Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1)(81)

They both look horrified.

What the fuck am I doing?

I leverage myself off the man and crouch next to the sobbing woman. “Eurydice.”

She flinches away from me. “Don’t touch me.”

“Eurydice, your sister is waiting for you.” I don’t have time to be subtle. I grab her chin and move out of the way so she can see Persephone on the other side of the bridge. My bloody knuckles hardly give a reassuring image, but it’s too late to take it back now. “Can you walk?”

She blinks big dark eyes, her fear so large, it threatens to swallow us both whole. “I don’t know.”

“I’m going to carry you. Don’t fight me.” I don’t give her a chance to brace for it, simply hauling her into my arms and hurrying back across the bridge. I was on Zeus’s territory a grand total of two minutes, but I’m not naive enough to think it won’t count. Even if he didn’t orchestrate this—and all evidence suggests he did—he will take advantage of the opening I just gave him.

I brace for Persephone’s fear. She just saw me lose my shit and violently beat a man. She stares up at my face, looking at me as if she’s never seen me before. “Hades…”

“We’ll talk when we get back home.” I maintain my hold on Eurydice and start for the car. “Get in. Now.”

For once, Persephone doesn’t argue. She slips into the back seat ahead of me and takes her sister’s hand as I set Eurydice carefully beside her. Her hazel eyes are shining. “Thank you, Hades,” she says quietly. “I know the cost.”

“Take care of your sister. I’ll meet you back at the house.” I shut the door before she can argue and motion to Minthe. “Take them back. Lock the whole house down. No one in. No one out. And so fucking help you if Hermes slips past our perimeter tonight.”

Minthe nods and hurries to the driver’s side. I keep an eye on the car until it’s out of sight and then turn to Charon. “Trouble’s coming.”

Charon’s skin has taken on a waxen tone. “You crossed the river.”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

He opens his mouth like he wants to argue but finally shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter, I guess. It’s done. What do we do now?”

I try to stop reacting and think. Will Zeus go for a frontal strike, or will he try to twist my arm to get something he wants to avoid an all-out war? I don’t know. I can’t fucking think. All I can hear are the echoes of Persephone’s cry. All I can see is the helpless look in her sister’s eyes. And all I can feel is the pain across my knuckles from beating a man half to death.

I press my fingers to my temples. What would Andreas say? I snort as soon as the thought crosses my mind. Andreas is going to kick my ass for being so impulsive. “We can’t assume they’ll come in across the bridges. Pull as many people back from the edges of the territory as we can. If they don’t want to go, don’t force them, but get word out. War is coming.”

Charon hesitates and then nods. “Do you want me to pull in all our people to the main house?”

The temptation almost overwhelms me. I want Persephone safe, and I already know she’ll be a target. The urge to bolster our defenses until nothing can get past is a strong one.

But Persephone is not the only person in the lower city who needs protection from what’s coming.

I force myself to shake my head. “No, keep the doubled patrols on the river. Dredge up anyone you need to help those who want to get out of the potential conflict zone.”

“Hades.” Charon has to stop and wrestle the fear out of his tone. “The entire lower city will be a conflict zone if they come for us.”

“I know.” I clasp his shoulder. “I’ll get us through, Charon. Have no doubt about that.”

I just don’t know how yet. I can’t act until Zeus does. I’m torn between the hope that he won’t strike immediately and the fear that he’ll draw this out until we’re all going out of our minds.

The entire ride back to the house, I can’t quite shake the fear that I’ll arrive and Persephone will be gone. That Zeus will have somehow slipped past all my defenses and taken her back. That she’ll have realized I can’t truly protect her like I promised and decided to take her chances on her own. That she’ll recognize me for the monster the rest of Olympus thinks I am and flee. A thousand scenarios, each fed by the knowledge of how ugly things are going to get. I had planned on multiple scenarios when we started this, but nowhere in those were what happened tonight.

Some things you can’t take back.

When I find her and her sister sitting in the living room with the three pups playing around them, it feels like being sucker punched. They’re here. They’re safe. For now.

I sink onto one of the chairs and catch Persephone’s gaze. She piles two of the puppies into her sister’s lap and sits back. I approve. Pushing Eurydice right now is the wrong call. She’s just experienced… Well, we won’t know exactly what she’s experienced until she rouses enough to tell us. Which takes time.

So I sit there and watch silently as Eurydice slowly comes back to herself. It starts with her petting the puppies and ends with a shuddering sigh that comes out more like a sob. “I was so scared, Persephone.”