Apathy's Hero: A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy (Truth's Harem Book 3)

by Allyson Lindt

  “Stupid child.” Zeus tried to trap her again, but she deflected the new bonds. “Hades wasn’t the most powerful of us, and you’re only a fraction of what your father was.” He flicked his fingers, and she flew across the stage.

  She landed on her feet.

  “We need to go,” Icarus said.

  Cerberus was in her thoughts too. “I second that. There’s a time and a place to wage a battle, and this isn’t either.”

  Even the reluctance flowing from Actaeon agreed.

  She hated the idea of running from Zeus, but if all her guys were on the same page, she needed to listen. She grasped the first setting that popped into her head, and they vanished from the party.

  Lexi and the guys appeared in the middle of a city street. She leaned against a nearby building, needing the extra support. Her legs refused to hold her up, and her arms were rubber. She didn’t know if it was the stress and terror pulsing inside, or because fighting Zeus took so much out of her.

  Actaeon traced a thumb over her bottom lip, drawing her attention. A fresh surge of energy filled her, chasing away some of the weariness. “You were brilliant,” he said.

  She didn’t feel brilliant. She felt stupid and naive and weak.

  “Where are we?” Icarus asked.

  She winced. “New Orleans.” In the middle of the city, on a sidewalk packed with foot traffic. She probably could have picked a more discreet place to take them.

  “This looks bad.” Cerberus pointed her toward a TV visible through a restaurant window. It was the news, with a clip of the party broadcast in the upper left corner. The headline at the bottom of the screen said Public Enemy Number One. Only Approach if You Can Kill.

  Zeus didn’t waste any time in getting that up. He’d covered at least one contingency.

  Icarus grabbed her elbow and turned her attention back to the street. “Zee.”

  People looked between them and their phones, and cut a wide berth around them. Something told her it wasn’t because she and the guys were so well dressed.

  “We need to be somewhere else,” Actaeon said. “Now.”

  No fucking kidding.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Cerberus smelled the fear and disdain radiating from the crowds that cut a wide path around them. Tension coiled inside, as she prepared for an attack. It didn’t matter that Zeus had warned the world Lexi was a god. People did stupid things in the name of heroics.

  Why had he supported this gathering idea?

  “I have a place,” Icarus said.

  Understanding drifted from Lexi. “Is it still standing?”

  “I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it.”

  Their surroundings were replaced with a stone, two-story house, with a field stretching in one direction and a forest in the other.

  Cerberus had a good idea where they were; days ago, Lexi showed him what happened with Icarus. It was beautiful. He loved seeing her so happy, especially with a man who adored her.

  There was a twinge of envy, but only because he wanted the chance to experience similar, but unique to them, moments with her.

  Then again, part of her trusted him enough to let him traipse through her past, including those bits that had been hidden from her. He couldn’t ignore the kind of trust that took.

  “I can’t believe you still have this place.” Actaeon's tone was subdued. He turned to Lexi. “How did you know about it?”

  “Is this information he’s not privy to?” Cerberus sent the mental question to Lexi.

  “Probably. But in his case, it’s not mine alone to share.”

  Icarus approached the front door and traced his fingers over the intricate carving before pushing the door open. “She and I spent longer here than you did.”

  Actaeon frowned. “She and I spent a day arguing about whether or not being stuck in the underworld was a quest, and the two of you lived a lifetime in our old house?”

  “You do what you can with the time you’re given.” Icarus stepped inside.

  Actaeon was irritated with the response. Cerberus felt it crawl along his skin. It was an interesting sort of feedback loop.

  “I still have to focus, to stop you all from overlapping.” Lexi’s thought was apologetic.

  “It’s fine. There are many things worse than an intimate connection like this.” The antagonism sparking between Icarus and Actaeon was one of them.

  “The nostalgia is nice,” Cerberus said aloud. “But if Clio was poking around in your heads and reporting back to Zeus, we’re not the only ones who know—”

  Thunder clapped loud enough to drown out the rest of his thought. Lightning lit up an abruptly black sky. It struck various points in the house, in a succession of blinding flashes.

  The stone didn’t ignite, but the plants and aged interior sparked into a blazing inferno in an instant.

  “No.” Lexi breathed deep, waved her fingers, and extinguished most of the fire.

  It didn’t matter. Only the exterior of the structure remained.

  “The earth is my realm.” Zeus said from behind. “I’m tired of playing your games. There’s nowhere you can go, no place to hide, where I can’t find you.”

  “That’s a bit super-villain-cliché.” That didn’t mean Cerberus had a reason to share his thought aloud and make things worse.

  Lexi snorted. “Right?”

  “Except your super villain is a lot smarter than Dr. Evil,” Icarus joined in.

  That was definitely weird. Kind of cool, though.

  Actaeon cleared his throat. “You do know I can’t hear the three of you?”

  “Do you take anything seriously?” Every time Zeus spoke, thunder rumbled across the sky. “This is one of many reasons I won’t allow you to assume Hades’ role. I don’t have a spare, but you’ll be a lot easier to lock away than he was.”

