The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus) (18 page)

My gaze snagged on Hephaestus, and my throat went dry. I think it was the side of his face that wasn’t scarred that threw me for a loop. What he should have looked like.

Could Zeus do that to me? Would he? Or would he just make me swear over all my powers until I died? What if we did win, but Persephone died? Demeter
hated
me, Hades would go nuts with grief, and neither one of them would forget my part in Persephone’s capture.

I cleared my throat. “But you’re right. The less time we spend around all of them—” I motioned toward the door “—the better.”

Chapter XXXV

Hades

Death would be too good for Poseidon. It had been almost twenty-four hours since he stabbed me with that asinine trident, and I was still seeing red. The wound healed immediately, but the message had been sent. Nearly every god who was left knew how to hurt me now.

They could use her.

I rounded the corner of the staircase and ran straight into Demeter. She held a finger to her lips and pointed to the kitchen.

“…expecting her to be that powerful,” Athena murmured.

“She’s stronger than
I am
,” Apollo said.

“She’s stronger than all of us combined, except for maybe Aphrodite,” Ares interjected.

“Leave me out of this. All I can do is charm, remember?”

Ares laughed. “Baby, with the level of charm you’ve got, that’s enough.”

“How much power did Demeter give her?” Artemis wondered.

Hephaestus snorted. “Forget Demeter. Hades…”

“…heard she killed Boreas and Thanatos.” That was from a voice too soft for me to recognize.

“…fealty first.”

“…two realms…” Artemis’ voice floated down the hall.

“Three if she could get Zeus to swear,” Athena added.

Aphrodite’s voice rang out, pitched higher than the rest like she wanted me to hear. “She couldn’t survive any of our fealty. She hasn’t come into her powers yet. That’s why we’re using someone else. Right?”

In the silence that followed, I heard the refrigerator door open and close. A glass clinked against the countertop.

“We can’t really go into that with you.” Ares sounded apologetic.

“We should use her.” Athena again. A chair squeaked as it slid across the wooden floor.

“Don’t let Hades hear you say that,” Hephaestus warned.

“She’d die,” Ares said at the same time.

“Good,” Athena said. “Don’t look at me like that. You were all thinking it. When Zeus took down Cronus, he became almost as bad as they were. When Cronus killed Uranus, it was the same thing. Ditto for Uranus killing Chaos. We’re stuck in this cycle of sending our youngest most promising fighter after a brutal tyrant and we keep being surprised when he wins and takes over. She’s strong enough to become the next Zeus if we let her, and I for one don’t want that to happen. If she dies killing Zeus, it breaks the cycle.”

I clenched my jaw and stepped toward the kitchen, but Demeter shook her head, stopping me.

“If we want to break the cycle, shouldn’t we
not
send our youngest most promising fighter this round? Why don’t we do something different? Athena, you’re the oldest. Why don’t you give it a whirl?” Laughter was evident in Ares’ voice.

“Sending Persephone only solves our problem because she can’t possibly survive the fight.”

“I shouldn’t be hearing this,” Aphrodite said. “Besides, I’m bored. Surely there are more demigods to rescue or something.”

“I need to check on my people,” Apollo said.

“Hey Demeter! Hades!” Aphrodite raised her voice. “Has anyone seen them?”

“Not since the trident incident.” That soft voice again, so low I had trouble hearing it. Who
was
that?

I waited a beat before calling “Yeah?” and walking into the kitchen. There was nothing in their faces to suggest they’d just been talking about sacrificing a seventeen-year-old girl so they could all continue to live freely. It was an effort to keep my voice even, but I managed. Aphrodite met my gaze with a knowing glance, and I suspected I had her to thank for the conversation happening unshielded in the kitchen. Charm could be subtle.

“I’m so bored.” She gave me a flirtatious smile. “Are there any other gods or demigods or
anything
for me to track down?”

“Want to track a prophet?” Zeus kept manipulating us like chess pieces on a board, but his moves were too good. No mortal prophet would have enough experience to predict anything useful, but an immortal prophet would do the trick. I knew of one, but couldn’t for the life of me remember his name.

Demeter walked into the kitchen and grabbed a pitcher of water from the refrigerator. “Did someone call for me?”

