Cronus nodded. “Yes. No more deceptions. We’re stronger as a team.”
He turned to my gramps. “Hyperion, figure out a way to temporarily shut War down, then we’ll discuss options of containing him.”
He faced the injured Titan. “Koios, I’ll get you a healer, then I’m going to leave Maisey with you so I can teach my son a lesson.”
“I’ll get the healer and send Okeanos to track War. You work up a plan to save Rhea,” Hyperion said.
Cronus nodded, then looked at me. “I know of a nice little realm. It’s all forest and blue skies, barely inhabited.”
“Stop. I know you don’t mean that. You’ve been protecting the world for too long.”
I mean … the fucking clouds overhead were black; it was as if night had fallen over Bali. I could see some locals on faraway beaches standing out there trying to figure out what was happening. A torrent of rain suddenly released from the sky, and with it rough winds rocked the water. All of that added up to one thing.
#AnUnhappyTitan
It wasn’t in his DNA to just abandon the world, but I kind of loved that he wanted to for me.
“Come on, let’s get Koios into bed,” I told Cronus.
Koios didn’t look mortally injured, but he’d had his ass handed to him, that was for sure.
When I stepped forward, my legs gave out again and I had to shoot my left leg out to steady myself.
Hmm. Weird.
“What was that?” Cronus was breathing down my neck, Koios in his arms.
“Slipped on the deck,” I lied. “Come on, put him down here.”
Selene’s warning came back to haunt me then. My human half was weak and she was sure I couldn’t take all nine sins.
Maybe Cronus’ giant dick hadn’t broken me. Maybe it was Jealousy. But I could deal with a little weakness in my legs, right? I was still functioning almost like normal. This last Sin had seemed to go down even easier than the others.
I was almost certain I could handle War until we figured something else out.
“Zeus is fucking dead,” Cronus exclaimed as he looked at Koios’ wounds. “Never liked that fucking child, and then when he decided to destroy our family for power, it really sealed the deal.”
“Let’s blame him on Rhea,” I said, trying to break the tension. “His mother was the bad parent.”
Cronus’ lips twitched and I was relieved to see some humor back on his face.
“So what exactly does War do…?” I started to ask, but was distracted when Hyperion popped in with Panacea, the healer I’d met during some of my darkest moments.
She ran to Koios’ side.
“You can’t kill Zeus,” Hyperion said straight away, and either he had heard that as he was popping in, or he had seen that look on his friend’s face before. “Killing him could have disastrous consequences. He’s got so many plans in place, a tangled web of power. If he’s killed, we may not like the outcome.”
“I don’t care!” Cronus’ roar was so loud that the walls of the hut shook and thunder rumbled outside. “That boy has been allowed to run amok for too long. He is my responsibility. I have let him go out of guilt and parental responsibility. No more.”
Hyperion swallowed hard. “I agree. So here’s what I'm suggesting we do. Go to Zeus, kick his ass, and imprison him so we can deal with the rest of our shit. After he's locked down, we take Rhea and meet Okeanos. Together we have to take care of War before nukes start going off and ruin all of our plans for living long, long, lives.”
Cronus took a long deep breath. I was glad that at least one Titan seemed to have the ability to get through to him. Finally he nodded. “Let’s imprison him in the same realm I was trapped in. That’s strong enough to hold that little shit. And it’s a nice karmic solution.”
Hyperion looked relieved. “Agreed.” He turned to Koios. “Where is he?”
The Titan in the bed, who already looked much better, half sat. “I left Crius at the meeting spot, but Zeus said he won’t come without Maisey there.”
Cronus growled. “And how the fuck will he know?”
It dawned on me then. “Social media. He’s been following me too. That’s how he found Rhea and me after I went live in Taco Bell.”
Cronus gave me a look. “You want to use your Facegram to trap Zeus?”
#Facegram? #HeWasLuckyHeWasCute #ThinkItsDeliberateAtThisPoint
I nodded. “I’ll go live. He’ll come there and you can kick his ass.”
Cronus looked like he was fighting a battle with himself. It was clear he hated this plan already, but he didn’t disagree. “The second he shows up, Hyperion, you zap Maisey back here. Then return and help me imprison him.”
Hyperion nodded. “You have my word.”
Dammit, I wanted to make sure Cronus was going to be okay, and part of me wanted to see Zeus get his ass kicked. Still, I got it. It was probably best for the weak human to stay back once the action started.
Cronus distracted me with his strong hands, pulling me against him. He leaned down and I had to go up on my toes so our lips could meet. The kiss stole my fucking breath away and my ability to think. I straight-up forgot about all of my worries, forgot the world was possibly ending, and everything else.
As much as I wished it was different, we couldn’t kiss forever. We were on limited time. As he pulled away, Cronus caressed my face, grumbling, “Put some clothes on before I kill Koios. He’s checked out your tits three times now.”
Koios scoffed. “Not true, brother. Once, max.”
I grinned, slipping into the bathroom to change and get ready for some Zeus trapping. I didn’t have many clothes to choose from, but skinny jeans, a black shirt, and boots worked for most things. Hair in
