28
Psyche
The interview is a nice distraction. It’s so normal in the midst of a situation that’s anything but.
Eros manages to pull himself together enough to be charming, but I know him well enough now to recognize that he’s a little off.
It’s a disconcerting realization, both that what happened with Zeus was enough to throw him off his game and that I can see the signs.
As agreed, Clio keeps to the subjects we outlined when I set this up.
It’s mostly softball questions about how we met and the wedding itself.
A fair exchange for being the first to break with an interview.
Most of the time, Olympus cares less about the real story than about whatever spin they want to put on things, but Clio isn’t too bad for a reporter.
I’ve known her since before she got her most recent promotion, and we’ve helped each other out countless times over the years.
She’s a curvy Black woman with an impeccable style. Today she’s wearing loose pleated gray trousers and a sleeveless cream blouse that does wonders for her silhouette. If I’m not mistaken, I recognize Juliette’s work. It seems she took my advice to try the designer out. Good.
Clio might be on the gossip circuit right now, but she’s hungry for deeper stories than her column can provide. She’s also smart enough to realize that she can’t go chasing down those leads without the Thirteen turning on her. Not yet, anyway.
That doesn’t stop her from collecting any and all information that comes her way, mining for a gold nugget in the midst of so much mud. I hope I have one for her today.
We wrap things up quickly, and I press a soft kiss to Eros’s lips. “Do you mind waiting outside for a moment?”
He hesitates, but there’s nothing to argue about.
We’re in my mother’s building, and there are no windows in this boardroom.
Clio is hardly an assassin; she wouldn’t have many stories if she killed off her sources, and she’s too ambitious to throw her future away for the chance Aphrodite might protect her.
Eros seems to realize that and finally nods. “Don’t be long, love.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
We watch him walk out, and Clio whistles the second the door closes. “Bold choice, Psyche.”
“You have no idea.” I manage not to blush, but it’s a near thing. Clio isn’t a friend and likely never will be, but we’re aligned in a number of ways. “I have a tip for you.”
She tilts her head to the side, her long black braids sliding over her shoulder. “Does this have to do with the real reason you went from avoiding Eros like the plague to having that giant diamond on your finger?”
“No.” I won’t break our cover, not even for Clio. Especially not for Clio. “This has to do with a feud between Aphrodite and Demeter.”
“Old news.” Clio waves that away. “They’ve been at each other’s throats for years. There’s nothing worth digging for there.”
“You’d be surprised.”
She raises her brows. “Okay, I’m intrigued. Surprise me.”
“Aphrodite is so furious that her son married Demeter’s daughter, she’s taken out a hit.”
Clio blinks. “That’s quite the allegation. Do you have any proof?”
Not that I’m willing to share. Not enough. I give her a sardonic smile. “Since when do the gossip columns need proof?”
“Fair point.” Her gaze goes distant, and I can already see how her impressive brain is considering the spin on this.
“I’ll need more in order to post anything.
Aphrodite is a bitch and a half, and she won’t hesitate to call for my job and slap me with a libel suit.
Hearsay, even from you, isn’t enough to take that risk. ”
I figured as much. I glance at the door. “There was a disturbance in Helen Kasios’s building last night. Ares’s people were called in to take custody of the assassin. They still have him.”
Clio laughs softly. “Well, that I can work with. I can’t promise to work fast, because I’ll need to verify everything, but I’ll ask some questions.” She starts to gather up her purse. “Can I assume I’ll get a call if there are any more disturbances that she might be connected to?”
“Yes, as long as you promise to give me a heads-up before you run the story.”
“You have yourself a deal.”
We shake on it. Eros is waiting in the hallway, and we head to the elevator while Clio strides out the front doors, an intense look on her face. Eros glances at me. “Do I want to know what you talked about?”
“Zeus wants things quieted down, but he won’t take our word for it or step in unless we force his hand. Utilizing Clio is one way to go about it.”
“It won’t be enough. The gossip sites run scandalous stories all the time and no one blinks anymore. He’ll write it off as fiction.”
