Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Not to mention the attack on the greenhouse and the club,” Hades agrees. “She softened us up so much, I don’t know if we can manage to bring together enough people for a standing army to defend the city. Ares has her soldiers, but there’s only so many of them, and their experience leans more toward bodyguard work than actual battle.”
We don’t have even that much in the lower city. The last Zeus never would’ve stood for that kind of gathering of power, even if Hades was interested in it, and it hasn’t been a high priority in the year since that Zeus died. We have a couple dozen people on staff, and another couple dozen rotating in periodically as needed. Not enough. Nowhere near enough.
“What do we do?”
He stares at the now-blank screen of his computer for several moments. “We keep doing exactly what we were doing before this. We drive the enemy from the lower city.”
It should be enough, but I can’t help pressing him. “And after that?”
“I…don’t know.”
That scares me more than anything else that’s happened today.
27
EURYDICE
Watching Orpheus paint has always unwound something in me. For a man who is so present in every room he walks into, when he paints it looks like he’s in another world entirely. After today, I would like to be in another world entirely too. I know there are hurried meetings happening behind closed doors concerning the threat against the city. Part of me wishes that I could be listening in.
The rest of me knows better.
I did my part. Now my responsibility is ensuring Hades keeps his word to Ariadne. I don’t expect he’ll go back on it, but even if I don’t understand the full implications of her information, this reveal is about to do the equivalent of kicking a hornets’ nest. He’s going to have so much to worry about, it will be easy to let the promises to Ariadne go unfulfilled. The potential oversight is understandable, and not a reflection on him, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him get away with it. Ariadne put herself in great danger to help us, and I want to ensure that we actually help her back.
But not tonight.
Tonight, I’m going to lie here and let Orpheus paint me. We’ll release some of the pain still lingering between us. It’s strange to realize I had already started to forgive him before he ever made the journey to the lower city. The fact that he came, that he’s so invested in penance and doing whatever it takes to make things right…it means a lot. The man he used to be never would’ve considered apologizing, let alone engaging in the kind of things we’ve done since he arrived.
Watching him now, doing an activity I’m intimately familiar with, he should look like the old Orpheus. But he doesn’t. There is a heaviness to him, a weight he’s willingly caring around. Some people might call it maturity. I don’t know if that’s exactly the right word, but he seems content enough with the burden.
“Do you want to talk about what happened today?”
I concentrate on maintaining the position where he’s arranged me on the chaise, with one arm draped over my head and my body stretched out. He ensured I would be comfortable, propping me up with pillows so I can hold the position for an extended period of time. It still takes effort not to move. “You don’t normally like a lot of chatter when you paint.”
“There isn’t a lot left in my life that’s ‘normal.’ If you want to talk, I’m happy to listen.”
His words scratch at me, an itch I can’t quite reach. It takes me several long beats before I realize the problem. “What about what you want?”
“What I want doesn’t matter.”
I tense but remind myself to relax at the last minute. Even though we’re speaking, his brush moves at a steady pace, making the trip from paint to canvas and back again. “That’s bullshit, Orpheus. I understand you feel guilty for fucking up, and that’s why you’re paying penance, but that doesn’t mean it has to become your entire personality. You’re a whole human with thoughts and feelings and needs.”
“Am I?” His brush hesitates, and then goes back to the canvas. “I thought I was your dog.”
I glare. “Don’t do that. Don’t dirty what we shared in the last couple days. You enjoy being on your knees as much as I enjoy putting you there, but that isn’t the entirety of our relationship, and you know it. You’ve wronged me, but I’ve forgiven you for it. To keep hauling around your guilt is selfish.”
He flinches as if I reached out and struck him. “Well, we’ve already established I’m a selfish asshole. I guess I continue to play to type.”
“Stop. Doing. That.” I have to concentrate to stop gritting my teeth. “I don’t want to be the albatross you string around your neck for the rest of your life. Can you see how that would be more of a burden than anything else? You’ve always had hopes and dreams and ambitions, Orpheus. Those didn’t just go away in the last year, even if you buried them deep.”