Electric idol, p.22
Electric Idol, page 22
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” She looks between us and bursts out laughing. “Oh, you sweet, simple children. Did you really think that farce of a ceremony would be enough to change your fate? It’s barely a speed bump. Enjoy my son while you can, Psyche. This mistake will be rectified soon.” She turns and strides out of the bar, every eye following her.
Fuck.
Eros exhales slowly. “Godsdamn it.” He tenses. “We need to get out of here. Right now.”
I keep my smile in place because we’re back to being the center of everyone’s attention. “We can’t leave yet.”
“Psyche.”
“We are a happy couple.” I speak slowly, still smiling. “Your mother might not approve, but she’s not the one we’re trying to win over.”
“Win over? Who gives a fuck about winning anyone over? She just said—” He takes a breath, and then another. After a small eternity, when I’m sure I’ve lost him, his shoulders relax and he slouches back against the booth next to me. I don’t breathe a sigh of relief, but it’s a close thing. Eros lifts our interlaced fingers to kiss my knuckles. “I’ll keep you safe,” he murmurs against my skin.
Gods help me, but I almost believe it. I thought I felt fear sitting across from Eros in that seedy little bar while he casually threatened me. It’s nothing like I feel now. Aphrodite won’t stop. Maybe I am the sweet, simple child she accused me of being because I am legitimately shocked. I was prepared to step to the line and battle for my reputation.
I didn’t think she’d continue with her plan to kill me.
“The marriage was supposed to change things.”
“I thought it would.” The words are low and tight. “I thought it would be enough to deter her. It doesn’t matter. We’ll find a way forward. You have me now, and I’ll be damned before I let anyone lay a finger on you.”
I want to believe him. I want to so desperately, it makes me shake. Because of that desperation, I force myself to say, “You never told me what you get out of this.” When he just looks at me, I make a vague motion with my free hand. “The wedding, the deception.”
“I would think it’s obvious.” He brushes his lips to my knuckles again. “I get you.”
23
Eros
We have another round of drinks before I pay our tab and take Psyche home. She doesn’t let her public persona slip once, but I can see the strain around the edges. All because of my mother. I knew she would try something eventually, but even I didn’t expect this. She still intends to go through with the original plan. I don’t know if me marrying Psyche was what pushed her too far, but there will be no talking her down from this ledge. She means to throw herself over it and drag us down in the process.
Psyche doesn’t speak until we close the door of the penthouse behind us. “I thought the marriage would work.”
“I did, too.”
“Did you?” She hardly sounds like herself. “Or was this all part of the plan? Threaten me, humiliate my mother by marrying me, and then kill me?”
That stops me short. “You don’t believe that.”
“I don’t know what to believe.” Psyche drags her hands through her hair. “But I suppose you’re right. If you intended to become a widower, Aphrodite would have no reason to ambush us.” She glances at me, her expression softening. “Sorry. I’m so wrapped up in my head, I didn’t ask how you’re holding up.”
My throat goes a little tight, but I breathe past it. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not the one being threatened right now.”
“Your mother just steamrolled right over you as if you were a child. That can’t feel good.”
It doesn’t. It really fucking doesn’t. But then, I have no illusions about the role I play in my mother’s life. Always in support of her ambitions, her needs, her whims. She might tolerate my occasional pushing back, but I am a tool for her to pick up and use at her leisure.
I sigh. “My mother is a simple creature when it boils down to it. She lavishes praise and rewards on me when I do exactly what she wants, and she punishes me when I step out of line. I went against her will when I married you, so punishment it is.” On the surface, I suppose that’s how most people parent. I honestly have no idea. It just feels so fucking insidious with my mother.
“Eros, that’s terrible.”
I let her concern wash over me. It feels good, far better than I deserve. “Don’t worry about me, Psyche. We’ll find a way through this.”
For a moment, I think she’ll keep arguing, keep digging, but she finally nods. “We need to talk about next steps.”
“Not yet.” I take her hand. I enjoy touching her so much, and not even in a way that’s confined to sex. It still feels a little baffling that I can do it whenever I want. This casual intimacy might be a small thing, but it’s an experience I’ve never had before. More, touching her calms me in a way I’m not prepared to deal with. “I want to show you something.”
“Eros.” She gives an exasperated sigh. “I don’t think showing me your dick right now will solve any of our problems.”
