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“How many lives have they taken? How widespread is their organization? You’re talking about something that happened thirty years ago. God only knows how many—”
“They were dismantled.” That was a technical term for… He leaned a fraction closer. “You’re welcome.”
Her lips parted. “Olympus…” He nodded once. “Oh.”
Got a little chilly on her high horse.
Zeus returned to his story. “Your mother was in the building the night of Michael Lloyd’s murder. As was your father. He took her out of there… cue the expected issues between myself and Harry… again.”
The roll of his eyes made her smile. The two men sure liked to butt heads often. At least she wasn’t the only one to cause issues in the upper echelons of Olympus.
“He wanted to protect her.”
“We had loose ends to take care of,” he said. “That kept him in the area… At first, we didn’t know they were seeing each other… staying together, I don’t know what they were doing. We didn’t have any reason to monitor our principals.” Back then. “After more than a few false starts, Hades returned to base and that was that.”
Tess sat up to retrieve her glass from the table. “Except it wasn’t.”
“Indeed,” Zeus said. “We didn’t know they continued to see each other. I still don’t know how or when or how often it happened. Evidently, he told her more about Olympus than we would’ve liked.”
“More issues,” she said, tucking a fist under her hair to support her head when she rested an elbow on the back of the couch. “You and Harry like your issues.”
“We’re dominant types. Both enjoy the sound of our own voices and believe in our own superiority.”
Damnit, she didn’t want to like him, but his honesty was welcome. “At some point you found out my mom was pregnant?”
“We didn’t find out about you until Harry disappeared. I know now you were about six months old, he just left. Just walked off base and didn’t come back. We tried to locate him, but we trained him well; he knew how to stay off radar. When we did find him… we found you… We sent agents to retrieve you.”
“On my second birthday.”
“I would apologize for orchestrating that except you weren’t badly treated. You had everything you needed. You were happy at the beta site… In fact, when we go, you’ll be able to see there is still evidence of you there.” That she would like to see. “You were happy. A happy child. Always took everything in stride. If something made you unhappy, you found a way to change it… or manipulate Ares into changing it for you.”
Another smile warmed her lips and this time a brief laugh joined it. “I’m sure he loved that.”
“Ares’s life was filled with routine and discipline. You and your mother were his first taste of a life that wasn’t so strict. He was only eight years old. For a while, we weren’t so sure he’d take to you…” The smile on his face grew to a grin. “You used to sing.”
Leaning forward, her eyes widened. “Me? I’m a terrible singer.”
“You weren’t then. You’d sing all day long, sing all the time, all sorts of songs while he was doing his drills. Being only two, you didn’t get the words right, and regularly made up your own songs. But you were always making a noise, always asking him questions about what he was doing and why he was doing it… Sometimes you tried to join in… He acted like he didn’t like it, but you were his joy. You gave him joy. Then when your mother came to stay, he was stuck between two worlds. You insisted on seeing him often, so he had a nurtured existence while at the same time working hard with Harry.”
Who hadn’t been allowed to see her or her mother after Carrie’s arrival. After the deal was negotiated that allowed her mother to join her at the beta site, Harry was forbidden from seeing either of them.
That blended with what Styx told her about Harry’s grieving frustration and how he got stricter, working Daire harder.Stuck between two worlds. That was the perfect way to put it. The juxtaposition must have messed with the young Daire’s mind.
“There were a lot of problems in their relationship then,” Zeus said. “Harry had been gone for a year and a half. Daire was different, more withdrawn, much more careful about who he trusted. Harry was the closest thing he had to a father, losing that took a long time for him to get over.”
If he ever had, she wasn’t so sure. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because if you’re going to be a part of the Olympus family, you have to understand where we came from. That’s the only way to know why we do the things we do,” he said, straightening up to rest a hand on her knee. “We can look after you. We will look after you. I want you to trust me, Tess. The only way to win your trust is with honesty. Your life might be more restricted than you’d like it to be, but decisions like that will be made in concert with you and for your own well-being.”
Caring about her was one thing, controlling her life was another. All he was doing was filling in blanks around pieces of information she already knew. Well, about her own life anyway. Learning about how her parents met and Daire’s father were new and important details. Still, he wasn’t trusting her with his own personal history or his current plans that somehow involved her blood.
“It will take time,” she said, forcing herself to leave his hand on her leg. “Like you said, this is a new world for me. I don’t want to rush to snap judgments… but I also can’t make any promises.”
“All I ask is that you remain open-minded,” he said. “Don’t assume the worst. Give us a chance to prove to you that we can do good. Olympus works to ensure the big picture is as rosy for everyone as it can be. We do good, even if we’re not perfect all the time.”
It definitely wasn’t as easy as that. Referencing the big picture being rosy sort of felt like another way of saying that people were expendable.
Still, she smiled and sat up, stretching her shoulders. “I’ve had a good night, but it’s getting late. I’m going to head to bed.”
