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)
He answers on the first ring. “Where the fuck have you been?”
“Doing exactly what you asked of me.”
“And yet my daughter is still alive, whoring herself for Olympus, and that goddamn disgrace of a tower still stands. You’re failing me. Again.”
I have to wait several long beats to wrestle my fury out of my voice before I speak. “There’s been a delay in acquiring the blueprints. We can’t get into the tower without them, and I’m working on it. I expect to have them within the next day or two. I wasn’t aware we were on that tight of a timeline.”
He curses. “We still have a couple weeks left. The city is soft, but not quite soft enough. And there’s the question of the barrier. It’s turning out to be slightly more challenging to bring it down than I expected. We had intended to do it through the lower city, but that way is barred to us now.”
Interesting. I won’t point out that he’s had his own roadblocks and should be more forgiving of mine as a result. It doesn’t matter. “Want me to look into the barrier while I wait for the blueprints?”
“Do it.” He hangs up.
As much as I would like nothing more than to haunt Ariadne’s steps for the rest of the day, I have a vested interest in that barrier coming down. I walk a few blocks while I consider what angle to come at this from. If Theseus still held the Hephaestus title, that would be a good option, but the person who took over isn’t likely to let me through the front door. Apollo already proved he doesn’t have the information necessary to fix the barrier, so he’s not going to be able to bring it down. Who else…
I stop short. There’s one person in Olympus who likely has answers. Even better, according to the gossip sites, she’s back in town.
If Minos was smart, he’d wonder where Hermes has spent the last couple weeks. She’s not one to pull a long-term disappearing act, and she knows more about his plan than he’s probably aware of. But he’s always been an arrogant bastard, and he never stopped to wonder why she wants to know about his benefactor. About Circe. His only thought was to use Hermes to his own benefit. Just like he thought to use me.
I’ll admit that when I first met her, I grouped her into the same category as Dionysus—a vapid Olympian more concerned with partying than with being useful. But I watched her at that party. She drank and flirted and made a big show of being harmless…but then she turned around and helped plot the death of two of her peers without blinking an eye.
Maybe it’s time Hermes and I had a conversation.
She’s not making any attempt to hide. All I have to do is check MuseWatch. Within an hour, I’m sitting in yet another bar, watching her hold court. She’s like a jester in some old-world kingdom, all bright colors and irreverent attitude…with a startling wit beneath it. She’s wearing leather pants, a cropped white T-shirt that looks like she cut it off herself with a pair of scissors, and a glittering bomber jacket that hurts my eyes to look at. For someone known for stealth, she’s practically a walking disco ball.
I don’t recognize the people around her. It’s just as well; I have no intention of joining in. I see the moment Hermes clocks me, but she makes me wait another twenty minutes before she circles around to hop onto the bar next to my elbow. “If you’re here to kill me, I should let you know that I won’t make it easy on you.” She winks behind bright-yellow glasses.
I’m getting really fucking tired of people assuming I’m going to murder them. “I have a couple questions for you.”
“You’ll have to get in line behind my many admirers.” She flicks a hand toward the group she just left. “Though you should know, as much as I hate to disappoint you, you really aren’t my type, Minotaur.”
I blink. “You go from assuming I’m here to kill you to assuming I’m here to fuck you?”
“What can I say? I’m a woman who inspires a wide variety of reactions.” She kicks out her legs like a child. “Are you playing obedient dog to Minos today, or are you seeking me out on your own?”
I consider the implications of telling the truth. I assumed a lot of things about the Olympians before I came here, and most of them have given me no reason to question those assumptions. But I didn’t expect Hera or Dionysus. It stands to reason that Hermes may surprise me, too. There’s no harm in telling her the truth. She and Minos aren’t on good terms any longer, so even if she runs to him telling tales, he’s not going to believe her. “I have my own reasons for seeking you out.”