Page 79 of Scion of Chaos

“It’s been too long, Vesh. Too long.”

“I literally saw you less than a week ago. You know I’ve been busy.”

“Under the circumstances, I would expect a report.” He turns dismissively and returns to Erika, hooking an arm around her waist and pulling her toward the ice cream bar. “You must have an ice cream sundae while we chat. We have gourmet gelato with freshly made Belgian chocolate sprinkles and caramel sauce, along with a myriad other toppings—ice cream in any flavor your heart desires.”

Erika’s shoulders tighten and she darts an alarmed look back at me. I give a slight, apologetic shake of my head, and she rolls her eyes.

“I’m actually good, thank you.”

Without missing a beat, he steers her toward the arrangement of sofas on the other side of the room, then returns to the ice cream to order himself a large bowl. I don’t miss the fact that he doesn’t offer any to me, not that I’d have taken him up on it. That thought is accompanied by a palpable sense of disappointment from within.

“Get back to work, Chrysaor,”I mentally chide.

“If I can’t have her, the least you can give me is a taste of something almost as sweet.”

“Give her time,”I say, throwing him a bone despite my possessive nature making me itch to say it.“She’s going to need all of us before long.”

Mollified for now, he fades back into the recesses of my mind, returning to whatever duties he was distracted from by the prospect of sweets.

I sit in an armchair near the sofa Erika is perched on. She leans over and whispers, “Is he always like this?”

“Perpetually. Makes it difficult to read his moods. Be careful about meeting his gaze—he’s tricky.”

I keep my eyes on Chaos while I speak in a low tone, sitting back when he turns to stride over to us, already spooning a large bite of fudge and sprinkle-covered ice cream into his mouth.

“We need the other half of the key to Olympus,” Erika says as he’s taking his seat. He halts halfway, lifting his eyes to her, before easing down the rest of the way. But he says nothing. He merely digs into the bowl, savoring several more bites while we wait for him to respond.

“I presume when you sayother halfthat means you’ve already secured the first half from Fate?” He eyes us both as he licks his lips, then inserts another big spoonful into his mouth.

Erika tugs at the chain around her neck, pulling the half-moon disc out from beneath her shirt.

Chaos hums and shifts his gaze to me. “That must have cost you.”

“No more than I’ve already paid.”

He narrows his eyes. “It was Fate after all, wasn’t it? I had a feeling the old bastard would sink their threads into what’s mine before too long.”

I ignore the possessive comment and glance out the window where Sybil is yet again floating in the pool. He narrows his eyes at me, daring me to accuse him of benefiting from fate magic again, but I learned my lesson the last time.

He waves a hand and sighs. “I behaved rashly before. I know what you think about how Sybil and I found each other, but Deva’s hounds aren’t beholden to Fate; they merely connected two primordials who otherwise may not have found each other. It was as straightforward a match as there ever was. Yours is more complex, more intricate, considering all the pieces involved. It has the marks of Fate all over it, right down to the shattering of your doors.

“Let me guess… Fate wanted access, didn’t they? That’s what you traded. But did you considerwhythey want access? It isn’t to ensure proper security is observed. They needsouls. They are weaving a new tapestry and need more souls to fill in the details. Whatarethey scheming, do you think?”

“I honestly don’t care at this stage. My job is to capture four escaped Titans. That’s it.”

“Hmm, single-minded as always.” He smirks at me as if he’s made a joke. Beside me, Erika chuckles.

“The dick actually has a sense of humor,”Campe comments.

“You should care very much,” Chaos continues. “If Fate has their way, you may be out of a job before long.”

“I hardly see why that should bother me.” It does, in fact, bother me, but I don’t have the luxury of examining the ramifications of the bargain I made with Fate yet. I figure I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Fate may have succeeded in breaking down my doors, but that was only a temporary breach. No one will be able to leave the prison without my permission, regardless of how much access Fate has.

“What do you intend to do once you gain access to Olympus? Tell me your plan and I’ll consider whether to give you the other half of the key.”

I take a breath and glance at Erika, who sits forward and says, “We want to use the key as bait. I told the Titans I knew how to get it. They are returning in a few more days to make the trade—releasing my mate and the other dragons from their curse in exchange. But we plan to open the temple before they come back, to find whatever power is inside that we can use to beat them. The power that was taken from them when they were incarcerated should be sufficient to use against them.”

Chaos lifts his brows and looks at me again. “And who would wield this power? Not many are capable of harnessing the power of a Titan. Vesh and his brothers might be, but there are four Titans and only three of them. Who would wield the power of the fourth one, hmm?”

---