“For your permanent record, I’m here exactly because of this lowly situation,” he responds tightly. “Which, very soon, isn’t going to be so cleanly cut and put away.”
Nancy gulps hard. “Oh?”
“Everything that’s happening… This isn’t the fault lines all deciding to have a bad day at once.”
“No.” Maximus shifts uneasily. Sighs just as heavily. “It’s Hades becoming the poster child for unchecked petulance.”
Z swings around with a piercing look. “You’d be wise to keep those remarks to yourself, lest they’re overheard by the wrong parties. I think you’ve aggravated him enough, don’t you?” He accepts Maximus’s glower as enough of a reply to continue his terse briefing. “On his best days, he’s a tethered beast. If you care for this realm and those in it, the goal is to keep the tether stable.”
The logic in my mind forces out the words on my lips. “And the status of the tether now?”
I expect it’s the exact question Z wants, but he hesitates to respond.
Maximus fills that gap with a heavy sigh. “Hanging on by a thread, I’m guessing.”
Z returns that assessment with an unnerving stance, rubbing his thumbs along his forefingers in maddeningly casual circles. “You want to test the theory by tightroping on the thread?” he drawls. “Or should we get things moving by talking about how we’re going to deal with this now?”
The declaration has me breathing easier, especially as Maximus’s expression opens up. It can’t be easy for him to take off his blinders about Z and acknowledge the benefit of his experience over the hurt from his absence. But maybe a bigger recognition is dawning for him too. The black-and-white memories from our upbringings seem to gain more gray scale nuances as our journey goes on.
“Okay, you’re right,” Maximus concedes. “Movement is essential. But where? My place is out now. So is Kara’s house.”
“And just about anywhere else on the continent.” Z cocks his head, still too steady and calm for comfort.
Maximus dips a respectful nod. “What do you have in mind?”
“No.” Nancy jerks Maximus back by the crook of his elbow, exposing the new overlay of her intent. “Just no. We don’t need him to save us! All these years, we’ve done it on our own and have been just fine. Right?”
Maximus tugs his arm in, bringing her hand closer. “Mom.” He gently slides a hand atop hers. “All these years, we’ve never had to deal with something like this.”
Her mouth compresses. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t,” she rasps.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with, Nancy,” Z says. “Hades will rob a baby from its mother if it serves his whims or glory. Just as easily, he’d kill it.”
“And you wonder why I got our child out of your world when I did?” she snaps.
The god’s countenance goes rigid. “You mean the world that’s going to be his safest sanctuary now?”
“Whoa.” Maximus’s posture seizes up. “Wait the hell up. What’re you—”
“No,” Nancy spews. “Absolutely not. I forbid it.”
“He’s a grown man now. He can make up his own mind—”
“To tell you he refuses to follow you to where you tug the leash just because you slam on a crown every once in a while!”
Z hauls in a long breath. “A crown isn’t what designates me as king.”
“And your DNA doesn’t designate Maximus as your puppet.” She’s in Z’s face once more, skewering him with her glower. “You can’t make him go. You won’t dictate his decisions!”
Z pushes back into her personal space. He doesn’t blink or flinch. “Even if I leave right now and take you back with me?”
I yearn to hug Nancy. My soul already cracks with just one thought of Maximus rushing off to Olympus. A demon, even by half, belongs less in Olympus than a demigod in Dis. And we barely survived that ordeal.
“Nancy, you won’t be able to hide from this now.” Z swings his stare back around at Maximus and me. “He doesn’t want to see just a little suffering. He’ll exact the pain in every way he can.”
“So your solution is to tuck us away in Olympus?” Nancy counters. “Because that worked so well the first time?”
There’s an awful extended pause. Z doesn’t seem deterred by her challenge. Not by any detectable inch.
“We can figure something out,” he finally states. “But until then, at least you’ll be safe.”
“Safe. In what exact sense of the word now?”
The question is a velvety murmur, but it impacts my nerves like a fork on glass—until I tense at a new sound. We all spin toward an outer gate on the patio—an access route that’s locked off to the public by a menacing padlock.
Somehow, Erin Levin has managed to get past it with ease.
I don’t ignore that part. I can’t afford to. Especially because she’s strolling closer and closer, her smirking gaze never leaving the king of the gods.
Like she’s met him before. Lots of times.
“Erin. Hi.” Maximus’s attention finally fixes on the new person in our party. “You lost? Are you looking for someone?”
The professor slides her gaze between Maximus and Z like a serpent slithering through marsh grass. She’s watching…deciding…savoring… And now it’s beyond unsettling. As every second goes by, she’s less and less the sweet but shy woman from the silent auction room at President McCarthy’s party.
But that impression fades beneath the worst realization that hits me.
I’m completely deaf and blind about her aura. Especially as she circles her shockingly intense stare right around at me. The blue and green shades of her irises don’t appear so sparkly anymore. They’re marbled and saturated, surrounding unusually huge pupils.
I gasp and shift back toward Maximus, desperately needing his strength. Because Erin Levin isn’t who she appears or claims to be. I feel that much in my bones. A second later, with Z’s recognition, I know it as fact.
“Megaera.” Zeus’s growl has never sounded more like music to me. “You have no business here.”
Every muscle in my body tenses painfully. I share a knowing look with Maximus.
Imagination offers too many possibilities to my brain. Is she an emissary for Hades, come to drag me back to the world that’ll kill my soul long before my body perishes? Or has she come to enforce some other brand of justice?
Z twists a hand as if yanking on a pet’s leash.
Erin hisses, her neck extending toward Z with the sound. “You have no business here.”
“Do you dare reprimand me?” Zeus jerks harder on the invisible chain.
Erin—Megaera, whoever she is—cries out before dropping to the ground. From that position, she twists her head, spearing Z with the gaze that’s gone from startling aqua to terrifyingly bright turquoise. A small scritch vibrates from her throat, hinting at a laugh but never getting there.
“I am your Fury!” she lashes out. “I have every right to be here, meting out justice by your law. Am I not at your service as the punisher of lies, infidelity, and broken oaths? The power you have given me to punish all who sin in such a manner?”