She would calm down in time. She always did.
But he had other things to worry about at the moment.
Closing his eyes, he breached the distance between Olympus and the human world.
There he found what he was looking for.
Zarek jerked his head up to find himself in the middle of a white and gold room. It was huge, with a gold-domed ceiling embossed with wildlife scenes. The room was encircled with white marble columns and in the center sat a large ivory settee.
What surprised him most was to see Acheron standing in front of the settee, staring at him with those strange swirling silver eyes.
The Atlantean had long, golden-blond hair and looked strangely vulnerable-which for Acheron was an impossibility. He was dressed in a pair of tight black leather pants and wore a long-sleeved black silk shirt that had been left unbuttoned.
"Thank you for Simi," Acheron said, inclining his head toward him. "I appreciate what you did for her when she was wounded."
Zarek cleared his throat, rose to his feet, and aimed an angry glare at Acheron. "Why did you fuck with my head?"
"I had to. There are some things people are better off not knowing."
"You let me think I had killed my own people."
"Would the truth have been any easier on you? Instead of the old crone's face, you would have been haunted by the face of a young woman and her husband. Not to mention you would have had the knowledge to kill any Dark-Hunter who got in your way, including Valerius, and had you done that, I wouldn't have been able to save you. Ever."
Zarek flinched at the mention of his brother. As much as he hated to admit it, Ash was right. He might very well have used his knowledge to kill Valerius. "You have no right to play with people's minds."
Acheron's agreement stunned him. "No, I don't. And believe it or not, I seldom do. But that's not why you're really mad, now is it?"
Zarek tensed. "I don't know what you mean."
"Yes you do, Z." He closed his eyes and cocked his head as if listening to something. "I know every thought inside you. Just as I did that night you slaughtered the Apollites and Daimons after Taberleigh. I tried to give you peace of mind by eliminating your memories, but you wouldn't take it. I couldn't stop your dreams and M'Adoc wouldn't help. For that I apologize. But right now you have a much bigger problem than what I did to you when I tried to help."
"Yeah? What's that?"
Acheron held his hand up and projected an image from his palm.
Zarek's breath caught as he saw Astrid weeping. She sat in a small atrium with three other women who were holding her as she cried.
He walked toward the image, only to remember he couldn't really touch it.
"It hurts so much," she sobbed.
"Atty, do something!" a blond woman said, looking at the redheaded woman who appeared to be the eldest. "Go kill him for hurting her."
"No," Astrid wailed. "Don't you dare. I'll never forgive you if you hurt him."
"Who are those women with her?" Zarek asked.
"The three Fates. Atty, or Atropos, is the one with red hair. Clotho is the one with blond hair holding Astrid, and the dark-headed one is Lachesis, or Lacy."
Zarek stared at them, his heart breaking at the pain he'd caused Astrid. The last thing he had ever wanted was to hurt her. "Why are you showing me this?"
Acheron answered his question with one of his own. "Do you remember what I said to you in New Orleans?"
Zarek looked at him wryly. "You said a lot of shit to me then."
So Acheron repeated it." ' The past is dead, Z. Tomorrow will become whatever decision you make.' "
Acheron's gaze burned into him. "With Dionysus's help you blew it that night in New Orleans when you attacked the cops, but you bought yourself another chance when you saved Sunshine." Ash indicated Astrid. "You have another crucial choice here, Z. What will you decide?"