I know how to neutralize her. She’s the one who taught me.
I can’t do it. I thought I had no lines left to cross, but not even I can kill my own mother. No matter how evil she is. Not even to keep Psyche safe.
I leave the safe room with slow steps that increase in pace the closer I get to the living room. Psyche’s only been out of my sight for ten minutes. She’s fine. I know she’s fine. But I don’t breathe easy again until I walk into the room and find her exactly where I left her.
What the fuck is happening to me?
I gather her up into my arms, ignoring her sleepy protest that she’s too heavy, and carry her into our bedroom. We end up in bed, me spooning her as she sinks back into sleep. I press my hand to her upper chest, counting her slow inhales and exhales until my nerves finally settle enough for sleep to take me.
24
Psyche
Helen Kasios lives in the same building as the rest of Zeus’s family. I’ve never been there before. Usually when the past Zeus entertained, he did it in Dodona Tower. The new Zeus has entertained plenty since he took over, but it couldn’t be clearer that he’s just going through the motions. He doesn’t crave the spotlight the way his late father did. Even when he was still called Perseus, he seemed more focused on the business aspect of things than his father ever was. The forty-day mourning period has come and gone, and people are already whispering about how resistant he seems to marrying someone and finally filling the Hera title. The last Zeus might have been monster incarnate, but he was charming and charismatic. He left large shoes to fill.
Of his four children, his youngest son, Hercules, managed to escape Olympus entirely. Perseus is now the new Zeus. And Helen and Eris are, as Eros said, insular. They’ve never crossed me that I’m aware of, but we haven’t gotten close enough to each other to create friction.
That changes tonight.
Tonight, when Eros wants me to try.
Does he realize what he’s asking of me? I glance at him in the elevator next to me, perfectly put together in a dove-gray suit and cream button-down shirt that offsets his golden skin. He catches my eye and gives our linked hands a squeeze. Yes, I suspect he knows exactly what he’s asking of me.
I’ve survived—thrived, even—in Olympus because I kept my distance and trusted no one outside my family. I took the lessons I learned in the first year here and never looked back.
Now I’m swimming in deeper waters than I’m comfortable with. As the elevator doors slide open, revealing a classy hallway with lush gray carpet and soothing blue walls, I have to acknowledge that I’m not a shark at all. I’m a minnow playing dress-up.
I hope I can survive the night without getting eaten.
“Breathe,” Eros murmurs.
Right. Breathe. Relax. Smile sweetly. Don’t let them scent weakness.
I’m sure that’s not what he intends to say, but I take it to heart all the same. Between one step and the next, I box up all my fears and insecurities and tuck them away. They’ll still be waiting for me at the end of the night. I can ignore them until I’m back in the penthouse, those strong walls between me and the rest of the city.
The hallway contains four doors, and Eros leads me to the one at the end. He barely knocks before it’s flung open by a glittering Helen. Literally glittering. The golden stuff coats her exposed skin—and there’s a lot of exposed skin around her tiny dress of the same golden color—and even her long light-brown hair. It turns her beauty otherworldly, as if a literal goddess has wandered into our presence, but the squeal she gives when she sees us shatters the illusion. “You’re here!”
She bounces up onto her toes to give Eros a kiss on the cheek, and I barely have time to process the hot flash of jealousy before she grabs my hand and pulls me forward to give me the same treatment. “I’m so happy to see you.” She all but drags me into the apartment, leaving Eros to trail behind us.
I get flashes of the place. Elegant people in evening wear draped over equally elegant couches in the living room. A color scheme that makes me think of the stormy ocean—gray wooden floors, moody blue walls, lots of white and sandy-colored furniture. It’s completely at odds with the shining woman attached to my hand.
She hauls me into a spotless kitchen with a full bar set up on the counter. “Pick your poison.”
I almost say red wine, almost fall back to some sweet drink that will make my teeth ache. But I promised Eros I’d try, and so I take a tiny leap of faith. “Bourbon.”
The smile Helen gives me is just as dazzling as her glitter-adorned body. “That’s my girl. I knew I liked you.”