Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Again, I debate not answering, but I suspect he already knows the answer. If not him, then another among the Thirteen with more battle prowess. There are stages to these things, and Circe and the council are moving through them like clockwork. “It will be soon. She already softened you up. It didn’t take long for the city to turn on you or for Hades to erect the barrier, cutting the city in two. You’re divided and you’re weak, and she’s too smart not to take advantage of that.”
Dionysus twists the edge of his mustache into a perfect curl. “There is the barrier still in play.”
Not for long. “The barrier continues to fail. I wouldn’t stick my hopes on that.”
“On that, my murderous friend, we are in agreement.” He drinks his beer. “You have a plan to bring it down.”
“Minos does.”
“Thought as much.” I expect him to press me on that, but he just contemplates his glass for a few moments. “Where is Hermes?”
“I would think you’d know. You two were attached at the hip.” When he just stares, I finally shrug. “I have no idea. As far as my information goes, her deal with Minos ended at the party.” I have no loyalty to either Minos or Hermes at this point. Dionysus doesn’t seem inclined to murder me and toss my body in a dumpster, so there’s no point in dodging this series of questions. It’s not like it will make a difference in the final outcome.
“Ah well. Hope springs eternal, and she owes me some answers. Now for the less delicate business.” His dark eyes go hard and his body language firms up, until it’s like looking at a different man entirely. “You’re more than welcome to keep following me if that suits your fancy, but Ariadne is now my fiancée, and she will be my wife. I have no great love for the woman, but she is under my protection, and I won’t see her harmed. If you continue to be a threat and murder my people…” Again, he waves to the pair in the booth across from us. “Well, you get the idea.”
“If this wasn’t an ambush, they wouldn’t stand a chance. They sure as fuck didn’t last night.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” He glances meaningfully at the beer in front of me. “You’re in Olympus, old boy. Everything you eat comes from Demeter. A good portion of what you drink is courtesy of me. You’ve been in the city too long to be running on food you brought in with you. All it will take is a little bit of this, a little of that, and you won’t be a threat to anyone.”
10
Ariadne
The computer Hera provided is more than sufficient to meet my needs. It took about an hour to get it set up to my specifications, and then I spent another hour checking on the various forums to see if anything new has popped up since I’ve been offline. It’s been remarkably quiet. There’s something big stirring in Europe and a handful of revolutions across the globe, but it’s startlingly silent when it comes to what’s going on here.
Part of that is because Olympus operates on its own server, of sorts. With a barrier keeping it walled away, it’s reached almost mythological status to the rest of the world. They know it exists, but it’s not real to them. Not like it was on Aeaea.
I reassure a few of my online friends that I am, in fact, still alive. It’s tempting to sink into that, to catch up with them, to check the fan fiction sites that I spend so much time on, to do anything except my task.
I’m all but assured to be walking into a trap tomorrow. The question is why bother to set a trap to begin with? It’s not Asterion’s style. He prefers blunt honesty, sometimes to the point of cruelty, so one never wonders where they stand with him. He was right yesterday—if he wants me dead, he has no reason to play the long game. He could’ve just done it.
He’s only disobeyed one of my father’s orders. Because of me. I’d be a fool to believe he’d disobey a second time. Any fondness he holds for me will have burned up with my betrayal.
But Hera wants him to have those blueprints, which leaves me little choice.
If she wanted to make this easy on me, she could’ve accessed the information on her own instead of sending me on this wild-goose chase. “But that might get her perfectly manicured hands dirty. We can’t have that,” I mutter under my breath as I get to work.
The cybersecurity in Olympus isn’t terrible, but it’s somewhat out of date. These days, hacking technology advances almost faster than the defense can keep up. Good for me. Bad for them. I suppose they haven’t had to worry about it much since the most interest they get is from conspiracy theorists wanting to prove they don’t exist…or that they do.