The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus) - By Kaitlin Bevis Page 0,33

is automatically suspect—”

“Why?” Adonis asked.

“Shut up!” Orpheus hissed. He grabbed the young demigod’s arm and made as if to lead him from the room, but drew up short when Hades stepped in from of him.

Hades’ electric-blue eyes swept over Adonis with such intensity that Adonis seemed to shrink in on himself. “There’s something different about this one,” Hades murmured.

Orpheus gave Adonis an apologetic look, felt backward for Eurydice’s hand, and retreated from the room, pulling her along with him. Smart man.

“He’s one of Zeus’ eugenics projects.” Demeter waved a dismissive hand. “That’s why I hadn’t bothered with him. Zeus isn’t likely to come after—”

“Eugenics?” Hades’ eyebrows shot up.

Demeter either missed or just didn’t care about the warning in his tone. “His mother was a demigod, so was his grandmother, and her mother before that, and her mother before that going back centuries. His father had the same type of—”

“His father?” I leaned forward. “His father is Zeus. He’s got charm. I can feel it.”

“No.” Demeter clasped her hands together. “His grandfather is Zeus, on both sides, and his great-grandfather and his great-great grandfather.” The list continued for a few more generations, but we got the gist of it. Adonis was inbred to the extreme.

Adonis sat down in the chair fast. He looked ill.

“Zeus isn’t going to kill him,” Demeter continued. “I’m sure there’s a female version of him out there somewhere he’ll be compelled to breed with. Zeus will be curious to see what happens with their child.”

“He has charm,” I repeated, unable to believe anyone not directly descended from a god could have powers. Demigods didn’t pass on powers to their children. They didn’t even pass on ichor, the golden blood of the gods that gave them their physical characteristics. “He’s immune to it, too.”

Hades and Demeter both looked shocked at this development. Gods weren’t even immune to charm. Not really. With enough power we could shield ourselves against it, but any one of us could be taken off guard.

“How many of these ‘projects’ does Zeus have going?” Hades demanded, his tone making it clear he didn’t agree with Demeter’s word choice.

Demeter shrugged. “Plenty, I’m sure. He wanted to see how long it would take to create new gods through the humans. Looks like he’s only a few generations away.”

“That’s sick!” Melissa exploded. “How can you talk about this like it’s some casual thing?”

Demeter drew back in surprise. “I didn’t intend—”

“We’re people!” Melissa snapped, brown eyes blazing. “You don’t get to breed us like lab rats, or control us, or make assumptions. What if you’re wrong and Zeus wants him dead? That risk is fine with you? I guess he’s just human after all. We don’t matter much compared to your divine egos.”

“Melissa, that’s enough!” Demeter snapped.

I raised my eyebrows. I’d never heard Demeter use her mom voice. It was pretty scary.

Melissa knew Demeter better than I did, and she didn’t seem nervous, but still, it might be the better call to get her out of here. I looked to Hades for a clue. He seemed distracted. Touching his temples, he looked like his head could be bugging him, but he wasn’t quite sure.

Wait. I’d looked away but some detail drew my head back to Hades with a snap. A smear of bright red blood collected under his nose. Hades stared at his bloodied fingers like they belonged to someone else.

“Demeter,” I gasped. But her focus was on Melissa.

Melissa narrowed her eyes at Demeter. “I don’t answer to you. As far as I’m concerned, the only member of this entire pathetic pantheon who matters is Persephone. The human race is better without the rest of your meddling and manipulations and disguises!”

The whole Zeus was Joel revelation hadn’t gone over well with her. Adonis touched Melissa’s arm and stage whispered, “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but don’t forget who you’re talking to.”

Melissa shook him off. “I’m not afraid of them. I’m not the one who needs worship to live.”

“Demeter!” Tearing my gaze from Hades wasn’t easy. Something was wrong, very, very wrong. Gods didn’t bleed. They just didn’t. But I’d sworn to protect Melissa, so Hades would just have to wait. If Demeter tried to hurt Melissa there wasn’t a whole lot I could do but get in the way. I gulped. I really didn’t want to do that.

But Demeter didn’t seem bothered by Melissa’s outburst at all. She regarded Melissa with a look of exasperated patience. Melissa stared at her for a moment, waiting for some reaction, then