21. The Battle of Olympus
THE BATTLE OF OLYMPUS
WILLOW
That’s all my husband needs to hear to take this more seriously than he was before. “Where’s Zeus?”
Daphne squeezes the dagger handle. “Not here. And there’s no time to find him. The only one strong enough to leave through a portal is Noelle”—the reborn Artemis—“and she’s already in position to fight Ares and his army.”
Alex’s jaw goes tight at the mention of Apollo’s twin—his twin, according to Daphne—getting ready to battle while he’s down here where he obviously can’t help her.
For a second, I don’t know why he is. And then—
“We need you to fight with us,” Daphne says, turning to look at my husband.
“I ain’t one of the Twelve,” Aiden argues.
“No,” Alex agrees. “But you’re powerful enough to turn the tide of the fight. We already have plenty of the Twelve. Hef is ready to blow the top on Olympus. Noelle has her enchanted bow and her huntsman. Apollo’s gonna be there—”
“Daphne, too,” my cousin says, and I suddenly understand why she has a dagger.
There’s no way in hell that Alex will let her fight. But I know her. She won’t be able to breathe unless she’s there to make sure her husband is okay, and I’m sure he’ll tuck her somewhere safe while he goes to use his archery skills alongside his immortal twin.
Alex nods. “She’ll be there for moral support.
Aphrodite, too… Hef needs his Venus where he knows Ares can’t get to her.
We also have Eros and his charmed arrows.
But Ares has the titans… and we need you.
Four of the Twelve plus one of the big three?
I like our odds of saving both worlds a lot more with you on our side. ”
I know Aiden. I love him.
He’s going to refuse. He still doesn’t think that this has anything to do with us down here in the Underworld.
Daphne can tell, too. I know she can, and that’s why she turns to me. “Persephone’s mother is Demeter. She’s also one of the Twelve. Now, we might not have Demeter in the Other,” my cousin adds, “but we have the next best thing.”
My husband’s eyes flash white. “No.”
Seems like Aiden and Hades are in pure agreement. Only problem is that I have no idea what they’re in agreement on.
“Huh?”
Daphne nods. “I’m sorry, but we need Persephone.” She turns to me, clutching one of my hands. “We need you, Will.”
I nibble on my bottom lip. I love Aiden with all my heart, but if my cousin needs me… I have to at least hear her out. “What can I do to help?”
“Give your husband a reason to save the Other.”
You know what? I get it.
Aiden would let the entire above world fade away so long as the two of us have the Underworld to shield us. To shield me.
I shake my hand, taking it out of Daphne’s. With slow, purposeful steps, I walk over to where Aiden has kept himself separate from where I was standing with Daphne and Alex.
He opens his arms on instinct. I step into them, shuddering out a breath as he squeezes me tight.
Somewhere behind me, I hear Daphne say in her no-nonsense tone: “Let me make this clear. No Other. No Underworld.”
Aiden sucks in a breath. “No Blossom.”
I glance behind me in time to see Alex jerk a thumb at my husband. “He’s getting it.”
Aiden releases one hand from his hold on me to summon a fireball and throw it at Alex.
I watch as the sun god sidesteps it easily, a slight smirk on his face before he says, “Look, I understand. I had almost fifty years under my belt before the magic threw me a bone and brought Daphne back to me. You think I want some ‘roided-out newcomer who’s barely been in the Other for a handful of seasons to destroy my happily-ever-after? I’m bringing my bow.
I’ll shoot as many of his soldiers as I can, sending them all down to the pit.
But if I’m saying that it won’t be enough, uncle, that’s something. ”
Aiden stiffens. I step out of his suddenly slack embrace, glancing up in time to see the horrified look on his face. “Uncle?”
“Get used to it.” I turn to see Daphne rolling her eyes. “If you have any sort of familial relationship with Apollo, Alex is gonna claim it for himself.”
“Except the huntsman,” Alex mutters under his breath. A golden sheen rolls over his eyes, a warmth far hotter than any of Aiden’s flames pouring off of him as his handsome features twist into a scowl. “Not him.”
Daphne bumps her husband in the hip. “Come on, hotshot. Don’t pretend that Hunter hasn’t grown on you since you, me, Noelle, and her hubby have been hanging out.”
“Grown on me?” Alex echoes. “Like mold, perhaps, dear Daphne.”
“You know, I thought that about you once.”
“Yeah, but then you realized how desperately in love with me you are.”
My cousin huffs. “Yeah. Damn it, but you’ve got a point there.”
