“She won’t do it,” Ryder told them.
“She doesn’t have to,” Isadora explained slowly. “She could kill Nix instead. Then it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“I would love to kill Nix,” I laughed. “Believe me, I would love to end that psychopath. But I will never bargain with my freedom.”
“But if you don’t kill Nix, then you won’t be free,” Veda pointed out. “Either he owns you or we do.”
I licked dried lips and tried not to scream. I hated that she had a point. “I’ll run again. There are places even the god of the sea can’t go.” The words were Hera’s but I hoped they were true.
“And your mother?” Enid goaded. “What of her?”
Damn. They had me there. “Why can’t you give me my mother and just trust that I will do everything in my power to end Poseidon. I don’t want to be his anymore than I want to be yours.”
“Think of our offer as motivation,” Isadora offered. “We want to ensure Poseidon can’t find a loophole. We want to disband this ridiculous idea entirely.”
“And if I say no?”
“Your sister-”
I couldn’t listen to this, “She’s too young. Smith will never let her out of his sight.”
“We don’t want your sister,” Enid hissed. “She’s worthless to us.”
“Worthless? But you said-”
“She can’t do what you do, Siren. Her set of skills is… different.” Isadora shifted in her seat. “I was going to say that if you don’t kill Nix and you stay with him, she dies. She will try to save you and we will have to cut her thread. It’s her fate.”
“No.” The word burned in my throat, searing a trail from my mouth to my stomach.
“Your mother will die too,” Isadora continued.
Enid gave her a sidelong glance. “But I think that’s our fault. Isn’t it?”
Isadora didn’t respond. I felt sick to my stomach. “This is blackmail.”
“You sought us out,” Isadora reminded me. Her milky eyes cleared for a moment and she hit me with an accusatory glare. “You came to us. You could have stayed with the messenger and left your mother alone. You requested an audience. We are responding.”
“This is very clever,” Ryder growled. “You take her mother, knowing she would come after her. And now you’ve trapped her.”
They didn’t have anything to say to that. They didn’t need to.
“Do it, Ivy,” Ryder grunted. “Take their deal.”
“Ryder?” I gasped his name, shocked that he took their side.
He turned to me, taking my hands in his. He squeezed tightly and I felt something change in him, something profound and unrelenting. “We’ll kill Nix. No one is going to own you. Not Nix, and certainly not these witches. Not anyone. You’re free, Red. You will always be free. And I’ll do anything… I’ll do everything to make sure that doesn’t change. We take this deal. We kill Nix. We get your mom back. Then we go home. In that order. No amendments. No changes. No modifications. That’s how it goes. That’s how we make sure it goes.”
The Fates disappeared, the garish room buried in the middle of a cave vanished… the world faded into starlit nothing until there was only Ryder and me, until there was only the two of us and the promises between us. With an emotional whisper I asked, “You really think it’s possible?”
“It’s the only thing that’s possible,” he swore and squeezed my hands again. “We kill him. Then we go home.”
I held his granite eyes that promised hope and certainty, that promised what we needed to happen would happen, that promised survival and freedom and a future. Finally, I let the ugly reality of the Fates and their den of iniquity back in and said, “Okay.” I turned to the Fates. “Okay. When I kill Nix, you let me go, you let my mother go and I never see you again. Not ever.”
Isadora didn’t immediately respond. Her chalky eyes flashed with streaks of gold light and her sharp fingernails clacked impatiently on a thin strip of wood adorning the back of the settee. Finally, after agonizing minutes, she sighed, “We can’t promise forever. But we will refrain from meddling in your life unnecessarily.”
I slid forward on the velvet couch and leveled her with my glare. “Not good enough. You’re already meddling in my life unnecessarily. If we’re bargaining, these are my conditions.”
“What if you need us, Siren? Have you thought of that?” Enid asked haughtily.
“I won’t.”
