Complete Nothing (True Love #2)(12)

Ares had always been handsome, but ruggedly, violently, almost off-puttingly so. For the first time I could see the god my mother had fallen for. Or maybe that was just my hankering for home.

“What is it you’ve come to tell us?” Hephaestus asked.

Ares turned abruptly, automatically assuming a fighter’s stance. When he saw Hephaestus there, the deep furrow of his brow intensified.

“Hephaestus?” he blurted. “What are you—How is this possible?”

“The wonders of the universe never cease,” Hephaestus replied with a Cheshire grin, wheeling around the end of the table and offering his hand. “It’s been a long time, Ares.”

“You haven’t aged a day,” my father said.

Hephaestus lowered his hand, realizing Ares was not about to shake with him. “I may be mortal, but I’m still pretty. Not sure why Zeus made it so, but he did, and I thank him for it. As do the bulk of the ladies I encounter. Plus, it makes it easier for me to help your daughter. This high school experience has been fascinating thus far.”

Ares glanced over his shoulder at my mother. She shrugged like, This isn’t my fault. There was clearly some communication passing among the three of them that I didn’t understand.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Can we speak somewhere in private?” my father demanded of me.

Hephaestus chuckled to himself. The tension in the air was palpable, the unspoken so thick I could have taken a bite out of it and tasted its sour heat.

“Why?” I asked, my eyes darting among the three of them. “What’s your problem with Hephaestus?”

“Yeah, Ares? What’s your problem with me?” Hephaestus asked merrily.

He was teasing the God of War. No one teased the God of War. Not unless they wanted a spear through the heart or an unceremonious beheading. His audacity was met with more silence. The kind that normally preceded a massive earthquake.

The fridge let out another groan and spat five more ice cubes onto the floor. They skittered down the pile already melting at its base and came to a stop near the pointed toe of one of my mother’s stilettos.

“Ares, Hephaestus has been of immeasurable aid to me and to True—to Eros—over the past week. You can trust him,” Aphrodite said, lifting her chin. “We can trust him.”

My father sighed. “I haven’t the time to debate you,” he spoke at the floor. “Fine. I’ve come to tell you that Apollo and Artemis have learned of Orion’s existence, and as you can imagine, they are none too pleased. With any of us.”

My knees buckled. I stumbled toward the nearest chair, slipping and sliding across the ice and water and glass.

“How?” I asked. “How did they find out?”

“No one knows,” my father replied. “Or if they do, they’ve yet to confess. Apparently, Artemis actually laid eyes on Orion in the royal palace, before Zeus had a chance to properly hide him. Now the witch wants nothing more than to get her claws into Orion. She and that bastard brother of hers have been causing chaos on the Mount.”

“So this is the reason for Orion’s sudden appearance,” my mother said. “Zeus sent him here to protect him.”

“And to insure your bargain,” Hephaestus added darkly. “If Artemis were to steal Orion away for herself, you’d have no reason to complete your mission. But with him here, dangled before you, you have the motivation you need.”

“That explains his lack of memory,” Aphrodite said. “If he knew you when he saw you, there’d be no keeping the two of you apart. But if he doesn’t remember you . . .”

“He gets to keep us apart even though we’re so very close,” I breathed. “Does she know it was I who rescued him from the stars? Does she . . . know of our love?”

Ares shook his head. “Zeus and I thought it better to keep that a bit of a secret. If the other gods found out you held such power . . . things could get complicated for you. For now, we’ve floated several rumors as to his reemergence.”

“Thank you, Father.”

“Don’t thank me too soon. You know how word gets around on the Mount. It’s only a matter of time before she discovers the truth.”

I pitched forward and buried my face in my hands, my stomach clenched with pain. Artemis must have been livid, knowing Orion lived and she could not be with him. In her mind, Orion belonged to her. She was the one who’d loved him on the day he died those many centuries ago. She was the one who had set him among the stars so that his image might live forever. She’d been trying to bring him back to her for generations, but where she had failed, I had succeeded.

“If she ever finds out, she’s going to kill me,” I muttered through my fingers.

“She has not the power to take your life,” my father scoffed. “At least not if you return to Mount Olympus with your full divine powers. You are both lower goddesses of equal merit.”

My mother and I locked eyes, both of us recalling the same event—that day years ago when Artemis had appeared in my chambers and nearly ended me. She’d locked her hands around my neck and squeezed so hard I had felt the life force draining out of me. I had no idea how she’d developed the power, but she could have done it. She could have ended me. Would have, if not for the timely intervention of my mother.