“Ha-ha, very funny.” I lead her to the locked door across from my safe room and pull her to stand before me. “Pay very close attention and memorize this.” I type out the code slowly. “Repeat it back to me.”
Psyche does, flawlessly. “What is this?”
Instead of answering with words, I push the door open and nudge her in ahead of me. I don’t let her get far before I turn her back to the door. “This is reinforced. It can take machine-gun fire without punching through, at least long enough for Ares’s people to show up. The walls are the same.”
Her eyes go wide. “That’s a lot of reinforcement.”
“It’s a safe room. If you’re home alone for some reason and get spooked, come here. I keep several burner phones charged, so you can call out for help.” I motion to the bright-red box near the door. “This will call Ares’s forces.”
If anything, her eyes get wider. “Not the police?”
“The police are for civilians.” It stands to reason that she’d default to the police in a situation like this, though. The current Ares and Demeter don’t get along, so of course she won’t trust his private military with the safety of her family, even if that’s their official role. Most of the Thirteen have some sort of private security they contract for themselves and their families, but we can’t trust Aphrodite’s people for obvious reason. No, it has to be Ares.
She gives herself a little shake. “I suppose that’s fair.” Psyche turns and looks at the trio of monitors set up around my chair, at the filing cabinets. “This isn’t just a safe room.”
“No, it’s not just a safe room.”
She glances at me. “You’re putting an undeserved amount of faith in me by giving me access to all this.”
I shrug with a nonchalance I don’t feel. “I promised that I’d keep you safe. That promise extends to when you’re not in my presence. This is one of the safest spots this side of the River Styx. Not even Hermes can get inside.”
She looks at the room with new appreciation. “That is safe. I swear that woman is half ghost and can sift through the vents.”
“Nothing so exciting. She’s just an excellent thief and hacker.” She was long before she became Hermes, but that part isn’t known publicly. In fact, not much at all is known publicly about her. She prefers it that way.
“You talk like she’s a friend.”
“She…is. Or as near to it as one gets in this city.”
Psyche’s smile is bittersweet. “Olympus continues to be quite the qualifier.”
“It’s home.”
“Yes, I suppose it is.” She presses her lips together as if not sure what to say. “Thank you for showing me this. I promise to try not to abuse it.”
That draws a laugh from me. “I appreciate your attempt at restraint.” We go back into the hall and I have her input the code enough times that I’m sure she can do it under duress. We’ll do this in a couple of days to be sure, but it’s the bare minimum I can accomplish right now. It does little to combat how loose around the edges I feel at the thought of my mother’s knife pointed in Psyche’s direction. I promised that this marriage would change things, and in the end, it’s changed nothing.
Aphrodite has made a liar out of me.
We end up taking the time to change into more comfortable clothing before retreating to the living room to talk strategy. As much as I don’t want Psyche’s idea of “organization” spilling all over the master bedroom, part of me intensely dislikes the way we have separate closets. I don’t know what the fuck that’s about. As she pointed out before, plenty of couples have separate rooms, and we have hardly anything resembling a traditional relationship.
Still.
Psyche sits on the other side of the couch, and I allow that space, but I reach down and grab her feet, lifting them to perch on my thigh. Her frown morphs into surprise as I take one foot and begin to massage it. “Oh gods, what are you doing?”
“Those heeled boots were sexy, but they look uncomfortable.”
“They are uncomfortable, but that’s the life of an influencer.” She melts down against the couch until she’s almost prone. “I can’t think when you’re doing that.”
I dig my thumb into her arch, causing her to emit a damn-near-sexual moan. “Sure you can. We need to come up with a new plan.”
She makes another little whimpering sound and rallies. “Pause.”
I go still. “What? Pause? What are you talking about?”
“Just…pause.” She pulls out her phone with a look of utter concentration on her face. “Can you tilt your head a little to the left so you catch the light? Yes, like that.”
Bemused, I allow her to arrange me like a human-sized doll and snap a picture. She turns her phone to me without me asking her to show me. It’s…really good. I look relaxed and happy, lounging on the couch with my wife’s feet in my lap. “You’re really good at this.”
“I’ve been doing it long enough; I kind of have to be.” She starts typing on her phone.
