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)
I bite back a sigh. It’s naive in the extreme to want all members of the Thirteen to get along and work toward a common goal. I think the titles themselves were designed to ensure that never happened—or at least that’s what it feels like most days. Too many of them have specialties that overlap, which incites rivalries even in the most level-headed of people. Athena and Ares with their military forces. Me and Hermes with information. Demeter and Poseidon with their trade agreements and resource gathering.
Even without that factor in play, the fractures run deep in our current Thirteen. How can they not when most of us are members of legacy families who have long Olympian histories filled with alliances, feuds, and the kind of political backbiting that ensures there is no trust to be found?
“Oh, Apollo.” Artemis turns to me with false cheer. “I forgot to congratulate you on that girlfriend of yours.” She laughs, the sound edged. “Though, honestly, if I knew you were so hard up as to date the help, I would have set you up with one of my sisters.”
Hephaestus doesn’t give me a chance to respond. His laughter joins his cousin’s. “It wouldn’t be more than slightly scandalous if she was just an employee, but a member of the Gataki family?” He shakes his head. “You must really like living on the edge. You’re liable to wake up with a knife between your ribs.”
I grip the plates so tightly, I have the distant thought that I might shatter them. The desire to defend Cassandra wars with the need to continue my easygoing public persona. “Cassandra is not the same as her parents,” I finally say.
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
I refuse to continue this line of conversation. “Where’s Atalanta this morning?”
They exchange a look I can’t quite decipher. I frown, but Artemis speaks before I can question further. She waves an idle hand through the air. “Oh, I sent her on a task last night. She must be sleeping late, as I haven’t seen her since.”
“You sent her on a task…in the middle of the night…at a house party hosted by someone who’s essentially an enemy to Olympus.” The Minotaur’s rough voice echoes through my mind. Your safety isn’t guaranteed. Did he happen upon Atalanta in the halls?
I don’t like to think about that. Like everyone else in Olympus, I watched their confrontation at the end of the second trial in the Ares competition. She fought hard and lost, and for a moment, I’d been certain he would kill her right then and there. “The Minotaur—”
“Thank you for your concern about one of my people, but I can assure you, it’s not needed.” Artemis smirks and strides out of the room before I can come up with a suitable response.
Hephaestus, of course, lingers. He eyes the two plates in my hands. “You’re playing this wrong. Throw your lot in with the loser and you’ll go down with them.”
I hold his gaze. “Is Atalanta okay, Hephaestus? Why isn’t Artemis worried that she hasn’t reported back?”
“She’s not one of mine. It’s not my business.” He shrugs. “She knows the cost of loyalty and she’s willing to pay it if it’s asked of her. A lesson you should take to heart. Minos means fresh blood. A chance to disrupt some of the old way of doing things.”
I hold his gaze. “Your family comes from the old way of doing things. Mine does, too.”
“Yeah.” He shrugs. “But we’re the Thirteen. Nothing can touch us now.”
“Hephaestus—”
“You may have this Zeus’s ear, but we all know how quickly the winds can change. Who knows what kinds of opportunities and connections Minos can bring us from outside the city? If you miss out because you’re too busy playing with a failed assassin’s daughter, then I don’t know what to say to you. Good luck, I guess.” He follows his cousin out of the room.
Nothing can touch us now.
The words have the ring of a false prophecy. I truly hope I’m wrong about that.
18
Cassandra
I expect things to be awkward. I should really know better by now. Apollo and I share a nice breakfast, and then he gets ready in a fraction of the time it took me. I chose my clothing with care today: one of the many deceptively simple sundresses from Juliette and a pair of flats. If the maze was any indication of how the games will play out during this week, I’m going to save heels for evening. I have no problem wearing them all day in the office, but I don’t spend most of the day on my feet at work.
Apollo eyes my shoe choice but wisely says nothing. He just opens the door for me and motions for me to precede him through. “It will be lunch before too long. Let’s see who else is about. Maybe Atalanta is back by now.”