Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I shouldn’t have brought my problems to him. Not when he’s dealing with so much shit right now. I clear my throat. “There’s a way out. You’ll find it. You’re too damned smart not to.”
“Maybe.”
“You will,” Cassandra says from where she’s pouring a large glass of wine in the kitchen. She eyes me. “But that means he doesn’t have time for your…whatever is happening right now. Let the grown-ups deal with grown-up things.”
Cassandra is as mean as a snake. Everyone in Olympus lies as easily as they breathe, but she’s turned the truth into a weapon to be wielded, and she does it with a viciousness that awes me. The only person who seems exempt from her cutting remarks is my brother. They’re two of the most practical people I know, and when they look at each other, they go all soft and sweet.
I’m jealous, if I’m going to be honest. I had a chance at happiness, and I fucked it all up. That doesn’t stop me from glaring at her. “I’m twenty-six. I’m not a child.”
“Then stop acting like one.”
I open my mouth to snap back, but…she’s right. I shouldn’t have come here asking Apollo for favors again. He has enough on his plate. Old habits die hard. I push to my feet. “Sorry to bother you.”
My brother sighs. “Orpheus, I know you want to make things right, but I meant what I said a few weeks ago. Sometimes making things right looks like letting things go. I delivered your message to Eurydice. If she hasn’t reached out by now, she’s likely decided not to.”
He’s right. I know he’s right. But the thought of letting Eurydice go…
It’s what I should do. I know it’s what I should do. I wronged her by more than simply breaking her heart. I put her in literal danger without realizing it. If I hadn’t been so focused on myself and my own ambitions and, fuck, my pretentious art, I would have realized exactly how fucked up it was that the last Zeus—a known killer—asked me to arrange for my girlfriend, the daughter of his enemy, to be in a certain place at a certain time.
Unforgivable.
I feel like I’m half a man lately. I realize that isn’t Eurydice’s problem, but…
Damn it, I’m doing it again.
I shake my head sharply. “Sorry. You’re both right. I shouldn’t have asked again.” I promised Apollo that I’d do better, and I’ve been working on it, but I’m starting to lose hope that I’ll actually become the man he wants me to be.
When he first cut me off, I was furious with him. I was a righteous and entitled little shit who I want to reach back through time and punch in the face. Since then, I’ve gotten a job that isn’t selling my art—mostly because I’m not capable of making art right now—and moved into a small, more affordable place. No matter what else I fucked up, I had managed to save up quite the little nest egg, so I don’t technically need to work to live for a bit. I still prefer to.
It keeps me busy.
“Orpheus.” Apollo meets my gaze directly. “Be careful going home tonight. The streets aren’t as safe as they used to be.”
“I will.” I nod to Cassandra. “Have a good rest of your night.”
Cassandra sighs. “You don’t have to run off. You can stay for dinner if you’d like.”
As much as part of me would love to do exactly that, staying means witnessing something that I’m starting to believe I’ll never have. My brother deserves to be happy, and I’m genuinely glad he found that with Cassandra. It doesn’t change the fact that being in their presence actively hurts. Maybe at some point in the future, I’ll be able to watch Apollo be in love without feeling like I’m choking on jealousy.
Maybe.
“I’m good. Thanks though.” I leave before they can offer again. It’s especially jarring that it’s Cassandra doing it. She doesn’t like me, but she pities me. That’s how pathetic I am these days.
I take the elevator down and hurry through the lobby to step out onto the street. The first bite of winter is in the air. It will be some time before it fully sinks its claws into Olympus, but it’s coming. I’m not overly superstitious, but considering how the last year has gone, I can’t help a shiver of foreboding.
The city has changed.
Evidence of it is there in the way the few people out on the street hurry past with their heads down. Apollo lives in the center of the upper city, and up until a month ago, it had a rich nightlife. Now, businesses are closing not too long after nightfall. There isn’t a citywide curfew, but there might as well be.
The threat of violence hangs heavy.
I duck my head and pick up my pace. There’s no one around to have their eyes on me, but I feel watched nonetheless. Hunted. I’m not even one of the Thirteen. No one benefits from killing me in a ritualistic assassination. Then again, no one benefitted from killing Triton either, and that didn’t save him.