I won’t have her full attention until she posts the picture, so I settle in to wait. It doesn’t take her long. She sighs and sets her phone aside, giving me her full attention. “The plan—”
“I didn’t mean about the social-influencer thing, though you are good at that. I meant the pictures. Do you ever use an actual camera?”
“Not really.” Psyche shrugs. “I mean, there are photo shoots and stuff, but you can accomplish a lot with a camera phone these days. Besides, it’s kind of a fun challenge to get the photos I want with just the phone.”
“Consider me impressed.” And I am. It seems like all I bring to this world is ugliness. Death and pain. It’s never really bothered me before. Olympus might look gorgeous on the surface, but the pretty is only skin deep. Once you dig a little, all you find is rot.
Though that rule doesn’t seem to apply to the woman with her feet in my lap. Psyche brings some beauty and positivity to the space she occupies. All her photo captions are uplifting, even the ones where she’s admitting struggle. I thought it was a crock of shit when she first started making waves in Olympus, but the longer I’m with her, the more I realize how fucking genuine she is. Oh, she has her mask and she lies as well as I do, but that thread of kindness, that desire to bring light into the world instead of darkness? That’s real.
“Eros.” She says my name warmly, almost indulgently.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
Psyche shakes her head. “Please focus. This is important.”
She’s right. I can’t afford to get distracted, even by her. Really, focusing on anything but this conversation is an avoidance tactic. Now that my plan to keep Psyche safe—to keep her with me—has been proven a failure, there’s really only one answer. “I can get you out of Olympus.”
She goes still. “That’s nearly impossible.”
“It depends on who you know. Poseidon is a stickler for the rules, but not all his people are. With a hefty enough bribe, Triton will smuggle people out. If you leave Olympus, you’ll be safe from my mother.”
Psyche stares at me for a long moment. “But you won’t be. If you think I should leave Olympus, then you should, too.”
“My mother doesn’t want to kill me.” I should leave it at that, but I’ve trusted this woman with little bits and pieces of me already. What’s one more? “Exile has been Aphrodite’s punishment of choice more than once in the past, and I’ve been the person who enacted it. Those people would love a chance to get revenge. If I leave the city with you, it will just paint a different kind of target on your back, and I won’t have the resources to even attempt to protect you like I can here.” Not enough. No matter how hard I try, I’m never fucking enough. I can’t keep Psyche safe without sending her away. I’m the reason she’s in this messed-up situation to begin with.
“No.”
I blink. “What?”
She looks as resolute as I’ve ever seen her. “No, I am not fleeing Olympus. My life is here. My family is here. I’m not letting that bitch—even if she is your mother—run me out of town. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Damn it.” I drag in a breath. “I will do everything in my power to protect you, but I might fail. I’m far better at killing than I am at playing bodyguard.” I’ve never had to do the latter before, and never when the stakes were so high. “Money isn’t an issue. We could get you set up. You wouldn’t be able to see your family, but at least you’d be alive.”
“Eros.” She says my name so gently. “That might all be true, but if I run and leave Aphrodite in power, the next person she targets likely won’t be as lucky to have the resources at my disposal. She’ll continue to victimize people less powerful than her just because she can. She’ll continue to use you to do it.” Her hazel eyes go hard. “I won’t allow that to happen. You deserve better than to be her weapon, and the people in this city deserve better than to walk on eggshells to avoid pissing Aphrodite off. We’ll find a way to stop her. Together.”
I’m ashamed of the sheer relief her words bring me. She’s not leaving me. Not yet. Fuck, I’m such an asshole. “We have to adjust the plan.”
“Yes. Starting with this Friday, when we attend Helen’s party.”
That gives me a little pause. “I thought you’d want to skip it considering what happened tonight.”
“I do want to skip it, but it’s not about what I want.” She shifts on the couch. It strikes me that this could be our lives if we were different people, in a different situation. Relaxing in my living room, her taking candid photos, talking about our days…
Longing hits me so hard, it steals my breath. I close my eyes and try to focus. “If you’re staying in Olympus, it’s the height of foolishness to leave the penthouse more than strictly necessary. My mother wants you dead; no reason to make it easier on her.”
“Would you have gone if I weren’t here?”
