I glare up at the building where all of Hephaestus’s work is done. I want to get the fuck out of this car and away from this place. The problem is I can’t pretend that if I’d been successful taking Apollo’s title, things would’ve been any better. Really, I’m suited for Ares, and no other.
But there’s no getting out of this.
Adonis leads the way through the sliding glass doors and into what could be every other building in downtown Olympus. Glass and marble and steel. Don’t these fuckers ever get tired of this decorating scheme? Apparently not.
We take the elevator up to the tenth floor. I’ve only been here a handful of times, but it always plays out exactly like this. I’m a little surprised to feel humiliation sink in as we step through the elevator doors. Several people look up from the cubicles scattered through the space. The instant they recognize that it’s me, the whispers start.
The feeling of humiliation grows when Brontes approaches from the back office. Xe is a short person with light-brown skin and a haircut that looks like a toddler got ahold of some scissors. Xyr straight black hair is all different lengths and I can grudgingly admit that it looks good despite myself.
Xe is also a giant pain in my ass.
Brontes stops in front of us. Xe manages a bright smile for Adonis, and I can’t say I’m surprised. The man seems to walk in a permanent beam of sunshine wherever he goes, and people react accordingly. The look Brontes gives me is significantly less pleasant. “So. You’re here.”
I glance at Adonis, but he seems content to let me take the lead now that he’s dragged me here. Traitor. I clear my throat. I don’t even know what to ask, which just makes the feeling beneath my skin worse. “I need an update on all current projects.”
Brontes raises xyr eyebrows. “All of them?”
I’ve made a mistake, but I can’t admit it now without admitting I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing here. “Yes. All of them. I need to be brought up to speed.”
If I hadn’t known I’d fucked this up, xyr delighted smile would have informed me. Brontes gives a neat little bow that somehow manages to make me feel like even more of a lumbering fool. “Of course, Hephaestus. If you’ll wait in your office, we should have that ready for you in about, oh, three or four hours.”
Three hours.
Fuck me.
Brontes doesn’t lead us to the office, and I’ve only been in there once, so it takes me three tries to find the right one. All the while, that fucking terrible feeling at the back of my neck gets worse.
I can barely look at Adonis as I drop into the chair behind the desk that will never be mine. “You happy now?”
He sighs. “We have a lot of work to do.”
* * *
That evening, I slam the door hard enough to shake the house and stalk down the hallway into the living room. It’s empty except for Pandora, and as much as part of me is relieved to see her here and safe, I can’t forget her lipstick on my wife’s jaw and her perfume coating Aphrodite’s skin. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Pandora sets down her e-reader with exaggerated slowness. Her sunny smile is nowhere in evidence. “If you want an actual answer, I’m going to need you to check your tone and try that again.”
I have to muscle down the urge to roar out all my frustration and anger at her. It’s not her fault I had a shitty day in a long string of shitty days, but I thought she was in my corner and now I’m not so sure. I succeed in moderating my tone. Barely. “You fucked my wife.”
She doesn’t tend to blush, but I don’t need to see it when she’s shifting on the couch like someone poured itching powder into her leggings. “I wouldn’t call it ‘fucking.’”
“Don’t play semantics with me, Pandora.”
Her dark brows crash down. “Why are you really mad?” She waves a hand before I can respond. “Oh, I know you’d be pissed about that little indiscretion no matter what, but not this mad.”
Damn her for knowing me so well. I move into the living room and drop down next to her on the couch. “Adonis and I went to my office today.”
“Adonis,” she says slowly. “As in Aphrodite’s ex, Adonis? Someone’s a hypocrite.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about right now.”
She turns to face me on the couch, curling her legs in a position that makes me wince in sympathy for her joints. Her expression is all feigned calm, but her eyes are just as angry as I feel. “By all means, Theseus, let’s not talk about anything you don’t want to talk about right now.”