going to make damned sure she remembered me now. She hadn’t healed from my venom yet, and all she could do was moan and scream as it coursed through her body. It was music to my ears, but I couldn’t take the time I wanted to draw this out. Zeus was dead, and I was certain Tryphon was dealing with Poseidon, but that left Ares and any other Olympian who was feeling life forces going out and storming Zeus’s place to find out why.
How did I want to do this? What was the worst way to die for a shitty person? There was so much to choose from. I was planning on taking her head, but slitting her throat was way too good for her. I knew what! A knife wound to the gut was the best way to kill someone who needed to pay. It was supposed to be an awful way to die. Perfect. Athena was a horrible person.
She wasn’t even paying attention to me anymore. She was in a haze of pain from my venom. I pulled a blade from my boot and slid it into her gut. I’d seen what that blade did to Demeter when River left it in her chest. That was too quick. I pulled the knife out because I didn’t want Athena turning to stone. That honor would go to Medusa and the head I was bringing back.
I yanked the knife from her stomach and left her there to bleed out. I had my revenge, and it felt good. But I wasn’t alone here. Poseidon and Ares hurt people I care about too.
I needed to see if my team needed help to get their revenge. I’d come back and get Athena’s head once all the bad Olympians were nice and dead.
Chapter 24
Hephaestus
I
think I was the only person paying attention to the entire room. They gave everyone their positions and jobs. They allowed those that had targets to take them out. Hermes, Apollo, and Dionysus weren’t in here fighting with us. They were helping prevent more lives lost, but they had one of my weapons with them.
Everyone thought they knew who would try to get their hands on my weapon and insert themselves as king or queen by force. But it didn’t matter which realm you were dealing with. People were unpredictable. Someone here might have secretly wanted to run the show but didn’t have the means to do it until my weapon came into play. Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes, and Hera were waiting in the front of Zeus’s palace to answer questions from the people afraid of all the life forces they felt going out and trying to do it in a way we didn’t have to kill more people wanting that weapon.
Artemis didn’t have another clear shot with her arrow, so she was hanging back. Tryphon and Pavlina seemed to handle things with their revenge, so that left River, Kimon, Demos, and I with Ares. I could warn them all day Ares fought dirty when his life wasn’t on the line, and they would still think this was going to be easy.
Ares pretended to be the God of War for a reason. He loved picking fights. He loved stirring up drama between lovers and friends so he could watch them fight. Ares was an asshole and picked on anyone about everything. Pavlina was currently taking her anger out on Athena, and I think we could all admit she deserved it. Still, Pavlina didn’t know Ares taunted her about the fact that Poseidon was raping her priestesses and tried to throw it in her face it made her less powerful.
I was done with Ares. I hadn’t stood up to him when he played these awful pranks on me or belittled me in front of everyone because I knew no one would have my back, and Zeus would probably hurt me again. I said I didn’t care who killed him, but I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to risk Ares hurting River, and he fought dirty enough that he probably would.
Red magic crackled at Ares's fists as he raised them to his eyes like a boxer. He was taking in everyone around him. I watched Kimon change into his Minotaur, and Demos burst into flames. River completely shocked me when she sprouted claws, fangs, a cat head, and wings, but I could admit she looked sexy as fuck like that.
Charley and Finn were right behind us, waiting to cast a spell, and Barbatos