I frown. As tempting as it is to keep reminding Psyche how dangerous this course of action is, I answer honestly. “Yeah. I like Helen. She and Eris play the game differently than I do, but that goes with the territory of being born into the Kasios family. The events they put together are never boring, especially when one of them is trying to prove a point to Perseus or Zeus.” Except Perseus is Zeus now. Damn it, one of these days that will click in my thoughts properly and I won’t have to keep reminding myself.
“Exactly my point. We’re fighting on two fronts now.” She wiggles her foot until I pick it up and resume massaging. “We need time to figure out a way to deal with this renewed threat from your mother, and the only way to create that time is to have Olympus on our side. The original plan still has to stay in motion.”
“That’s reckless.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
I concentrate on running my thumb up the sole of her foot until she lets loose that sexy little moan again. As tempting as it is to hole up in this penthouse for the foreseeable future, it will demolish our chances of playing out the epic love story we’re supposed to be selling. More than that, I saw what happened last time one of Demeter’s daughters was kept from her. She can’t starve out the whole of the upper city in response to this, but she’s got plenty of weapons in her arsenal.
And that’s the best-case scenario.
Worst case, Demeter realizes why we entered into this marriage in the first place and goes after Aphrodite directly. There hasn’t been a true war between members of the Thirteen in generations. Not even the last Zeus and last Hades, for all that their conflict ended with Hades’s death. It was Ares and Hephaestus who warred all those decades ago, and they demolished several blocks of the upper city in the process. It was one of the few times in our history when Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades came together to quell the conflict. Zeus, of course, executed both Ares and Hephaestus in a particularly gruesome and public manner.
That Zeus had held his title for most of his life.
This one has been Zeus for a few months.
No matter what kind of heft the title carries, I don’t know if Perseus can hold his own if a conflict spirals out of control between Demeter and Aphrodite.
No, Psyche is right. We don’t have a choice. “Okay, we’ll attend the party.”
“I do have one question.”
“Sure.”
She twists her hair around her finger. “You’re friends with the Kasios siblings, right? Why not just go to Zeus now and ask him to intervene? No matter how powerful Aphrodite is, she’s not Zeus powerful.”
I concentrate on rubbing her foot in a way that makes her moan a little while I formulate an answer. “Perseus—Zeus—and I aren’t as close as we were as kids, but even if we were, I don’t think he could overlook the fact that the evidence against my mother also implicates me. He can’t punish one and spare the other, because he’ll have to justify any action he takes against another of the Thirteen.”
Fuck.
Eros exhales slowly. “Godsdamn it.” He tenses. “We need to get out of here. Right now.”
I keep my smile in place because we’re back to being the center of everyone’s attention. “We can’t leave yet.”
“Psyche.”
“We are a happy couple.” I speak slowly, still smiling. “Your mother might not approve, but she’s not the one we’re trying to win over.”
“Win over? Who gives a fuck about winning anyone over? She just said—” He takes a breath, and then another. After a small eternity, when I’m sure I’ve lost him, his shoulders relax and he slouches back against the booth next to me. I don’t breathe a sigh of relief, but it’s a close thing. Eros lifts our interlaced fingers to kiss my knuckles. “I’ll keep you safe,” he murmurs against my skin.
Gods help me, but I almost believe it. I thought I felt fear sitting across from Eros in that seedy little bar while he casually threatened me. It’s nothing like I feel now. Aphrodite won’t stop. Maybe I am the sweet, simple child she accused me of being because I am legitimately shocked. I was prepared to step to the line and battle for my reputation.
I didn’t think she’d continue with her plan to kill me.
“The marriage was supposed to change things.”
“I thought it would.” The words are low and tight. “I thought it would be enough to deter her. It doesn’t matter. We’ll find a way forward. You have me now, and I’ll be damned before I let anyone lay a finger on you.”
I want to believe him. I want to so desperately, it makes me shake. Because of that desperation, I force myself to say, “You never told me what you get out of this.” When he just looks at me, I make a vague motion with my free hand. “The wedding, the deception.”
“I would think it’s obvious.” He brushes his lips to my knuckles again. “I get you.”
23
Eros
We have another round of drinks before I pay our tab and take Psyche home. She doesn’t let her public persona slip once, but I can see the strain around the edges. All because of my mother. I knew she would try something eventually, but even I didn’t expect this. She still intends to go through with the original plan. I don’t know if me marrying Psyche was what pushed her too far, but there will be no talking her down from this ledge. She means to throw herself over it and drag us down in the process.
