Heart of Fire (Blood of Zeus #2) - Meredith Wild Page 0,56

now—only to realize I know so little.

“’Course, you’ve probably had your fill of flashbulbs after last night,” Reg goes on. “Though Sarah grumbled for the better part of the morning, looking for pictures of you at the premiere. Where were you? Ducking and hiding? Looked like a grand affair. We found plenty of shots of your pretty girl and her fam—” She cuts herself short after looking at me again. This time, really looking. “Ohh. You weren’t even there, were you?”

I shoot her a dark look while taking a sip of the brew she’s poured for me. “That’s not exactly an awful thing.”

“Says your mouth. But the rest of your face is giving me a different line, Maximus Kane.”

I push away the coffee. My one sip sours in my stomach. “Imagine that.”

She tosses down her cleaning rag and impales me with her full attention. “What happened? Did you two fight?”

“No.”

“Then was it Veronica’s meddling?”

“No.”

“Then why do you look like you slept in those clothes after drinking a half gallon of kerosene?”

I work my lips together. My mouth is still a dry husk, and my mind is still a casserole of confusion. Now that I’m here, I have no idea how to plunge forward. Nothing’s going to be the same with Reg after this. Inside, I cling to our normalcy for a few seconds longer.

“It wasn’t kerosene,” I finally force myself to say. “Something called Ninth Circle Rye. Or, as my father likes calling it, ‘Honey’s good stuff from the back.’”

Regina grips the bar before dropping her head between her shoulders. For a long moment, I wonder if she’s preparing to be sick in the sink. Instead she rasps, “Bloody. Fucking. Hell.”

“Not exactly.” I use the weighted moment to finally slide onto a stool. It’s less about my comfort and more about the proximity that now feels like a necessity. “Unless that’s where they really park Labyrinth. I doubt Po would have much fun swimming in the Styx, though.”

Through another long moment, she still says nothing. A louder laugh from someone in the book club crowd brings her head back up, but not swiftly. “You know, then? All of it?”

“All of it?” I echo. “Is that an accurate phrase for any of this, Ms. Nikian?”

It’s a strange but pleasant experience to watch her bust out a soft laugh. “Fair question.” She doesn’t hang on long to the humor. “As fair as anything is in all this, I suppose.”

“Fair.” I engrave that one with harder sarcasm. “Now there’s something the gods definitely don’t recognize.”

Her demeanor changes. Though she doesn’t move from her forward hunch, there’s new purpose in her face. “The gods haven’t endured centuries by being fair, Max. What they’ve had to do to keep each of their realms whole…”

“Is that made up in your mind, then?” I meet her stare with just as much determination. “To serve the world of the gods instead of just—”

“We all serve the gods, Maximus.” She pushes back to her full stance. “Some of us are just more aware of our function than others.”

As she states it, she seems to roll her shoulders back even more. I blink, regarding the woman with new eyes, as hers fill with a specific sadness. I get it now. She’s used to hefting weapons and a shield, not coffeepots and book boxes.

I have a hundred questions for her now, but ninety-nine of them have to wait. I have to get out the most important one. “So when you chose to hail Po…and secretly sought out his help, behind Hades’s and Zeus’s backs…who were you serving then?”

Regina doesn’t hesitate a single second about her answer.

“You.”

I take advantage of the chance to do my own leaning back. The outer action aside, I’m not taken aback. Like so many parts of my new normal, this revelation actually brings new light on so much of my history with the woman. A reality that feels so much more right—because now it’s the truth.

Right…but not complete.

There’s still something missing.

Someone who should be here and deserves to be here as much as Reg, if not more. Someone who might be able to help, even more than Reg.

I pull my phone out and push the speed dial button for Mom.

Chapter Sixteen

Kara

Past the kitchen table, which is presently littered with notebooks and homework papers, the dusty hills glow amber in the afternoon light. Our multimillion-dollar view hasn’t changed since Kell and I picked out this house years ago, but so much about our lives has. Very little looks