“He would…if that’s the only thing we’re going to do.” I dredge up a smile, even though the last thing I feel like doing right now is smiling. “That’s where phase two comes into play.”
He shakes his head slowly. “You are truly terrifying, Wife.”
Wife.
No reason to get a thrill from him calling me that.
None at all. This marriage might be real, but it’s not real .
It doesn’t matter if I’ve fallen for Eros; I have to remember that.
I wait for the elevator doors to close to step away from him, needing a little distance.
“I just hope I’m terrifying enough to pull this off.
My mother puts me to shame.” Though right now, I have enough anger that I’m not worried about the conversation we’re about to have.
She tried to sell me to Zeus.
It’s not even the potential marriage I have issue with. She didn’t even try to talk to me about it, didn’t trust me to recognize the value of making that play. She simply went over my head.
“I’ll follow your lead.” Eros watches me in the reflection of the elevator, but he makes no move to close the distance between us. Does he feel the pull even now? I do.
“Okay.” I take a breath, straighten my spine, and march into my mother’s penthouse the moment the elevator opens.
I chose not to text her to let her know we were coming, but Mother always spends Saturday early evenings at home, usually getting ready for some event or other.
I already checked her calendar, and she won’t be leaving for another hour.
I lift my voice. “Mother!”
It takes exactly two minutes for her to appear.
She’s as perfectly put together as always, her dark hair pinned back, her makeup immaculate, her dark-green gown elegant and giving the earth mother vibe that she carefully curates for the public.
She takes one look at Eros and shakes her head.
“If you want to talk, he can wait downstairs.”
“You don’t have the high ground, Mother.
” I step forward. I catch sight of Callisto in the hallway leading to our bedrooms, but she makes no move to join the conversation.
It’s just as well that she hears this, too; it affects her, after all.
“When were you going to tell me that you intended to marry me off to the new Zeus? When you ambushed me at the altar?”
Mother’s too good to show surprise, but her pause speaks volume. “He told you.”
“I’ve been to see him, yes.”
Her gaze sharpens. “Why?”
“We’ll get to why in a moment. Answer the question.”
“I was going to speak with you about it this week, in fact. Negotiations had reached the final stages, and I intended to sit you down and walk you through the reasons why this is an excellent match.” She holds my gaze.
“Perseus isn’t his father. I doubt you would have even needed to dispose of him.
He’s such a bore that you’re more than capable of handling him.
” She flicks a disdainful look at Eros. “Or you would have been if you hadn’t married this one. ”
Eros is wearing the same hard look he had when Zeus revealed the marriage plans.
I can’t read it at all. It’s as if he’s turned to a pillar of ice.
I told him the truth in the car on the way over here; if my mother had come to me with these plans, I would have gone through with them.
Her read on Perseus—on Zeus—is the same I have.
He may be ruthless in the extreme, but he seems to genuinely care about his siblings, which is more than the old Zeus could say.
He didn’t care about anyone but himself.
Perseus also has no violence in his past. I know; I looked.
But that doesn’t mean I want one of my remaining single sisters marrying him. “Take the plans off the table.”
“You know better.” Mother shakes her head. “You’ve painted me into a corner with your actions.”
Damn it, that’s what I’m afraid of. I look over her shoulder, but Callisto has disappeared.
It’s just as well. The last thing we need is her getting it into her head to shove this Zeus out a window or something equally final.
Succession would pass to Helen at that point, and while she seems great, she also seems so young in a number of ways. It would spell disaster for Olympus.
Love or hate the city, the fact remains that the Thirteen keep it running smoothly.
Everyone has their roles, their own little slice of the pie.
If they were normal people, those slices would be enough, but normal people don’t aspire to be numbered among the Thirteen.
No, every single one of them is ambitious and cutthroat and willing to step on others to propel themselves higher.
Left to their own devices, they would be going to war with each other inside of a year.
No matter what my personal feelings are when it comes to the title of Zeus, the truth is that it requires a formidable personality to keep the others in line.
In another ten years, Helen might be strong enough. She’s not now.