“You might,” she returned. Her patience thinned quickly when faced with my obstinacy. Not even the gods would stand up to the Fates. Who did I think I was to challenge them?
Desperate.
I was desperate and that was what separated me from the immortals back in Olympus.
“Trust me, I want nothing to do with this world once this is over. I am finished with you people. I can’t end this fast enough.”
“You people,” Isadora mimicked in a nasally voice. “What you don’t understand, Queen of the Nesoi, is that you are this people that you disdain so completely. You are one of us. You will always be one of us. You can’t turn your back on your origins any more than you can deny you’re a Siren or that your mother is who she is. There are some things in this life you’re tethered to whether you want to be or not.”
My tongue tasted bitter in my mouth. I wanted to spit back a cutting retort, but I was suddenly exhausted. She was right and that bothered me more than anything. But I ran once before and I wasn’t afraid to do it again.
Maybe I wouldn’t run in the literal sense of the word. I wouldn’t turn my back on Ryder again and I wouldn’t abandon my life completely. But I could run from this mountain. I could run from the Pantheon and every single thing it represented.
I could run for the rest of my life if it meant I never had to breathe the same air as these monsters made from legend and nightmares.
I lifted my chin with confidence I didn’t feel, “Do we have a deal?”
The three Fates looked at each other and conferred without uttering a word. I wondered if they could speak in each other’s heads or if they had been doing this long enough that they didn’t need words.
Enid spoke with chilling authority, “We have a deal.”
A shiver skittered down my spine and I had the distinct impression that even though it sounded like I got my way, I had lost.
“Can I see my mother?” I couldn’t guess what prompted me to ask that stupid question. I hadn’t thought of her often over the last year, but when I had, it had never been because I missed her. Yet suddenly, I needed to know if she was okay… or at least if she was still breathing.
They shared another look and it was Isadora who spoke this time. “You may have five minutes with her.”
Veda jumped to her feet with an expression that screamed psychotic-sociopath. She moved to the back of the cave where an arched tunnel appeared suddenly. The dark corridor began as a small dot at first, but as Veda walked closer it expanded into a full-sized doorway.
I wondered how many other secret passages there were in this cavern. How many other victims did the Fates have locked away?
Ryder stood with me and we followed Veda toward the blackness. Instinct flared through my gut that this could be a trap, so I reached back for Ryder’s hand and clutched it tightly. For whatever reason, the Fates were not a fan of Ryder, which only made me love him more.
“We should make him stay with us,” Enid murmured behind our backs. “I’m positive he would be fun to play with.”
Ryder didn’t respond or react. He didn’t even draw nearer to me. I had stopped breathing because I was so terrified they would follow through with that thinly veiled threat, but he couldn’t have been more nonchalant.
“You’ve seen the future,” he murmured casually. “How does that work out for you?”
Enid didn’t reply and I was too nervous to turn around, but I felt the impact Ryder’s words had on them. They were afraid of him in some way I didn’t or couldn’t understand.
; Since I couldn’t ask him about it right then and there, I followed Veda into the dank, dark hallway. My feet tripped clumsily over the uneven ground, but I managed not to slam into any walls or Veda’s back.
We didn’t walk far before rooms started to appear on either side of the corridor. They were cut into the rock with grates for doors. The metal glinted with a bluish silver, glowing in the heavy darkness. They cast ominous shadows on the occupants of the cells, who all curled back into the farthest recesses of their small rooms when they saw Veda approaching.
She waved her hand at one of the rooms and turned on her heel to grin at us. The blue light hid most of her face, but her white teeth glinted behind a malicious smile. “Your mother,” she laughed lightly.
I didn’t respond to her. I didn’t have anything to say. I regretted following her down here. Now that I was here and faced with the awkward prospect of talking to my mom after so much time, I just wanted to leave.
I had a lot to ask her, but I figured both of us would be better if I waited until we were through this mess. In fact, if it weren’t for the need to kill Nix as quickly as possible, I probably would have done that.
