Page 71 of Curse the Flame

Goddamn it, it’s the same voice, too. The voice that belonged to a man who turned me into a monster without me knowing it, but if he really is Kronos… he knew.

He knew all along, didn’t he?

“Teddy” leans back as much as the bindings allow. “You look good, kid.”

“Shut up.”

“There he is.” His grin widens. “I wondered whether the Brooklyn in you survived all those years with Hades. Glad to see it did. When the mortal soul fights back against the immortal… let’s just say, there’s nothing like the amount of chaos it gives off.

“Except,” he adds, gaze reaching so that it lands on the woman at my back, “for a kind soul who just wants to be good, but doesn’t quite understand what’s going on. Is that so, Persephone?”

“Willow,” I growl. “Her name is Willow.”

Teddy—Kronos laughs. “Come here, Willow.”

“No.”

He ignores me. “Come, goddess. Stay behind your man. Believe he can save you… it’ll only add to the chaos when you realize that none of you will survive what I have planned. But, for now… tell him. Tell him why you were coming to the megaron in the first place.”

I cock my head just enough that I can keep one eye on Kronos and the other on my blossom.

She swallows roughly. “I thought he was Theseus. I mean… he was Theseus. But now he’s… this guy? Or Kronos? Aiden, baby, I’m so confused. What’s going on?”

“I can explain,” Kronos says, and I know he’s only doing so because he’s enjoying the rush he’s getting from Willow’s confusion. That, and whatever he’s about to tell her, it’s going to break her, I just know it.

“Don’t you dare⁠—”

Too late.

Suddenly, he’s Theseus again. “This is my current shell, or as much of it as I’m prepared to share. You see, the hero you know as Theseus was born as Theodore Williams about thirty mortal years back. As you can tell, I have an affinity for the name. Teddy… Theo… Theseus. Why not? I thought I could use this soul so, instead of killing him”—he jerks his chin at me on purpose—“like your man once did for me when he was my man, I decided to use him. Wouldn’t it be even more chaotic to go from a gangster to a hero?

“That’s what I did,” he continues. “I shoved Theseus’s soul inside of poor Theo deep down whenever I wanted to take over a mortal form. I got myself a little princess who was the gossip of Delphi, telling me what to expect from the gods in the Other while I plotted and planned, and when the queen of the Underworld returned, I thought it was even more poetic to use her to torture Aiden some more.” His eyes gleam. “How’s that for ‘what’s going on’, Blossom?”

“Don’t you call her that,” I begin before I feel Willow’s hand tugging on the back of my jacket.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Aiden. He said he died trying to save Aria,” she says. “I thought he was an Unmentionable. I wanted to know whether we could help him. He… he tricked me.”

“Don’t you fret, Blossom. I will take care of this.”

I will.

I don’t even know if she hears me. Suddenly, her eyes go wide, and she darts out in front of him as though something just occurred to her.

“Where’s Sir?” demands Willow. “I left him with you! Where’s my dog, asshole?”

“Sir? Ah. Cerberus. Don’t fret. I have no quarrel with the beast. I slipped away while he was greeting the ferryman.” His grin widens. “Expect to be very busy if we all survive, Aiden. The dead are on their way.”

He’s not wrong. I can sense it in the air. Something is happening, something is brewing, and there have already been more shades these last few days than there has been in the last season with the promise of more to come.

“You were magnificent,” Kronos says, using Teddy’s voice again. “So very disciplined and efficient. So desperate to believe every man and woman on those lists deserved what you gave them.”

I point at him. “Shut your mouth.”

“All those Greeks. All those lives removed before they could reach the Other.”

“I said shut up.”

“Why? Doesn’t she deserve to know?”