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)
Too bad my instincts don’t give a shit.
All I can focus on is the fact that Eurydice lied to me. She stood there and assured me that she would keep Medusa with her the entire time she was in the upper city, and the first chance she got, she was running off to put herself in direct danger. I don’t need to know the details of Ariadne’s pregnancy in order to know that. She’s throwing herself on Hades’s sanctuary, and she wouldn’t do that if she wasn’t desperate. Which means Minos, and anyone he can bring to bear, will be out tracking his daughter. Considering the current climate in Olympus, I don’t think he would hesitate to hurt Eurydice if he thought she helped Ariadne.
And that is what I cannot forgive.
At least not until I have her in my arms and can reassure myself that she’s actually fine.
With nothing else to do, I turn my fury and frustration on the easiest target. Orpheus. “I hope you’re fucking happy.”
“Hardly.” He leans against the car next to me, his dark gaze pinned to the front door of the clinic. “But if she’s keeping secrets from you, proving myself to be untrustworthy just means she’ll be keeping secrets from me too.”
I understand what he saying, but that doesn’t make me want to strangle him any less. “You keep talking like we’re a team. We’re not.” It doesn’t matter that I decided I’m good with Orpheus being a package deal with Eurydice. What does matter is that she put herself in danger and he didn’t try to stop it.
“If we’re not a team, then why are you mad at me?”
I open my mouth, but no words come out. He has a point. I don’t like it, but he does. “You weren’t there the night she was chased through the warehouse district, terrified out of her fucking mind, and then attacked in plain sight of the lower city banks. You weren’t there when she pieced herself together over months, until she felt strong enough to go out on her own. If you had been, you would understand why I am so angry right now.”
“You’re right. I wasn’t there. I have so many fucking regrets about what happened that night, and how things fell out afterward. I’m glad she had you. Truly, I am.” He turns to face me, his body language still far too relaxed for my liking. “I know you’re scared shitless at the thought of her getting hurt. I am too. I’m not a fighter like you, but I would still put myself between her and any danger without hesitation.”
I don’t know if I believe him.
I don’t know if it matters.
We shouldn’t get too into shit without her here, but there’s something that needs to be said, and it’s better to get it out of the way now. “You mean to stay.”
Orpheus tilts his head back, giving me a good look at the line of his throat. I have the nearly overwhelming urge to set my teeth to that unmarked skin. He speaks before I can do or say something I’ll regret. “That’s up to Eurydice.”
It’s as good as saying yes. I respect him for not pussyfooting around the subject. “Are you planning to try to steal her back to the upper city?” My voice is deceptively mild, covering up the sudden shift inside me. I may have decided on her—and Orpheus—but that doesn’t mean either of them feel the same way. What if Eurydice only saw this year in the lower city as a pause, a moment to catch her breath before flinging herself back into the glittering poison seeped into the other side of the River Styx?
I can’t stand in her way. Doing so would mean clipping her wings, and I’d die before trapping her like that. Even if she takes my heart with her when she goes.
“I don’t know.” He sighs. “I didn’t exactly have a plan when I accepted your…invitation…to cross the River Styx. All I wanted was to apologize and to find a way to live again instead of just existing. I didn’t expect to have even a chance with her again.” His lips quirk. “I didn’t expect you either.”
I know what he means, but I’m still pissed about everything, and I’m not willing to meet him halfway. Not right now. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?” He moves faster than I would have believed possible and snags my wrist. One moment he’s standing beside me, and the next he’s in front of me, chest to chest. “So we’re just going to pretend I wasn’t choking on your cock a few hours ago?”
He smells really fucking good. I could push him off easily, but I let him press us harder against the car. The contact grounds something in me that’s been spinning out since Hades called and told me to go to the upper city to pick up Eurydice, who was not where she was supposed to be. I take a slow, deep breath. “You were there for the taste of her.”