“Mom?” I asked the black room. I couldn’t see anything in this cell. The other prisoners had worn white robes that glowed beneath the strange light. Even when they tried to hide, their clothes reflected the light from their cell doors and gave away their position. “Mom,” I tried again. “I’m here.”
“Ivy?” a weak voice rasped from beneath a shabby cot and thin mattress. “What are you doing here?”
Frail fingers wrapped around the splintered wood of the pathetic bed. Ava pulled herself from beneath with a concerted effort. Her rasping, panting breath seemed to shout in the small room as it took everything out of her to unwedge herself from beneath the low bed.
I couldn’t help but gasp when she finally pulled herself free. Her thin frame had been emaciated with starvation. Her bones protruded from every angle and curve of her dangerously tiny body. Her red hair was a mass of tangled, greasy knots. Pieces stuck to her forehead and dripped in front of her eyes, but she made no move to smooth it back or push it behind her ears. Her once startling green eyes were dulled and lifeless, not just because of the lack of light, but because something had shattered inside of her, something had extinguished whatever fight she’d maintained over her life.
She looked sick.
She looked tragic.
I was almost afraid that she would drop dead right in front of me and my deal with the Fates would have been for nothing.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she croaked. Her throat worked to swallow, but I could tell how dry her mouth was from her cracked, bloody lips.
“I’m not staying,” I promised her. I was relieved to see that some of the tension faded in her expression. “I just wanted to see that you’re still alive.”
“I’m alive,” she whispered. In those simple words, I felt defeat like I had never experienced before. She was alive, but not by choice. If she had her wish she would have left this world long ago.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I found myself promising her. I stepped forward, ignoring Veda’s childlike chuckle. “I promise, I’ll get you out of here.”
Suddenly she lunged forward and wrapped her hands around the glowing bars. She flinched as if the effort nearly killed her, but she didn’t let go. She also didn’t try to touch me. “Don’t,” she hissed on a wheezing inhale. “Please don’t. I don’t want to leave. You can’t make a deal with them, Ivy. No matter what they promise, it won’t be in your favor. I swear that to you. They will kill you. Or worse… And I tried so hard to keep you… away… I tried so hard to get you out…”
I shook my head, feeling the inexplicable need to comfort her. I was shocked at how wounded I was to see her like this. Tears streaked her dirty cheeks and I felt my own eyes grow hot and wet. “It’s not like that,” I quickly assured her. “It’s… I’m going to get you out,” I repeated, not knowing what else to say to her. I wanted to ask about the god-killer, but Veda hovered too closely. Intuition told me that regardless of what they said earlier, they were not on my side. They wanted me more than they wanted Nix dead and therefore I couldn’t give them the opportunity to take away my one possible advantage.
My mother looked distraught. I saw it in her despairing eyes that she had never expected to see me again. And she had wanted it that way.
Because if she never saw me again, that meant I had gotten away.
That meant I had found freedom.
“Did Nix bring you here?” she asked in a small voice.
“No, not Nix. Hermes.”
She frowned. I would have given anything to know her thoughts in that moment. She didn’t seem to approve of Hermes any more than she did Nix, which worried me. Ava’s entire reaction to seeing me made me want to run away from this mountain as fast as I could.
“Time’s up.” Veda clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth and moved toward me, using her small body to push Ryder and I back down the hallway.
“Mom!” I gasped, suddenly too attached to leave her. When had that happened? “Stay alive,” I begged her. I swiped at my foolish tears and held back a sob. “Don’t die and don’t get pregnant!”
She leaned against the bars of her cell and smiled faintly. Some of her old self sparked to life and she murmured, “I’m supposed to tell you that.”
I stumbled on the rocky ground and had to turn around to keep from face-planting. Ryder’s hand stayed around mine the whole time and I took comfort in his strength and confidence. I didn’t know where I would be without him right now.
