Heart (18 page)

When he reached out his hand, I took it
without a second thought. There had been a thousand things running
through my head, a thousand emotions beating against my heart and
rushing through my blood, there had been a thousand thoughts to
distract my mind from my purpose, from this fate I willingly walked
into.

Until Ryder’s palm pressed against mine. That
one small gesture quieted every turbulent thing inside of me until
I could breathe normally.

For so long I had felt suffocated. First from
my mother and Nix, then from the future that looked so bleak, and
most recently from my loneliness. My entire life could be summed up
with the need to breathe.

And yet I had been searching for it in all
the wrong places.

When I couldn’t find the ability to inhale
within myself, Ryder gave it to me. When my doubts, insecurities
and fears clouded every rational thought, Ryder brought me back to
center.

“Ready for this?” he asked in a low
voice.

I answered him honestly. “Ready as I’ll ever
be.”

“I’m ready,” Hermes announced.

Ryder and I both ignored him. Ryder stepped
into me, his chest brushed against mine and he dipped his head
until his lips were at my ear. “We’re doing this together, Red.
Live or die, fight or flee,
we stick
together
.”

I wet my dry lips and nodded. “Okay,” I
whispered. “Together.”

Hermes cleared his throat and we stepped
apart.

“Will I see you again?” I asked the Oracle of
Delphi as Ryder and I took our places next to Hermes.

She gave a vague shrug, “Only time will tell
if the mountain will become safe for me.”

I didn’t have time to ask what she meant. I
opened my mouth, but Hermes’ hand landed on my shoulder. One second
I was on a tropical island, the very next, a blast of ice cold air
punched me in the face.

My question turned into gasping stutters. It
took my several more seconds to open my eyes against the violent
wind.

When I finally pried my eyes open I found
that we were on the very top of a mountain. Thick snow blanketed
the ground in every direction, crystalized on top from the
hypothermic temperatures.

We happened to be standing on the only piece
of clear ground and I knew it was not a coincidence I hadn’t landed
thigh-deep in frozen snow.

In fact, this small area seemed to be a
landing pad of sorts. The perfect circle revealed the rocky stone
surface of the mountain. While every other direction seemed to head
straight down, the spot leveled out just enough to give us a safe
place to stand.

When they called Olympus a mountain, they
were not kidding.

I still gripped Ryder’s hand with mine. I had
just decided that we should flee. I wasn’t going to fight a battle
in these conditions. Call me shallow or flakey or not exactly
dedicated to this cause, but this was ridiculous.

I turned around at Ryder’s urging and stopped
feeling the cold because I’d clearly slipped into shock.

I had been staring down at the rock and
granite that made Olympus a mountain, but when I turned around to
look up, I came face-to-face with Olympus the city.

Golden gates stood as guards against unwanted
visitors. Their thick bars twined together to make an impenetrable,
yet delicate façade. The gilded pieces looked like lace set against
the stone of the mountain they were built directly into.

When Hermes took a step forward the doors to
the city swung wide and seemed to glow with acceptance. He tossed a
smug smile over his shoulder and stepped into the ancient city.

Ryder and I followed him, our mouths hanging
wide and our fingers clutched tightly together. I felt the heat as
soon as we stepped through the threshold. The icy cold disappeared
completely, only to be replaced with an energizing heat I swear I
could feel in my bones.

Instead of relaxing from the change, I only
felt more nervous.

A road lay out before us, climbing to the
very pinnacle of the mountain. It sparkled with the whitest
limestone I had ever seen and curved from side to side in a
winding, scenic path.

Buildings in the typical ancient Greek style
were positioned alongside the limestone street. The triangle roofs
sat above stately pillars. In a language I couldn’t understand, the
names of every building were written above the massive doors on
each separate structure.

Hermes did not stop at any of the initial
places and it dawned on me that I had no idea where he was taking
us now that we were here.

I tried not to panic, but when the gates
rattled shut behind us, encasing us in this super strange place, I
couldn’t help the squeak that jumped from my throat.

Hermes gave me another superior glance and
kept moving forward. The higher we climbed, the more of the city I
took in.

