Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,19
time when using magic in Shadow Falls had been unpredictable and wild, but over the years, as I’d increased in power, I’d learned to control it better. “She’s in the forest to the north,” I said. “She doesn’t do well around crowds of people.”
“She’ll come with us to DC,” Selene told me. “You should ask her.”
“She does like hitting people,” I said thoughtfully. “And I think the higher the rank, the more she enjoys it.”
“We really going to drag the president of America out of the White House to be arrested?” Selene asked. “That doesn’t sound like something we can do easily.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” I said. “Gawain is there, so I definitely want the chance to have a long, slow conversation with him about the error in being a . . . bad man,” I finished after remembering Astrid was in the room. Sometimes being a parent was hard. Harder still when you really wanted to swear and couldn’t. I didn’t want to be known as the parent whose kid ran around telling people to fuck off. Although, thinking about it, I could always blame Remy’s influence.
Astrid motioned for me to pick her up. “No, you can walk to me,” I told her.
She stared at me for several seconds before getting to her feet and toddling over to me. I picked her up and sat her on my knee. “You’re going to be a good girl for Eos?” I asked her.
Astrid looked over at Eos and waved. “Good girl,” she said enthusiastically.
“How did you two ever make a kid that cute?” Eos asked.
“She got all of Selene’s . . . everything,” I said.
“Wait until she’s a teenager and she turns into a mini-Daddy,” Selene said. “Burning down houses, throwing bolts of lightning at everyone.”
“I think by the time she’s a teenager, I’ll have concocted an elaborate escape plan for me to live underground,” I said, giving Selene a kiss.
“Oh, not without me, you don’t,” Selene said.
“You two sicken me,” Eos told us, picking up Astrid. “I’m going to go take this one for a walk, if no one has any objections.”
“Thank you,” Selene said.
Once Selene and I were alone, we went to bed, predominantly to get some sleep. Eventually, anyway.
I’d had a good extra hour when I woke up to the sound of the front door being rhythmically beaten.
“If that’s Mordred, give him a bottle of vodka and tell him to relax,” Selene said as I left the bedroom. I went downstairs to find Hel and Mordred at the front door.
“Nate,” Mordred said. “You wanna get dressed?”
I looked down, realizing I was wearing only a pair of shorts. “No,” I said. “I want to go back to sleep.”
“Sorry, but the team is ready for your incursion into Washington,” Hel said.
“Well, it was nice while it lasted,” Selene said as she walked down the stairs, pulling on a T-shirt.
“The White House has turned into somewhat of a battleground,” Hel said. “The humans went to arrest several senators who were there, hoping to get distance between them and the president, and it all kicked off. There are a lot of Avalon personnel in that building, and now quite a few dead Secret Service and FBI agents.”
“How long ago?” I asked.
“An hour,” Mordred said. “We only just got word, as our people there have been trying to stop Avalon insurgents from killing innocent people.”
“It gets worse,” Hel said.
“Of course it does,” I said.
“Looks like the president isn’t involved with Avalon,” Mordred said. “At least not how we thought. Gawain threatened to execute him if anyone tries to get into the White House.”
“So the president is one of the good guys?” I asked. “That’s not the impression we got from Poseidon.”
“Yeah, it’s all a little confusing,” Mordred said. “But right now, the president and his family are in the White House, and they’re hostages. Along with several dozen workers and members of Congress.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty bad,” I admitted. I ran upstairs and put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt before we left the house, and all of us made our way to the temple realm gate, where Leonardo and Antonio were waiting, along with several dozen others. Antonio hugged me and Selene in turn.
“Good to see you both,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I now live in this temple, considering the amount of time I’ve spent here. Leonardo wants to make it even bigger. He thinks there’s a way to move whole armies through the gates.”