by S. E. Babin
“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, a light note in his voice even though his eyes flicked down to the bundle in my arm.
"Ares," I acknowledged and tried to brush past him. With an iron grip, he caught my arm.
"Why in such a hurry?" His eyes raked up and down my body. "And...why are you dressed like a concubine?"
Thank the gods he hadn't said Ewok. But this was Ares. His sense of humor went down with the Titanic if it had ever existed at all.
"Costume party," I blurted. I hooked a thumb toward the palace exit. "Gotta go." I pulled away from him, but his grip didn't slacken at all.
"What do you have there?" he asked me and started to take the bundle.
I jerked away. "Ares," I warned. "This is not your fight."
His eyes narrowed. "If it involves Zeus, it's my fight."
We stared each other down. I knew he wasn't always loyal to Zeus and he knew it too. He just wanted to know what I had, and the last thing I wanted to do was show him. I repeated my words. "This is not your fight."
He released the grip on my arm. "Abby, I am not your enemy."
I shook my head. "Everyone is my enemy today."
I turned and ran.
I didn't hear footsteps behind me, but I never slowed my pace. I didn't know if he would tell Zeus of my presence. I would be in danger if he did, and he knew it. Perhaps this was one time I could count on his discretion. I sighed even as I rounded the corner and skidded into the doorway of the bedchamber. Ares wasn't known for discretion. He was known for using information to leverage his own position. I really couldn't fault him for that. It was just the way he was wired.
I clicked open the door and shut it quietly behind me.
Zeus sat on the bed.
Hermes sat beside him, his face racked with regret.
I covered my face with my hands and took a deep, aggrieved breath. Why was I not surprised?
Chapter 12
We were in what I think was termed a Mexican standoff. No one moved. We all just stared at each other like we'd been betrayed. Which...we had. Well, everyone except Hermes, the lying cheating rat of a douchecanoe.
I broke the silence first.
"Why?" I asked him, hating the way my voice trembled.
He rubbed a hand across his jaw, his eyes red and his face lined. "I would never," he whispered.
Zeus' laughter rang through the room. "He's quite right, Abby. He would never. But he didn't realize exactly how closely we were following him."
Pity for Hermes flooded through me. I'd been betrayed on accident and, honestly, we both should have known better.
"I'm sorry," he whispered as he bowed his golden head.
"I'm not giving this up," I whispered.
"You are," Zeus said mildly. "And you will."
"No." I stood my ground and pooled magic through my body. I would fight him to the death if I had to, and from the spark of surprise in his eyes he knew it too.
"Is Typhon so terrible?" he said as he stood, his Olympian finery pooling around him. A crown of laurel wreathed his head and his deep emerald eyes sparkled. He was enjoying this far too much. I was like a rat in a cage. A terrible, terrible cage. There was no way I could get out of here without divine intervention.
"I will allow no man to choose whom I wed." I trembled with rage at my predicament. The bundle of papers beneath my arm began to dampen from perspiration.
"You will marry the person your monarch chooses!" Zeus boomed, the room around us rattling with thunder.
I glanced at Hermes before I looked back at the man who I once considered a father. "You are not my monarch," I said quietly.
Zeus' face mottled with rage before a cunning look came over him. "Hermes, you will choose who she marries."
Well that was craptastic.
Hermes stood. "I will do no such thing."
I loosened the magic I'd gathered and sent it flying directly at Zeus, only giving Hermes a glance before I let it go.
But Zeus, the crafty bastard he was, seemed to expect it. With a casual fling of his hand, he dispersed it.
"Careful," he said. "Pretty little girls shouldn't fling power around they don't have."
I hadn't shown him the full extent of my power yet. I pooled more, and as I did, I felt the silver pool into my veins, my fingertips, my hair, my eyes. "Release me from this palace or I will do my best to make sure you never rule Olympus again."
