He’s furious, and your existence hangs in the balance. What did you expect, Kara? That you could follow your heart and no one would have to face the consequences?”
“I didn’t expect anything. I was born into this nightmare, forced to live under these laws against my will. So was she.”
My mother huffs. “Well, if your grandfather hadn’t—”
“If Gramps hadn’t done what he did, none of us would be here making him pay for it. Right?”
She stiffens her spine, crosses her arms, all eyes on her. “We all have our part to play, don’t we?”
“It’s fine, Kara,” Kell utters with a softness that betrays the lie on her lips.
I whip my stare back to her. “It’s not fine.”
“Yes, damn it. It is. I’m not like you.” She swallows hard. “I’ll do whatever I have to do. Especially if it buys you time.”
Chapter Three
Maximus
“Why don’t we take a drive?”
I battle, unsuccessfully, to hide my lack of enthusiasm about the suggestion from the man standing next to me. Z doesn’t flinch, except for the higher tilt of his roguish grin. We’re on the deck outside Kara and Kell’s living room, isolated from the others, for now. The chilly morning fights to stick to the air, but in these hills, the Southern California sun is persistent. Its heat spreads rapidly across the stone slab beneath my bare feet.
But that’s the only warm part of me.
I don’t anticipate a de-thaw anytime soon, since the deep freeze stretches into the marrow of my bones and cells of my blood. All the visceral parts of me that are waging a war worse than the battles of the wrathful in the marshes of Styx. My spirit should be welded with relief and gratitude, but I can’t stop thinking of Veronica Valari’s arrangement as an ultimatum instead of a solution. A mandate that—surprise, surprise—will likely brighten the gleam on her empire by a few million notches.
But bitterness is no good to me right now. No matter how strongly I yearn to race back inside, grab Kara, and whisk her away to a corner of the world where we’ll never be found, I have to let logic prevail. That also means conceding to the reality of our situation. If we’re to survive the underworld’s backlash, maybe we do have to fight fire with fire. Even if that blaze is made of headlines, spotlights, and paparazzi flashes.
In short, it’s my worst nightmare—though as soon as I look back inside, it’s eclipsed in the space of one breath. There’s a plate of glass separating Kara and me, but our gazes lock in sublime synchronicity. At once, I notice the reflection of my face staring at hers. I don’t recognize the man I see because he’s never existed before. I’m beyond smitten. I’m devoted. Entirely fixated on her happiness and her safety.
Especially that.
So for now, I’m all-in with Mama Valari and her bold strategy. That also means upholding my promise to Z. It’s time for quality father-and-son bonding time if I’m to believe what everyone around me seems to. That I’m the son of a god. The son of Zeus himself.
At the very least, this reunion should be interesting.
With gritted effort, I shift my regard back to the man who smiles at the burgeoning sunlight as if he created the giant fireball himself.
“A drive,” I say. “You mean you can’t snap your fingers and transport us anywhere you want to go?”
He lifts a hand and turns it over. With a wiggle of his fingers, silvery light forms iridescent webs between them. “Always an option,” Z returns. “But I’ve heard that taking a drive is a good excuse for talking things out.”
“Is that what you want to do, then? Talk?”
“You’d rather stay here?”
“You’re mistaking me for someone who wants to do any of this.” I shrug. “Guess I just had different expectations.”
His return expression also walks the line between serious and humorous. “Like what?”
I eye him carefully and really debate just yanking the cork in the dam. To seriously tell him every thought barreling through my brain. But this isn’t the time or place. The sooner I get this father-son visit over with, the better.
“Not important,” I finally say. “So where are we going?”
“Also not important. Why don’t we just get in the car and go?” He hones his gaze, as if he’s trying to read me again. “Is there someplace special you want to go?”
Yes. The most remote place on earth. With the woman I’m leaving behind. On a day when she needs