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Cassandra is as mean as a snake. Everyone in Olympus lies as easily as they breathe, but she’s turned the truth into a weapon to be wielded, and she does it with a viciousness that awes me. The only person who seems exempt from her cutting remarks is my brother. They’re two of the most practical people I know, and when they look at each other, they go all soft and sweet.
I’m jealous, if I’m going to be honest. I had a chance at happiness, and I fucked it all up. That doesn’t stop me from glaring at her. “I’m twenty-six. I’m not a child.”
“Then stop acting like one.”
I open my mouth to snap back, but…she’s right. I shouldn’t have come here asking Apollo for favors again. He has enough on his plate. Old habits die hard. I push to my feet. “Sorry to bother you.”
My brother sighs. “Orpheus, I know you want to make things right, but I meant what I said a few weeks ago. Sometimes making things right looks like letting things go. I delivered your message to Eurydice. If she hasn’t reached out by now, she’s likely decided not to.”
He’s right. I know he’s right. But the thought of letting Eurydice go…
It’s what I should do. Iknowit’s what I should do. I wronged her by more than simply breaking her heart. I put her in literal danger without realizing it. If I hadn’t been so focused on myself and my own ambitions and, fuck, my pretentiousart, I would have realized exactly how fucked up it was that the last Zeus—a known killer—asked me to arrange for my girlfriend, the daughter of his enemy, to be in a certain place at a certain time.
Unforgivable.
I feel like I’m half a man lately. I realize that isn’t Eurydice’s problem, but…
Damn it, I’m doing it again.
I shake my head sharply. “Sorry. You’re both right. I shouldn’t have asked again.” I promised Apollo that I’d do better, and I’ve been working on it, but I’m starting to lose hope that I’ll actually become the man he wants me to be.
When he first cut me off, I was furious with him. I was a righteous and entitled little shit who I want to reach back through time and punch in the face. Since then, I’ve gotten a job that isn’t selling my art—mostly because I’m not capable ofmakingart right now—and moved into a small, more affordable place. No matter what else I fucked up, I had managed to save up quite the little nest egg, so I don’t technically need to work to live for a bit. I still prefer to.
It keeps me busy.
“Orpheus.” Apollo meets my gaze directly. “Be careful going home tonight. The streets aren’t as safe as they used to be.”
“I will.” I nod to Cassandra. “Have a good rest of your night.”
Cassandra sighs. “You don’t have to run off. You can stay for dinner if you’d like.”
As much as part of me would love to do exactly that, staying means witnessing something that I’m starting to believe I’ll never have. My brother deserves to be happy, and I’m genuinely glad he found that with Cassandra. It doesn’t change the fact that being in their presence actively hurts. Maybe at some point in the future, I’ll be able to watch Apollo be in love without feeling like I’m choking on jealousy.
Maybe.
“I’m good. Thanks though.” I leave before they can offer again. It’s especially jarring that it’sCassandradoing it. She doesn’t like me, but she pities me. That’s how pathetic I am these days.
I take the elevator down and hurry through the lobby to step out onto the street. The first bite of winter is in the air. It will be some time before it fully sinks its claws into Olympus, but it’s coming. I’m not overly superstitious, but considering how the last year has gone, I can’t help a shiver of foreboding.
The city has changed.
Evidence of it is there in the way the few people out on the street hurry past with their heads down. Apollo lives in the center of the upper city, and up until a month ago, it had a rich nightlife. Now, businesses are closing not too long after nightfall. There isn’t a citywide curfew, but there might as well be.
The threat of violence hangs heavy.
I duck my head and pick up my pace. There’s no one around to have their eyes on me, but I feel watched nonetheless. Hunted. I’m not even one of the Thirteen. No one benefits from killing me in a ritualistic assassination. Then again, no one benefitted from killing Triton either, and that didn’t save him.
Despite my unease, I make it back to my apartment without issue. That doesn’t stop me from throwing the deadbolt as soon as I’m through the door. I also can’t quite stop myself from doing a quick circuit of the small space.
It doesn’t take long. I downgraded from a large penthouse suite to a studio apartment. I look behind the couch and check the bathroom, finding nothing. Of course I find nothing. I can’t help feeling like a fool for even considering someone might be lying in wait, but that feeling of being watched is still riding me hard.
I scrub the back of my neck. “What the fuck?”
A knock on my door makes me curse and flinch. I stare at the door for a long moment, half-sure I imagined it. There’s no reason for anyone to be visiting me right now. I lost pretty much every “friend” I had when Apollo cut me off and I stopped being the life of the party.
The knock comes again, a quiet, forceful sound that makes my skin prickle. The foreboding that rode me so hard on my way here comes back with interest. I really, truly do not want to open that door. It doesn’t matter. They obviously aren’t going away until I answer. I walk to the door, take a fortifying breath, and open it.
Only to freeze. “What areyoudoing here?”
