Cruel Seduction (Dark Olympus, #5) (82)

“Yes, she’s expecting you.” They tap a few keys on their keyboard. “You can go back.”

I find Eris standing in front of her desk, frowning at a bag with takeout in it. She glances up at me, and her eyes go soft. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I wish things could be as easy between us as they used to be, but I’m not sure if it’s even possible. It’s a mistake to wish for that, too, but I don’t care. My heart is already in tatters. Might as well light it on fire. I nod at the bag. “You got us lunch already?”

“Not me.” She goes back to staring at the bag as if it’s a snake ready to strike. “Pandora sent it, along with a bitingly polite note saying she expects me to eat a proper amount and not skip this meal in favor of working.”

I raise my brows. “She knows you well.”

“Apparently.” She sighs and shakes her head. “Sorry, this just threw me. It showed up right as I was about to order for us.” She pokes at the bag tentatively. “There’s enough food here to feed a small army, so I think it should work for the two of us.”

It’s a challenge to hold my tongue as she carefully arranges the takeout on her desk. Silences between us used to be comfortable. Now they’re thorny with things left unsaid. Do I apologize? Do I demand she apologize? What do we even talk about now? Gods, this is so awkward. It’s the only excuse I have for blurting out, “You like her a lot.”

Eris freezes. “Yes, I do.”

I wait for jealousy or anger or hurt. Instead, all I feel is confusion. We’ve never had anything resembling a traditional relationship before, but I don’t know if we have a relationship at all right now. “I see.”

She sits back and meets my gaze. “You like him a lot, too.”

Guilt flares, but it’s dulled by the truth. “Yeah. A lot.”

Her lips curve, but her eyes are sad. “I meant what I said last night. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.” But I can’t leave it at that. It seems impossible that priorities in my life would shift in just a few short days, but it’s happened all the same. “If you’ve asked me here to convince me to do something to hurt Theseus, I’m not going to do it.”

“And yet you were willing to work with him to hurt me.” She holds up a hand before I can sputter out a response. “I don’t blame you for it, Adonis. I know I broke your heart. I’m sorry for that.”

I don’t ask her if she’d do anything differently if she could go back. I already know the answer. Eris loves me, but her first priority will always be this city. “So where does that leave us?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” She sinks onto her chair, looking tired. “I’m going to be frank with you.”

“When have you been anything but frank with me?”

A small smile is her only acknowledgment of that truth. “We have to bring my husband over to our side.”

I shake my head slowly. “I just told you—”

“And I’m telling you that we have to bring him to our side. In three days.”

Three days? I huff out a laugh. “You don’t ask for much, do you? That timeline is impossible. You’re setting yourself up for failure.”

“I’d better not be.” She slumps back in her chair. “It’s the only way we can keep him alive.”

I blink. “Excuse me?”

“My brother is going to kill him if we can’t pull this off.”

Shock roots me in place. I play her words back through my head, but they don’t make any more sense now than they did a few seconds ago. “Impossible.”

“You’d be surprised. If Zeus wants someone dead, they’re not long for this world.”

The tone in her voice makes me think she’s not talking about this Zeus as much as the last one. Her father. The long shadow that poisoned so much of her childhood. The man who taught her that the only way to survive was to tread others underfoot. I don’t blame her for surviving; I’ll never blame her for that.

But sometimes, in the dark of the night, I wonder what it might have been like if her mother had lived. If her early years hadn’t been a training ground for what Zeus considered good leadership. If she hadn’t watched her father marry and then—allegedly—kill two more women.

“Stop that.”

I jolt. “Stop what?”

She gives me a knowing look. “You’re thinking dark thoughts about my father. He’s dead. He can’t hurt me anymore.”

If only that were true. I shake my head sharply. She’s right. This line of thinking isn’t helping anyone. I swallow hard. “Your brother can’t seriously mean to kill your husband.”

“I highly doubt he’ll do it personally.” She makes a face. “Then again, he’s acting out of character, so I can’t take anything for granted.”

The very idea of Zeus being off the rails is, frankly, terrifying. We survived under the last one because he was more invested in being a charming dictator than actively feared, though fear was an undercurrent to his reign. Perseus doesn’t have that charm. He’s not the kind of man who can tempt people to flock to his side and curry his favor.

If he goes this route, his only option will be to rule through fear.