“If I wanted to turn someone to stone, I could without a gorgon’s gaze,”
Dionysus replied. “Shall I give you a demonstration?”
“Or you could finish your explanation,” Hades interjected, his patience gone.
Dionysus and Ariadne were still glaring at each other when he continued.
“A few bounty hunters have put a price on her head, so I hired the Graeae to help me find her first.”
“So she can join your team of assassins?”
“They’re called maenads,” Dionysus said, then shamelessly admitted,
“And yes.”
“As your weapon,” Hades said.
Dionysus shrugged. “Her power makes her dangerous. She’ll be on everyone’s kill list. At least here, she would be safe.”
“And what if that isn’t what she wants?” Ariadne asked.
Dionysus looked at the detective and answered, “Not everyone has the privilege of choice.”
Hades considered the information Dionysus had given him. If it were true, if there were a bounty on Medusa’s head, then it was just a matter of time before she was located. Still, he had questions. He was familiar with gorgons. He employed one—Euryale—to watch the doors to his lounge at Nevernight. Did she know Medusa?
“Why the Graeae?” Hades asked.
Dionysus stared.
“You have all these assassins,” Hades continued. “A roomful of people who can search and spy, yet you purchased the Graeae. Why?”
“I purchased their skills,” Dionysus clarified, as if he thought that were somehow better. “And because they are sisters to the gorgons. If anyone would know where Medusa resided, it would be the Graeae.”
“And you think they will tell you?”
“If they want to keep her safe, then yes.”
“It seems she’s doing a fine job keeping herself safe,” Ariadne pointed out, which was true. No one had been able to locate her, and if they had, it was likely that no one knew because she’d turned them to stone.
Still, Dionysus was right. Power like that was dangerous. Mortals would want to harness it—mortals like the Impious or even Triad—while immortals would want to destroy it. It was just a matter of time before someone figured out how to capture her.
Hades looked to Dionysus. “What will you do if she doesn’t want to come with you?” It was an important question, one that Hades had to know the answer to before he decided how to proceed.
“I won’t force her,” Dionysus said. “But I have hope that her sisters will help convince her.”
“Take us to them,” Hades said, and before Dionysus could protest, he continued. “We’ll learn the secret together.”
Dionysus’s lips flattened. “You hardly have the authority to command such a thing in my realm,” he said.
“Last time I checked, the Graeae were not under your rule. Besides, I have the eye, and they cannot see without it.”
Hades expected Dionysus to protest—to remind him that he had bought and paid for the services of the Graeae—and while his jaw ticked as he gritted his teeth, he gave a harsh nod.
“Fine.”
Dionysus left the balcony, navigating to the floor where his maenads lingered, and led them through one of the darkened archways.
It turned out that they were dorms.
“I expected a dungeon,” Ariadne said as they passed door after door.
“I have one,” said Dionysus. “Though it’s not exactly what you’re imagining.”
Ariadne scoffed, and Hades rolled his eyes.
Finally, Dionysus stopped at one of the doors and knocked.
“What are we waiting for?” Ariadne asked.
“For them to answer the door,” Dionysus said. “They aren’t prisoners.”
But after a minute, no one had come, so Dionysus knocked again.
“Deino, Enyo, Pemphredo,” he called, and still there was no answer.
When he opened the door, they found the dorm was empty. “What the fuck.”
Dionysus stepped inside the spacious room, which resembled more of a luxury hotel room with large beds, lush linens, and pleasing works of art.
Hades and Ariadne followed. It was evident that the three sisters had occupied the room, as three of the four beds had rumpled covers and there were breakfast trays at the end of each, crowded with empty plates, glasses, and silverware, but the Graeae were nowhere to be found.
“You have a basement of assassins, and the Graeae still managed to escape,” Ariadne said.
“They didn’t escape,” said Dionysus.