Chapter 13
Hercules
As the red-haired girl gets farther from me, I calm my anger.
Let her run away. I won’t stoop to her level in front of all these staring people. They all know I’m unbeatable. I have no need to prove it here. That can be saved for the Trials.
“Pick that bench up,” I bark at a doulos. A small boy hurries to pick the bench up, and another offers me a piece of cloth. I wipe the girl’s spit from my face and sit down.
“She’s pathetic,” purrs the girl to my left. I put my hand on her bare leg and feel her tense in anticipation.
“So was her mother,” I reply, a hard smile on my face at the memory. My daughter looks a lot like her mother.
I wonder if she really has inherited any power from me.
It seems unlikely, given that shoddy ship she captains.
I force myself to relax. This child is no threat to me or my ends.
The reluctant admiration I feel for her fierceness is just going to make it more satisfying when I make sure she doesn’t survive the Trials.
“Evadne, fetch me more of this wine. These are empty.”
The girl pouts. “There are doulos for—”
I cut her off by squeezing her leg hard. She stops talking but doesn’t make any noise of pain.
“Go,” I say, and release her thigh.
She leaps up. I watch her lithe figure move as she sashays toward the closest doulos, her shiny blue hair skimming her bare shoulders. It was hard to find a gunner as young and pretty as she is.
I can get any girl I want when we dock, but I need someone on board the Hybris I can play with at my leisure, and there’s no way I’m letting more members of crew than are necessary on my ship. Not when they will all be granted immortality when I win.
The more immortals there are in Olympus, the less special they will be. And I will have to suffer them forever.
There’s a buzz of noise from the other end of my table, and I look over. Theseus. He walks up the aisle between the tables and comes to a stop opposite me.
“Hercules,” he says with a nod.
I stand up, because I know I’m the tallest of the two of us. “Theseus.” I nod back. I do not smile.
Theseus thinks he’s better than me. He’s younger and thinks himself more popular. My eyes flick to the woman standing behind him, and my breath catches involuntarily. My hatred for Theseus deepens further as I recognize her as Hedone, the demigoddess of pleasure.
“Allow me to introduce my crew.” Theseus grins, having obviously noticed my reaction. “This is Hedone, my medic.”
Hedone is wearing a draping silk toga, as many of the women here are, but somehow hers hangs in a way that is much more suggestive than the others I have seen.
Her long black hair frames a face that holds eyes darker than the Void itself, and voluptuous lips that, once I have looked at, I cannot take my eyes off.
I have to have her. The realization hits like a lightning bolt.
If I’m going to be immortal, it will be with a woman like this at my side.
I smile at her, relaxing my shoulders and allowing an easy charm to take my face. I reach my arm across the table to her, and she returns my smile as she puts her hand in mine.
“A pleasure,” I say, deepening my tone.
She narrows her eyes seductively, and my stomach tightens.
“And my first mate and gunner are over there,” Theseus says, gesturing to two people who have been talking to some seated guests on the next table.
I blink at them, not caring in the slightest who they are. The woman is dark-skinned, with braided hair, like Theseus, and is wearing a gold dress. The man is young and soft, with pale hair and pretty features.
I know that Hedone doesn’t want these young, pretty male clones. She wants a real man. Someone who looks like me, with muscles obvious through my clothes, dark hair, and a beard deliberately shot through with gray in a way that makes me look experienced and distinguished.
“And who are your crew?” Hedone asks. Her voice makes my cock twitch. It is as sensual as she is.
“This is Asterion, my first mate,” I say. There’s a loud scraping as the whole bench moves backward and Asterion stands. A few people in the vicinity quieten as they look over. Theseus doesn’t flinch, though, as the Minotaur to my right nods gruffly at them.
Asterion isn’t as tall as the giants, only about eight feet in height, but his bulk matches even mine.
His massive torso and thighs are that of a human, but his head and his lower legs come from a bull.
He is covered in short black fur and has black hooves at the bottom of his animal lower legs.
Mighty horns curl out of his sturdy black skull, and red eyes glint above his bearded snout.
“Ah, and here is Evadne, my gunner,” I say as Evadne returns, followed by a doulos carrying a large decanter of wine. She blushes as Theseus bows to her, and I make a mental note to address that later. It will not do to have a member of my own crew infatuated with Theseus.
“Well,” Theseus says with a wink at Evadne, “we’re having a bit of a celebration on the Virtus later. Feel free to join us.”
They carry on up the table, Hedone throwing a lingering look back at me over her shoulder. Asterion and I sit down.
“I assume we will not be visiting the Virtus tonight, captain,” says the Minotaur. His deep voice is so low it doesn’t carry at all.
Part of me is tempted, especially with the look the girl just gave me. But as much as I want Hedone, there is one thing I want more.
“Of course not. When the first Trial is announced tomorrow, we will be ready to go. Speaking of which… Evadne, I have a job for you.”
Annoyance flickers across her face, but she quickly replaces it with compliance. “Yes, captain?”
“I want you to go and tell one of the giant crew that we have inside information about the first event tomorrow. They have too much attention and support. I want to crush their morale before they even get started. Do you think you can make them believe that the first Trial is going to be on Leo?” I ask her, before taking a drink of wine.
“Of course I can,” she says, helping herself to a handful of plump olives. “But how do you know the first event won’t actually be on Leo? They’ll have a massive head start if it is.”
“The odds are in my favor, girl. One in twelve that the true location is Leo. Eleven in twelve that we send the idiots in the wrong direction and gain a significant lead.” I wave for her to refill my glass.
“And besides, even if they do get lucky and end up in the right place, I will still beat them.”