“Can you teleport me home?” Apollo asked. “I keep getting calls from my people—” He broke off at Demeter’s withering stare, then seemed to find the courage to continue. “I just need to explain that I’ll be gone for a bit. They get antsy when they don’t know where I am.”

“Tiresias.” I remembered. “Zeus gave him immortality, right?”

“That old pervert?” Athena demanded. “He’s immortal?”

“Wait, the cross dresser?” Ares asked at the same time.

“He’s completely insane. There’s no way Zeus would be able to get anything useful out of him,” Apollo said.

“Beats sitting around here doing nothing.” Aphrodite tossed her red hair over her shoulder with a grin. “I’ll find him.”

“I’m going,” Melissa announced.

I turned, surprised. I hadn’t noticed her sitting at the table.

“Me too,” Ares, Adonis, and Hephaestus said at the same time.

“He’s not far from my church,” Apollo added.

I’d forgotten Apollo was Tiresias’ patron. Demeter and I exchanged glances. He hadn’t always treated his prophets well. It would be easier to talk to Tiresias without him, and if Apollo planned to return to his church with any kind of fanfare, maybe Tiresias wouldn’t see Aphrodite coming for him. Because the gift of prophecy came from Apollo, the visions were biased. Cassandra told me once she hadn’t even seen the Trojan War coming because she kept having visions of Apollo crashing his new chariot.

“You should have a service,” Demeter suggested.

“Really?” Apollo sounded surprised.

“Oh yeah, that’s a great idea,” I agreed. “Tell them what’s going on. We need worship now more than ever if we’re going to overpower Zeus.” I spoke without a trace of sarcasm. We
did
need the worship. Orpheus had been writing blogs and doing interviews and concerts all over the place to try to bring our levels up. Apollo’s followers would only help.

“Then shouldn’t they be praying to me?” Ares asked. “Since, you know, I’ll be the one fighting him.”

“If they pray to Apollo, and he swears his powers over to you, it shouldn’t make a difference.” Artemis’ voice was low, and she looked at me with laughter sparkling in her eyes. I knew how she felt. Apollo having his own cult of drugged-out hippies was never going to stop being funny.

“Hey, yeah!” Apollo enthused. “We’ll have, like, a really
big
service. Let me go get it all set up.”

Demeter smiled. “There’s safety in numbers. I’ll come with you. Hades?”

“We can come,” Artemis volunteered, grabbing Ryan’s hand. “I’d love to see your—” she snickered “—church.”

Ryan shrugged. “Um, sure.”

I studied him for a minute. He’d taken the news of Artemis’ divinity pretty well. Most humans needed more time to process our existence than he did. I shoved my hair out of my face. “I need to swing by the Underworld and check in. But I’ll catch up with you guys.”

Demeter nodded, then turned her attention to Melissa. “I’m granting you travel rights for one trip. Take Ares, Hephaestus, Adonis, and Aphrodite. Find him, and come straight back, no detours. Don’t let anyone wander off. Anything happens, contact me.”

“Okay,” Melissa agreed.

Demeter motioned for them to hold hands, tapped Melissa’s shoulder, and they vanished. Then she took hold of Artemis, Ryan, and Apollo, and they teleported to the church.

Once everyone else was gone, I studied Athena for a long minute, letting all the anger I’d felt during the overheard conversation heat my gaze.

Athena shifted under my gaze and cleared her throat. “She’s brave, your wife.”

I didn’t so much as blink. “She’s stronger than she looks.”

Athena nodded. “With Poseidon on our side, we have a shot. Zeus may actually die by the end of this.”

“
Everyone
dies eventually.” I inclined my head toward her. “And if they’re really, really lucky, they haven’t done anything to piss me off.”

Chapter XXXVI

Aphrodite

“He’s not here.” I ran down the stairs to the lobby of the massive house the prophet resided in with a pair of his red heels in my hand. What? It wasn’t like he was coming back, and they were just my size.

“Gee, you think maybe the prophet saw us coming?” Melissa said dryly.

Ares barked a surprised sounding laugh. “You’re kind of funny for a human.”

I had a bad feeling. We didn’t mean the prophet any harm, so why flee? Glancing around, I took in the signs of the prophet’s hurry—a half-eaten lunch still warm on the kitchen table, a smattering of hangers covering the floor of the closet like he’d snatched clothes at random, and the unlocked door when we entered. What had he seen?