Psyche doesn’t speak until we close the door of the penthouse behind us. “I thought the marriage would work.”
“I did, too.”
“Did you?” She hardly sounds like herself. “Or was this all part of the plan? Threaten me, humiliate my mother by marrying me, and then kill me?”
That stops me short. “You don’t believe that.”
“I don’t know what to believe.” Psyche drags her hands through her hair. “But I suppose you’re right. If you intended to become a widower, Aphrodite would have no reason to ambush us.” She glances at me, her expression softening. “Sorry. I’m so wrapped up in my head, I didn’t ask how you’re holding up.”
My throat goes a little tight, but I breathe past it. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not the one being threatened right now.”
“Your mother just steamrolled right over you as if you were a child. That can’t feel good.”
It doesn’t. It really fucking doesn’t. But then, I have no illusions about the role I play in my mother’s life. Always in support of her ambitions, her needs, her whims. She might tolerate my occasional pushing back, but I am a tool for her to pick up and use at her leisure.
I sigh. “My mother is a simple creature when it boils down to it. She lavishes praise and rewards on me when I do exactly what she wants, and she punishes me when I step out of line. I went against her will when I married you, so punishment it is.” On the surface, I suppose that’s how most people parent. I honestly have no idea. It just feels so fucking insidious with my mother.
“Eros, that’s terrible.”
I let her concern wash over me. It feels good, far better than I deserve. “Don’t worry about me, Psyche. We’ll find a way through this.”
For a moment, I think she’ll keep arguing, keep digging, but she finally nods. “We need to talk about next steps.”
“Not yet.” I take her hand. I enjoy touching her so much, and not even in a way that’s confined to sex. It still feels a little baffling that I can do it whenever I want. This casual intimacy might be a small thing, but it’s an experience I’ve never had before. More, touching her calms me in a way I’m not prepared to deal with. “I want to show you something.”
“Eros.” She gives an exasperated sigh. “I don’t think showing me your dick right now will solve any of our problems.”
“Ha-ha, very funny.” I lead her to the locked door across from my safe room and pull her to stand before me. “Pay very close attention and memorize this.” I type out the code slowly. “Repeat it back to me.”
Psyche does, flawlessly. “What is this?”
Instead of answering with words, I push the door open and nudge her in ahead of me. I don’t let her get far before I turn her back to the door. “This is reinforced. It can take machine-gun fire without punching through, at least long enough for Ares’s people to show up. The walls are the same.”
Her eyes go wide. “That’s a lot of reinforcement.”
“It’s a safe room. If you’re home alone for some reason and get spooked, come here. I keep several burner phones charged, so you can call out for help.” I motion to the bright-red box near the door. “This will call Ares’s forces.”
If anything, her eyes get wider. “Not the police?”
“The police are for civilians.” It stands to reason that she’d default to the police in a situation like this, though. The current Ares and Demeter don’t get along, so of course she won’t trust his private military with the safety of her family, even if that’s their official role. Most of the Thirteen have some sort of private security they contract for themselves and their families, but we can’t trust Aphrodite’s people for obvious reason. No, it has to be Ares.
She gives herself a little shake. “I suppose that’s fair.” Psyche turns and looks at the trio of monitors set up around my chair, at the filing cabinets. “This isn’t just a safe room.”
“No, it’s not just a safe room.”
She glances at me. “You’re putting an undeserved amount of faith in me by giving me access to all this.”
I shrug with a nonchalance I don’t feel. “I promised that I’d keep you safe. That promise extends to when you’re not in my presence. This is one of the safest spots this side of the River Styx. Not even Hermes can get inside.”
She looks at the room with new appreciation. “That is safe. I swear that woman is half ghost and can sift through the vents.”
“Nothing so exciting. She’s just an excellent thief and hacker.” She was long before she became Hermes, but that part isn’t known publicly. In fact, not much at all is known publicly about her. She prefers it that way.
“You talk like she’s a friend.”
“She…is. Or as near to it as one gets in this city.”
Psyche’s smile is bittersweet. “Olympus continues to be quite the qualifier.”
“It’s home.”
“Yes, I suppose it is.” She presses her lips together as if not sure what to say. “Thank you for showing me this. I promise to try not to abuse it.”