For a moment, I almost smile at their banter, but it doesn’t last. The humor fades almost as quickly as it came when Aiden stalks over to me, laying his hand possessively on my shoulder.
The megaron has become very quiet around us. Daphne is still right next to me. Alex waits just behind her, golden light barely clinging to his skin now that he’s dampened his glow some.
My husband looks only at me.
“You ain’t askin’ me to take you up there,” he rumbles.
I use my free hand to place it over his. “I’m asking you to save it.”
His face tightens.
“You promised I would always be safe with you,” I remind him.
“You will.”
“Then help me make sure there’s still somewhere left for us to be safe by doing whatever you can to stop this battle.”
His breath shudders out.
Behind his dark eyes, white fire burns. Aiden and Hades arguing. Or perhaps not arguing at all. Perhaps both of them already know there was never a choice.
I wait.
Aiden closes his eyes. When he opens them again, they belong to my husband.
“Fine,” he says. “But you will not be in any danger. If anyone turns their weapon your way, I’ll incinerate anyone that stands between you and me, Blossom. Then they can fight their battle without either of us.”
That’s more than I expected from my overprotective husband. “Thank you, baby.”
Aiden points at Alex. “And you… if you call me uncle one more time, I’m throwin’ you into the pit before we leave.”
Alex’s grin widens. “Whatever you say.” A beat. “Uncle.”
Aiden loves me. He absolutely loves me.
How do I know?
Despite his fingers flexing at his side, courtesy of Alex’s light-hearted tease, he doesn’t make good on his threat.
Oh, do I think he’s capable of throwing the sun god into the pit?
Of course I do. It doesn’t hurt that Alex is basically immortal, and if he went into the pit, there’s a good chance he’ll come out and the only difference might be singed eyebrows or something.
Still. The fact that Aiden shudders out another breath and, instead of grabbing Alex by his gaudy gold torque, he tucks me under his arm, I know that he’s only sparing Alex his well-deserved fate because he loves me and I love Daphne and, for some reason, she loves this golden smart ass.
With a wave of his free hand, he summons a portal of shadows to bring all four of us to the above. I know how much Aiden wants me to stay behind, but proving he knows me all too well, he doesn’t even try to talk me out of going. He just clings to me, then steps through the portal.
Daphne and Alex follow right behind us. Thanks to their report, I know that the battle is taking place on Olympus, the main mountain in the Other that overlooks the Greek settlements.
As I learned from personal experience, this realm of magic doesn’t just belong to us.
There are elements of countless mythos and lost cultures here; like the Roman soldier who once tried to make me his wife.
It’s rare for one of them to cross onto our territory—one of the reasons why he needed to brew that strange potion that made it so he could understand me and I could understand him—and usually the Romans in particular live far beyond Olympus.
Lucky them.
Aiden’s shadow portal opens onto the edge of the dark woods where I spent that fateful first day in the Other. The mirror spat me out there, and Sir led me through it on our way to the only River Styx entrance to the Underworld you can find above.
I got lucky. In the time since, I’ve learned that the dark woods don’t just hold the witch in the woods and a cyclops, plus a poor princess who was probably as much a victim of Kronos’s evil machinations as Aiden was.
There are countless monsters in there, only Sir’s presence as my guide—and my guard—through the woods had kept all dangers away.
Well, except for the Roman soldier, but that was just bad luck all around.
Now I’m back again. Only I’m not stuck in the middle of the trees where I have no idea where I am. Instead, we’re tucked just on the inside, facing the towering mountain ahead of us.
Olympus rises impossibly high over the treetops. It belches black smoke over its peaks, and the warning that Hephaestus is the god of volcanoes has never rang more true than when I tilt my head back and watch the entire range quake just enough to be noticeable.
Aiden’s arm settles around my waist before I can wander toward the tree line to get a better lock.
Not because he thinks I’ll do anything so ridiculous as run toward the battle in its beginning stages.
He just has to keep me safe for the moment, knowing that he agreed to leave me in the shadows of the trees while he goes off with Alex to fight.
His fingers squeeze my hip. “Stay here. If I think you’re in danger, I’ll be right by your side. If you need your husband, call. You know I’ll hear you.”
I go up on my tiptoes, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “I do. And be safe, baby. I want you coming back to the Underworld in one piece.”
His lips twitch. “I made it through four years of war, my blossom. If a great war couldn’t defeat me when I was mortal, I doubt that one battle against an entitled god and his pet soldiers will do anything when I have a god of my own on my side.”
Next to me, Daphne gags. “Jeez. And I thought Alex was full of himself.”