“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You shouldn’t have sent your men after Demeter’s daughters.” I tsk. “If she was willing to cut off food to half the city to get Persephone back, what do you think she’s willing to do to you for ordering your man to stab Eurydice?”
“Cut off half the food…” Zeus goes still, surprise widening his eyes. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
I have to fight back a laugh. I’ll never forgive Demeter for trying to hand Persephone over to this man, but I can’t help my dark amusement at how thoroughly she’s undermined him in such a short time. “Maybe not your plan. She’s been playing at her own game from the beginning. You’re just the only dumb fuck who didn’t realize it.”
“She might have been willing to go through such lengths against you, but she knows who feeds her.”
“Yes.” I wait for him to relax the tiniest bit before cutting his legs out from beneath him. “Olympus feeds her. Olympus feeds all of the Thirteen. Even you—especially you. They’ve looked the other way time and time again and ignored your sins. Now it’s time to pay the piper.”
“You’re not here for justice.” He sneers. “You’re here for petty revenge.”
My hand tightens on the gun before I regain control. Petty revenge. That’s what he calls wanting justice for the death of my parents. I take a slow breath. “Call the whole thing off and I’ll consider us even.”
Zeus raises his brows. “Call what off? The war? Or my marriage to that pretty little daughter of Demeter? Persephone.”
“Keep her name out of your mouth.” I stalk toward him.
“That deal is signed, sealed, and only needs to be delivered. She’s my reward for crushing the remaining resistance you represent.” He grins. “I intend to take a whole lot of pleasure now that you’ve broken her in.”
I know he’s baiting me, but now that I’m standing here, nothing seems cut and dried. “She’s not yours. She belongs to no one but herself.”
“That’s your mistake.” He laughs. “You put yourself in a position to take it all—my life, that woman, your revenge—and you lose your nerve at the last moment.” A mean glint in his pale blue eyes. “Just like your old man.”
“Fuck you.”
Zeus lunges for me, faster than he has any right to be, and grabs at the gun. He’s stronger than I expect, too. Even though I try to wrench away, he maintains his grip on my arm. I pull the trigger reflexively, but the shot goes wide. Zeus jerks me closer, still trying to get my hand off the gun. The look in his eyes spells my death. I might have hesitated to kill him. He won’t return the favor.
I distantly register the sound of glass shattering, but I’m too busy fighting for possession of the gun to worry about it. I twist my arm in his direction and pull the trigger again, but he’s ready for me and the bullet bites the floor at our feet.
Zeus finally gets a good grip on my wrist and brings my arm down on his knee. Fuck, that hurt. Despite my best efforts, I lose my grip on the gun. I glance down, trying to figure out where it went. Zeus takes advantage of my distraction and punches me in the face.
The room wavers around me. That fucker has one hell of a force behind his hits. Another punch and he might actually knock me out. I shake my head, but it does nothing to quell the ringing in my ears.
Thoughts and plans and strategy fly out the window. Instinct alone rules. I manage to get my arm up to block his next punch, and the impact of the blow sends me sliding back several inches. I slam my fist into his stomach, and he wheezes. He’s fast and hits like a freight train, and I’m hampered because even though I hate the fucker, I can still hear Persephone’s panicked voice in the back of my head.
Hades, stop.
I can’t kill him. I won’t. I just need to get enough space between us so I can move, so I can think. I shove him back. “Why did you kill my father?”
The bastard laughs. He fucking laughs. “He deserved to suffer.” He swings again, but this time, I’m ready. I duck under the punch and hammer a left hook into his side. Zeus bends over with a curse, but it’s not enough to do more than slow him down. “Shame about your mother, though.”
“Fuck. You.” There are no answers for me here this morning. I don’t know why I thought there might be. Zeus is a goddamn bully determined to mow down any threat that rises up. My parents were a threat, fresh to the roles and naive because they thought they could pave the way to a new and better Olympus. Zeus wouldn’t allow anything to affect his power, so he removed them. End of story.
I keep trying to create space between us, but it’s no use. Zeus doesn’t give me room to breathe. It takes everything I have to keep his fists away from my face. As it is, my eye is swelling shut and it’s only a matter of time before I lose the ability to see through it. If the fight is still going by that point, I’m in trouble.
I dodge a right hook and catch his arm, using his momentum to send him spinning away from me. “Stop. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“I’m not stopping until you’re dead, you little fuck.” He shakes his head like a bull and charges me.
I don’t register where we are in the room until the cold wind slaps me in the face. Fuck. “Wait.”
But Zeus doesn’t listen. He winds up for a punch that will hurt like a motherfucker
