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He scowled. “That’s damn dangerous. Any of the rest of us would have more obvious loyalties. Poseidon’s could go either way. If the guys think he’s running Zeus’s errand, which he kinda is, chances are he ends up dead. Without him, Olympus grinds to a halt.”
Which would be a shame. Garrick might be the guy in the middle with no set-in-stone loyalty to either Hades or Zeus, but no one deserved to die for indifference.
“He sorta made that point,” she said. “Zeus wants him to do the tracing, and to call Hades to do the approach.”
His expression hadn’t relaxed. “Do they have enough guys to do that? I only counted five operatives, Ares, Hades, and Poseidon.”
“That’s all they have. Harry said the same thing. Zeus gave him forty-eight hours to come up with a plan.”
“A plan to make it work?” Styx said and exhaled. “What’s the bet that plan involves Ares being in two places at once?”
Although he’d asked the question aloud, she didn’t get the impression he wanted an answer. Tipping his face toward the window, he ran a hand over his hair.
“Maybe if you’d joined them…” she said, leaving the idea to linger.
“Hades won’t expect me back until the mission is complete. Besides, I’m a lazy leader. I’m not as motivated as the overachiever of our family. If Hades tells Ares to be in two places at once, he’ll do it. He’s the only one who ever could. Disappointing Hades is his kryptonite, he can’t handle it, punishes himself for every little mistake.”
Didn’t that just grind salt into the wound that was their relationship… former relationship. Her guilt wasn’t rooted in her love, it was all for her Heart. Loving her went against everything he’d been raised to be. Everything he’d strived for.
He valued everyone and everything over himself. Accepting that was difficult; he was her whole world. Her guiding light. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for him. No person, no item, no thought or idea could ever be worth more to her than the man who owned her soul.
A spasm of need and sorrow clenched her gut, forcing her to pull her legs closer to her body. She missed him. Needed to be near him. But it wouldn’t be fair.
The longer this went on, the more precarious the situation became. It also grew increasingly clear that Olympus couldn’t be her future. Being in Vegas or trying to maintain any kind of relationship with her father would only torture her Heart. Any time she was in his orbit, his focus was split. That would lead to mistakes. As Styx just said, Daire would punish himself for being distracted, for being less than perfect, for giving less than a hundred and ten percent at all times.
TWENTY-ONE
“YOU OKAY?”
Styx’s question snagged her focus. “Yeah,” Tess said, clearing her throat, hoping her trance hadn’t piqued his curiosity. “So what have we figured out? Zeus is up to something.”
“That we already knew. Putting Olympus back together is his end goal, I believe that. But there’s something we don’t know. With him, always assume there’s something you don’t know.”
“We can’t let Daire and the guys put the gamma site together for Zeus’s convenience.”
He mused. “Yeah, but we can’t tell Ares to drag his heels either.”
That idea perked her up. “Why not?”
“Why not what? Ask Ares to drag his heels? ‘Cause, for starters, Hades would know it. Ares always makes progress, significant progress. If he came back to say something was taking longer or that they got nothing done, Hades would be suspicious.”
“And we don’t believe Daire could handle that?”
“He can handle anything, but I don’t think he’ll compromise his objective for no reason.”
“We’ll give him a reason,” she said, optimistic for the first time. “I’ll write to him. Tell him to slow progress at Gamma… that we think Zeus is up to something and need time to figure it out… If you have a phone, we can call him.”
That possibility occurred to her with alarming frequency. If she had a number or guarantee he’d be the one to pick up, she’d have called him a dozen times already. Even if she got away with asking for Daire, whoever picked up would want to know who she was, either by interrogating her or pestering Daire.
“Youcould call him,” Styx said. “There is nowe, remember? But a call is too risky. Chances are all lines are being monitored anyway.”
Which reminded her of something else. “After the call on the first night, Zeus said something about waiting for reports of how things were going from the other side of the ocean.”
“Someone’s spying for him,” he said, tipping his head in a side nod. “That’s something Daire should know.”
“I told him already,” she said. “But who do you think it could be? And why? Zeus is pushing this allies thing and wants Olympus back on, should he be spying on his own people?”
“They’re not his yet,” Styx said, distracted. “Everyone’s wary. It’ll be a powder keg… I wonder…”