Inside the city, green grass flowed over
hills and dipped into valleys where glittering blue streams flowed
freely. Palaces dotted the tops of each hill in every direction. I
stared at them in awe, shocked by the immense structures on every
hilltop.

Houses wouldn’t be good enough for these
people. They each needed their own palace.

The opulence and grandeur was astounding,
each palace bigger and better than the last. The sun favored the
pretty white stone glistening beneath its shimmering heat, bathing
each residence with an unearthly glow.

I chewed my bottom lip and pictured each of
the gods I had met so far. They were evil, manipulative, greedy men
that would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. They believed
that they were above humanity, that they could own whomever they
wanted and treat them according to their depraved standards. They
were not capable of morality or dignity. They murdered innocent
girls when they didn’t get their way. And they would do the same
thing to me. They would tug and pull and twist me until I was a
misshapen caricature of my former self.

They lived in a place that looked like
heaven, but it was only a pretty picture meant to deceive and
confuse.

This place was really hell come to life- the
holding place of demons and devils.

Ryder squeezed my hand, giving me the courage
I needed to keep moving.

We walked for at least twenty minutes without
seeing another soul. The city was eerily quiet, not even the gentle
breeze rustled leaves or grass. Our footsteps jarred loudly as we
made our way deeper into the city.

Finally we turned a corner and the pinnacle
of the mountain came into view. The road led to one place that I
had been expecting since we walked through the gates.

The temple.

At the highest peak stood an enormous,
rectangular building. The close sun hit the limestone so perfectly
I had to shield my eyes against the brightness. The classic, thick
columns bordered the building on every side, creating an open venue
without traditional walls.

We stood too far back to see what was inside
of the temple, but I could feel the buzzing of power radiating from
the center. I sensed the gods waiting for us inside and heard the
low murmur of voices drifting on the wind.

Hermes paused midstride and Ryder and I
nearly bumped into him. He held up a hand, tilted his face toward
the sun and stilled almost completely.

I swallowed against new nerves and waited for
this event to finally begin.

Soon enough, a man came rushing down the hill
from the mouth of the temple. His white toga flapped with every
stride, billowing back from his muscular body.

“Aether,” Hermes greeted when the man came to
a stop in front of us.

Aether stopped a few feet from us and seemed
to crowd out all of the light from the sun. His enormous body
reminded me of the time Nix had transformed into his god-like form.
Just like Nix had been, Aether was too large to be a man, his
muscles too formed and chiseled. His blinding beauty could only
belong to a place as incredible as this and the weapons at his belt
seemed to signify the kind of situation we’d stepped into.

“Brother,” Aether greeted stoically. “You
brought guests.”

Hermes squared his shoulders and said, “You
could call them that.”

“I did call them that,” Aether countered.

Hermes leaned in with challenge. “Then you’ve
picked a side?”

Aether’s laughter broke through the tension,
cutting the atmosphere with a knife. “Let’s not be hasty,
Messenger. I’m only relaying the words of our queen.”

Hermes’ head snapped toward the temple,
lightning sizzled at his fingertips. “She is expecting us?”

Aether’s smile turned sinister. “Only since
the beginning of time.”

“Let’s not exaggerate,” Hermes chided,
sounding much more like himself. “Back then we used Titans and
Furies. We’re more civilized these days. We’re more modern.”

Aether snorted, but didn’t disagree. His
large hand swept toward the temple and he inclined his chin. “This
way, song-singer. Your queen awaits.”

I glanced at Ryder before turning my
wide-eyes back on the temple. “My queen?”

“Hera,” Aether explained. “She is not pleased
with your presence.”

“Why not?” I dared to whisper.

“I should think it would be obvious.” Aether
raised an eyebrow at me and when it was clear that I didn’t
understand, he said, “You bring a war with you, Siren. Nobody here
is anxious to fight again after years of peace. Least of all the
mother of the gods. She requests a word with you and she is not
patient.”

I gulped audibly. Hera? Of course. The last
story I’d read about her involved murders, cannibalism and
curses.

