by Aimee Carter
“Well, Kate,” said Walter from his throne of glass, “we have all gathered. What is so important that it could not possibly wait?”
I stood. James sat across from me, and I focused on him as my nerves fluttered. Start simple. No need to tell them what I’d bargained until it became necessary. I couldn’t give them any reason to turn Cronus down.
“Cronus wants to call a truce,” I said, and a ripple of stunned whispers spread throughout the council. Only James didn’t move, his eyes locked on mine. He knew the price.
“Absolutely not,” said Walter, his voice booming with thunder. “We will not negotiate with a Titan.”
“Kate, what’s going on?” said my mother quietly, but I didn’t waver. If I looked at her, if I saw the concern in her eyes, if I let the confusion in her voice crack my determination, I had no idea what I would do. And I couldn’t take that chance.
“He’s sent a list of gods who have sided with Calliope,” I said, holding out the scroll to Walter, but he made no move to take it. “As a token of his intentions.”
“I’m sure he did,” said Walter. “And as soon as he has our complacency and his freedom, he will turn on us and once again attempt to destroy the council. I will not allow it to happen.”
“He’s going to destroy the council anyway,” I said. “We don’t have the power to fight him and win. You might be able to drag this war out another ten years, but you’ll lose eventually. Humanity will be destroyed, and Cronus will kill us all. That’s inevitable. So what’s the harm in trying to negotiate? He’s willing to make a deal. Doesn’t that mean something?”
“Not when you are asking us to negotiate with a Titan,” said Walter. “Cronus does not settle. His endgame will always be our destruction, and he will not stop until he has his way. I understand you are new to this, Kate, but that is no excuse for such stubborn ignorance.”
“Walter,” said my mother sharply, “that’s enough. Kate has a point. Perhaps it would be wise of us to at least consider—”
“Father’s right,” said Dylan, rising to his feet. The purple circles under his eyes did nothing to hide the way they sparkled with bone-chilling zeal. “There is no sense in attempting to bargain with Cronus. He will see it only as a weakness, and we cannot allow him to believe we have any holes in our armor that he could exploit for his own gain.”
The way he eyed me as he said it made my skin crawl. “And by that, you mean me,” I said. “You think I’m a liability.”
“You’ve been no use to us so far,” said Dylan. “If anything, you’ve only made things worse. Cronus didn’t touch Athens until you left—”
“She distracted him for us and bought us more time,” snapped James.
“—you seem to delight in distracting the council and insisting we do things we know won’t work—”
“She’s the one who came up with the idea of searching the Parthenon.”
“—and to top it off, you nearly got Henry and your own son killed—”
“He’s the one who decided to go after her without backup—”
“You will both silence yourselves immediately,” said Henry, but it was too late. Dylan might as well have punched me in the stomach.
“I know,” I said in a strangled voice. “I know, all right? I’m trying to make things right. I don’t want seven billion people to die because of my stupidity. I don’t want to lose any one of you. And I’m trying—”
“Then maybe you should try a little less,” said Dylan, and two thrones down from him, Irene rose.
“That’s enough,” she said in a dangerously soft voice that mirrored her father’s. Our father’s. “There is no shame in exploring other avenues. One who jumps into combat purely for the thrill of the fight is a fool, particularly when he risks innocent lives while doing so.”
“Are you calling me a fool, daughter?” said Walter. Irene’s hand twitched at her side, but she didn’t back off. I could have kissed her.
“No, Father. I’m merely pointing out that you have options. We do not even know what Cronus wants or why he wants it. Surely he must have given Kate some kind of hint.”
Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward me once more. Great. I wiped my palms on my pants. “He wants a life,” I said, mustering up as much conviction as I could. They had to believe me. “He’s been stuck in the Underworld for so long that he just wants a chance to live again. He thinks you won’t let him.”
“No, we will not,” said Walter. Irene gave him a look and gestured for me to continue.
“He’s agreed to stop attacking us if you stop attacking him. He won’t hurt anyone else. And—and he’ll turn over Calliope, or at least he won’t stop you from taking her back.”
“In exchange for what?” said Dylan, and though Irene shushed him, he continued. “We let him go? Do you know what it took to contain him in the first place?”
I hesitated. “He won’t go back on his word. He knows the consequences if he does.”
“And what, pray tell, are the consequences for the most powerful being in the universe flexing his muscles?” said Dylan. “What could he possibly want more than total control over everything?”
Silence. My heart—my stupid, useless heart that cared too much about everything and everyone—hammered painfully, and my breathing grew ragged. I wasn’t mortal anymore, but at that moment, I felt more human than I ever had in my life. “He wants me.”
The seconds ticked by. Walter frowned deeply, and Irene looked confused. From behind me, I could sense Henry’s stare, but I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t.
At long last, Dylan snorted. “You? You’re nothing to him.”
I focused on James again, silently pleading with him to explain. He nodded and stood grimly.
