Cruel Seduction (Dark Olympus, #5) (77)

I do know it. I’ve thought the very same things in the past. There’s absolutely no reason for me to want to shove to my feet and yell at my brother for suggesting such a thing. There’s no reason for it to feel like the walls are closing in.

A few days ago, I would have jumped at the chance to become a widow. This marriage was only meant to serve the purpose of distracting the public and distracting Hephaestus, and it’s failed at both tasks.

But that was before my husband knelt in front of me and bandaged my wounds. Before he saved my life. Before he comforted me in his own rough way last night when I was at my lowest. “We gave our word that we wouldn’t harm him if he married me.”

“It’s for the good of Olympus,” Helen says softly. There’s sympathy in her eyes, but also a steely determination I know too well. “They’re right. It’s a good call.”

I won’t have to do anything. Just take the path of least resistance and allow the people in this room to plot to make me a widow. There will be no more vicious arguments that turn into sex. No more trying to outmaneuver each other. No more lying next to his big body, quietly snoring beside me and lulling me into sleep.

I…can’t do it.

Pandora said bringing him over to our side was nearly impossible, but it’s fully impossible if he’s dead. I’ll take those odds. I’ll take any odds right now. “I can turn him,” I blurt out.

Athena snorts. “No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.” I lift my chin, fighting to keep the uncertainty out of my face and voice. I need to project the cold bitch Aphrodite or they won’t trust me. “He’s smitten with Adonis, and he’s warming to me despite the tumultuous start to our marriage. If I can turn him, his connection to Minos means he’ll be a bigger asset than anyone else we can stick in the role.”

Perseus might as well have been glazed over with ice. “He’s not suited to the title.”

“The strength of the title is the people behind it. Hephaestus’s senior team has seen three people in that position. One person can’t outweigh all that experience.” Helen’s proven this with Achilles and Patroclus in her corner, but I won’t throw her under the bus like that right now, not when she worked so hard to be worthy of the Ares title even before claiming it. Hephaestus’s team seems to hate him, but that’s beside the point.

If anything, my brother’s blue eyes get icier. No one else in the room seems to breathe. Perseus leans forward. He opens his mouth and his brow furrows in frustration. I tense, but he seems to discard whatever he was about to say. He sits back with a sigh. “You have three days.”

I jolt. “Three days? That’s an impossible task.”

“Either it can be done or it can’t. The amount of time shouldn’t factor into it.”

That’s not even remotely reasonable, and I’m about to tell him exactly that when Apollo shakes his head sharply. “Surely you aren’t entertaining this. He’s a murderer.”

Perseus turns that cold gaze on Apollo. “Murder isn’t an unforgivable sin in this city and you know it. If we can turn him, he’ll be an asset in whatever comes next.”

“We have an asset from Minos’s household already.”

“Oh?” He raises an eyebrow. “Then you’re here to report that your outreach to Ariadne has borne fruit?”

Apollo huffs out a breath. “No. Minos has her under lock and key. She’s not even active online right now.”

Damn it, I haven’t texted Eurydice about Ariadne. I completely forgot in the midst of everything that happened yesterday. I slip my phone out of my purse and type out a quick message asking for an update. It’s entirely possible she hasn’t made more progress than Apollo, but I need to know.

My phone vibrates in my hand almost immediately. While Apollo and my brother keep speaking, I glance down.

Eurydice: I’m taking her to the club tonight.



Holy shit. She’s really doing it.

Me: Keep me updated, please.

Eurydice: Of course. I’ll call tomorrow.



I place my phone back in my purse. Eurydice and Ariadne is still a long shot, even if she’s making more progress than Apollo on that front right now. Ariadne might have warned Apollo about her father’s plans, but that doesn’t mean she knows more about what his next steps are than Pandora does.

Offering this information to the gathered people will sign my husband’s death warrant. If they think they have another way to strike at Minos, they won’t bother with Hephaestus. “There is no other way.”

“That remains to be seen.” Perseus looks at me. “Three days, Aphrodite.”

Helen shifts. “None of that changes the threat we’re facing right now. Increased security is in place for all members of the Thirteen who accepted my offer, but it’s only a matter of time before one of these attempts succeeds. They might not successfully engage the clause, but they could very well kill one of us. If that happens, it will only increase the frenzy.”

“Then ensure it doesn’t happen while we figure this out.” Perseus says it like it’s as easy as that. “Ideas to turn the tide?”

“We need to give them something else to fight.” There’s a flush in Helen’s cheeks from our brother’s rebuke, but her voice is steady.