  “My calendar’s a little full right now. Can we get back to you... never?” Lexi sounded flippant, but her terror radiated in suffocating waves.

  “He can’t find us in the underworld,” Cerberus said.

  “I’m trying. Something is keeping us from leaving.” That explained parts of her terror.

  Zeus strode across the scorched grass. “Don’t go. We’re just getting started. You and I need to talk. Alone.”

  Cerberus had half a blink to register Icarus and Actaeon had vanished, before he found himself on a street corner on Los Angeles.

  “Lexi. Bring me back.”

  “I can’t. He’s stopping me.”

  It was good that the mental connection still existed. As her fear spiked through it, that wasn’t as comforting as Cerberus wanted. If he ever got the chance, he was going to rip out Zeus’ throat, watch him suffer and heal, and then start the process over again.

  LEXI DIDN’T HAVE THE ability to project false bravado at Zeus and dodge his attacks at the same time. After the first faux-smug smile, when a splash of lightning zinged through her, she dropped the masks.

  It didn’t matter if she vanished from one spot and reappeared in another, he struck her the instant she showed up. Whatever he’d put in place to keep her from bringing the men back, it also kept her from leaving.

  She suspected she could keep blinking around the property for hours or days, but each time Zeus caught her—and it was impossible to avoid something that moved at the speed of light—another burst of pain speared through her.

  “At any point in this entire affair, you only had to be less stubborn.” Zeus’ casual tone was far more intimidating than the one that shook the earth. He might as well be asking her for the time. “You’ve had your entire life to learn to stay in the shadows, and you were doing so well. Why did you think it was a good idea to step into the spotlight?”

  “I didn’t want the leave the shadows.” That wasn’t completely true. She’d be happy to still be an unknown face, but there were parts of this life she wouldn’t surrender, in addition to the men she loved. “You and yours dragged me out.”

  “No. Your father dragg
ed you out. You could have hidden again, once Hades was banished. I sent you and Actaeon to Greece. None of us cared if you lived that life, as long as you left us alone.”

  A bark of a laugh slipped out. “You realize Hades wasn’t weaker at that point?”

  With each question, he paused in the attacks, to allow her time to answer. If she didn’t vanish the instant she finished her thought, he struck her again.

  “I do. And another simple request. Get Icarus to build a new prison. Another thing you couldn’t manage. Because... spite? Why?”

  “You didn’t even keep Hades locked away for half a century last time. What made you think—” She screamed in agony when a larger bolt seared through her. She dropped to one knee, needing to catch her breath.

  Fuck this. She vanished, then reappeared behind Zeus, summoned swords in hand, and aimed at his head.

  He blinked out of sight too, and lightning zinged through her body.

  She couldn’t do this alone. Desperation clawed at her senses.

  “I’m not only speaking about recently.” Zeus was near the house now. He wiggled his fingers, and one corner caved in. Rock tumbled to the ground, and ancient mortar floated into the air.

  “Right. Because you’ve known where I was for years.”

  “Since you met Conner. It didn’t matter that he kept most of the story to himself. Only one dead god could have had any children your age.” He flicked a hand in her direction, and the electricity surged from the ground, zapping through her shoes and slicing like razors up her legs.

  She was wrong. She couldn’t keep this up for days. A few more minutes, if she was lucky. Weariness weighed down her limbs, and her head pounded with the overload of pain. “It wasn’t my decision. Not really. Aphrodite dumped me specifically where Actaeon would find me. She’s the one pulling my strings.”

  “No,” Zeus said plainly. “We like to play the fate card, but that’s an excuse. I’ve spent centuries building up to this point, because I chose to. I struck Cronus down because I chose to. You walked into that maze, into the arena in Las Vegas, into the underworld, and into the celebration tonight because you chose it. If you do nothing else in your short time as a goddess, own your decisions.”

  Lexi could voice her agreement—everything he said fell in line with what she believed. She chose to keep the thoughts to herself. “What now? What’s this great, grand plan of yours? This thing you’ve been building up to for so long?”

  “I’m not a two-dimensional villain, who’s going to tell you my entire plan, so you can foil me at the last minute. I don’t have the kind of ego that requires your approval.”

  “You have a different kind of ego, but mostly because my approval doesn’t grant you more power.”

  Zeus chuckled. “Clever. And true. What would you do with the information? Go on national TV and tell everyone my evil intentions? They tried that in the late twenty-teens, and it didn’t work.”

  “Last time a god told me I couldn’t do something, I used the information to destroy him.” She’d like to believe she was keeping him talking so she could figure out an escape. Really, it was because he’d stopped zapping her so they could talk.

  A bolt of lightning, larger than any of the previous ones, struck her where she stood, and she couldn’t smother her scream.

  “All you need to know is that we’ll do this a little longer, until I believe you’re battered, but not a babbling idiot, then we’ll show the world what happens to a god who threatens me, as I bind you away more tightly than Hades ever was.”

  “You need Icarus, to do that. He’s not going to help.”

  Zeus studied her for a moment. “He’s not the only one who can do something like this. He was simply the easiest to convince. The first time for the challenge, and the second using you as a curiosity. I hope you’re getting used to being the spectacle people want to stare at but not actually deal with. It’s about to become your eternity.”

