Page 34 of Crown of Olympus
“Somehow I doubt that’s how it went down,” I muttered around the rim of my whiskey glass.
“You’d be right, of course,” Aros laughed. “Hades’ girl nearly skewered Aphrodite’s eyeball.”
“What?” I choked out.
“Word of warning, don’t sneak up on that one. She’s well trained, with wicked sharp reflexes and deadly aim.”
“I knew that from the training arena.”
“That was nothing, Caelus.” Aros sat a little straighter, his face shifting into uncharacteristic severity. “She threw a dagger made of nothing but shadows, two-thirds of the way across that clearing, and knocked Archimedes’ sword off its path to my head. Or Aphrodite’s, I wasn’t exactly sure who he was aiming for.”
My brows lifted. “I don’t know anyone, aside from maybe Athena, who could make that shot,” I murmured.
Aros nodded, taking a swig directly from the bottle.
Curiously, I felt a flicker of relief that Nyssa could defend herself. I wouldn’t put it past half the champions in the Rite to try and eliminate her early on.
My mother had been shouting around the palace, cursing Hades for thinking he had any claim to the Olympian throne. Itwas only a matter of time before she began whispering in the ears of the council, plotting against the daughter of death — if she hadn’t already.
“Speaking of Athena,” Aros said, “she had a few questions after the trial. Wanted to know if we were officially allies or aligned with anyone else.” He shrugged.
“Well, are we?”
“What a stupid question, lord of lightning,” he drawled. “Of course we are.”
“Just us, though, right?” I raised a brow, making the demand clear.
“For now.”
I chose to ignore the snipe, already knowing exactly who we both hoped would join ouralliance.Though, if I was being honest with myself, I had no desire to share her.
Not since I first laid eyes on her all those years ago.
Aros and I emerged from the tavern hours later, sometime between midnight and dawn. Selene’s moon and Astraeus’ stars lit the grimy cobblestone roads leading back up to the Palace as we stumbled along them — though we never made it that far.
A trio of hooded figures ambushed us before we reached the reputable part of Aetherion. In my liquor-infused state, I was slow to react, and one of them landed a blow to the back of my head.
I swung out as I fell, blindly lashing out at whoever had rattled my brain. I felt the satisfying thud of impact beforehitting the ground hard, my chin copping the bulk of the impact against the stone-laden ground.
“I said don’t hurt them!” a harsh voice hissed.
“It was an accident, sorry!” someone else replied.
Before I could coax my lightning to the surface, icy shackles snapped around my wrists, and I sagged to the ground, all fight fleeing my body.
With a shout, I tried once more — even a flicker of electricity could’ve helped — but it was like a wet blanket had been tossed over my head, dousing the sparks entirely. I couldn’t feel even a flicker of power in my veins. I felt stripped bare.
I felt mortal. Powerless.
Worse, I was powerless and drunk.
I twisted angrily, cursing loud enough to echo off the stones, my vision blurring as I moved. I couldn’t tell if it was from the alcohol or the blows to the head. Either way, if they were going to take me out, it didn’t matter.
“Fuck you!” Aros growled, his face shoved into the ground beside me as they cuffed him too.
“What do you want?” I yelled at the figure crouching before me.
She lifted dainty, unmistakably feminine fingers and pulled back her hood. A pair of familiar, piercing blue eyes met mine, and my face twisted in confusion as recognition set in.
