Hades bit his lip. I knew we were asking him to make a tough decision. We were asking him to pick and choose which of his family we killed and who we let live. I wouldn’t want to make that decision either.
“Who says an Olympian has to rule Olympus?” Hades finally said.
Okay, what the fuck.
We were all frowning at him. Where was he going with this, and why?
“Hear me out. Olympus is a vast place, but there’s not many people there. My family is inbred, but they stopped having children with each other because they didn’t want another situation like Zeus and Kronos. They fear siring more Olympians because they think the past will repeat itself, and their children will kill them.
“They brought chosen humans up there, and they make demigods, but no Olympians. The population there is more human and demigod than it is Olympian. You’ve said this Fae realm has opened their gates to allow people in. They are openly trading with Hell and Earth. Why can’t Olympus do the same? My family would do well to be exposed to humans that aren’t sacrificing and worshipping them, and there are things there that can be traded you can’t get in any other realm.”
Barbatos stroked his goatee.
“I’m listening, and I like this idea. How would you enforce it? Your family is probably going to hate the idea at first.”
At first? They would probably always hate the idea. I couldn’t see them fitting into the modern world either. Aphrodite had managed for the most part, but she was still so hung up on people telling her she was pretty. As far as I knew, none of them had left since they went back to their realm. People spoke their minds now. Athena couldn’t curse someone because they said her idea was stupid now, but she’d do it anyway.
“We’d need help from other realms. If the Fae and demons wanted to live there, perhaps they could go to work, helping keep the peace and educate the people who live there. I’m sure some demigods and humans might love to go to Earth or another realm.”
“Well, they can’t come to Hell!” Barbatos boomed. “The Fae may have opened their gates, but we don’t just let anyone into Hell. A demon has to claim you first, and Bael has to approve you. It’s how we keep crime down.”
Hades looked uncomfortable.
“No Olympians in Hell. Got it. What about demons in Olympus?”
“Realm travel doesn’t get approved often unless it’s business. Demons mostly keep to themselves. Bael may agree to spare some legions to keep the peace, but he’s going to want them back eventually. I can’t speak for the Fae. Fergus is our Fae ambassador in Hell, and he’s highly respected. He may be able to bring it up to the Fae king, but I don’t know how they will feel about it. They can mate with humans and other supes, but things are different there now. Eiltan is king now, and if he thinks his people won’t be happy there, he won’t send them.”
Well, Hades was shit out of luck with this plot. Who was going to be happy babysitting a bunch of Olympians? I didn’t even know what a Fae was, but I had a feeling they’d find that job totally annoying.
Tryphon just stared down at his nail polish.
“I get it. You have a plan, and you could have allies to help. It doesn’t change the fact that Poseidon and Athena hurt Pavlina and me. I don’t know who deserves to eat Poseidon more—me or Pavlina.”
“We can go halfsies. You can eat Poseidon, and I’ll eat Athena. Do you think it’ll make us sick? I won’t touch Satyrs or centaurs anymore because it upsets my stomach.”
Pavlina’s eating habits pretty much upset my stomach. Tryphon was usually quick when he needed to eat someone, but Pavlina drew it out for as long as possible. It just grossed me out, hearing all the shrieking and bones crunching. I pretty much agreed that Athena and Poseidon needed to die, but I didn’t want to be there when Pavlina killed her. Athena couldn’t curse her any more than she was already cursed, and Pavlina really enjoyed killing things. Out of all of us, she’d probably enjoy those Hell torture dungeons the most.
“You can’t forgive Poseidon and Athena if they can redeem themselves with Zeus gone?” Hades sighed.
Pavlina slammed her fork in the table so hard it stuck.
“Poseidon went around raping women to get back at Athena for besting him, and Athena punished every single one of those women. Do you want to tell the Gorgon sisters about redeeming Athena?”
“No, I do not. Fine. You can kill Athena and Poseidon, but give everyone else a chance before you permanently end them.”
I thought this was a stupid plan, but Hades was my king, and these were his orders. We’d get to Olympus, kill who we had permission to kill, then try to reason with a race of people who pretended to be gods just to stroke their egos.
Yeah, that was totally going to work.
Chapter 8
River
I
liked Hades in my own way, and I knew he was doing the best with what he was given. I just didn’t know what else his family had to do to get him to wake up. They banished him here and hurt Hephaestus. It was like pulling teeth for Pavlina and Tryphon to get permission to take their revenge. And why were we letting fucking Ares live? I knew enough about him from school that he would be trouble and want one of those knives.
Hades finally dismissed us back to my room. My monsters had all moved in with me. They were still trying to fix Demos’s room after we set the whole thing on fire, and if Demos was going to be staying with me, the rest of them were too. I wasn’t complaining. I wanted them all close to me, even if they still argued over big spoon.
We hadn’t played because I was worried about Hephaestus, and we were all together instead of being alone. But my mind had been whirring while I repeatedly ran the courtyard, and it got my adrenaline pumping. I needed some bedroom time, but I couldn’t pick who I would be alone with. It hit me on my last lap down the courtyard. What if we all played together? Would they be down for that?
It wouldn’t hurt to ask. They could tell me no if they didn’t want to, and I’d be okay with that. I turned to face them.
“How would you all feel about blowing off some steam together?”
“I don’t want any dicks around me,” Pavlina said.
I’d already had this fantasy in my head, and I hoped Pavlina would be down. Mostly since it involved Demos. I tangled my hand in her hair and pulled her in for a kiss.
“I was hoping you’d sit on my face while Demos fucked me.”
Pavlina let out a little growl and bit my lower lip.
“I’m so down with that. I don’t even care it’s Demos. What about you, Demos? Care to play?”
“I find myself hating you less now, and I’m down.”
Not only did I really want to do this and think it would be an immense turn on, I was also hoping sharing me like this would get them over all the hate they had left for each other. Baby steps.
I turned to Tryphon and Kimon next.
“I want to see what a Kraken and Minotaur sandwich feels like after that.”
Kimon blew smoke out his nose, and a tentacle crept out to wrap around my ankle.
“You don’t even have to ask, River,” Tryphon said. “I’m down for this with anyone on my team and Hephaestus too.”