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"I never forget anything this important," he assured me.
I smiled faintly, but it quickly faded. "What do you mean you think I'll be important to the Vault?"
His brow creased. "I'm not sure. I think Hades chose you for something big."
"Can he un-choose?" I asked wryly. "I didn't sign up to be some kind of chosen one."
Knox smiled softly. "If there's anything I learnt during my time in the Temple, it's that Hades does what Hades wants."
"Funny. I thought it was that Hades does what the Priests say he does." I glanced out the window as we passed a stand of trees.
"I'm pretty sure that's sacrilege, but yes, that's also accurate." Knox sighed. "If you paid them enough, they would say whatever you wanted to hear. I presume someone paid them to start the rumours about trouble to the north."
"And Dex paid them to stop," I said.
"Yes, he did," Knox agreed. "A lot more than the first payment, if I had to guess. Dex can afford to—"
"Influence the Temple?" I suggested.
"Yes, that." Knox nodded. "They would probably declare him a god if he asked them to."
My eyes widened. "His pockets are that deep?"
"The Vault's coffers are that deep," Knox corrected. "But he wouldn't waste it on that. There are people to feed, streets to fix."
"You seem very sure Dex won't develop a god complex of some kind." I couldn't see Dex being that kind of guy, personally, but Knox knew him better than I did.
"Dex is a realist," Knox said. "He knows hungry people turn on their leaders. Unless he could be anactualgod, then being called one wouldn't do him much good."
"I suppose so," I said slowly. "I don't know why anyone would want to be a god anyway." Being a half god, or whatever I was, was bad enough. "Do you think they're actually immortal?”
The Witches' Council didn't have much interest in gods. Probably because some of them thought they were better than gods. The things they did with power could be seen and felt. Gods, well, we more or less assumed they were real.
The mating ceremony certainly suggested some kind of force existed. There was no way in fuck I would have knelt in front of Max Crane without being under coercion. The way he smiled made me want to punch him in the face. Or pick him up with power and toss him off a bridge. Or bite off his dick, since that was at eye height at the time. Not that I would want his skinny little cock in my mouth.
I grimaced.
Thinking back to his father's expression returned my good mood. He looked absolutely horrified. I'm pretty sure he would have grabbed my hair and dragged me away if we weren’t in a room full of people. Okay, a few wouldn't have objected if he did that, but my mother might have spoken up on my behalf.
Maybe.
"I don't know if they are immortal," Knox said slowly. "If it's the same Hades as a couple of thousand years ago, they certainly live a long time. But if Comus can…" He glanced toward Gorilla Guy, then added, "do what he said he'd do, then that suggests he thinks they aren't."
"Right," I agreed. "We know demigods aren't immortal. Tiger guy died easily enough." That meant I could die. I suspected as much. I've never felt especially immortal.
"That doesn't mean they don't need help to stay alive," Knox said. "No matter how badass you are, you still need friends. And lovers." The tips of his ears turned slightly pink.
I swallowed. "Right." I cleared my throat. "I mean, friends for sure. People who have my back."
He squeezed my hand. "Always."
"That's a long time," I said with a nervous laugh. "Are you sure you're not a god?"
He looked surprised, then chuckled. "I hope not. That's too much responsibility. I don't want that. I'm just a regular guy."
"Who goes undercover as a spy," I said. "That's not something regular guys do. At least, not outside the Vault."
"Us guys inside the Vault are different," Knox said. He thought for a moment. "We straddle the old ways and the new. Sometimes that calls for motorbikes and knowing cat videos are a thing. Sometimes it means riding horses and hiding out in Temples."
