Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Another threat that isn’t quite a threat. I follow him to my feet. “Thanks for the drink.” Hopefully Hector had enough time to hack the cameras.
“Anytime, Apollo. And I do mean that.”
I follow him back down the hall and into yet another large room, this one designed for entertaining. It’s divided into smaller spaces by the way the furniture is arranged. The group has fractured as a result. I catch Aphrodite and Adonis sharing a love seat, though all her attention is focused on Theseus sprawled across from them, smirking at her. If looks could kill, he’d be broken and bloodied on the floor. It’s an unwise move to antagonize that woman. Aphrodite might not be cutting down people in battle, but she’s more than a formidable opponent to those she considers enemies.
Eurydice, Charon, Hermes, and Dionysus have joined Ariadne on a trio of couches and are having what appears to be an animated conversation. Pan and Icarus are perched on chairs on either side of a small round table holding a chessboard while Atalanta watches with interest, a glass dangling from her fingertips. At first glance, Icarus appears to be winning.
I don’t see Cassandra.
I also don’t see the Minotaur.
Minos seems to come to the same conclusion as he surveys the room. “How will you keep her safe when she’s obviously so prone to wandering?” He chuckles. “Best of luck with that.”
Surely he’s too savvy to hurt Cassandra in order to get to me?
That’s the problem, though. I don’t know what Minos will or won’t do. I didn’t expect the direction of our conversation, and I can’t speak to what lengths he’ll go to achieve his goals. He’s obviously targeting her, and that’s enough to have my instincts screaming at me to act, to do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
I turn for the door. “I’ll just go see what’s keeping them.”
His chuckle follows me out of the room.
13
Cassandra
I don’t mean to get separated from the group. I was walking next to Dionysus and realized my shoe strap was coming undone. In the fifteen seconds it took me to fix it, the rest of the group cleared out, leaving only the hulking Minotaur behind. I don’t know why it surprises me that he keeps his deep-red hair long enough to brush his shoulders, but it does. It’s startlingly beautiful, glossy and thick, and only contrasts with his harsh features and the scars that cover his face. There’s a new one healing from where Helen—Ares—cut him in the last trial.
I tense, waiting for him to say something biting, but he just looks up and eyes the clear night sky. “Walk with me.”
Under any other circumstances, I would decline. He’s a strange man and obviously dangerous, and I have no intention of getting murdered before Zeus can pay me. If I do, he’s likely to say my side of the bargain isn’t fulfilled and then Alexandra gets nothing.
But he can make the same argument if he finds out I turned down a prime opportunity to get close to one of Minos’s family members.
Really, I only have one option. “Sure.” I can’t make myself sound happy about it, but I turn and head back toward the maze. The Minotaur is huge—he’s got to be nearly a foot taller than me, if not more—but he matches his stride to mine without any apparent effort.
I have absolutely no interest in entering the confined quarters of the maze, so I veer when the path branches, walking farther away from the house. I keep waiting for him to say something, since he’s the reason we’re out here, but he doesn’t speak.
I catch sight of a body of water in the distance. A pond, judging by its size. I stop short. “If you’re planning on trying to murder me, you’ll probably succeed, but I am an excellent screamer and you won’t get away with it.”
The Minotaur stops and looks at me. I can’t see his eyes clearly. The lights that made the maze navigable don’t stretch out to here. I only have moonlight to judge, but it sure seems like he’s amused. “I’m not going to murder you.”
Did he put an emphasis on you or is the adrenaline surging through my body making me hear things? “That’s what a murderer would say.” I don’t know why I’m arguing. There’s something akin to panic fluttering at the back of my throat. I am not equipped to deal with this. The backbiting and politics, maybe, but this man went after Achilles Kallis, one of the best warriors Olympus has to offer, like he wanted to kill him. Like he’d killed before. “Why did you bring me out here?”
“Cassandra?”
I spin around as Apollo strides down the path. He looks calm and collected, but he’s moving fast enough to almost be running. He doesn’t slow down when he sees us, either. He narrows his eyes. “It’s time to go in now.”