Page 57 of Flame and Fury

Estella was spying on me. So be it. I don’t have time to spiral into thinking about her sharing our conversations with this prick.

Aphrodite giggles across the table, and I channel Atlas, keeping my face a fortress of stone. I want to ask why the hell I’m here. I want to rail at them all for being horrible beings, but none of that would be a good idea.

I fondly remember the last time I sat at Nathaniel’s table for dinner. I thought that was my worst meal ever. It doesn’t hold a candle to this one.

“Speaking of fallen champions, where did your son end up, Zeus?” Poseidon smirks at the god. The gold streaks in his eyes flash like lightning, but before he can answer, the servers are back with another course. This one is an odd vegetable lasagna, if lasagna was set in clear gel and served cold.

Zeus pushes the server away before she can set his plate down. She stands awkwardly behind him for a minute, looking like she’s about to cry. Eventually, she steps back until she’s pressed against the wall, still holding the plate.

“He’s being suitably punished for losing.”

My stomach sinks. Atlas was taken out to the auction before me. I don’t know where he ended up, and I have no way of getting in touch with him. I want to pick up this disgusting farce of food and whip it in Zeus’s face. How can he speak about his son like that?

It doesn’t matter. Atlas is strong. Wherever he is, whatever they’re doing to him, he can take it. That doesn’t make me feel any less sick.Kind of like the food on my plate. I cut into it with my fork, dismantling it into tiny pieces that I’m not going to eat.

“It’s so sad,” Aphrodite says, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout. She waits for me to look up at her before she continues. “Two lovers, torn apart.” Her laughter tinkles like broken glass. Her beauty is sharper at that moment. Like a deadly blade.

“More like two losers torn apart. I know we can’t all have superior champions, but some are just more fit for this game than others.” Hera grins as she takes a dainty bite of her veggie Jello.

Gross. The food and her comment. She’s talking about Preston. There is nothing superior about the prick.

“You’re right, of course.” Nathaniel bows his head at Hera. “But I think we may have some use of this failed champion yet.”

Anxiety bubbles up from my stomach. What’s he talking about? Zeus and Aphrodite give me twin smiles of malice. Poseidon is remolding his Jello loaf into a mountain, looking clueless and disinterested. Hera’s mouth purses. She doesn’t like being kept out of the loop.

“Wren’s been such a hit with the everyday people. Those poor pathetic creatures need something to look up to. I thought we could make her the new face of worship. We’ll show her prostrating herself to the gods, capture her obeying your orders and carrying them out with a smile on her face.” Nathaniel lifts his wine glass and takes a sip of the blood red wine. The ring on his pinkie catches my attention. It has the same triangle symbol on it that’s now branded into my chest. A flare of color passes over Nathaniel’s pupils. I blink, but there’s nothing there.

Aphrodite claps her hands. “What a marvelous idea. I already have so many thoughts.”

“You can’t just keep her to yourself. We all have ideas.” Hera throws a nasty look at Aphrodite before she turns her calculating gaze on me.

Poseidon snickers into his drink. “Maybe I’ll get out the soulstone and make you my pet. With the magic of the amulet, you’ll be begging to please me and anyone else I command.”

Bile churns in my stomach. The brand on my chest itches as it heals over. How did I get myself into this mess?

CHAPTER32

ATLAS

“Can you sit down for two seconds?” Ares sighs from his leather recliner, flipping through the channels on a massive television.

I glare at him and continue pacing. What on earth am I doing here? What does Ares want with me and Nico? And how the hell am I going to get out of here to find Wren?

“Seriously, you’re making me dizzy. If you’re going to move around so much, maybe vacuum or something. Make yourself useful.”

Nico snorts from where he’s sitting on the couch, looking just as relaxed as Ares.

“Why am I here?” I finally stop in front of Ares.

Ares lifts a mug of coffee and slurps a drink. “I bought you from a totally above board and not at all morally reprehensible auction in which elites, and sometimes handsome gods, purchase things that shouldn’t be for sale.” Ares says all this without looking at me.

He makes an excited sound and stops his channel surfing. It’s a montage of old training footage of Greer and new clips of her in the games.

“What is it you expect me to do for you?”

Ares turns his head with a raised brow, finally dragging his gaze away from a slow-motion Greer working a punching bag. “How do you know it isn’t me that’s going to do something for you?”

I look over at Nico, who shrugs, then back at Ares. “What are you going to do for me?”

---