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Chapter 25
Apollo
Iwaited for Elyse in front of her apartment. I’d stopped at the florist and bought her roses. Red ones, the color of blood, the color of love.
We’d agreed to meet tonight as she’d been with Poseidon most of the day, and I missed her. I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. The past week, since we’d fought X in the Underworld, each of us had been with her, splitting up the time between us. The others kept an eye on her friend, Catina in case X returned. Elyse trained harder, and the three of us had scoured Chicago to see if X would pop his oily head out at any point.
He hadn’t shown himself, but neither had Hades.
I had no idea where the two of them were. I hoped that they weren’t together, in cahoots somehow. But since Hades had arrived to help us fight X, I was starting to think the guy didn’t want this world to have a bad ending after all. Maybe he was working on holding X in the Underworld to prevent any more damage on Earth, but it wasn’t like he shared anything with us.
Who would have known Hades could be a hero? I didn’t know why or how he’d changed his mind about being on our side, but he had, and that was what mattered.
I glanced at the screen of my phone, looking at the time. Elyse should have come home around six with Poseidon, but tonight she was taking longer. I didn’t panic, or think something had happened to her. She’d lost all of her extra lives, and she was down to the last one before her death was final, but she’d changed. She’d become a lot more responsible, and she looked after herself.
Having spare lives to keep you safe was a burden as much as a blessing. We’d all noticed that Elyse behaved differently, showing us that maybe she hadn’t taken her regenerating as seriously as she should have. And as long as she didn’t die one more time, everything was going to be okay.
The atmosphere shifted, the air growing thicker, and I stared into the sky. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling. At first, I thought it might be X searching for Elyse at her apartment. But what surrounded me wasn’t darkness.
They were storm clouds. Poseidon?
A moment later, the heavens opened up and Zeus descended from the sky, carrying lightning bolts in his hands, thunder rumbling in his wake.
My stomach turned. I hadn’t seen him since he made me promise not to fall for a mortal woman again.
“Yo, Zeus, what’s up?” I said casually. I tossed the roses behind a trash can.
“You’re very chipper for someone who’s been fucking with me,” Zeus growled. And still thunder rumbled above and lightning flashed around us.
My mind whirled with panic. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I was starting to doubt myself. Zeus was on to me. He had to be. It’d been a while since I’d lain low, taking care no one discovered I was with Elyse. I’d stopped being so careful when there had been no consequences.
“I told you not to date a mortal woman again,” Zeus said. “You want to tell me why you’re doing just that?”
“Come on, Dad. I’m not just fucking around. We’re fighting X; we were all helping her. It’s not like it’s just some kind of fling. It’s for the greater good and all that.” I kept my chin lifted, staring at Zeus, at the way his bushy white eyebrows pulled together in a straight line.
“You can help her save the world without sleeping with her,” Zeus pointed out.
Of course, he was right.
“And you were dating her before you began helping her,” he continued, his voice climbing. “Don’t try to trick me.”
My heart raced. “Just give me one more chance.”
He sighed. “I asked you to stay away from her. Never see her again.”
I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t stay away from Elyse. It wasn’t just because I’d fallen in love with her. She was part of me now, her power taking up space in my heart. Elyse completed me in ways I’d never felt with anyone before, mortal or divine.
“No,” I argued. “I can’t do that. Look into my heart, see how I feel about her. See what this is doing for me, for the others, for her. Don’t tell me to walk away.” I spoke deeply, concealing my dread of losing Elyse.
He looked at me for a long time, his heavenly blue eyes pensive. I knew he was doing what I had asked him.
“I see what she means to you.” His tone calmed, and I held on to that hope. “And I see how well this unity is working to defeat X.”
Something in me relaxed, and I let out a breath.
“But you and I had a deal,” he said, shaking his head. “And you broke it.”
He lifted his hand and the clouds churned. Lightning started jumping back and forth between his hands like static, thunder clapped loudly, and I cried out.