Zeus laughed. "Should I be scared of the goddess who has never known her full potential? Of someone who has never used all the magic at her disposal?" He sneered. "Who prefers to settle things with words rather than actions?"
My magic snapped and fractured and blasted out of me like a freight train. The mix of pink and silver took him full in the chest, but it didn't knock him down.
He stood there staring at me mildly until I dropped my power.
Hermes stared at him like he didn't know his own father. That blast should have dropped him, made him stumble...something.
I let go of my power, fighting the urge to cry and rail against the situation. Zeus shifted, the light catching a shimmer on his chest.
I narrowed my gaze and studied it, trying to figure out what it was. So caught up in his own power, he didn't notice my perusal.
Zeus turned to his son. "I gave you a command," he growled. He shifted again and the light again caught a flicker of something golden.
Relief pooled inside of me as I realized what trickery Zeus was up to.
"The armor of Achilles," I interrupted. "Nice play."
Surprise flashed across his face. Hermes expression grew cold with anger. "You stole from the armory?"
Zeus waved a hand at him. "My armory. You forget yourself."
Hermes stood up straighter. "I forget nothing. You walk around like the King of the Gods, but you are fearful. I can smell it on you, Father. And for you to don the armor before facing Abby..." He stared. "You know something. You fear something."
The door blasted open, flying off its hinges.
"He does," Hera acknowledged.
"Hera. You have no place here. The guards have been summoned over your betrayal."
She laughed a cold and cruel sound. "The only betrayal here is the one you've pulled over your people for millennia." Hera turned to me and leaned in. "You must leave as soon as you see an opening no matter what is happening, child."
Thunder rumbled through the air.
"Hera!"
She gripped my shoulder. "You are the future of us. Take my..." she bowed her head, "son. Take Hermes with you. Please." I nodded, my throat dry.
Zeus loosed his magic against us. Hera shielded us as best she could. I flung myself toward Hermes, who stood there rooted to the floor with shock, and gripped his hand. Hera threw her magic against Zeus' but I knew she was losing and there was no way for her to get any leverage.
He wore impenetrable armor.
Her eyes pleaded with me to go. I nodded, but before I did, I reached out mentally to Ares, something I hadn't done in a long, long time.
Interfere or your mother will perish.
I mouthed the words thank you and blinked myself and my friend out of Olympus.
Chapter 13
The door to the kitchen flung open and Clotho jerked us both in by our arms.
"I don't know what the hell the two of you did, but there's enough magic burning up in Olympus to fuel a nuclear reactor!"
I bit my lip, unsure what to tell her.
"Hera," Hermes said, his voice exhausted. "She saved us."
Clotho's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "Errrm, Hera, Hera? As in the blue eyed bitc -"
"Clotho," I cajoled in a warning tone. "She just saved both of our sorry skins and is currently in a pretty ferocious battle with Zeus. A losing one. I'd say we owe her a great boon instead of criticism."
"Huh," Clotho muttered. "I never thought that old bat would ever reach her full potential."
I pinched the space between my brow. Fortunately, it earned a snicker from
Hermes. "Me either, Clotho."
"Do we need to vacate?" I asked her.
She looked confused for a moment. "Vacate?"
"Yes. It seems like every time I make Zeus angry my house suddenly gets set on fire or explodes."
She waved a thin hand. "You have a Fate living with you, dear. Not only is this house warded to the gills, it's certain death to anyone who goes against you." She cleared her throat. "As long as I live here."
"I knew there were perks," I admitted. "I was just having trouble figuring out what they were."
"Har har. Sit your butts down." Clotho picked up the spatula by the stove and waved it at us. "I made chicken casserole."
We sat our butts down, but the doorbell rang a second later. "I got it," Clotho said and sent a gust of air toward the front door. It flung itself open to reveal a very surprised Artie. She walked in, her arms full of grocery bags. She seemed a little surprised to see Hermes but didn't comment on it.
She still looked weird to me.