And why had he run?

“And you’re way too easily impressed,” Hephaestus muttered. Adonis nodded in agreement.

“Aw, come on!” Ares said, still laughing. “Saw us coming, because he’s a prophet, it’s—”

“As good a guess as any,” said a voice as smooth as silk from the doorway.

I blanched. Zeus.

At the sound of Zeus’ voice, Ares swore and turned, pushing Melissa and Adonis behind him.

“Charm them and tell them to hold still,” Zeus told me with a grin.

My body moved of its own accord, turning and meeting each of their eyes. They all froze, even Adonis and Melissa. I did a double take. Adonis’ eyes locked to mine, pupils still normal sized, unlike everyone else.
Just go with it,
his look seemed to say.

I swallowed hard and tore my gaze from him to Melissa. She stared back at me, eyes wide with fear.
Please don’t move
. Zeus didn’t know I’d sworn not to charm Melissa. Maybe she could teleport and get away.

“Now ask them to swear fealty to me,” Zeus instructed.

No. I wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t make me. I clamped my mouth shut.

Gods.
Words rose in me, filled my mouth, and pushed against my lips. Swallowing, I forced them down, but they tore at my throat. A strangled, keening wail filled the room, sounding so alien, so desperate and helpless, that at first I didn’t place it as mine. I wouldn’t do this to them. Zeus would kill them in an instant. I wouldn’t—couldn’t—
Stop!

My lips parted of their own volition, and I clapped my hand over my mouth. Zeus crossed his arms, looking bored. I couldn’t resist forever, and he knew it. Every fiber in my being pulled at me to obey his command.

I looked away from Zeus, but found I couldn’t face the blind devotion in Ares’ and Hephaestus’ eyes. They had nothing left of themselves in their expressions. All they wanted to do was please me. This was wrong. My vision blurred, and I blinked away the tears, looking to Adonis instead. His bravery and strength was telegraphed in his stiff posture and the trust in the eyes he kept glued to my face.

He trusted me! No one trusted me. A small smile formed on his face, cool and confident.
Just wait,
it seemed to say.
We’ll get out of this.

No, I wouldn’t do this. Not to him. Not to Melissa or any of the others. They trusted me, maybe even thought of me as a friend, and friendships were precious because they hadn’t come easily. I would die before I let Zeus take them from me. Despite my conviction, my jaw stretched, struggling to free itself from behind my tightly clamped hand. But my teeth came together with a click, filling my mouth with the copper taste of blood.

I wouldn’t do it. I’d die first. In fact…

Hades,
I thought desperately. Something moved, but I couldn’t make it out from behind the sheen of tears filling my eyes.
I swear—

In a whoosh I was on the ground, and Adonis was on top of me. “Melissa, now!” Adonis gave me an apologetic look and slammed my head into the floor. My vision flickered. A bright light flashed. Then the acrid scent of burnt flesh filled my nostrils.

I tried to sit up, tried to scream, but instead I fell, slipped, slid into a tunnel of empty darkness.

Chapter XXXVII

Persephone

“I need a break,” Triton gasped, leaning against the bubble, legs twitching with fatigue. “There’s a cave over there.” He motioned vaguely, and our weird air bubble floated toward it.

Again?
Keeping the frustration off my face was as useless as trying to keep Glinda the Good Fairy out of my head as we traveled along the ocean floor by bubble. I wasn’t frustrated with Triton, I was frustrated for him. He couldn’t take much more of this. We needed to find land from my realm, real land, soon.

Triton didn’t seem to notice. We surfaced in a cave, and he managed a few steps before curling up on the ground and falling asleep. Chewing on my lower lip, I took in Triton’s ashen pallor in concern. This wasn’t good. Triton hadn’t come into his powers yet, and unlike me, he didn’t have an excess to burn off. We were making
very
slow time in our quest for land, but more important than that, Triton looked positively sick. I didn’t think he could handle this much longer.

If only there were some way to channel power to him safely.

I waited, hoping for a suggestion from Hades, but he seemed
really
distracted. More than that, he’d thrown a wall up between our minds.
Why would he do that?
It wasn’t like Hades to keep things from me.