That draws a laugh from me. “I appreciate your attempt at restraint.” We go back into the hall and I have her input the code enough times that I’m sure she can do it under duress. We’ll do this in a couple of days to be sure, but it’s the bare minimum I can accomplish right now. It does little to combat how loose around the edges I feel at the thought of my mother’s knife pointed in Psyche’s direction. I promised that this marriage would change things, and in the end, it’s changed nothing.
Aphrodite has made a liar out of me.
We end up taking the time to change into more comfortable clothing before retreating to the living room to talk strategy. As much as I don’t want Psyche’s idea of “organization” spilling all over the master bedroom, part of me intensely dislikes the way we have separate closets. I don’t know what the fuck that’s about. As she pointed out before, plenty of couples have separate rooms, and we have hardly anything resembling a traditional relationship.
Still.
Psyche sits on the other side of the couch, and I allow that space, but I reach down and grab her feet, lifting them to perch on my thigh. Her frown morphs into surprise as I take one foot and begin to massage it. “Oh gods, what are you doing?”
“Those heeled boots were sexy, but they look uncomfortable.”
“They are uncomfortable, but that’s the life of an influencer.” She melts down against the couch until she’s almost prone. “I can’t think when you’re doing that.”
I dig my thumb into her arch, causing her to emit a damn-near-sexual moan. “Sure you can. We need to come up with a new plan.”
She makes another little whimpering sound and rallies. “Pause.”
I go still. “What? Pause? What are you talking about?”
“Just…pause.” She pulls out her phone with a look of utter concentration on her face. “Can you tilt your head a little to the left so you catch the light? Yes, like that.”
Bemused, I allow her to arrange me like a human-sized doll and snap a picture. She turns her phone to me without me asking her to show me. It’s…really good. I look relaxed and happy, lounging on the couch with my wife’s feet in my lap. “You’re really good at this.”
“I’ve been doing it long enough; I kind of have to be.” She starts typing on her phone.
I won’t have her full attention until she posts the picture, so I settle in to wait. It doesn’t take her long. She sighs and sets her phone aside, giving me her full attention. “The plan—”
“I didn’t mean about the social-influencer thing, though you are good at that. I meant the pictures. Do you ever use an actual camera?”
“Not really.” Psyche shrugs. “I mean, there are photo shoots and stuff, but you can accomplish a lot with a camera phone these days. Besides, it’s kind of a fun challenge to get the photos I want with just the phone.”
“Consider me impressed.” And I am. It seems like all I bring to this world is ugliness. Death and pain. It’s never really bothered me before. Olympus might look gorgeous on the surface, but the pretty is only skin deep. Once you dig a little, all you find is rot.
Though that rule doesn’t seem to apply to the woman with her feet in my lap. Psyche brings some beauty and positivity to the space she occupies. All her photo captions are uplifting, even the ones where she’s admitting struggle. I thought it was a crock of shit when she first started making waves in Olympus, but the longer I’m with her, the more I realize how fucking genuine she is. Oh, she has her mask and she lies as well as I do, but that thread of kindness, that desire to bring light into the world instead of darkness? That’s real.
“Eros.” She says my name warmly, almost indulgently.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
Psyche shakes her head. “Please focus. This is important.”
She’s right. I can’t afford to get distracted, even by her. Really, focusing on anything but this conversation is an avoidance tactic. Now that my plan to keep Psyche safe—to keep her with me—has been proven a failure, there’s really only one answer. “I can get you out of Olympus.”
She goes still. “That’s nearly impossible.”
“It depends on who you know. Poseidon is a stickler for the rules, but not all his people are. With a hefty enough bribe, Triton will smuggle people out. If you leave Olympus, you’ll be safe from my mother.”
Psyche stares at me for a long moment. “But you won’t be. If you think I should leave Olympus, then you should, too.”
“My mother doesn’t want to kill me.” I should leave it at that, but I’ve trusted this woman with little bits and pieces of me already. What’s one more? “Exile has been Aphrodite’s punishment of choice more than once in the past, and I’ve been the person who enacted it. Those people would love a chance to get revenge. If I leave the city with you, it will just paint a different kind of target on your back, and I won’t have the resources to even attempt to protect you like I can here.” Not enough. No matter how hard I try, I’m never fucking enough. I can’t keep Psyche safe without sending her away. I’m the reason she’s in this messed-up situation to begin with.