Hermes' mouth dropped open. "What did you do?" He stood and walked around her slowly, picking up her hair to let it run through his fingers. "Are you -" He paused and stared. "Mortal?" he whispered.
Artie grinned. "Yep. For a little while longer. Clotho helped me out with it." She spun around, her long hair flying out of Hermes' hand.
"Why?" he breathed. "Why would you want to do such a horrible thing?"
Artie's brows flew together as she regarded him. "Mortals are not horrible, Hermes. It's an experiment. I have a business here now. I'm living here, and I'm doing my best to fit in. It isn't easy."
He couldn't stop staring at her, and even I was getting uncomfortable.
"Does your skin hurt?" he blurted.
"Not unless I whack it on something."
"Is your vision blurry?"
Artie blinked those gorgeous purple eyes, less purple now, but still beautiful. "Nope."
"Do you have to sleep more?"
Artie patiently answered what seemed like hundreds of questions before Clotho trotted over and whacked him across the back of the head with the spoon. "Nosy butts don't eat dinner," she announced. "Are you a nosy butt or a well-mannered king?"
I clamped my lips together to keep from laughing.
"A king," he muttered and sat back down in the chair. "Sorry," he grumbled to Artie.
"No worries," she said as she pulled a bottle of wine from her bag. "I'd be curious myself, although I'd probably want to crack open my skull and examine my brain."
Clotho raised her spoon. "Don't make me whack you too," she warned. "Brains are not appropriate dinner conversation."
Artie snickered and rummaged through my kitchen drawers for a wine opener. "Just saying," she told Clotho. "There's research and then there's real research. Lots of people die for the real good, in-depth knowledge."
"Weirdo," I said.
"Yep, but you still love me."
I sighed. "Alas, it's true."
The conversation ebbed and flowed as we waited for Clotho to finish cooking. We offered to help her but she waved the spoon around like an angry mama bear so we shut our mouths and let her do the work. No one mentioned the palace, and I was grateful for it because I hadn't told Artie my plan. I would tell her eventually but maybe not tonight. Not when I was glad to have gotten out of there with my skin intact.
Clotho put a hot pad down and plopped a delicious looking casserole covered with cheese and panko bread crumbs on the table. The steam drifted up and hit my nose.
"Daaaamn, where'd you learn to do this?"
"Food Network," she said as she slipped her potholders off and tossed them by the sink.
"Keep watching," Hermes said as he eyeballed the casserole like it was a leggy brunette.
She handed over a spatula to him and let him do the honors. He stole the first piece, the jerk. An enormous one covered with a whole lot of breadcrumbs. He handed me the spatula, and I took a generous portion too. However, I saved Artie some breadcrumbs because I was a woman with honor.
We ate mostly in silence except for the appropriate yum yum noise.
Clotho broke it. I used to get super nervous when she spoke because she was always spouting prophecy or warnings or dire news, and it made me jittery. Over the last few months though, she'd changed. She’d broken out of her shell and become one of our team. A full-fledged member, not one we took pity on and gave a sticker to. But I guess I spoke too soon.
"Abby stole something out of Zeus' castle that is going to change everything." Then she put her fork to her mouth and shoved a huge bite of chicken casserole in it like she hadn't said something devastating.
"Good or bad?" Artie said, her voice devoid of inflection. She wasn't angry. Yet. But I knew her.
Clotho shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it."
Hermes rolled his eyes. "And how do you look at it, Fate?"
She turned those maelstrom eyes to his. "I look at it like a choice, winged foot god. Good or bad doesn't always mean anything to me."
"Abby?" Artie was staring at me, giving me her best I'm not going to kill you right now, but maybe I will later look.
"Yes?" I said and shoved more food in my mouth buying me a little time to think.
"Care to elaborate on your activities over the last eight hours?"
I shook my head.
"She has the rules of the games in her possession."
Artie's face lit up. "That's great news, Abs!"
I smiled, my cheeks full of cheese and various deliciousness. When had Clotho learned to cook so well?
