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My smile is genuine, blasting out my relief as soon as Hecate breaks out a laugh.
“Likeyou, sweet Kara,” she chastises. “A mother always knows where to find her diamond girls.”
“So, you remember she has an actual mother?”
Before Kell finishes the peeved bite, I’m startling.
Nearly word for word, she’s echoed Mother’s defense of a couple of days ago, after breaking into Iremia with Arden. A trip, I now realize, that must have been agonizing for Veronica to take. Humbling herself to seek the help of witches with whom she had such strained history. Doing it because she was desperate to help her daughter and had nowhere to turn. Enduring it despite the reception she was given, the social equivalent of an ice floe.
A glacier from which I willingly waved to her, as well. Because I held a stupid grudge, seeing nothing past my dismay at being ordered out of the room during her last confrontation with Gramps. At the time, I’d thought she would tear him apart alive. Her own father!
But eventually, I saw the truth about Gramps. The amazing strength he always hid so well. The courage that bolstered him to be Maximus’s guide in rescuing me from the ninth circle of hell.
So why didn’t I give Mother the same consideration?
I’m disgusted by the answer to that, coming from the brutal honesty of my psyche. I didn’t do the right thing because it was simply easier to stay mad at her. To lump her with the rest of the underworld and its politics instead of pondering—maybe even knowing—that she was as helpless as me to control Hades’s scheming.
I’m going to correct my mistake. Starting right now.
With an equally audacious game plan.
A tactic that won’t work if I choose to follow Kell’s call on this exchange. She’s spent enough time with Hecate to know some basics, but I have to follow my gut on the onesIknow too. A scorpion doesn’t like to be cornered, even if it’s rocking shiny goddess curls and an outfit worthy of aMad MaxVegas revue. And if we poke this one too hard and fast…
Hecate’s new expression, with a smile that’s as fixed as hersee me here, see me nowgaze, already fills that answer in. With chilling clarity.
I don’t dare glance away. Not for half a moment.
I just stand here, mired in the same adhesive, and desperately hope that Kell gets it. Somehow, I have to convince Hecate that her arrival is surprising but delightful.
“My sister hasn’t painted the box quite right, goddess, but the contents are still correct,” I finally say. “You and I both know how trepidatious Veronica can be. And once the underworld party lines light up, she’ll know that I was the one who sprang Kell and Jaden from Rerek’s hex, as well as who helped me to do it.”
At last, the goddess flinches. It begins in her multicolored eyes, the ruling shade now a stormy green instead of a summer blue, but fans across the tense set of her shoulders then down to the new clench of her hands.
“So…she’ll return to Iremia,” she supplies.
“Likely.” I coerce my composure to penetrate past my skin, dictating even the calmer pulse of my blood. One factor Idon’tknow completely yet: the sorceress’s abilities to read energies. Perhaps even hear heartbeats.
“Not a wager we can merely conjecture, sweet one.” She lifts a hand and taps a contemplative finger to her chin. “She’ll do it fast, too. She’ll try to bribe the new incubus on many levels, getting him to help her back to the compound.”
I nod, not about to fill her in on Maximus’s update from fifteen minutes ago. The news that Arden spent the afternoon at Alameda’s research library with him, digging up background information abouther. It’s much better that she sweat from the concept of Arden and Veronica pounding into Iremia’ssalaany second—this time with the large dining hall in a more vulnerable state without her there.
“Now you understand why we decided to leave, and so quickly.” I sweep a finger to indicate at Kell and Jaden, grateful for the chance to look away from the goddess’s earnest stare. My actions look natural, instead of a liar looking for a chance to break eye lock.
“All right, then,” Hecate concedes, and I wonder if she’s already trying to smooth wrinkles with her own set of lies. This feels too fast and easy, even from the goddess whose best interest is rooted in keeping me compliant. “That is…admirable. And appreciated. But when will you be returning?”
I knew it.I didn’t want to, but I did. Now I’m fighting anger because of it, steeling myself from turning and asking how she was able to survive the last ten minutes without dropping the demand on me.
I almost do it…but don’t.
I’m stopped by the new incision of her stare.
I brace harder, letting her peruse as deeply as she wants. I’m still in media confrontation mode, meaning she wouldn’t detect even national security secrets if that was her plan. Part of the trick is believing the act for myself, even temporarily, which makes my answer an authentic experience.
“I’m afraid it won’t be right away. I’m going to need a few days here in the city if you truly want to keep Veronica off Iremia’s doorstep.”
“She’s right,” Jaden inserts, his slow saunter adding to his easy demeanor. But even if he’s feigning the vibe, I’m grateful it’s soothing the room’s tension. “Mother will back off your game if she gets a few days to play hers. This weekend kicks off the pre-EmStar Awards events around town, so she’ll be in heaven if the five of us are flanking her at some. But we’ll have to get to her fast, since it’s already Thursday. She’ll have to activate the fashion army and—”
“Wait.” Maximus is as stiff as his interruption. “Thefiveof us?”