“During our trek through the Underworld, Kate had an...encounter with Cronus,” said James carefully. Dylan whistled suggestively, but he stopped when he caught sight of Henry behind me. Whatever look he was giving Dylan, I was glad I couldn’t see it. “She spoke to him and stopped him from attacking us. Ava and I didn’t believe it at first, but he let us go through the Underworld unhindered after that.”
“The encounter in Henry’s palace,” said my mother, her splintered voice damn near breaking my heart. “Calliope left Ava untouched because of what she’d done to Nicholas. But we never did understand why Cronus did not harm Kate.”
Once again, everyone focused on me, waiting for me to speak. It was the silence behind me that was unbearable though, and I reached for Henry. All I touched was air.
After an eternal moment, however, his warm fingers found mine, and I let out a sigh of relief. He understood. I could do this. “When Milo was born and Calliope took him from me, Cronus was there,” I said. “I begged him to help, and he said—he said if I promised to be his queen, he would let me have Milo again. And he would protect him.”
Walter’s frown deepened, and a few seats down from him, Dylan rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you the little siren?”
I ignored him. “I agreed. I didn’t mean it,” I added quickly. “But I said yes because—”
“Because Milo’s your kid,” said James. “You don’t need to explain.”
I gave him a grateful look. Henry’s grip on my hand tightened, and I continued. “When I go see Milo, Cronus is always there. He took Henry’s form at first, and I thought— I didn’t realize who he was. I thought he was Henry. It was stupid, I know, but James told me who he really was. And I told him Rhea refused to help us.”
“Fantastic,” said Dylan. “While you were having your little affair, did you happen to tell him any other closely guarded secrets?”
“That’s enough, Dylan,” said my mother.
Dylan opened his mouth to retort, but before another fight broke out, I blurted, “He thinks Henry’s dead. He doesn’t know our real numbers, and he believes we have no choice but to agree to a truce. And we don’t,” I added. “Not unless we want to risk the entire world.”
“If we surrender and allo
w Cronus to be released, you do realize that he will want you?” said Walter, and I nodded. “Yet this is something you are willing to do?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “I don’t like it, but if it’s the only way to stop this war, I’ll do it.” And Milo would be safe. That alone would be worth it.
James winced. “You really need to get over your martyr complex. One of these days it’s going to get you killed.”
Behind me, a pair of feet shuffled, and Henry let go of my hand as he stood. “Brother,” he said to Walter, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me to him. “If you allow Kate to do this, you will no longer have my cooperation. She is my queen. I have already completed her coronation, and I will not allow anyone, not even a Titan, to usurp my claim.”
His claim? Before I could say a word, Walter cut me off. “Very well. Then we will not accept Cronus’s truce.”
“And the list of traitors?” said Dylan, eyeing the scroll with an unsavory gleam in his eyes. What did he plan on doing, hunting down each and every one of them? Somehow that didn’t feel too far from the truth.
“I will deal with them personally,” said Walter, and with a wave of his hand, the scroll vanished. “We have already lost the alliance of most of the other gods. That is not news.”
“So what? You’re going to let all of those people die while you fight a war you know you can’t win?” I said, and Henry’s grip around my shoulders tightened. But I wasn’t his claim, and I wouldn’t let something like this go just because Walter decided the discussion was over. He wasn’t always right. My childhood was proof of that.
“No,” said Walter. “I intend on winning the war. Now if you will excuse us, Kate, we’ve got tomorrow’s attack to discuss. Given your closeness to Cronus, it would be best if you did not hear our plans.”
No one spoke up in my defense. Not Henry, not James, not even my mother. After several seconds, I swallowed the knot in my throat and twisted out of Henry’s grip. If they didn’t want me around, then fine, but I wasn’t going to twiddle my thumbs for the next decade while they got everyone killed.
I was halfway to the guest room when Henry caught up to me. He put his hand on my arm, and I shrugged it off, too furious to say anything. He’d promised that our relationship would be between equals. That I wouldn’t belong to him. That wasn’t how we worked, and how dare he insinuate I was his for any reason other than the fact that I wanted to be?
I stormed into my room and tried to slam the door, but he caught it. “Kate, please, will you listen to me?”
“Why should I?” I prowled from one end of the room to the other, glaring at him and silently daring him to come closer. He only moved forward enough to close the door behind him. “You won’t listen to me—why, because I’m young? Because I’m a girl? What is it, Henry? Why am I suddenly nothing more than your claim?”
He exhaled. “You know I do not think of you in that way—”
“Sure could have fooled me lately.”
“That is not fair. I am trying to keep my family intact, and the only way to do so is to speak a language my brother understands.”
“Oh, so he’s the misogynist?”
“Yes,” said Henry. “He has never understood partnership. Not in his marriage, not within the council, not even among his siblings. It is not fair, but he is the head of the council, and we must play this game his way.”
I collapsed on the bed. “Great. I spend my entire life wanting a family, and when I finally get one, it’s full of people who think I’m no better than dirt.”
Henry took a few cautious steps toward me, but stopped when I gave him a look. “I wish you would have told me about your deal with Cronus.”
“Up until two days ago, you were in a coma,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but you have had ample opportunity to do so since. And it seems to me as if the details of your arrangement were made much more recently.”
