Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1) - Katee Robert Page 0,103

And so fucking help you if Hermes slips past our perimeter tonight.”

Minthe nods and hurries to the driver’s side. I keep an eye on the car until it’s out of sight and then turn to Charon. “Trouble’s coming.”

Charon’s skin has taken on a waxen tone. “You crossed the river.”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

He opens his mouth like he wants to argue but finally shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter, I guess. It’s done. What do we do now?”

I try to stop reacting and think. Will Zeus go for a frontal strike, or will he try to twist my arm to get something he wants to avoid an all-out war? I don’t know. I can’t fucking think. All I can hear are the echoes of Persephone’s cry. All I can see is the helpless look in her sister’s eyes. And all I can feel is the pain across my knuckles from beating a man half to death.

I press my fingers to my temples. What would Andreas say? I snort as soon as the thought crosses my mind. Andreas is going to kick my ass for being so impulsive. “We can’t assume they’ll come in across the bridges. Pull as many people back from the edges of the territory as we can. If they don’t want to go, don’t force them, but get word out. War is coming.”

Charon hesitates and then nods. “Do you want me to pull in all our people to the main house?”

The temptation almost overwhelms me. I want Persephone safe, and I already know she’ll be a target. The urge to bolster our defenses until nothing can get past is a strong one.

But Persephone is not the only person in the lower city who needs protection from what’s coming.

I force myself to shake my head. “No, keep the doubled patrols on the river. Dredge up anyone you need to help those who want to get out of the potential conflict zone.”

“Hades.” Charon has to stop and wrestle the fear out of his tone. “The entire lower city will be a conflict zone if they come for us.”

“I know.” I clasp his shoulder. “I’ll get us through, Charon. Have no doubt about that.”

I just don’t know how yet. I can’t act until Zeus does. I’m torn between the hope that he won’t strike immediately and the fear that he’ll draw this out until we’re all going out of our minds.

The entire ride back to the house, I can’t quite shake the fear that I’ll arrive and Persephone will be gone. That Zeus will have somehow slipped past all my defenses and taken her back. That she’ll have realized I can’t truly protect her like I promised and decided to take her chances on her own. That she’ll recognize me for the monster the rest of Olympus thinks I am and flee. A thousand scenarios, each fed by the knowledge of how ugly things are going to get. I had planned on multiple scenarios when we started this, but nowhere in those were what happened tonight.

Some things you can’t take back.

When I find her and her sister sitting in the living room with the three pups playing around them, it feels like being sucker punched. They’re here. They’re safe. For now.

I sink onto one of the chairs and catch Persephone’s gaze. She piles two of the puppies into her sister’s lap and sits back. I approve. Pushing Eurydice right now is the wrong call. She’s just experienced… Well, we won’t know exactly what she’s experienced until she rouses enough to tell us. Which takes time.

So I sit there and watch silently as Eurydice slowly comes back to herself. It starts with her petting the puppies and ends with a shuddering sigh that comes out more like a sob. “I was so scared, Persephone.”

“I know, honey.” Persephone lets Eurydice lay her head in her lap and carefully strokes her black hair, a soothing touch.

There’s nothing soothing in her hazel eyes. She looks at me, and I’ve never seen her so fearsome. A true dark goddess, bent on retribution. She banks the expression almost as soon as it crosses her face, and I hate that she hides this part of herself from me. A trembling smile pulls at her lips and she mouths, Thank you.

In that moment, I’d do it again a hundred times. No matter the cost. It’s all worth it for her.

Fucking anything for her.

Chapter 26

Persephone

My sister’s story comes out in fits and starts. About how she and Orpheus were supposed