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Me: Headed to meeting with Ariadne. Plan on talking and maybe having a drink in the lower city.
She doesn’t make me wait long for a response.
Eris: I think my invite to the lower city is still good too. Want me to head your way?
I almost say yes. Eris is more than a little terrifying, but that’s a benefit in this city and probably in this situation. She’ll come inall sharp smiles and double-edged words, and I won’t have to do anything but sit there and look pretty.
Which is exactly why I can’t say yes.
If I really want to stand on my own, I have tostand on my own.
Me: I’ve got it covered. I’ll text you after I’m done talking with her.
Eris: If that’s what you want. Drop your location when you pick a place.
I frown at my phone. Really, that’s too much. What’s she going to do if I don’t text in a reasonable amount of time? Ride to the rescue? Call in mysisterto ride to the rescue? The thought makes me grit my teeth. When I was first approached by Eris at that ill-fated house party, I thought finally someone was seeing me for my potential instead of as the broken-winged bird to be hidden away from the world. And at first that was even true. Not so much now.
Me: I said I’ve got it covered. Just wanted to keep you in the loop.
Eris: Fine, fine. I hear you loud and clear.
Eris: Be careful.
I flip my hood up and stride down the street toward the bridge. It’s a good twenty-minute walk, and the night is plenty cold, but it feels good to be out on my own. Like maybe I’m really as capable as I’ve been pretending to be. It’s not so late that people have all gone home, and I nod to those I see as I walk. Reports will get back toCharon—to Hades—within the hour, but I hope they both see the value in what I’m doing and don’t charge in to rescue me.
I’m the only one who can do this.
Ariadne Vitalis is a weapon in the making, and we need one now more than ever. Honestly, it might be too late. When Minos’s foster son, Theseus, killed the last Hephaestus and took his place, it created ripples that are in danger of becoming a tsunami of terror and violence. I don’t know what possessed the founders of Olympus to slip an assassination clause into the near-forgotten laws but…
No, that’s a lie. I knowexactlywhat possessed them. The founders were most likely carbon copies of the people who now hold the titles of the Thirteen, the ruling body of Olympus. Power-hungry and politically vicious. But there are rules, and that means that each of the Thirteen comes about their title in a different way…and then they keep it until they die or retire. Most of them don’t bother retiring. They cling to that power until it’s wrenched from their hands by Death themself.
Now we’re left to deal with the mess their ambition created.
I have mixed feelings about Olympus. I always have. My sisters think I see the city with rose-tinted glasses, but the truth is that I am all too aware of the dangers lurking in the shadows. Maybe that wasn’t always the case, but it is now. No matter what I think of the Thirteen, who use and discard people to further their goals—yes, even my mother is guilty of it—I will always have empathy for the rest of the people. They didn’t choose to be born into Olympus any more than I did, and we’re all just trying to survive the waves caused by those more powerful than us.
There’s no telling if Ariadne has information we can use toprotect the people of this city, but I have to try. I’m no tactician, but even I can see this is only the first wave. They’re softening the city up for the next blow, and that might be the one that breaks us. If I can do anything to hold the danger off, I’ll lie and more to ensure the innocents who never asked for this are kept safe.
Or as safe as they ever are.
Fog curls in as I reach the bridge. Both remaining bridges that span the River Styx feel otherworldly, but Cypress Bridge is on another level entirely. The stone columns are wider around than most people and soar upward to create an arch. I know both upper city and lower city reside in the same realm, but it’s hard to remember that when entering these arches feels like leaving the world behind. Especially tonight, when the fog hides the other bank from me.
Fear licks up my spine, whispering that this isn’t safe. With the fog so dense, anyone could be waiting for me on that bridge. It could be another ambush, and this time there’s no Hades and Persephone to save me.
No. Damn it,no.
I am not defenseless. Not anymore. I hitch my purse higher on my shoulder and slip my hand inside to touch the gun nestled there. Charon’s been taking me to the private shooting range Hades owns, and while he didn’ttechnicallygive me permission to borrow this one, it’s just a little insurance. I’m sure I won’t have to use it, but I have it if I need it.
One last jagged breath, and then I plunge through the arches and onto the bridge. I have a standing invitation to the lower city, so the boundary is barely noticeable as I stride down the bridge.
She’s beat me to the middle of the bridge, and she huddlesagainst the stone railing, her arms wrapped around herself. She’s a pretty, plus-sized woman with medium-brown skin, sweet dark eyes, and wavy black hair. She may take after her father, Minos, but only in coloring. He’s handsome in a way that looks like he was hacked out of a mountain. She’s much softer.
Ariadne looks up as I approach. She’s easily six inches shorter than me, just a few inches over five feet. “I don’t have as much time as I thought. I’m sorry.”
“But you came all this way.” It’s almost as if her father knows she’s not fully on his side. He’s come up with reason after reason to keep her close since the house party where Theseus killed the last Hephaestus.
“Only because I have a warning for you. It’s important, Eurydice.” She shrugs, her expression pinched. “You heard about Triton?”
I nod. “He was killed in a fight when they tried to get to Poseidon.”
