28. Artemis
28 ARTEMIS
Kade emerges.
Reese’s back is to him, so maybe he doesn’t recognize him just yet.
My heart is in my damn throat waiting for Reese to turn around.
Waiting for recognition to dawn.
It doesn’t .
They step up beside each other, and while Kade watches Apollo, Reese stares down his former friend.
Seeing the two beside each other is kind of nuts.
They’re both tall and broad-shouldered, but Reese has a more tapered waist. He’s an inch or two shorter than Kade, too.
Not much, but enough that it could cost him the difference.
Where Kade is tanned skin and dark hair, and his facial features more sharp, Reese’s dirty-blond hair makes his pale skin seem almost translucent.
His square jaw and gleaming, sea-glass-green eyes scour his opponent.
It’s kind of clear, at least from here, that Kade is not aware of Reese’s identity.
Reese knows, though.
He stares across the platform, his lips pressed in a flat line.
He’s acting indifferent, but he knows.
He can’t not know.
Apollo waves them on and hops down, and Kade’s stoicism drops away.
The two circle, and I grip the railing hard.
Kade is fast. I know that from watching him fight Saint.
But I don’t think he expects Reese, who immediately attacks.
He gets in two punches before Kade can even move a step, and then Reese dances away.
Kade grimaces and wipes blood from his lip.
It seems like his mind is clicking into place and lands on: challenge accepted .
They could kill each other.
I instinctively grab Saint’s hand.
The two trade blows, but Reese is clearly the faster of the two.
And Kade is stronger.
“I can’t watch this.” I use my other hand to block my eyes.
I just go off the sounds of the crowds, wincing with each yell and jeer.
“Reese just took one on the mouth,” Saint narrates.
“Glancing blow, it won’t damage his teeth.”
“Shut up.”
“Kade just tried to kick him. Like the roundhouse kick that guy did in the first fight, which is a little cheap if you ask me. But Reese grabbed his foot—” Saint laughs.
“Damn, I think he dislocated Kade’s knee. He’s down. He’s staring at Reese. Oh, shit.”
I peek.
Kade is staring up at Reese—who’s bleeding from his nose—with a mixture of fury and hope.
He hops up and continues to stare, and then just fucking stands there as Reese punches him in the face.
Lights out .
Certain hits will do that, and it’s not surprising that Reese nails it.
Kade’s expression flickers, and I squeeze Saint’s hand as the man tumbles to the platform.
Unconscious.
With Reese as the winner.
“What do you think this asshole is going to ask for?” Saint shakes loose my hand and leans one elbow on the railing to face me.
“A date with you?”
“I highly doubt it.”
He shrugs.
“Did you tell him about the favors?”
“No.” I squint.
“Did you?”
“Nope.”
We both look down at Reese, whose arm Apollo has captured and lifted over his head.
Reese and Kade are both taller than my brother.
Probably the same height as Wolfe and Jace, actually.
Reese meets my gaze and smiles.
“So he just knocked out his ex-best friend for the hell of it,” Saint muses.
I shake my head.
We watch the last fight in silence.
It’s the show the crowd has waited for—one of the female fighters pitted against Hercules.
A big asshole like Minos, but worse.
I’ve fought him a few times, too.
He hits hard no matter who he’s fighting and rarely shifts his style to match his opponent.
And tonight, his sheer strength prevails.
I sigh. “Well, let’s go eavesdrop on what Reese asks for.”
Saint perks up, and he easily follows me out and down the hall.
I find one of the alcoves and trigger the hidden door to open, and we take the cramped stairs down to the first floor.
They meet in the back room once the fighters have a chance to clean up and the crowd disperses.
“What were you going to ask for?”
Saint side-eyes me.
“Come on.” I stop short and plant my hands on my hips.
“What were you going to ask for if you won?”
“Nothing.” He rolls his eyes and continues.
“We’re going to miss them.”
I scoff.
“Yeah, right. Nothing , my ass.”
My words fall on deaf ears.
Saint leaves me behind.
I hurry to catch up, mindful of the twinge of pain in my side.
I’m not a hundred percent—not even close.
My head still hurts, although now it’s manageable with painkillers.
In short? Still a mess.
“Saint.”
“Artemis.”
I really hate him.
“Would you have asked to move out? To be done with this?”
By this I mean us .
There isn’t even an us to consider, to register, but Saint has been with me for almost a full year.
He’s hated every second of it, as have I.
But… I think I’d hate it more if I was alone in that place.
Typical Saint, though—he ignores my questions and enters the back room.
There are columns here along the walls, providing excellent shadowy places to linger.
He doesn’t, though. He just walks right out into the open and down the long room toward where my brother and his friends are gathered.
I scowl at all of them, now well and truly left in the dust.
“Tem!” Kora enters through a side door and meets me in the center.
She throws her arms around me, hugging me tightly.
“God, I’ve heard what’s been going on with you. Are you okay?”
I extract myself with a small grimace.
“I’m… I’m fine, Kora. Really.”
Her eyes narrow.
“Okay,” I allow. “There’s some shit going on, but I’m handling it. I promise.”
She accepts that and brushes her dark-red hair off her shoulder.
I’ve always secretly wondered if she dyes it, but Apollo said it was natural.
