AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I just started to get settled into the idea of a future with the three of us, and now it’s actively in danger. I can’t tell them to stay here and stay safe any more than they can tell me to do the same.We are who we are. That doesn’t make it easier to watch Charon come out of the bathroom, fully dressed with an empty shoulder holster in place. He moves to the safe in the nightstand and retrieves a handgun.
He catches me watching. “I wear this every day.”
It’s true, but that doesn’t change how I feel. “I know.”
“Where are you headed today?” I can tell how much it costs him to ask, instead of telling me. It’s there in the slight tension in his shoulders and the way he clenches his jaw. Poor Charon. All he wants to do is keep the people in his life safe, and we keep making it difficult for him.
Well, I can give him this at least. “I had planned on going to see Ariadne. I know she’s given us all the information she has, but I’d feel shitty discarding her like yesterday’s trash after we’ve gotten what we wanted from her.” Yesterday, the only thing she seemed to feel about the abortion was relief, and we’re not exactly friends, but nobody should be alone after they’ve made such big decisions. And she’s made more than a few.
He hesitates like he wants to tell me that it’s not a good idea, but finally gives a short nod. “You will wait for Minthe.”
“I will. I promise. I won’t go anywhere without her today.”
He doesn’t exactly look relieved. “Good. If you run into any trouble, call me. I’ll let you know if something happens and I’m going to be late tonight.”
“Okay.” This feels almost awkward, but I don’t know how to ease it. Maybe there is no fixing the fact that we’re both going to spend the day worried about each other. I watch him walk out of the room with my heart in my throat. Really, nothing’s changed fromyesterday. We knew there was danger; we just didn’t know the exact source. Now we do.
My phone rings before I have a chance to get moving. I don’t know whether to be relieved or nervous that it’s my sister’s name scrolling across the screen. “Hello?”
“You’re going to see Ariadne today. I’m coming with.”
I blink. “Good morning to you too, Persephone.”
“You weren’t asleep, and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks, so stop with the snarky little sister remarks. I’m leaving here in fifteen minutes, so if you want to meet me there, you’d better get moving.” She hangs up without saying goodbye.
I drop my phone on the bed with a sigh. “Hades is not going to be happy aboutthat.”
Orpheus turns on his side and reaches over to link his fingers with mine. “I know your sister has no reason to like me, and normally I would make myself scarce to avoid making anyone uncomfortable, but I meant what I said about not letting you out of my sight today.”
I give his hand a squeeze. “I love you. My family is going to have some issues with that, and we’ll have to navigate their disapproval, but eventually they’ll realize you’re not the same person you were before, just like I’m not the same person I was before. It’ll be fine.” I really hope I’m not lying right now.
My family does love me to distraction. They’re also fiercely protective and borderline murderous when it comes to the people who’ve harmed one of us. Possibly more than borderline, though those rumors about my mother are unsubstantiated.
“Let’s get moving before we get left behind.” I give his hand one last squeeze and slip out of the bed. It’s quick work to get my hairunder control, put on just enough makeup so I don’t look exhausted, and dress myself in a pair of my favorite faded jeans and the knit sweater Persephone bought me last holiday.
“I just need a few minutes to get dressed.” Orpheus stands and heads through the door into the bathroom. I take a moment to appreciate his truly outstanding body, but only a moment. I can’t afford to get distracted when we need to meet my sister. Instead, I head downstairs to find Charon has already started the coffeepot and set out two travel mugs. One is the sparkly purple thing I bought mostly as a joke from the summer market earlier this year. The other still has the stickers on it. “Always taking care of the people around you,” I murmur.
Fifteen minutes later, Orpheus and I are climbing into the back of yet another from Hades’s fleet of black sedans. Minthe adjusts the driver’s mirror, waits for us to buckle our seat belts, and then we’re off. Really, we could’ve walked.
Or rather,wecould’ve walked. These days Persephone doesn’t walk anywhere. She’s almost through her first trimester, but because it’s twins, everyone is on edge. I know it frustrates her to the point where she wants to have a full-on toddler meltdown, but she’s been mostly gracious about letting us be overprotective.
We pull up next to a car identical to ours. My sister leans against the side, her head tilted back and her eyes closed in the morning light. I know she’s been grappling with the changes to her body, the stress of being the coruler of the lower city, and the general worry that comes from living in Olympus during current times, but she’s never looked better. I thought the whole pregnant-women-glowing thing was a myth, but no one can look at my sister and say she’s doing anything but glowing.
“Do you want me to wait in here until it’s time to go inside?”
I shake my head. “No, she has to make her peace with this whole thing eventually. We might as well start now.”
Sure enough, the moment Orpheus follows me out of the car, Persephone narrows her eyes. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk about this, but just know that I don’t approve.”
“Then it’s a really good thing that what I want is your love, not your approval.” It’s not, strictly speaking, true. I intensely dislike that I’m disappointing my sisters and mother right now, but they’re not thinking clearly. I can’t say for certain that I am, but at least I know my own mind better than anyone else. More than that, I know Orpheus.
Her attention flicks to him and stays there. “If you hurt my sister—again—then you won’t survive long enough to cross the River Styx back to the upper city.”
“Persephone!”
Orpheus isn’t exactly unbothered by my sister threatening him again, but he doesn’t flinch. “I’ll be paying penance for the wrongs I did Eurydice until my dying day. But respectfully, that’s between her and me…and Charon.”
My sister studies him for several long moments. “My threat stands.” She turns to face the apartment building. “Shall we?”
