Chapter 21
Circe
I’m not surprised to find Demeter waiting for me on the morning three days after Peitho’s execution and Eros’s mostly accidental death. A few hours ago, my people reported that she’d started for the city. Judging by the intervening time, she didn’t make any long stops on the way.
She’s dressed in one of her usual floral wrap dresses that manage to showcase her soft, curvy body without appearing to attempt to harken back to a younger age. It’s tastefully done, just like everything about Demeter. She doesn’t smile when she sees me. “Circe. We need to discuss your plans.”
I raise my brows. “First, I’d like to know why you had a doctor out to your country house the day before yesterday. Is there something you’re not telling me? Did you suffer some injury in the scuffle a few days ago and neglect to inform me?” Or was she hiding something more insidious?
Demeter doesn’t laugh off my question or so much as attempt to dodge it.
She meets my gaze directly, her hazel eyes sparking with what appears to be righteous anger.
“No, Circe, I’m perfectly healthy and uninjured.
My daughter, however, has suffered greatly in her grief for her husband.
I’m concerned for her, so I brought in our family doctor to monitor the situation and prescribe her some medications to get her through the day, at least for now. ”
Guilt pricks me, seeming to grow strength with each time I’m reminded that I killed Eros.
I can say he wasn’t part of the plan until I’m blue in the face, but the fact remains that my miscalculation led to his death.
There’s every possibility that Psyche would have been able to keep him calm if they hadn’t had a literal front-row seat to his mother’s death.
I…regret…killing him. It hurt Hecate. It damaged my plans in a dozen different ways. It was a mistake.
I clear my throat. “I wish her all the best.”
“I’m sure.” She turns with a swish of skirts. “I trust things have come along smoothly in my absence.”
“Smoothly enough.” I follow her deeper into the room, to where I have an electric kettle waiting. “Tea?”
“Yes, please.” She sinks onto one of the chairs and watches me prepare two teacups.
I only go through the extra effort of doing it properly when I’m entertaining.
If left to my own devices, I’m just as likely to grab a grocery-store teabag as I am the fancy stuff.
Obviously the latter is a more pleasurable experience, but the former is nostalgic in a way I’m too sentimental to completely give up.
“We’ve secured Artemis, as well as a number of her family members.
” The vast majority of them chose to stay in the upper city rather than seek refuge within Hades’s borders.
Fools. I don’t believe in sins the way so much of the greater world does, but even I can admit that pride is an intoxicating drug.
“We have also brought in the Cassas families.” Again, I think of the children, huddled against their parents who are trying to hold their fear in check… and doubt creeps in.
It’s an insidious little beast. I’ve worked very hard to have contingency plans for my contingency plans.
Every element of the Olympian assault has been planned down to the smallest detail.
I just didn’t plan on me faltering. Not in the overall goal—the Thirteen must fall, and their allies with them—but in the sheer level of scorched earth I’d intended to take.
It was all well and good to make plans with rage and hate in my heart when the city that spawned it was hundreds of miles away.
But I am not capable of looking into the faces of terrified children and feeling nothing.
Later. I’ll come up with a plan to pivot regarding the legacy families later.
Demeter accepts her cup and sips her tea without hesitation or concern that I might have poisoned her.
It makes me respect her more. This is a woman who understands the truth of the world: Every interaction is one where you have the opportunity to come out on top.
I don’t imagine Demeter loses many of these little power plays.
She waits until I sit on the couch across from her to say, “So few.” Her tone is perfectly mild, which only makes the accusation beneath the two words sting all the more.
“Athena is a fearsome enemy. She and her people coordinated in a truly impressive way and managed to convince a good portion of the remaining Thirteen and various families to seek sanctuary with Hades.” I shrug. “It won’t matter in the end.”
“Because you intend to bring down the secondary barrier.”
I’m not surprised she managed to figure out the next step of the plan. Demeter is smart enough to side with me; she’ll have considered what my plans are before making that decision. It’s honestly pleasant not to have to spell out every little detail—not that I would.
“All in good time.” I take a sip of my tea. It’s got a faintly pungent flavor that I can’t quite put my finger on, but it’s strangely pleasant. “First, Artemis will stand trial for her crimes.”
Demeter sits back. “So you’ll continue the farce.”
It feels a little bit like a farce after how poorly Peitho’s execution went. I don’t regret the trial and execution of her, but… Damn it, Hecate got into my head. I can’t afford to doubt. Not when I’m so close to victory. “It’s not a farce.”
“Circe.” She gives me a severe look. “It’s very much a farce. You want the city and your vengeance, and you’re conflating the two for appearances’ sake.”
“Demeter.” I match her vaguely patronizing tone. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can manipulate me the way you do everyone else around you. I may have personal goals regarding who we bring down, but this is for the city.”
“I have no doubt.” She studies her tea. “With that said—”
The door flings open, cutting her off, to reveal Nerissa.
Her bruise has bloomed into a truly outstanding array of colors, but she refused to take more than the first night off after the incident.
She sees Demeter and checks her stride, but only barely.
“Circe, I have news about…” She glances at Demeter again and clears her throat.
