Deity (Covenant #3)(13)

Seth tipped my chair back in response, causing me to grasp the arms. He grinned at me, which was so at odds with his next words. “He almost had Alex. He was one vote shy of servitude. Who says he won’t build some trumped-up charge against her and sway their votes in his favor?”

“Diana will never compromise her position to serve Telly’s wishes,” Marcus said.

“Whoa. On a first name basis?” I said.

Marcus ignored my comment. “What do you suggest, Seth?”

Seth pushed off the back of my chair and moved to stand beside me. “How about removing him from his position? Then he has no power.”

Lucian watched Seth with an approving look in his eyes and I’d swear Seth beamed. Almost like he’d brought home his report card with all A’s on it and was about to get a pat on the head. Weird. Weird and extraordinarily creepy.

“Are you suggesting a political coup? That we rebel against the Head Minister?” Marcus turned his disbelief on Lucian. “And you have no response to this?”

“I would never want to stoop to something so distasteful, but Head Minister Telly is rooted in the old ways. You know that he wants nothing more than to see us regress as a society,” Lucian replied smoothly. “He will go to great extremes to protect his beliefs.”

“What are his beliefs, exactly?” I asked. The leather made unattractive squishing noises as I sank back in the seat.

“Telly would love to see us no longer intermingling with mortals. If he had his way, we’d do nothing but dedicate ourselves to worshipping the gods.” Lucian smoothed a pale hand over his robes. “He feels it is the Council’s duty to protect Olympus instead of leading our kind into the future and stepping into our rightful place.”

“And he sees us as a threat to the gods,” Seth said, crossing his arms. “He knows he can’t come after me, but Alex is vulnerable until she Awakens. Something has to be done about him.”

I made a face. “I’m not vulnerable.”

“But you are,” Aiden’s eyes were gunmetal gray when they settled on me. “If Head Minister Telly truly fears that Seth will be a threat down the road, then he will seek to take you out of the equation. He has the power to do so.”

“I understand that, but Seth isn’t going to go crazy on the Council. He’s not going to try to take over the world once I Awaken.” I glanced at him. “Right?”


Seth smiled. “You’d be by my side.”

Ignoring him, I wrapped my arms around my legs. “Telly can’t want to take me out just on some idea of a threat.” I thought of my father. I knew beyond a doubt he was behind that, too. “There has to be more to it than that.”

“Telly lives to serve the gods,” Lucian said. “If he feels they may be threatened, that is all the reason he needs.”

“Do you not live to serve the gods?” Leon asked.

Lucian barely looked in the direction of the pure-blood Sentinel. “I do, but I also live to serve the best interests of my people.”

Marcus rubbed his brow wearily. “Telly is not our only concern. There are also the gods themselves.”

“Yes.” Lucian nodded. “There is also the issue of the furies.”

I ran my hand over my forehead, forcing myself to concentrate on this conversation. It was a big deal that they were even including me in this. So I guessed I should pay attention and keep the snark to a minimum.

“The furies attack only when they perceive a threat to the pure-bloods and to the gods,” Marcus explained. “Their appearance at the Covenants before the daimon attack was solely a precautionary act from the gods. It was a warning that if we could not keep the daimon population under control, or if our existence was exposed to the mortals through the daimons’ actions, they’d respond. And when the daimons launched their attack on the Covenant, the furies were released. But they went after you, Alex. Even though there were daimons they could’ve fought, they perceived you as the biggest threat.”

The furies had ripped through daimon and innocent alike in those bloody moments after the daimon siege and had come after me. Not going to lie—I’d never been more terrified in my life.

“They will be back,” Leon added. “It is their nature. Maybe not immediately, but they will.”

My head was spinning. “I figured as much, but I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“You exist, my dear. That is all they need,” said Lucian. “And you are the weaker of the two.”

I was also the sleepier of the two.

Seth rocked back on his heels. “If they come back, I’ll destroy them.”

“Good luck with that.” I closed my eyes, giving them a break from the harsh light. “They’ll just burn up and come right back.”

“Not if I kill them.”

“With what?” asked Aiden. “They are gods. No weapon made by man or demigod will kill them.”

When I opened my eyes, Seth was smiling. “Akasha,” he said. “That would put them down permanently.”

“You don’t have that kind of power now,” Leon stated, jaw tensed.

Seth just continued to smile until Lucian cleared his throat and spoke. “I never did get to see the furies. It would have been… something to witness.”