Maybe behind bars with my mom.
“She’s used to being a prisoner,” Veda taunted behind us. “That’s the only reason she’s still alive. She’s never known anything but captivity. She was born broken.”
I swallowed furious curses and willed my fists to stay at my side. I wanted to rip her hair out.
I felt her lean forward. Her unearthly body heat covered my back and raised the hairs on my arms. She seemed to sense my reaction and it caused another tinkling of giggles to fall out of her.
“You’ll never last that long, Siren,” she whispered into my hair. “Do you know what happens when you try to cage a wild bird?” She didn’t wait for my guess. “They die.”
Swallowing my outrage, I asked the one question I had held back so far. “My friends… Exie and Sloane. Do you know what’s happened to them?”
Her black eyes seemed fathomless in the dark hallway. They widened at my question, seeming to become a hellish abyss right there on her small face. “Your mother lives in the lap of luxury compared to what Poseidon has done to them. And it’s all because of you. He punishes them because you’re out of his reach. But not for long, Little Bird. He’s close to what he wants. He has his prize within his reach.”
I didn’t turn around, but with a voice made of steel and vibrato, I asked, “Are we done yet?”
I sensed her fast jerk to upright and the tension that leaked into the air. She had wanted to wound me, but I wouldn’t let her. I wouldn’t let her threats get to me.
I wouldn’t let any of them get to me.
“We are,” she clipped in a business-like tone. “Be gone.”
I stumbled again, but this time not from the broken rocks and crumbled bone. My foot landed on unfamiliar ground, but it was definitely ground I could see.
My head rushed with the unsteady feeling of sharp déjà vu, and when I lifted my head, I could see why. Veda had sent us right back to the center of Olympus. One second we’d been in the Fate’s cave of iniquity and the next we were in the middle of town square with ten armed men and three angry Furies surrounding us.
“Siren,” Eryn bellowed. “You’re under arrest for the murder of a god.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“The goddamn Fates,” Ryder muttered under his breath.
I glanced around, absorbing every escape route. The last year of hiding had tau
ght me to make sure I knew where every exit was at all times.
Trapped in the middle of the road on a mountain that shouldn’t even exist, there weren’t many options. But an alley to my left faded into gray obscurity that could be helpful.
“Settle, Ivy,” Nix cooed gently. The gloating lilt to his deep baritone voice curdled my blood. “There’s nowhere for you to go. And we need to speak with you. I’m sure everything can be explained easily and to our satisfaction.”
I met his dark eyes and registered the victorious glint to his sinister expression. There was no reasoning that would make it okay to kill a god. Not even an evil one. Whatever I said would condemn me.
Nix continued, “And if you can’t explain the situation to our liking, I’m sure we’ll find an acceptable way to punish you.”
Ryder’s body pressed against mine, his chest to my back, shaking with rage. I could feel his determination, the unrelenting drive he felt to get me out of here alive. Nix would not win this way.
I held Nix’s gaze and with confidence I did not feel said, “I’m not sure my explanation will be to your liking, Nix, but I think the rest of the Pantheon will see that I am without fault.”
“And the musician?” Hera asked with a dark eyebrow raised.
“Neither of us killed Hades,” Ryder growled. “You need to question Persephone and Medusa.”
Hera’s face flinched with visible surprise, “Since they both reside in the Underworld, that will be rather impossible.”
Shit.
“Come,” she beckoned with the authority that only the queen of the gods could command. “It seems we need to be tedious and hold a trial.”
Ryder nodded subtly and I gathered my remaining courage and followed Hera toward the temple. Hermes fell into step next to me and although he didn’t speak, I could feel his disapproval of our actions.
Shame twisted with anxiety inside of me. If we had gone straight to him could he have helped? Would he have been able to get my mother back without striking a deal with the Fates?
I couldn’t decide if we could trust him or not, but my indecision might be the death of me.
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