“Atalanta was spotted on our side of Cypress Bridge. She’s back in the upper city. ”
Anticipation curls through me, chasing away the unwelcome feeling of doubt this conversation has spawned.
The little assassin has me curious; it’s been a long time since someone surprised me the way she has.
And considering how Hecate feels about her, she’ll have to be dealt with one way or another.
I still haven’t decided on a course of action there.
I need more information before I do something that can’t be taken back. “You have someone on her.”
It’s not a question, but Nerissa bobs her head. “Two. Do you want us to bring her in?”
I’m in the middle of considering that when Antigone steps into the room, looking just as harried as Nerissa. It seems to be the day for it. “Hephaestus,” she says simply.
Thank the gods. Xe has been a thorn since I arrived here, continuing to work away in the former Hephaestus’s deep labs, completely untouchable by normal people.
We tried to get in, but after losing three people to the defenses, I decided it was better to wait and see. Xe had to leave eventually. “Where?”
“Xe and a small group appear to be headed toward Juniper Bridge. Xe and the others are being careful, not making an apparent run for it, but I’m certain Hephaestus means to cross over to the lower city.”
We absolutely cannot let that happen. I’m aware that Theseus was not a good fit for the Hephaestus title—even before his betrayal and subsequent stepping down—but we needed someone in that office to ensure there were no nasty surprises waiting when we reached the city.
The past Hephaestus title holders didn’t always invent amazing infrastructures to benefit Olympus.
Sometimes they created weapons. It’s something Brontes—now Hephaestus—has a reputation for being brilliant at.
If the lower city gets access to a weapon we don’t have a counter for, it could mean this conflict stretches out for years instead of weeks.
It might mean we lose. Then all this pain and suffering would be for nothing. “Go after xe. Bring everyone you can spare. Under no circumstances is xe to cross the river, even if you have to kill xyr.”
Nerissa shifts. “But what about—”
“I’ll take care of that personally.” I refuse to let any of the anticipation curling through me surface. Wanting to go another round with Atalanta is selfish and has nothing at all to do with our ongoing plans, no matter how I backbend the logic of it being necessary. “Go. Both of you. Now.”
They exchange a look, and for a moment, I think Antigone might challenge me, but she finally nods and they hurry from the room. I turn to find Demeter watching me with a small smile on her face, as if I’m a child who just made their first watercolor. It’s condescending in the extreme.
She sets down her tea and stands. “It seems you have things well in hand. Will this affect the timing of Artemis’s trial?”
“Unlikely. Either Hephaestus will get past us, or xe will be in our custody shortly. One way or another, we move forward with Artemis.”
“Or xe will be dead. We mustn’t forget about that lovely little option. You certainly abuse it whenever you choose to.” She moves to the door. “All the same, inform me if the plan shifts. I’m going to my town house to make some calls. I’d like the opportunity to talk some sense into my daughters.”
Knowing what I do of the other three Dimitriou daughters, I find it highly unlikely even she can convince them to hang their husbands and partners out to dry in order to save their own skins.
They would have been better served if she didn’t demonstrate her lessons in dealing with powerful people so well; now they’ll be turned against her.
I hold the door open for her. “Don’t give more than you get.”
She laughs warmly. “Circe, darling, give me some credit. I’ve been dancing this line for nearly as long as you’ve been alive.”
It’s an exaggeration. She’s only ten years older than me, give or take. I don’t bother to answer as I follow her out of the room. Our courses divert at the first hallway branch. She heads back toward the auditorium—and no doubt the parking lot in front of it.
I make my way to one of the locations where we’ve kept a small selection of vehicles away from the general public.
It’s not secret, exactly, but we’ve intentionally guided the folks still lingering into common areas where we can keep an eye on them.
My phone buzzes as I slide behind the wheel of a red car.
Nerissa: She’s in the upper warehouse district.
The next text is a pinned location. I zoom in, curiosity once again taking hold. We heard rumors of Atalanta crossing back to the lower city, but she was gone before my people could respond. Obviously someone knew she was coming and opened the way for her. But to have returned so quickly…
Is she meeting Hecate?
My nerves sizzle with something significantly more complicated than jealousy. Hecate may be free with her body, but she’s significantly more careful with her heart. To my knowledge, she’s only given it away twice since my apparent death, and both times with deep constraints.
First with Cassandra, the prickly woman who has been nearly as wronged by the Thirteen as I have.
She’s managed to come out on top, and her secretly dating Hecate is the reason I found out about the assassination clause tucked away in archaic Olympian laws.
Her parents tried to enact it. They failed and were murdered by the Thirteen in an attempt to keep it secret, but it was too late.
I had the information. Hecate and Cassandra went their separate ways after a short, heated affair, but they remain friends to this day. She obviously matters.
The other is Atalanta, a woman who was barely on my radar until a few days ago.
Someone I thought was just another tool to be used and tossed away by the powerful in this city.
To discover she was actually working with Hecate this whole time…
that they’ve been pining for each other like a pair of forbidden lovers…
It intrigues me greatly. What other secrets does Atalanta hold?
I mean to find out.