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The only other option is for Olympus to risk falling to the enemies we can barely see yet.
I head to my new office. It’s only been a few days since I was named Ares, but my crash course in the job has spotlighted how lazy the last Ares was. Nothing is filed properly. His second-in-command thought he could talk over me because of my gender. I fired him, but not before I nearly put his head through a wall when he tried to punch me. It’s a mess.
Maybe I’d be more optimistic if I wasn’t nursing a broken heart.
Three days, and not a single word from Achilles or Patroclus. Eros returned late that first night to let me know that Patroclus came through surgery just fine and is expected to make a full recovery. He’s out of danger, but Achilles still hasn’t reached out.
Hard to misinterpret that.
Maybe they meant what they said during the trials. Even if it was true then, their feelings didn’t hold up to my ruining their plans. And fuck if that doesn’t hurt more every time I think about it.
So I don’t think about it.
I have plenty of work to keep me busy. If sometimes I hide in my office and cry when the emotions get too tangled in my chest, I’m only human.
A knock on my door has me biting back a curse. “I swear to the gods, Diomedes, if you’re here to bitch about the schedule again, I’m going to fire you, too.”
“Rough start to the job?”
I freeze, my gaze pinned on my desk. Surely I’m hallucinating. I must be, because there’s no way Achilles is here after three days of silence. When I look up, it’s going to hurt all over again, and then I’m going to have to do something about this heartache, because I need all my facilities for this job.
But when I look up, he’s actually here. More, he’s not alone. He looks every inch the golden god he always does while standing behind a wheelchair containing Patroclus. He looks good, considering the last time I saw him, he was being rushed to the emergency room. He’s paler than normal and there’s a bandage peeking out from the collar of his shirt, but he’s here and smiling.
They’re both here and smiling.
I can’t move. I don’t have any frame of reference for them to show up like this. Are they here to let me down gently? Or…
“Can we come in?” Patroclus’s voice is a little raspy.
“Um. Right. Yes.” I start to stand but stop myself. “Shut the door behind you.” If this goes bad, the last thing I need is the old Ares’s people hearing me be officially dumped. It will undermine my authority even more. Achilles and Patroclus were soldiers beneath the last Ares before they went to Athena. I haven’t missed the whispers saying Achilles should have won, that’s he’s one of them and a known quantity. I’d just resigned myself to having to add my soldiers to the list of motherfuckers I’m going to prove wrong.
Achilles wheels Patroclus into the office and pauses to softly shut the door behind him. I open my mouth but force myself to hold my silence. They came to me. Achilles pushes Patroclus closer and drops into the empty chair next to him. He sighs. “Sorry it took us so long. The doctor was being stubborn—”
“If by stubborn, you mean doing his job,” Patroclus cuts in.
“Yeah. That.” Achilles waves the statement away. “How’s it being Ares?”
I plant my hands on the desk, mostly to hide the way I’m shaking. “I’m not saying I’m not happy to see you, but I would like to know why you’re here. Did you really come all this way to make small talk?”
“Right. That.” Achilles gives me a faintly guilty look. “You reached out for reassurance at the end of the last trial, and I kind of brushed you off. I’m sorry about that. It was a lot all at once, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Still, that doesn’t excuse leaving you in the wind, and I’m sorry.”
An…apology.
Hope flares, so sharp that I flinch. “It’s nothing. Forget about it.”
Patroclus shakes his head. “It’s not nothing, or you wouldn’t be looking at us like that.” He hesitates. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about the future we talked about.”
The hope inside me gets stronger. I could shut this down and keep from putting myself out there only to be let down devastatingly gently. I can’t. If there’s even a chance to be with these men, to realize the future they spun out for me, I have to try. I lick my lips. “No. I didn’t change my mind about it or about you.”
“Thank fuck.” Achilles slumps back in his chair. He grins, looking like his old self for the first time since he walked into my office. “We resigned from Athena’s leadership. We’re free agents right now. Let’s make it official.” He leans forward. “Make us yours.”