"But she also has the truth," Clotho added.
I sighed. I didn't know what I had to be honest.
"Truth about what?" Hermes asked.
I shrugged. "No idea," I mumbled with my mouth still full of food.
"Well fork it over then," Artie said and reached her hand over making a gimme motion.
I produced the bundle of paper from where I'd already tucked it upstairs out of the sight of Clotho, or so I thought. I handed them over to Artie.
She flipped through the first few pages with little fanfare. "The games. Nothing out of the ordinary here, but some interesting tidbits you should know." She continued flipping, her face growing darker and darker until she pushed the pages away.
Her gaze met Clotho's.
"Artie?" I inquired.
"Finish your dinner. This can wait until afterward."
"But you didn't finish yours!" I wailed, suddenly emotional and I had no idea why.
Artie picked up her fork and started shoveling food in. "I'm finishing. See?"
"Yeah, but you're being super weird about it." My stomach roiled. I set my fork down and edged the bundle of papers over to me.
"I don't want to look," I said, cringing at how wimpy I sounded.
'Then don't look," Artie said gently.
"Oh gods. What is it?" I met her gaze. Sympathy, anger, regret and a host of other emotions flowed through them. Could I not look? "Is looking not an option?"
Clotho made a sound of disgust. "Good god, woman. Don't you want to know?"
"I'm not sure." I was known for my rampant shiny object syndrome and curiosity that got me into trouble more often than not, but the way everyone was reacting, those papers held a revelation the size of Mount Vesuvius.
A slight burst of wind blew in, and tears filled my eyes.
"Hades." I turned wet eyes to him.
His face immediately filled with concern as he rushed over to me. "What? What is it? Do I need to kill someone?" He speared Hermes with a glare and, to his credit, all Hermes did was put his hands up in surrender.
"Wasn't me," he said and pointed at the papers. "Whatever it is, it’s in there."
He put his arms around my shoulders and bent his immense height down to where we were face to face. "Have you looked?"
I shook my head.
"Does she need to look?" he asked Clotho.
She rewarded him with a snort and an eye roll that could start an avalanc
he.
Even Hades was not immune to Clotho's derision.
He slid the papers over to him and flipped through them. "The rules of the game. Good find, Abs."
I nodded. "Right?" I said in a wobbly voice. I was not going to mention how close they came to getting me killed. Figured that could wait a while.
However, his hand fell from my shoulder as his fingers flipped through the rest of them. He fell silent as he read, but I could see the tension sitting in his powerful shoulders. When he was finished he turned those gorgeous silver eyes to mine. They held torment and curiosity. He held my gaze so long it began to feel uncomfortable.
"This changes nothing," he finally said. "Nothing," he said again, looking away from me and staring at the Fate.
Clotho's whirlpool eyes held sympathy. "Everything," she amended.
"Nothing!" he roared and stood up, his fists clenched and muscles rigid. "She is still the Aphrodite we all know and love."
"This is the prophecy," Clotho said quietly.
"Fuck your prophecy," he shouted and slammed his hand against the counter.
Artie gasped. "You said fuck to a Fate," she whispered in awe.
Hermes was the first to laugh. Then I couldn't help it and I started to snort laugh.
Clotho was the next to crack a grin and even Hades couldn't help it. A slight smile peeked out from his generous lips.
"My apologies, Clotho," he said with a bow.
She held up the spoon and waved it around at him. "I'm old as the Earth. You think no one has flung a fuck or two around me?"
We all burst into laughter, the incriminating papers and their evidence forgotten for a brief moment.
Chapter 14
Everyone was staring at me. They were friendly stares, yet they were filled with apprehension. I wanted nothing more to keep eating the casserole until my stomach exploded, but everyone knew I was just stalling.
Hades pushed the papers toward me. My fingertips hovered over them, eager to learn, yet terrified to find out the truth. And here I thought I only wanted the rules of the game. Maybe this could change the actual games.
