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)
“Zeus can take care of himself. And if he can’t?” She shrugs. “I can’t save everyone. In a conflict with these kinds of stakes, you either come out on top or you come out six feet under.”
24
Ariadne
I wake up to a text from Asterion.
Asterion: We have a problem. Minos wants us to move forward next week. Doesn’t care about casualties.
I read it, then read it again. It still takes my sleep-clogged brain another minute to process what he’s saying. What it means. “No.” I sit up. “No, no, no.” If the tower comes down like that, without Hera and the rest having an opportunity to come up with a reason to evacuate the building, a lot of people will die, and I’m a special kind of monster because even knowing that, the first thing my mind jumps to is my brother.
Hera won’t protect him if we defy her. She might throw me to the wolves, too, so I won’t even have a chance to do it myself. I fling off the sheets and call Asterion. I barely wait for him to pick up to say, “I thought you had this under control.”
“I thought I did, too.” He sounds tired, more tired than I’ve ever heard him. “I’m working on it, but he’s already given the command to the team. The plan is in motion. His plan.”
My stomach lurches, threatening to revolt. “What do we do?”
“You don’t have to do anything but stay safe. I’ll handle it.”
That’s lovely of him to say, but my safety is not guaranteed. More than that, I have a skill set that might actually be useful. “I can help, Asterion. You know I can. I wasn’t joking about wanting to be involved.”
“If your father finds out you have any connection with this, he won’t wait around for me to kill you. He’ll do it himself.”
I press my hand to my chest and try to breathe through my racing heart. He’s right, but either I’m content to sit on the sidelines and let him take the risks or I’m an equal partner. If I don’t convince him to take my help, people will die.
Zeus was always going to die and you were okay with that.
I ignore the snide little voice inside me. “He’s going to try it soon anyway. He’s not one to sit around and twiddle his thumbs when his orders aren’t being obeyed. It’s only because the tower has taken priority that he hasn’t sent someone else after me.”
“Ariadne…” He curses. “No. Absolutely fucking not. You’re staying out of this. You won’t be able to live with the guilt if something goes wrong.”
I ignore the fact that he’s probably right. “Who’s working the tech side of things?”
He sighs. “You’re not going to let this go.”
“I’m not.”
“Fine.” Another low curse. “It’s Mars.”
I don’t have much interaction with my father’s people, but I have spent plenty of time going through their records. Information is power, and maybe Icarus and I are using the same playbook, because I’d had a faint thought of finding secrets to use to blackmail them if things got particularly bad. The difference is that I didn’t find much. Just a few gambling debts and mistresses. Nothing my father would care about enough to give me ammunition to use against his people.
Mars doesn’t have any dirty secrets. Like a lot of my father’s people, they were a street kid that he brought in as a teenager. They’re well liked by the others on Aeacus’s team, and they do a pretty decent job of hacking and whatnot.
I’m still better. “When are you meeting with them next?”
“A couple hours. They aren’t early risers, so it’ll be after noon.”
Not long. I would have liked a few extra days to ensure I’m not missing anything, but such is life. “Text me when you’re about to leave. I’ll meet you somewhere and pass you the information I find before then.”
“No.” He keeps going before I can protest. “I’ll come to you. That fiancé of yours already knows that we’re working together, so he can give me access. There’s no reason for you to risk yourself.”
He wants to come here. Again. With permission this time. I look around the ridiculously luxurious room and feel a strange stab of guilt. “I’ll talk to him, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
“You’ll figure it out.” He hangs up without saying goodbye.
I glare at my phone, my irritation at the way he ends calls almost enough to override the anxiety that swells in response to this new information. Things were always dire, but now the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been. For once, I’m not even worried about myself.
Hundreds of people go through the doors of Dodona Tower on any given day. Maybe upward of a thousand. Maybe more. Multiply that by every building in the immediate vicinity, and we’re talking about catastrophic losses.