Chapter 10
Atalanta
“This is a damned mess.” I scrub my face, trying to keep my frustration locked down. “We’re wasting time.”
Apollo makes a sound like he’s going to argue, but Cassandra cuts in before he can get a word out.
“We have eyes and ears all around the university. That’s not nothing.
We know Circe has incited a mob and they’re frothing at the mouth for a target.
She doesn’t seem to plan to offer Hermes up to them, which is also not nothing.
She hasn’t been spotted leaving the campus yet, so we know she’s still there. ”
“Circe has already proven she can manipulate the camera network in Olympus,” I snap. I shouldn’t have come here. It was the smart, logical thing to do, but there’s no outlet for the restless energy demanding I act.
“She’s not bothering to do it now.” Apollo runs a hand down Cassandra’s arm, expression contemplative. “She has no reason to hide any longer. She holds most of the cards.”
I mutter a curse and push to my feet. I’m no closer to finding exactly where Hermes is—or prying her out of that bitch’s hands. She’s got to be suffering, even if Circe hasn’t laid a finger on her.
What if she’s not?
I shove the nasty little voice away. Of everyone in this cursed city, I know how much Hermes loves Circe, even after all these years.
I thought I had to compete with a ghost, but now there’s a real, live woman bursting back into our lives, and that means a different kind of battle—even if she wasn’t trying to kill dozens of people.
At least Hector is gone. He went to retrieve his wife and daughter and seek refuge in the lower city.
I hope he makes it. The streets were safe enough with most of the civilian population evacuated to the countryside.
Now that they’re back, I can’t guarantee what they’ll do if they see a legacy scion wandering about.
I take a breath and try to focus. Cassandra’s parents were killed years ago, but she and her sister are still technically legacy scions. If something happens to Cassandra, Hermes will whoop my ass, and Cassandra won’t leave without her sister. “Where is your sister?”
Apollo is the one to answer. “I sent two of my people to escort her to the Juniper Bridge. She passed over to the lower city early this morning.”
Cassandra seems a little paler than normal.
“She’s not happy about it, but she’s as safe as anyone can currently be in Olympus.
I would have preferred she leave entirely, but that’s not a fight I was going to win.
” She smiles wanly. “My sister has developed a stubborn streak, and she loves this city, gods alone know why.”
That’s something, at least. I roll my head on my shoulders. “Thank you for your assistance, but we’re done here. It’s time for you to leave the upper city.” I hold up a hand when they both rush to argue. “That’s not a suggestion. Every minute you stay here increases the danger you’re both in.”
“Of all the—”
Cassandra is too stubborn by half, but Apollo isn’t a fool.
Honorable to the point where he gets into trouble, but not a fool.
He’s the one I give my full attention to.
“Your brother is in the lower city. Athena and I escorted your parents there earlier today. You’ve sealed off what records you can, and the ones you didn’t are a lost cause at this point.
Olympus has fallen, and if you don’t want to fall with it the same way Peitho did, then you need to get the fuck out of here—and do it now. ”
Maybe he truly is a fool, because he doesn’t immediately rise and grab a set of keys. “There’s still work to be done.”
Damn it, I didn’t want to do this, but if I have to play dirty, then I will.
Apollo is one of the few members of the Thirteen that I actually like, and if he can’t change the system from within it, that hasn’t stopped him from trying.
“Circe is the love of Hermes’s life.” The words feel rank on my tongue.
“Circe is the whole reason she holds that title, the loss that drove her to do everything she’s done since taking it.
The fact that Circe hasn’t killed her outright means the feelings are still there and they’re still mutual. ”
“What’s your point?” he asks slowly.
“My point is that if there’s one person in this city Hermes cares about nearly as much as Circe, it’s her.
” I point at Cassandra. “It doesn’t matter that their relationship shifted from romantic to a friendship years ago.
Circe is a murderous bitch, and she’s just as clearly out for blood.
Cassandra being a member of a legacy family is only the icing on the cake.
Circe will kill her for ever holding even part of Hermes’s heart. ”
It shouldn’t hurt so much to speak that truth.
Hermes wouldn’t have kept looking out for Cassandra, long after they broke up, if she didn’t still care about the woman far too much.
It’s the way she looks out for me, but I’ve never had the pleasure of sharing her bed, of having those precious intimate moments that come with falling for a person.
Hermes is my friend, and if there’s always been the promise of more, each of us has shied away from taking that step for our own reasons.
I’ve never regretted it more than I do in this moment. Life is too fucking short. I know better than most that there are no guarantees, but damn it, I didn’t expect things to go so pear-shaped so quickly.
Cassandra sputters. “You’re being absurd.”
“No, she’s not.” For the first time since I walked into this office, a thread of pure steel wraps around Apollo’s tone. “She’s right on several accounts. Get your purse. We’re leaving.”
“Apollo, please.”
He steps close to her and lowers his voice, but not so much that I miss his next words. “I’ve allowed you to put yourself in danger time and time again because you’re the best at what you do. Even though it kills me to think of something happening to you.”
“But—”
“No more, Cassandra. Either get your purse and walk out that door at my side, or I’m going to tie you up, toss you over my shoulder, and haul your ass out of here by force.”
Damn. I half turn away, resisting the urge to fan myself theatrically. There’s no arguing with him, and Cassandra is smart enough to realize it. She huffs out a breath. “Another time, that would be really sexy and not at all infuriating.”
“Another time, I’ll play that game with you.” He lowers his voice further. “As long as you ask nicely.”
“Okay.” Her tone is a little too sharp, her volume too loud. “I hear you, loud and clear. Let’s get out of here.”
“Thank you.” He presses a kiss to her forehead and takes her hand. “Do you need anything further before we go?”
