Bellerophon doesn’t comment on that. We take another set of stairs up. My adrenaline is still going strong, but I can already sense the crash coming. Too much, too quickly. This is exactly what I wanted, so I should be happy, right? I don’t understand this strange sense of loss that feels like someone wrapped me in a lead blanket and tossed me off a pier.
They open the door at the top of this flight of stairs and step back. “They’re waiting.”
I don’t know why I’m surprised to see my brother standing next to Athena. He might not have been visible in the box seat when she made the announcements, but he’s not the type to let something this important pass without witnessing it.
Perseus has on a charcoal-gray suit with a cream shirt underneath it. The only sign that he’s less than perfectly put together are the faint creases in his slacks that almost look like he was gripping the fabric in his fists like he used to when he was a child and trying not to react. But that’s ridiculous. Perseus hasn’t shown that kind of loss of control since our mother died. Longer, even.
Athena waits for the door to shut behind me to sigh. “Well, you fucked that right up, didn’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s too late to worry about it now. You’re Ares, for better or worse.” She checks her phone. “I need to go check on my men.”
“Wait.” The word is out before I can call it back. “Is Patroclus going to be okay?”
Athena’s dark eyes flash, the only outward sign that she’s furious right now. “He’s on his way to the hospital now. The damage was too much for the medics to handle, so it’ll be up to the surgeon. They had damn well better save him.”
Save him. Because he might die.
“No.” Panic flares, strong enough to rock me back on my heels. I turn for the door. “I’m coming too.”
“Plant your feet, Ares,” she snaps. She waits for me to look at her again to continue. “You’re new to the Thirteen, so I’ll let that insult slide despite the fact that you should know better, being a Kasios. You are Ares now.” She speaks slowly, but it’s not patronizing. “I am Athena. Those men, Achilles and Patroclus? They’re my people, which means they’re my responsibility. Do not spend your first day as Ares stepping on my toes, or I’ll make you regret it.”
I open my mouth to argue but manage to hold the words back at the last minute. She’s right. It doesn’t matter what promises the men and I made… Except were they promises? They certainly sounded like it when Achilles spoke with such confidence, but that was before he brushed me off just now, before he walked away without looking back.
He’s never going to forgive you. It was a nice dream while it lasted, but it’s over now.
I inhale slowly. If I ignore Athena’s warning and show up at the hospital, there’s a decent chance neither of the men will want to see me. I don’t think they lied, exactly, but I know how quickly people stop saying what you want to hear when you stop giving them what they want.
Achilles thought he’d become Ares. When he made those promises, it was with the intent of me bending when all the chips were down. He never actually thought I had a chance of winning, and his confidence reflected that. Now that he’s lost his dream?
He won’t forgive me.
He certainly won’t play second fiddle to me being Ares.
I swallow hard. Would I feel differently if our positions were reversed? It’s easy to pretend I would have gotten over it and we’d dance our way to some happy little triad, but the loss of something I’ve wanted with every fiber of my being? I can’t say I’d be able to look him in the face, married or no.
When I speak, my tone is perfectly cordial, doing nothing to reflect the loss driving its roots deep into me. “Of course, Athena. My apologies.”
“Better.” She sweeps past me and out of the room.
I can see the storm brewing in Perseus’s blue eyes, and I want nothing more than to follow Athena out the door to avoid it, but I didn’t come this far to be cowardly when it counted. I got what I wanted, and that means facing down the consequences of my actions.
I’m one of the Thirteen now, after all. I lift my chin. “Zeus.”
“No. You don’t get to call me Zeus right now.” He drags his hands through his hair. “What the fuck, Helen? Do you know the trouble you’ve caused? I’ve been putting out fucking fires for the last week while you gallivanted around—”
“I’m going to stop you there.” I start to wrap my arms around myself but stop and straighten. “You don’t get to take the high road with me, Perseus. Yeah, I became a champion without talking to you first, but after I was fucking attacked, you didn’t even come by to see if I was okay.”
Immediately, he goes cold. Covering up messier emotions. We’re all such liars in my family, myself included. My brother finally says, “I had my reasons.”
“Do tell.” I wait, but he doesn’t seem inclined to share. Fine. I draw myself up. “As the new Ares, I will be taking that prisoner back. They’re key to discovering the responsible parties and ensuring no other attacks are leveled against other members of the Thirteen and their families. As Ares, that’s my specialty, and not even you can stop me.”
“They claimed diplomatic immunity.”
That pulls me up short. “Excuse me?”
“The attacker. They were one of Minos’s people.” He says it so casually, his tone belying the careful way he watches me as if I might spring into violence at any moment. “They weren’t a citizen of the city, and as such, Minos requested leave to be the one to exact punishment. He removed them from Olympus.”
I force myself not to react, to slow down long enough to piece out what he’s saying…and what he isn’t. “You can’t seriously believe that Minos had no knowledge of the attack. That doesn’t even make sense. What are the odds that one of his carefully selected people randomly decided to sneak into my room and try to kill me?”
“My hands are tied.”
“Why?” When he doesn’t immediately answer, I press. “You’re Zeus. You get to make the executive call when it comes to strangers in Olympus. There’s no reason they need to be here now that the title of Ares is filled. You don’t have to let them stay. Send them home.”
For a moment, Perseus looks so fucking tired that if we were a hugging family, I might try to hug him. It doesn’t last. His moments of weakness never do. He shakes his head and straightens his shoulders. “There are extenuating circumstances.” For a moment, I think he won’t continue, but he sighs. “I suppose you’ll be briefed on it officially tomorrow with the rest of the Thirteen. Minos brought news of a credible threat against Olympus. He wants to cut a deal in return for sharing that information.”