15
PANDORA
I don’t mean to go to Aphrodite.
After that disastrous conversation with Theseus, I actually follow him down the hall to apologize…which is when I overhear Minos’s not-subtle threat. Theseus doesn’t challenge him, doesn’t tell him to fuck off with that nonsense. He rolls over and shows his stomach. I hate that. Minos doesn’t deserve his loyalty.
But telling Theseus that will just result in a continuation of our fight.
He thinks I don’t understand why he follows Minos around like a whipped dog. I do. I was in that same orphanage he was. I suffered the same punishments, ranging from skipped meals to forced isolation to beatings. I am the reason Theseus committed the act of violence that brought us to Minos’s attention.
I never faulted Theseus for taking Minos’s deal, but we aren’t fifteen anymore. We don’t have to stay with him. That’s what Theseus doesn’t seem to understand.
I flee before they finish their little meeting. I just need some air. That’s all. Maybe that will help me find a way out of this impossible situation. Minos sees Theseus as a pawn; he always has. And what’s a pawn good for but sacrifice? Being Hephaestus won’t save Theseus if Minos decides he’s outlived his usefulness.
The worst part is that I’m not sure Theseus would fight. He might just kneel, bow his head, and accept his punishment as if that’s something he deserves.
I’ve known the man my entire life. I should be able to come up with the right sequence of words to get him to listen to me. Except every time I try, we end up in the same damn fight. I don’t know what to do. I’ve never felt so fucking helpless in my life.
I leave Minos’s penthouse and walk the streets. I’ll never get used to this place—or at least the city center where the rich and powerful make their homes. It’s all metal and concrete and glass. Soulless. Back on Aeaea, the rich don’t congregate in one place. It’s a point of prestige to have a massive house with even more massive grounds, all hidden away behind stone walls.
Gods forbid one of the rabble should dirty up the space with their presence.
It was one of those homes that Minos brought us to after slipping enough money to the right people to ensure he got exactly what he was looking for—two teenaged boys, their strength only matched by their rage. It’s just his bad luck that one of them came with me attached, but he wanted Theseus too badly to balk at my presence.
And now look at us.
We’re the bad guys. I might not have committed any violence with my own hands, but I stood by and let it happen. How could I do anything else? If the Olympians knew Minos’s plan to insert Aeaeans into the Thirteen through the assassination clause, they would have killed Theseus outright, and that I won’t be party to.
I slow and stop in front of familiar glass doors. Walking through them is in direct conflict with what Theseus wants, but at this point, I don’t know that he’s thinking clearly. I don’t know if any of us are. Things have changed too quickly, and despite all the preparation, it’s clear Minos didn’t actually know the full extent of what becoming one of the Thirteen means. He has his end goal, whatever it is, but he’s not offering Theseus any support in the meantime.
If I could get Theseus out from under his thumb…
I’m moving before I can think of how flimsy that excuse is. The lobby is exactly how I remember it from the other day—just as soulless as the rest of downtown. I smooth down my shirt and walk to the desk with the snooty-looking white woman behind it. She eyes me as if I’m a piece of trash that blew in off the street, but her expression changes as recognition rolls over her pretty features. “You’re Pandora.”
This is something I’ll never get used to. I might not be in the spotlight as much as the rest of Minos’s household, but strangers are still starting to recognize me. I don’t like it, but I manage a smile all the same. “Is Aphrodite in?” It’s on the tip of my tongue to spin some lie about why I’m here to see her, but overexplaining won’t do me any favors. This woman isn’t the one I need to convince to help me.
“I can check. Just a moment.” She’s perfectly polite now, though I catch her watching me beneath her fringe of blond bangs. A few seconds of murmured conversation later, she carefully hangs up. “You can go on up. I’m assuming you know the floor number?”
“I do. Thanks.” Now’s the time to turn back, to put a stop to this impulsive urge to see her. Aphrodite is not my ally, and she’s all but admitted that she’s using me to hurt Theseus.