“No. I’ve got it from here.” We narrowed down Circe’s location within the university.
She’s keeping close to the auditorium, utilizing the confusing layout of the main building as a natural defense.
Or maybe she just likes the perception of being attached to the oldest learning institution in Olympus.
Cassandra hesitates. “What will you do?”
“It’s a simple enough plan.” I smile, though my chest hurts at what comes next. “I’m going to kill Circe.”
She blanches. “If what you said about her is true…” She swallows hard. “Hermes will never forgive you.” It seems like she wants to say more, but Apollo tugs her through the door. Within seconds, the sound of their footsteps retreats, leaving me alone.
I let my shoulders drop and drag my hand over my face. Cassandra is right, as little as I want to admit it. It changes nothing. If I lose Hermes in the process of saving her, then it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. At least she’ll be alive to hate me. At least she’ll be here.
I need to get to work.
By the time I make my way down to the lobby, a crowd has gathered outside the massive glass doors leading into the building. So much fucking glass. The builders—and the Thirteen—never once stopped to think about how easy it would be to shatter, even if it’s reinforced.
I don’t intend to be here when the growing mob froths over and starts throwing shit.
Not for the first time, I wonder what Circe is thinking.
Hermes only ever talked about her in vague references, but I got the impression that she was wicked smart and ambitious.
All evidence since she’s barreled back into Olympus supports that.
Unleashing a mob on the upper city is a gamble, and not even a good one.
Assuming they manage to cut through her enemies—leaving destruction in their wake—there’s no guarantee they won’t turn on her before they come to their senses.
Even if they don’t, she’ll be queen of a ruined city.
I carefully pull my hoodie over my hair and keep my head down as I slip out the doors and walk with a measured pace to my car. It takes no time at all to make my way to the university district. There are more people here, milling around in small groups and talking with their heads together.
In a perfect world, they would do my work for me, would turn on the woman who put this mess into motion. But the Thirteen have sown the seeds of their destruction too thoroughly. There’s little empathy for them in this crowd.
Circe won’t risk leaving the campus herself.
I’d bet good money on it. She’s proven herself to be the type to let her people do the dirty work.
First Minos, sent to Olympus to create chaos by revealing the assassination clause.
Then, carefully curated strike teams aimed at undermining Hades and Zeus, all while a blockade lurked in clear sight of anyone who cared to look.
The first time Circe stepped into the light was a few days ago when she announced her march on Olympus and her intention to hold trials for the Thirteen and the legacy families. Setting herself up as the beacon of the future. Clever. Very fucking clever.
The university campus is technically open to the public, its sprawling grounds containing dozens of buildings beyond the auditorium. It’s impossible to lock down when anyone can walk in, which seems a calculated gamble on Circe’s part.
She wants to be accessible to the public—or at least be perceived as accessible. No doubt the main building has some level of security in place, but she’s got a looser grasp on the rest of campus. Good for me, bad for her.
I enter the university through the gardens, long since gone dormant. In the summer, this space is a dizzying experience, a riot of color and scents and sounds. In late October, the leaves have already fallen, the branches bare and bushes almost threatening.
There’s no one around to notice me. The focus of both Circe and the civilians is elsewhere—the docks, the city center where the various homes of the legacy families are clustered.
I force myself to walk slowly, to inject an amble into my stride, just another civilian wandering the area, until I reach the back of the main building that contains the auditorium.
The university has been here nearly as long as the city itself, and this particular building has been expanded dozens of times since the first founding. As a result, it’s a warren of halls and classrooms and faculty offices, all laid out in a strange, almost spiral pattern.
When I worked for Artemis, one of her many cousins was dealing with a bullying situation, and she had the brilliant idea of sending me to accompany them to their classes for a week to intimidate the perpetrator.
Because why go to their parents—another legacy family—and deal with it directly when she could play games and show off her power?
That week ended with me getting my ass beat by the same rich kids fucking with Artemis’s cousin.
Because they were legacy family members, I couldn’t raise my hands to them, even to defend myself.
That wouldn’t have been enough for censure—I was only a soldier, after all, and soldiers are dispensable—but the cousin tried to defend me and got their nose broken for their trouble.
Artemis was forced to step in the way she should have from the beginning, and the bullying ceased to be a problem for the cousin.
I learned a lot in that week of shadowing her cousin.
They were a quiet kid and kept their head down and had gotten into the habit of taking roundabout paths to their classrooms and lecture halls to avoid their bullies.
I utilize one of those back ways now, walking to a side door that never locked properly all those years ago.
By all rights, the lock should have been fixed in the intervening time, but it opens soundlessly when I pull on the handle. I’m in.
Most of the doors I pass lead into classrooms set up in a variety of styles. All empty. With each step I take toward the auditorium, I curse Hermes for letting her emotions get the best of her now, when we need her to remain coolheaded the most.
I turn a corner and nearly trip over my own feet as a white woman with short dark hair steps out of a room.
Circe. Surely not. Surely it’s just someone who looks like her…
But as she turns to speak to the short woman at her side, her profile stands out clearly.
The sharp nose, the full lips, the pointed chin. It’s her.
She heads down the hallway at a quick clip, turning right at the end. The woman she was talking to takes up position in front of the door, clearly a guard. There’s a damned good chance Hermes is behind that door. With only one guard between me and her freedom…
But Circe is right there. I remember enough of these halls to cut through a different path to get ahead of her. I can end this now, before the conflict has a chance to spin even further out of control. All I have to do is kill Circe.
I glance at the door one last time, earning a strange look from the woman standing in front of it. I grin and give a shrug as if I’ve turned down the wrong hall.
Then I take a route that’s sure to intercept Circe.