“And the other two thirds?”
Another shrug. “Could go either way.”
The information isn’t exactly a surprise, though it’s one hell of a disappointment. If I’m the one to step out of line, all of them will unite to bring me down without hesitation. Hermes and Dionysus might feel bad about it, but they’ll fall in with the others when push comes to shove. Of course the same doesn’t apply when it comes to that piece of shit Zeus.
I gather Persephone in my arms and stand, ignoring her protests that she can walk. Carrying her right now isn’t about what she can and can’t do. It’s about what I want, about the small bit of comfort I’ll allow myself. I have to think, and I can’t do that here. Though I don’t know what I hope to accomplish. We’ve already laid out our plan and jumped into a free fall. There’s no going back now. No matter what the consequences are, we have to see this through to the end.
I just have to figure out how to ensure that I don’t get everyone I am responsible for killed in the process.
Chapter 16
Persephone
I’m still chewing over the new information as Hades carries me out of the room. I protest being hauled around like this, but a small, secret part of me really likes it. I like a lot of things about Hades, truth be told. He’s prickly and overbearing, but even after only a few days, I can see the truth of him.
“Hades.” I lay my head against his shoulder and let the steady beat of his heart soothe me. “I know your secret.”
He heads up the stairs. “What’s that?”
“You snarl and snap and growl, but you’ve got an ooey-gooey center beneath the crusty exterior.” I circle his top button with my forefinger. “You care. I think you actually care more than any of the other Thirteen, which is ironic considering the role you’ve been shoehorned into in Olympus.”
“What makes you say that?” He’s still not looking at me, but that’s okay. It’s actually easer to talk to him this way, without feeling like he can read my mind with a single intense look.
“You want Zeus to pay, but not at the expense of your people. And they are your people. I’ve watched how you are with Georgie, and again with Juliette and Matthew. It’s like that with everyone, isn’t it? They would all walk through fire for you, and you protect them with your big, broody presence.”
“I don’t brood.”
“You are the very definition of brooding.”
He snorts. “Surely I don’t care more than your mother. She’s the one who ensures the entire city is fed and supplied with necessities.”
“Yes, she is.” Impossible to keep the bitterness out of my tone. “She’s very good at her job, but she isn’t doing it out of the charity of her soul. She’s chasing power and prestige. The feeling of enough is always over the next horizon. She was going to sell me to Zeus. She won’t see it that way, but it’s what that engagement was—a transaction. She loves me, but it’s secondary to everything else.”
Hades doesn’t immediately respond, and I look up to find him with a strange expression on his face. He looks almost…conflicted. I tense. “What do you know that I don’t?”
“A number of things.”
I refuse to be distracted by that half-assed joke. “Hades, please. We’re in this together, one way or another, for the rest of the winter. Tell me.”
The longer he hesitates, the more anxiety starts to creep in around the edges. He waits until we reach his bedroom and the door is closed between us and the rest of the house to finally answer. “Your mother passed along an ultimatum of sorts.”
I don’t know why I’m surprised. Of course she did. She’s no more happy with me fleeing than Zeus is. All her careful plans wasted because of a disobedient daughter. She wouldn’t be able to let that stand, not if she knows where I am. I wiggle until Hades carefully sets me on my feet. It doesn’t leave me any steadier. “Tell me,” I repeat.
“If I don’t return you, she’ll cut off supplies to the lower city.”
I blink, waiting for the words to rearrange themselves into an order that makes sense. “But that’s… There are thousands and thousands of people in the lower city. People who have nothing to do with you or me or the Thirteen.”
“Yes,” he says simply.
“She’s threatening to starve them.”
“Yes.” He doesn’t look away, doesn’t do anything but give me the honesty I demand.