AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” She gasps. “Why would someone do something like that?”
It’s a good question. I don’t know what this greenhouse is, but it’s obviously got some import for her to react like that.
Instead of answering directly, Charon says, “Why don’t you tell me?” He takes a couple bites of the pancakes while he waits.
Eurydice sips her coffee and considers him. After a momentshe says, “Hades and Persephone spend a lot of time there. It’s not exactly advertised, but anyone who’s familiar with the lower city is aware that the greenhouse functions as a refuge for both of them. It’s a direct attack.”
“And?”
She sighs. “I didn’t realize this was a test.”
“It’s not a test.” He takes another bite and chews slowly. “You’re the daughter of one of the Thirteen, sister to another, and sister-in-law to two more. It’s smart to reason through what moves your family’s enemies will make.”
“I know.” Another sigh, this one almost playful. It strikes me that this is something of a teaching game they’ve played before. She sets her coffee mug down. “Okay, it’s not a simple attack. If it was that, they would have actuallyattacked. Was Matthew okay?”
“Yes. Scared, but okay.”
“Hmm.” She nods. “If they hurt one of Hades’s people, then he would seek them out and destroy them. It would be a direct conflict. This is more insidious.”
“How?”
“I’m working on it.” She points her fork at him. “If he can’t even keep one of his refuges safe, then can he keep his people safe? It’s more about sowing fear and distrust than about seeking a confrontation. One of his strengths is that he protects the lower city, and he wasn’t able to do that this time.”
“Yes.” Charon takes a deep drink of his coffee. “It’s a problem. They didn’t leave a trail, and while we have cameras scattered about, they didn’t pick up anything.”
“So they studied the system before taking this step.”
“Looks like it.”
I mull that over as they move on to more mundane topics, talking about people I don’t know. The upper city has seen increasing unrest in the last month. It makes sense that the lower city is seeing it as well, but it’s interesting that it’s not taking the same route. I don’t know what that says about the people involved.
Apollo’s warning rings through my head again. It’s not just the Thirteen in danger these days. Triton might have been killed for other reasons, but there’s really no way to tell for sure.
Is Eurydice in danger?
The thought makes me scrub harder, until my fingers cramp. I’m no warrior. Besides, with Charon at her side, she hardly needs more protection. That doesn’t change the fact that I want to do whatever it takes to ensure she’s safe.
No matter what that looks like.
10
EURYDICE
It’s very hard to focus on what Charon is saying when I can see Orpheus scrubbing the floor out of the corner of my eye. Up to this point, I’ve never participated in kink; I’ve only observed and read about it. But Charon is right in that I’ve spent a number of months in the club watching different scenes play out…and I’ve spent just as many months getting myself off to the fantasy of participating. Before this morning, I would have said I leaned more submissive.
There’s no denying the pure bolt of power that went through me when I told Orpheus to crawl like a good dog. There’s an element of wanting to humiliate him, but the surrender in his dark eyes went to my head faster than any alcohol I’ve ever drunk.
I need time to think about what that means, about the implications, but at this point I’m just feeling my way. I glance at Charon under my lashes. He hasn’t looked at Orpheus once, but there’s a tension in his shoulders that isn’t normally present when it’s just us.
And there’s the way he put his hand around Orpheus’s throat. I saw how Charon flushed, just a little. That wasn’t all for me. We’re in this mess up to our eyeballs, but it’s strangely comforting that we’re in it together.
Orpheus finishes the kitchen and takes the time to clean out the bucket—not an easy feat on his knees with the high counters—before returning it back to the closet it came from.
Charon glances at him and opens his mouth, but I know what comes next. Every scene has a different flow, a unique cadence. But one thing that is consistent is that a…submissive…needs to be taken care of. A good job should be rewarded.A good dog should be praised.I snap my fingers. “Come.” I point to the spot right next to my chair. “Sit here.”
Orpheus doesn’t hesitate. The tile floors have to be killing his knees, but he doesn’t complain as he crawls to me and kneels carefully at my side. He bows his head and a bolt of something sizzling and complicated goes through me.
I hesitate, but he didn’t complain and he showed every evidence of doing exactly as I ordered to the best of his ability. It’s the most natural thing in the world to place my hand on his head and guide it to my thigh. “Good boy.”
