Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons #1)(73)

Now she looked at the screen filled with an image of Echidna, mother of all monsters, part woman, part snake. There were extensive notes on possible uses for gene therapy and the extraction of DNA, as well as a list of possible sites for Echidna’s cave, where she was thought to have died. Diana shuddered. No wonder I had nightmares.

Jason emerged from the back of the plane. Somehow he managed to look as formal in jeans and a T-shirt as he had in a suit. He retrieved two bottles of water from the bar and offered her one, then took the seat across the aisle from her and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

He didn’t look at her when he said, “I owe you an apology.” He turned the bottle of water in his hands. “You put your life at risk to save Alia. All of us. We never would have made it out of the museum without you there.” He paused, took a breath. “And I guess I should say that I’m sorry she was at the party in the first place. I’m trying to protect Alia. I’m trying to protect the Keralis name. I don’t seem to be doing a good job of either.”

“You’re doing your best.”

To her surprise a slight smile tugged at his lips. “High praise.”

Diana couldn’t help but smile herself. “I’m sorry. I forget the way people coddle one another here.”

Jason barked a laugh, then stifled it as Alia stirred in her sleep. “I’d hardly call it coddling.”

“You made a mistake. You acknowledged it. I respect that. Mitigating the repercussions of those choices or their outcome would be a lie that served no one.”

He leaned back in his seat and cast her a sidelong glance. “You’re right. I’m just not used to…people being that straightforward.”

Diana remembered Nim’s description of Jason. “Because you’re rich and handsome?”

Now he grinned that startling, deep-dimpled smile. “Exactly.” He gestured to the open laptop on the seat beside Diana. “My parents raised me on those stories. I thought that’s all they were. Tales of gods and monsters and heroes.”

“Heroes?”

“Theseus—”

“A kidnapper.”

“Hercules—”

“A thief.”

Jason’s brows rose. “Well, you know what I mean. In the books they’re heroes.”

“I think we were raised on different tales.”

“Maybe,” he said. “When I got older, I forgot those stories, and it was all about the comic books. Put on a cape, rescue the girl.”

“Which girl?”

“The girl. There’s always a girl.”

Diana snorted. “We definitely grew up on different stories.”

That grin again. “Did you have a favorite?” he asked.

“Probably the story of Azimech, the double star.”

“I don’t know that one.”

“It’s not very exciting.” That wasn’t true, but it also wasn’t something she wanted to share. “There’s another story I liked, one about an island,” she said cautiously. “A gift from the gods, given to their favored warriors, a place that could never be touched by bloodshed. I liked that story.”

“Now that’s definitely fiction.”

And there was that smug tone again. It made her bristle. “Why?”

“Because no one can stop war entirely. It’s inevitable.”

“In your world, maybe.”

“In any world. The problem isn’t war; it’s what humanity has made of it.”

Diana folded her arms. “I imagine all wars look the same to those who die in them.”

“But it’s so much easier now, isn’t it?” Again, he gestured toward the laptop. “In the old stories, war was a hero striding onto the battlefield with a sword in his hand. It was a monster to be vanquished. But now? It isn’t even a general commanding armies. It’s drones, nuclear stockpiles, air strikes. Some guy can push a button and wipe an entire village off a map.”

Diana knew those words and the horrors associated with them. She’d been schooled in all the ways mortals had found to destroy each other.

“You sound a little like my mother,” Diana conceded. “She says people find ways to make life cheap.”

“And death.”

“Are you afraid to die?” Diana asked curiously.

“No,” said Jason. “Not if I die well. Not if it’s for something I believe in. My parents…” He hesitated. “Keralis Labs isn’t just their legacy. As long as it thrives, their names live on and they do, too.”

Jason really had taken the old stories and legends to heart. It was the way the ancient Greeks had viewed the afterlife. “Being remembered is a kind of immortality.”

Jason looked at her sharply, surprised. “Exactly,” he said. “That’s what I want for them.”

“And maybe for yourself?”

“Is that stupid?” he asked. It was the first time she’d seen him look anything less than sure of himself. “To want a chance at greatness?”

Diana didn’t think it was stupid at all.

But before she could say so, Ben’s voice came over the speaker. “We’ve entered Greek airspace and are beginning our descent. We should be on the ground in Araxos in about twenty minutes. I’m expecting a bumpy landing, so please do buckle up and keep your prayer beads handy.”