So dramatic,” I muttered, fighting a smile as I shook my head at his persistence.
“Stop flirting and get back to work somewhere else!” Helena’s voice cut sharply through the air, making Ares straighten to attention.
“I was not… I would never dream of… Yes,mitéra,” he muttered finally, bowing his flushing face before he jumped into theair with a rush of air under his wings.
“That was mean,” I chuckled as Helena joined me and Sofia to begin preparations to leave.
“They found his sister. My tolerance for his nonsense is now back at zero,” Helena shrugged.
I had been so relieved to hear Althaea was found just that morning, although she did not remember what had happened to her. One second she was following Nikos through the busy streets of Árgos, and the next she was waking up in a gutter at the outskirts of town. With all of her injuries, it had taken her some time to heal before she was able to fly home.
“We should move quickly. It is getting dark and this city can be unsavoury when all the unsound come out,” Helena urged me.
I hesitated when her words jarred a memory of Castor suggesting I should look into another group of people. People he had dubbed mentally unsound who evidently lived in warehouses by the docks.
“Do you mean people who are mentally ill?” I asked as I continued my efforts to clean up.
“Them and the criminals,” Helena shrugged as if she did not see a difference.
Riordan was so sure that Castor was to blame in some part for whatever schemes were being concocted against the both of us. But then why would he send me to help the most marginalized people in all of the Rookery? It could be a trap, of course, luring me in with something he knew was so important to me. But it suddenly occurred to me that if I could confirm it wasnota trap, that Castor did genuinely wish to help, it could prove his trustworthiness. Then I could know for sure whether he was an enemy or a potential ally.
“I would like to visit the docks,” I announced and both Helena and Sofia turned wide eyes on me.
“You want to—” Helena bit off her retort with a sigh. “Thárrosi,it is not safe there.”
“We haveplenty of guards with us,” I objected with a glance at my handmaiden who looked a little pale.
“Be that as it—” Helena began.
“I need to know something. Castor told me—”
“Castoris the one who told you to go to the docks?” Sofia verified, her face now flushing with temper.
“All the more reason not to go there,” Helena stated and reached for me. I had to pull my arm away when she tried to draw me away from the supplies I was packing. As if she were so worried by my request that she wanted to take me home before the cleanup was done.