He watched me with his unwavering gaze, and I looked away.
“I am not angry with you, Kate,” he said gently. “I cannot imagine what you endured while they held you captive, and truthfully I would have done the same if our positions were reversed. But as you are my partner, I am yours. Regardless of the circumstances, it should have been a decision we made together.”
Tears sprung in my eyes. Not because I was mad at him, but because he was right. “I’m sorry. I was afraid you’d take off after him, and you’re still so weak—”
“I accept your apology,” said Henry. “And I ask that you accept mine, as well. I will not let you go, Kate, because I love you. Not because I believe you belong to me. Anyone who has been around you for five minutes knows better than to think that.”
“Apparently my own father doesn’t,” I mumbled, and Henry sighed.
“Yes, well. It’s easy to chalk this whole mess up to Walter. He is the one who never gave Calliope the respect and love she deserved, after all.”
“You’d think he would’ve learned from that.”
“You would think.” He sat down on the bed, and I didn’t move away. “I want to get our son back as badly as you do, but this is not the way.”
My eyes welled up again. When would I stop being on the verge of tears? When I finally held Milo? When Calliope was defeated? When Cronus was back in his own personal corner of hell? “I don’t know how to be me without him,” I said. “Everything I do, it’s like—it’s like this need is pulling me in one direction, and I can’t function without going toward it. And when I’m not, I’m empty. He needs me. He needs us, and we’re not doing anything to get him back. We’ve practically abandoned him.”
Henry lay down on his side so he was facing me. “Do you really believe that?” he said, sandwiching my hand in his. “I am certain Milo does not. You said so yourself that you believe he knows when you are there.”
I rubbed my eyes with my free hand. “I want him back, Henry. I want us to be a family.”
“We are a family.” He kissed my forehead, my cheek, and finally brushed his lips against mine. “We cannot pretend it has been easy, but we love each other unconditionally, and that is what matters. We will get him back. I swear it.”
My chin trembled. “How?”
“I do not know yet, but I will find a way. We will find a way together.”
I kissed him back, not caring if he could taste my tears. “How am I supposed to help you when everyone thinks I’m worthless and won’t teach me how to use my abilities?”
“I do not think you are worthless,” he said, his breath warm on my cheek. “Far from it, I assure you. I will teach you anything you desire.”
“Really?” I said, and he nodded.
“Really.”
I hugged him, burying my face in the crook of his neck, and let out a soft sob. That was all I allowed myself, though; one sob, and now it was time to get to work. Now it was time to prove I deserved my place on the council.
I only had to do one thing first. “Do you want to see him?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
I managed a watery smile. “Make sure Cronus can’t see you.”
“I will.”
Once again I sank into my vision, pulling Henry along with me, and this time no one interrupted us. Together we fought through the quicksand until the bedroom dissolved around us and we surfaced on the other side.
Milo lay in his crib, his eyes shut. It had to be well past midnight on the island. Cronus stood in the corner closest to the door, his arms crossed as if he was waiting for me, but I ignored him. I didn’t know how to tell him that Walter had turned him down. If he didn’t know already.
Henry and I leaned over Milo’s crib like I thought we had a dozen times before, but this time it was really him. The three of us were together, or at least as together as we could be for now.
“He’s beautiful,” whispered Henry. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t, not with Cronus hovering nearby. I smiled, careful to keep my eyes on Milo, and Henry touched my back. He understo
od.
“My darling,” said Cronus, appearing on my other side and taking my hand. “Have you news of the truce?”
I couldn’t tell him the truth, not yet. I had no idea what he would do to prove his dominance—kill another million people? Destroy all of Greece? Even if everything else stemmed from the way Walter had treated Calliope, this was on me. And I had to stall.
“They haven’t reached a decision yet,” I said, my stare not wavering from Milo. “They need time.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Henry gave me a searching look. I ignored it.
“Very well. I hope they do not take too long.” He began to knead my shoulder, and I winced. “Why are you so tense, my dear?”
Because Henry was alive and standing two inches from my elbow. Because the council—or at least certain members—blamed me for everything. Because if I made one wrong move, all of this would be over. “Do you really have to ask?” I said, echoing Henry.
“No, I suppose I do not,” said Cronus, and he moved behind me to massage both of my shoulders. Henry scowled and stepped away.
“Please don’t do that,” I said softly, but Cronus continued anyway. Henry moved to the other side of the crib so he could look me straight in the eye, and I pressed my lips together. Did he understand that I didn’t want this?
“Soon you will be my queen,” said Cronus, his lips tickling my ear. The look on Henry’s face was murderous. “You have not changed your mind, have you, my dear?”
My eyes locked on Henry. He had to understand it was all an act. “No,” I said. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Good girl,” murmured Cronus, and Henry straightened, his hands balled into fists as if he were seconds away from decking Cronus.
“I’m going to find Calliope,” said Henry. “You stay here.”
My eyes widened, but despite my silent protest, Henry leaned across the cradle to kiss my cheek. At least he understood.