It was probably best to go when she
summoned.

Chapter Fifteen

We followed Aether into the temple and
disappointment dampened some of my nerves.

I had expected something jaw-dropping and
almost offensively opulent. I expected the gods to have designed
this place with their crass materialism, engorged with gold,
bulging with jewels and precious stones, bloated with the tainted
tones of their entitlement and greed.

Instead, after expecting so much, after
climbing a mountaintop to reach this pinnacle of the Pantheon, it
was actually pretty anticlimactic.

The wind blew stronger up here, gusting
through the space between the columns as a reminder of where we
were. There was no other furniture besides two thrones at the very
back of the interior. And if I hadn’t known they were meant for
Hera and Zeus, I would have been reluctant to call them
thrones.

Their low slung backs turned into wide
armrests that bowed away from the seat with a dramatic flair. They
were made from stone, the same white limestone that the temple had
been forged from. I looked for gold embellishments or diamond
detailing, but nothing obstructed their simple style.

“I think she’s disappointed,” a female voice
snickered from the corner. “Hermes, didn’t you warn her how poor
we’ve become? How destitute and bedraggled we’ve sunk? Why, we’re
practically beggars.” She walked toward us, stopping at the side of
her throne. Her eyes cast their judgment on us within seconds, the
tick in her jaw revealing her displeasure with our presence.

“Sister, do I detect bitterness in your
tone?” Hermes met her sarcasm with bullets of his own. “You’re not
jealous of the child are you?”

Hera. Queen of the gods. She was the opposite
of anticlimactic. Her beauty was so severe that I felt it
aggressively, like an attack on my senses. Her dark hair reached
the floor, dragging in soft waves behind her. Her olive skin
glimmered in the light of the sun from the open ceiling. Dark eyes
watched me intently, as if she expected me to attack her. There was
an endless depth to her black gaze that seemed bigger than a soul
or spirit, something infinite and all-powerful lurked in her
eyes.

She was not good. That much was obvious.

But she was also not entirely evil.

There was something about her that separated
her from Nix. I felt it with Hermes too. These gods would never be
my friends. I couldn’t even consider them my allies. Not really
anyway. They had their own agenda and they would use whoever or
whatever they could in order to accomplish their goals.

But at the same time she didn’t want to turn
every single human into her slave either.

So bonus points for Hera.

“The child?” Hera snorted and I pressed my
lips together to keep from laughing. “Hardly. You know I just like
to have my fun.” She swirled her finger along the ivory armrest and
pouted her lips prettily. “I thought that was the lie Nixy was
feeding everyone these days. We need the patrons again. We’ll die
without virgin sacrifices. We cannot possibly survive another
century unless we feed on the prayers of the weak minded and easily
confused,” she said with all the gusto of a doomsday prophet. She
dropped her chin and her sparkling onyx eyes became stone cold with
their brutality. “Who wants the prayers of the stupid anyway? Not
me. I prefer my patrons to be from more substantial stock. Heroes,
dragon-slayers, ship captains that command fleets and fleets and
fleets. Poseidon wants to trick them into loving him. But the fun
is in the chase.”

Hermes let out a long suffering sigh. “You
mean the fun is in the seduction, don’t you?”

“Careful, brother,” she sneered, acid
dripping from each syllable. “Sister or not, I am still your queen.
And until my husband returns home, you answer to me.”

Hermes did not look impressed. “The point is,
Poseidon doesn’t care what you think or what you do. He plans to
invade Olympus and make it his own. How are you going to stop
him?”

Her mouth stretched into a wide smile,
transforming her beauty yet again. I felt my head spin as I tried
to keep up with her mood. She had yet to speak to me directly and I
was okay with that. “He doesn’t have to invade Olympus. He’s always
welcome. This is his home too.” She took a few steps forward until
she stood in front of us. Her eyes flitted over Ryder, taking in
his form with hungry eyes. I immediately felt like scratching them
out. When her attention turned to me, I felt the same sentiment
rolling off her in waves. She wanted to kill me. “You’re the reason
for all of this… drama?”