And then the asshole made some comments about the carpet matching the drapes, and I decked him before he could finish his sentence.
Because ew .
I do not need that visual of my friend.
Although I’m thinking about it now…
But that’s just in an effort to distract me from Saint’s low chatter with the guys.
As I watch them, Wolfe watches Kora.
His eyes are red tonight, still in performance mode.
He holds out his hand, and Kora takes it.
She curls into his side, resting her head on his upper arm.
I’m not jealous .
I’m not.
I’m definitely not lonely.
“Reese Avery,” Apollo grits out, turning everyone’s attention to me.
“You were with him tonight?”
“And you goaded him into fighting the one guy searching for him.” I exchange a look with Saint.
“Then we left them alone together?”
My brother rolls his eyes.
“Are you kidding me? Kade was unconscious.”
“How long do you think it takes someone to regain consciousness, idiot?” I snap.
“Okay,” Saint interrupts.
“He’s not going to kidnap him from Olympus.”
Well…
it’s possible.
The door at the far end, which we entered through, opens.
One of their employees pokes his head in, and Jace gives the man a sharp nod.
Jace is Hades, and Hades is truly one of the scarier gods.
His mask is a skull without the lower jaw, bleached bone-white, with metal horns extending out of the temples.
They twist up high over his head, the points glinting even in the low lighting.
His black body paint is smeared across his chest in a familiar, dainty handprint, and I have no doubt they have Kora decorate their flesh before every appearance.
I’m not jealous .
Not of her, but…
of having someone who wants to be touched.
Saint extracting his hand from mine flashes in my mind, and I turn away from all of them.
I don’t need Saint. If he wants to fight and prove that he can be on his own, fine .
If he wants to be an idiot and suffer in silence, fine .
If he can’t move on, if he just wants to linger in Nyx’s shadow, fine .
I can’t stop him.
I won’t stop him.
Reese is the first to enter, flame mask and outfit he arrived in back in place.
I lean against one of the columns, and my heart does this weird extra little flutter.
He glances around, clearly confused.
So no one explained it.
Hades, Ares, and Apollo stand in various power poses.
It’s intimidating for those who don’t know them.
Kora, in her flower mask, is still pressed to Ares’ side.
Saint drifts back to me, although he doesn’t say anything.
Doesn’t dare to interrupt.
Some things—like this—are better run on ceremony.
“As the winner, you receive a favor,” Ares says.
Reese glances his way, then mine.
“You cannot ask for anything to do with my sister,” Apollo adds.
I sigh.
“You can’t blame him,” Saint says under his breath.
Just for my ears. “After what happened with Kade…”
That was a disaster.
On my birthday, no less.
“You came after me.” I look at him.
“I didn’t say thank you for that, did I?”
He grunts.
“I was ordered to.”
“We lost you. You didn’t have to?—”
“Artemis.” He meets my gaze.
“Just drop it.”
My lips flatten, but whatever.
I can drop it. I will.
No, I do . I vow to never bring it up again, and then I refocus on Reese.
I thought he might just ask for a favor, but instead, he’s questioning them.
“…all powerful?”
Oops, should’ve tuned in sooner.
They stare at him. “We have power in this city,” Hades finally says.
“More power than you can imagine.”
Reese laughs.
“More than I can imagine? I know what power looks like, Jace King .”
I stiffen.
Everyone does.
Their identities are known to us, of course, but Jace and Wolfe have strived to keep their names out of the public eye.
Normal people do not know them.
“If you aren’t going to ask for something, Reese Avery,” Jace shoots back, “then get out.”
Reese smiles wider.
He resembles the Cheshire Cat.
“Prometheus was a trickster,” Saint says in my ear.
I shoot him a look.
“My favor?” Reese pauses, glancing at me.
I’m already off-limits, that much was made clear.
But he’s not checking in with me, he seems to be internally debating something.
“I have a friend who needs help in Emerald Cove. They’re suffering under the weight of a gang, and I don’t have the resources to extract them.”
Huh?
Jace inclines his chin.
“Give us the details, and we’ll help him.”
“I want this to be you,” Reese says.
“Not you sending some half-assed mercenary or employee to fix it.”
“Done.”
Reese nods.
He withdraws an envelope from his pocket and holds it out on offer to them.
After a minute, Apollo steps forward to take it.
“Before the end of the month,” Reese says.
“Swear it.”
“We swear.” Jace glares at him.
“Now get out.”
He doesn’t.
He comes straight to me, his hand fluttering over my shoulder without so much as a whisper of a touch.
“You okay?” I ask.
He tilts his head.
“I was going to ask you.”
“I’m not the one who got punched by a former bestie.” I narrow my eyes at him.
“Did you know this was going to happen? Did he recognize you?”
“At the end, he did.” His palm finally makes contact with my arm, sliding down over my elbow, my forearm, fingers probing at my wrist before he takes my hand.
“They’re all staring daggers at me, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” Saint says.
“It’s quite remarkable.”
Reese chuckles.
“What is?”
“How you make enemies everywhere you go.”
“Ah.” Reese squeezes my hand.
“Time to go, then.”
Absolutely.
We just have to make sure we don’t run into an angry Kade Laurent on the way out.