“No.”
I blink. “What?”
She looks as resolute as I’ve ever seen her. “No, I am not fleeing Olympus. My life is here. My family is here. I’m not letting that bitch—even if she is your mother—run me out of town. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Damn it.” I drag in a breath. “I will do everything in my power to protect you, but I might fail. I’m far better at killing than I am at playing bodyguard.” I’ve never had to do the latter before, and never when the stakes were so high. “Money isn’t an issue. We could get you set up. You wouldn’t be able to see your family, but at least you’d be alive.”
“Eros.” She says my name so gently. “That might all be true, but if I run and leave Aphrodite in power, the next person she targets likely won’t be as lucky to have the resources at my disposal. She’ll continue to victimize people less powerful than her just because she can. She’ll continue to use you to do it.” Her hazel eyes go hard. “I won’t allow that to happen. You deserve better than to be her weapon, and the people in this city deserve better than to walk on eggshells to avoid pissing Aphrodite off. We’ll find a way to stop her. Together.”
I’m ashamed of the sheer relief her words bring me. She’s not leaving me. Not yet. Fuck, I’m such an asshole. “We have to adjust the plan.”
“Yes. Starting with this Friday, when we attend Helen’s party.”
That gives me a little pause. “I thought you’d want to skip it considering what happened tonight.”
“I do want to skip it, but it’s not about what I want.” She shifts on the couch. It strikes me that this could be our lives if we were different people, in a different situation. Relaxing in my living room, her taking candid photos, talking about our days…
Longing hits me so hard, it steals my breath. I close my eyes and try to focus. “If you’re staying in Olympus, it’s the height of foolishness to leave the penthouse more than strictly necessary. My mother wants you dead; no reason to make it easier on her.”
“Would you have gone if I weren’t here?”
I frown. As tempting as it is to keep reminding Psyche how dangerous this course of action is, I answer honestly. “Yeah. I like Helen. She and Eris play the game differently than I do, but that goes with the territory of being born into the Kasios family. The events they put together are never boring, especially when one of them is trying to prove a point to Perseus or Zeus.” Except Perseus is Zeus now. Damn it, one of these days that will click in my thoughts properly and I won’t have to keep reminding myself.
“Exactly my point. We’re fighting on two fronts now.” She wiggles her foot until I pick it up and resume massaging. “We need time to figure out a way to deal with this renewed threat from your mother, and the only way to create that time is to have Olympus on our side. The original plan still has to stay in motion.”
“That’s reckless.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
I concentrate on running my thumb up the sole of her foot until she lets loose that sexy little moan again. As tempting as it is to hole up in this penthouse for the foreseeable future, it will demolish our chances of playing out the epic love story we’re supposed to be selling. More than that, I saw what happened last time one of Demeter’s daughters was kept from her. She can’t starve out the whole of the upper city in response to this, but she’s got plenty of weapons in her arsenal.
And that’s the best-case scenario.
Worst case, Demeter realizes why we entered into this marriage in the first place and goes after Aphrodite directly. There hasn’t been a true war between members of the Thirteen in generations. Not even the last Zeus and last Hades, for all that their conflict ended with Hades’s death. It was Ares and Hephaestus who warred all those decades ago, and they demolished several blocks of the upper city in the process. It was one of the few times in our history when Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades came together to quell the conflict. Zeus, of course, executed both Ares and Hephaestus in a particularly gruesome and public manner.
That Zeus had held his title for most of his life.
This one has been Zeus for a few months.
No matter what kind of heft the title carries, I don’t know if Perseus can hold his own if a conflict spirals out of control between Demeter and Aphrodite.
No, Psyche is right. We don’t have a choice. “Okay, we’ll attend the party.”
“I do have one question.”
“Sure.”
She twists her hair around her finger. “You’re friends with the Kasios siblings, right? Why not just go to Zeus now and ask him to intervene? No matter how powerful Aphrodite is, she’s not Zeus powerful.”
I concentrate on rubbing her foot in a way that makes her moan a little while I formulate an answer. “Perseus—Zeus—and I aren’t as close as we were as kids, but even if we were, I don’t think he could overlook the fact that the evidence against my mother also implicates me. He can’t punish one and spare the other, because he’ll have to justify any action he takes against another of the Thirteen.”
