Page 53 of Dark Restraint
“I believe you. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He eases me back to my feet, and a comfortable silence falls between us as he grabs some soap and washes the mess away from our bodies. Everything is changing and yet nothing has changed. The future may be promised, but it’s still far too nebulous to bet on.
There are so many barriers in our way, from the mess with the tower to the barrier coming down. As fear tries to take hold, I draw forth Asterion’s promise and hold it close to my heart.
We’ll get through this. We have to.
27
The Minotaur
I don’t want to leave Ariadne alone, but at this point, standing by her side will do more harm than good. Knowing that doesn’t stop dread from taking root inside me as we dress after the shower. Too many things can go wrong. Too many things already are going wrong.
“Stay in the penthouse today.” I hesitate. “Please.”
Ariadne looks like she wants to argue but finally nods. “I already planned on staying here and seeing what I can find on my computer. That’s where I’m the most useful right now. It also can’t hurt to be out of sight, out of mind, for my father.”
I don’t tell her that that sort of thing only works when she’s playing the obedient daughter. Over the years, Minos only pulled her out when he wanted to use her to make an impression on someone. When it comes to punishments? He knows how to hold a grudge; he seems to love them more than he loves his children.
Saying as much will only hurt her. Besides, she already knows. She’s a smart woman, even if she has a hard time acknowledging just what a monster her father is.
I brush a kiss to her lips. “I’ll update you as soon as I have information.”
“I’ll do the same for you.”
I don’t want to leave her alone, but there’s nothing else to do. I have to see what Aeacus is planning, and the fact that Minos has left me alone overnight instead of demanding more answers has me fucking worried. As I step out onto the sidewalk, I weigh which route is the better option.
In the end, it’s decided for me.
My phone pings with a text from Icarus, of all people.
Icarus: You better get back here. It’s bad.
It must be for him to reach out to me for… Is this a plea for help? I don’t fucking know. And I can’t forget that he might want Ariadne out of the city and free, but in his perfect vision of the future, I’m not involved. That fucker wants me dead. Which means this could be a trap.
But I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like a trap that he’s put together, at least. It takes me barely ten minutes to walk to Minos’s apartment building. He’s not as close as he wants to be to the center city, but he’s too close for my peace of mind.
I head up the stairs, but instead of going to the main penthouse where the family lives, I stop the floor below and go to the apartment that Minos likes to pretend doesn’t exist. It’s not much of a secret these days—both Ariadne and Icarus are aware of it, and Theseus found out about it before his falling-out with Minos.
Theseus. I don’t spend much time thinking about that fucker. He was always just another flavor of enemy. The competition that Minos liked to play one against the other. He’s not a friend, no, but spend more than a decade with a person and you build a kind of intimacy through shared experiences.
Or maybe Ariadne’s softness is rubbing off on me. I don’t fucking know why I pull out my phone, but when I realize my body’s moving on autopilot, I make no effort to stop myself from dialing him. I don’t honestly expect him to pick up. We haven’t talked in weeks. He might not be Hephaestus anymore, but he stayed married to that Olympian wife of his. Last I heard, he and Pandora had moved in with her. One big, happy, complicated family.
Something curdles in my stomach, and I’m surprised to find it’s jealousy. He’s living in a city that’s about to be ash, married to a woman I wouldn’t willingly turn my back on, and yet the asshole seems so happy it’s sickening.
I am so distracted by my thoughts that I don’t register that the call hasn’t gone to voicemail until Theseus curses and says my name again. “What the fuck do you want, Minotaur?”
That’s the question, isn’t it? I don’t know what I want. Or at least I don’t know why I called. I glance at the closed door to the apartment and take a couple steps back. “We aren’t friends.”
“No shit.”
“But if we were friends, I’d give you the courtesy of letting you know what’s coming.” I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I should just hang up and be done with it. But I don’t.
He’s silent for several long moments. “You’re right. We’re not friends. But I’m listening.”
“It doesn’t matter what the Olympians do or what plots and schemes they put into motion. The barrier is coming down. There’s no stopping it. If you’re smart, you’ll take you and yours and be ready to leave the moment it does. Escape in the chaos before either side has a chance to settle into a siege.”
He laughs, the sound filled with bitterness. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re being genuine or not. But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt this time. My wife is a Kasios. She might have relinquished her title at the same time I did mine, but she’s never leaving the city. Which means neither am I.”