Page 172 of Hades

“My head knows she’s gone.”

“And if you kill the only bitch who can tell us where, she stays gone longer.”

That landed. Barely. I dragged in air through my nose. It tasted like dust, lemonade, and rage.

“Bring Cerberus,” I snapped.

Ares was already moving. “On it.”

“The truck,” Zeus called after him. “Don’t put that monster on a bike.”

Ares disappeared through the crowd at a run. Claire made a strangled sound. “No.”

I turned slowly. “No?”

Her eyes darted toward the road like she could run. She couldn’t. The Gods had boxed her in without touching her. Rykard to her left. Zeus in front. Me close enough to see the pulse beating in her throat. Apollo on the other side, broken and shaking, but watching her like he’d crawl out of that chair on bloody hands if she moved wrong.

“I didn’t know he’d take her,” Claire whispered.

The festival seemed to drop away. There it was. The truth. A crack.

Zeus’ voice went deadly quiet. “Start talking.”

Claire pressed a hand to her mouth. Her lipstick had smeared. Her eyes were wild. Without the performance, she looked older. Meaner. Smaller. “He loved me,” she said.

Rykard made a sound of disgust.

“He did,” she insisted, like that mattered, like love in her mouth meant anything clean. “Every year he came. Every festival. He listened. He understood what it was like to want something and have people keep it from you.”

“People?” I asked. “Or children?”

She flinched.

Apollo’s voice was barely there. “How long?”

Claire didn’t look at him. “Years.”

“How many fucking years?” Rykard demanded.

“Since we moved here,” she cried, her eyes on Zeus. “You should know. He came here for you.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Zeus snapped.

“Your father.”

The noise disappeared. Zeus’ knees buckled and I grabbed his arm before he fell.

“What?” he asked the bitch again.

“That’s why he started coming here. To meet Kronos.”

My stomach turned.

“He said his family ruined him,” Claire whispered. “Kronos was helping him get back at his brothers.”

Zeus’ jaw flexed.

“Keep going,” I ordered.