  Another attack stole her ability to respond and left her crumbled in a ball on the scorched earth, using the last of her strength not to dissolve into tears of agony.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Lexi was out of ideas. She wanted to try a similar trick to what she’d done at the celebration, and share Actaeon’s energy. What Zeus had done to keep her away from the men was also blocking her from that bond.

  If she called out to Icarus or Cerberus, she’d hear their response, but they were gratefully silent. She didn’t think she could handle the weight of their concern or the empty assurances of you can do this. Get up.

  Her thoughts were giving her enough of that.

  “Don’t tell me you’re already done.” Zeus asked. He sounded haughty, but he kept his distance.

  Actaeon was wrong. She didn’t need to learn to fight in the shadows. She wanted to stab this asshole in the throat.

  Part of that might be traces of what Cerberus was thinking.

  What would Actaeon do? How had he dealt with Hades? She’d watched three of those fights. He always had someone else with him. Even for as strong as he was, he didn’t tackle a god alone.

  That didn’t help.

  A rapid-fire series of bolts struck her body at various points, until her skin felt like it would crackle and peel and fall off. There were no visible injuries, but she felt the pain to her bones.

  “It’s time to take you out of here, then,” Zeus said.

  No. If they left, if he locked her away, she might lose her last chance. Panic welled inside.

  He’s not killing you. You don’t have to kill him.

  The thought was hers, but not. She couldn’t get away, though. Even if she could, he’d find her anywhere on the planet.

  So go someplace else.

  Where...?

  Of course. She only needed enough of a break in Zeus’ prison to leave. If she could get out of here, she could grab the guys and go home to regroup. Her home.

  How?

  It hurt to reach inside and access her power, but it was worth pushing past the pain. She vanished at the same time she created an illusion of herself, in the exact spot and pose she’d been in.

  Zeus bound the illusion the way he had Lexi in the celebration, and she made it react accordingly. The instant he blinked out of sight, his shields dropped.

  She extended her senses, grabbed three familiar forms, and brought them all back to the underworld.

  Zeus should figure out her trick as she and the men landed on the other plane. In a way, it was a shame she couldn’t watch the god’s reaction through her illusion’s eyes.

  Not being dead or imprisoned was a better reward, though.

  Cerberus wrapped her in a full hug, squeezing her tight. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m better now.” The energy of this place rushed into her, filling in cracks and soothing her from the inside out.

  No wonder Hades was fine after the fight in Las Vegas.

  Icarus and Actaeon joined in the group hug.

  Then again, Hades didn’t have this kind of love and support.

  Mentally, Lexi wanted to curl up here and hide in this embrace forever. They could all live down here, in the land of the dead, for eternity, and Zeus would leave them alone.

  In a lot of ways, it was tempting. Even with the warmth around her, despair hovered under the surface. “I keep getting us hurt. I don’t know how to make it stop.” She looked at Icarus. “You’ve lost two homes now, because of me.”

  “No. Not because of you. Don’t think that ever for a heartbeat.” His tone was firm. “Hades and Zeus did that. You didn’t. Besides, those were just buildings. They can be repaired and replaced. Wherever we all are is home. And anyplace we’ve been, whether it’s standing or not, we still have the memories. Those are worth more than anything.”

  She didn’t expect the words to bring so much comfort, but they wrapped around her, along with three pairs of loving arms, and chased away her sadness.

  “What we do next is most important?” Icarus said.


  “We go kick Zeus’ ass.” Actaeon’s answer came easily.

  Lexi couldn’t argue. For all of Zeus’ thoughts on choice, he actually meant there was no right choice except those that suited his purposes. And for as tired as she was after that fight, she was exhausted from a lifetime of watching him impose his will on the world.

  “I want to take a nap, eat a really good sandwich, and then make a plan,” she said

  It was a next step. What worried her was she didn’t even have a hint of the step the step after that.

  ICARUS WAS IMPRESSED with the saloon, but he wasn’t surprised Lexi had figured all of this out—building the town, drawing in the lost souls, and making it her own.

  When he found a set of stairs leading to the roof, he headed up. Taking a breather after what they’d experienced felt wrong. Zeus seemed focused on finding Lexi, though. If she wasn’t there for him to pursue, he ceased to be a threat.

  There were stars up here, bright and dotted across the black velvet of the sky. He recognized the constellations as the same ones that appeared above his house on summer nights.

  Apparently she’d figured out how to cut a visible hole through to the sky without his help. Seeing all of this made his heart swell. He had such a wonderful woman, sexy and with brains.

  It seemed selfish to want just a little more, but he did. Even spending a few weeks around Actaeon, after living another life in the home they’d shared, brought back a surge of emotion Icarus had denied for centuries. An empty longing. Were a couple of centuries enough to mature them, when millennia hadn’t been?

  “May we talk?” Actaeon’s soft question wove into the stillness of the night.

  Speak of the devil. Icarus could tell him no and walk away. But he’d been considering searching Actaeon out anyway. “Sure. What’s up?”