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“Maybe we should call Bria?” Kai suggests, and affable Dion glares.
“No,” he says with as much vehemence as I did.
Finn’s cheeks turn pink as he looks at his boyfriend.
“Why not?” Cassius asks. His tone says everything—he’s trying to stir the pot. “The Goddess of the Hunt would be pretty handy to have hanging around, since we can’t have the God of War with us.”
At the reminder of Galen, I step back, but Essos’s hand on my shoulder keeps me in this moment and not in any of the torturous ones with Galen.
“Because we can’t trust her. You’re lucky we’re trustingyou,” Dion snaps.
“Whyarewe trusting him?” Cat glances around at the group, then at Cassius with a healthy amount of suspicion. “I know I’m new to this intrigue, but I don’t know you from Adam.” Cat sees danger lurking in all corners. She doesn’t know yet that Cassius is exactly what you expect from the God of Vanity. Sensing we’re not quite ready to leave, she steps out of Xavier’s grip. He immediately reacts to her absence by shoving his hands back in his pockets.
“I’m the one who tried to help your dear, sweet Phoenix Queen. Even when it meant risking my life. So, excuse you. What haveyoudone for her? Besides boink her brother-in-law and be a general weakness, that is. I saw the pretty necklace Posey gave you. Whereisyour newest accessory?”
Xavier grabs Cassius by the throat and shoves him against the wall. “Why don’t we see howyoulike wearing a collar?” Sparks thread around the hand Xavier is using to hold Cassius to the wall. “I don’t care if Catalina speaks to you first—you are toneverspeak to her, say her name, or even look at her, or I will find the God Killer blade and carve up your pretty, pretty face.”
Cat looks at me, her green eyes wide and owlish. There is a faint flush to her cheeks, making me think that she might actually be turned on by this show of dominance. I know I might be too.
“Well, that’s settled,” Helene interrupts, clapping her hands. “Both of my brothers are being led by their dicks right now. But we still don’t have aplan.”
“We’ll go to my house first. I just want to look. I don’t want to interrupt their lives any more than necessary,” Zara says, cutting the tension much more effectively than Helene.
Xavier releases Cassius, leaving a ring of lighting around the other god’s throat before he calls it back.
“I’ll go with Finn,” Cat says breathlessly, stepping away from Xavier. Her lower lip is in her teeth as she rounds the table to my friend.
“Zara’s, then Cat’s. Then I want you all to come back to the house,” I tell them.
“What about your parents?” Essos asks, his thumb brushing my chin before he licks off whatever food was there. Whether it’s because I’m a messy eater or Xavier’s response left food falling out of my mouth, I don’t know.
“You and I can go there after. I don’t want to overwhelm them,” I tell him quietly.
“All due respect, Daph, you need back-up too. At least let Kai and I come with you. The rest of these fools can come back to the house and do whatever,” Helene offers. “You were, after all, the one that didn’t want the group to break up.”
“I amnota fool,” Cat snaps, humming with power.
“She didn’t mean you, Cat,” Kai says.
“As much as I hate it when my husband speaks for me, he’s right. I did mean the menfolk are being foolish. Namely, Cassius, for thinking that he can remotely measure up to Xavier. But that’s neither here nor there. Until you accept help getting control of your powers, you’re a liability, and Zara is still mortal.”
“I can measure up. I’m probably bigger than Xavier, too,” Cassius mumbles under his breath.
“AmI mortal, though?” Zara asks innocently.
“You’re as mortal as you can be. There’s not exactly precedence for a mortal existing outside the Underworld for long periods of time.” Dion’s tone has a hard edge to it, and I think he’s still affected from the mention of Bria’s name.
I wonder what went wrong with them the three of them.
“What about prior Callings?” Cat asks. “Were they even real?”
“Your Calling was very,veryreal,” Essos tells her, gripping the back of my neck. He squeezes it, and I turn to look at him. Just from staring into his eyes, I can tell he’s getting lost in those years that he participated in the Callings and I wasn’t by his side. “But it was just as much of a farce. I usually welcomed the girls in the Callings and let them be until someone told me I had to do something about them, and then I sent them to their afterlives. I knew Daphne wasn’t there, and I wasn’t interested in getting to know anyone else. There was only ever her.”
“Does anyone know how Posey is driving the zombies closer to our families?” Zara asks. She hugs her arms to her chest, doubt written all over her face.
“It’s probably something as simple as the scent of meat, or whatever the zombies want. She’s creating something that’s drawing them closer,” Dion supplies.
I glance into the solid blue of Essos’s eyes. “It’s got the be the scepter.”
