by Leia Stone
I snorted out some laughter, my breath misty in the frosted air. “Can you blame him? You’re all bodyguard with me lately. Case in point, a few hours ago when you dropped me back at my place because it was ‘safest for me.’”
His growl was low but not angry. “There’s not a thing in this world I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. I don’t blame Hephaestus at all, but the bastard would also know I mean them no harm if he’d bother to fucking talk to me.”
“What happened?”
His eyes grew distant, staring out across the miles of barren ice and snow. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say that there was betrayal on both sides, and we each have a reason to be angry. Hep is a stubborn bastard who never forgives. Ever. Everything is very black and white to him.”
“Ugh, that’s hard,” I murmured, thinking of all the “gray situations” I’d lived through in my life. “Well, let’s hope his wife is a little more reasonable.”
We needed them more than they needed us, and that was never a great place to stand during negotiations. But I would do … say, whatever it took to convince them to help. Because if he could create a box to contain Death, then we might be able to save Cronus from having to take that Sin in long enough to kill him.
Here’s hoping this “in” Selene had with the goddess of love was enough.
We walked through the freezing snow for a few minutes, stopping at what looked like a waterfall of ice. It was draped over a tree…
Cronus tapped it once and the ice shattered, silently crashing to the ground. I blinked at the sight behind it: a metal door with braided ironwork that was quite beautiful, but certainly unusual for a natural land like this. Cronus murmured words in another language and the door opened, not making a sound. Without wasting time, he stepped inside, pulling me right along with him.
“Whoa,” I breathed, looking up at the giant dome entryway we’d just walked into. It wasn’t at all the claustrophobic cave I’d been expecting, and were those floors travertine? The gods had some taste. The stone walls gave the space an earthy feel, but the tall ceiling with plenty of lighting made it homely and open. Best of all was the blast of warmth that came from inside.
“Can I help you with something, Cronus?” a rich buttery female voice called behind us. “Or did you just come to piss off my husband again?”
We both spun and Aphrodite’s eyes immediately snapped to me. Her strawberry blonde hair fell to her waist in soft waves. She wore a pale pink silk dress with twisted rope straps that clung to her substantial boobs. Holy shit she was hot.
#WomanCrush #FellowBigBoobClubMember
“Who is this?” She gestured to me before Cronus could answer her earlier question. Her full lips pulled into a red pout.
I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts. I kept obsessing over her looks even though I wasn’t into chicks.
#ImTurning
“I’m Selene’s daughter,” I said. No time to waste. Might as well get right to it.
Her face lit up. “Daughter!” She grasped her chest and strode over to us, bringing the scent of rose petals and brine with her. Reaching out, she touched my hair. “Yes. Oh sweet Selene. She always wanted children but was never able to bear them.”
My heart dropped in that moment. I … didn’t know that. Is that why she had to use my mom’s body to conceive? How sad…
“You two were close?” I asked, chewing my lip.
She nodded, seemingly forgetting Cronus. “Like sisters. I would do anything for my dear Selene.”
Relief rushed through me. “Oh good. Because we need your help.”
She looked at Cronus, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “We?” She stepped back a pace.
I cleared my throat. “I … I need your help. Selene’s daughter.”
She looked like she was mulling things over. “Come, child. We’ll have tea.” She beckoned for me to follow her through an open set of double doors.
Cronus and I stepped forward and she waved her hand. “Cronus, you can wait outside.”
She still had her back to us, and while Cronus growled he did nudge me forward. “She’s harmless. Mostly,” he murmured.
I nodded, remembering he’d said the same about Rhea before she tried to kill me.
The double doors opened into a room full of sculptures and pictures of her. There was an entire wall of mirrors that she was currently brushing her hair in. “Tell me everything, love,” she said and snapped her fingers. A shirtless man appeared from the back of the room, where another partly hidden door was, carrying a tea tray with snacks.
Holy shit. Dude was … yum. I mean Cronus was my thing, but not gonna lie, this dude was eye candy: muscles everywhere, hair as light as a sunbeam, skin as bronze as a professional surfer.
Once he set the tray down, she blew him a kiss and he shot her a slow sexy smile, before walking away. I found myself wondering if she somehow … entranced people. Like, could she get them to do her bidding? Because I was feeling pretty infatuated with her.
Shaking my head, I launched into the story. I told her of the sins and the necklace and how it almost killed me. “The sins now reside with Cronus, but he can’t house them forever. We need a box that will be strong enough to hold them for an eternity so this doesn’t happen again.” “Ahh,” she sipped her tea. “You need my husband to forge this strong box? Cronus already asked him and he said no.”
I nodded. “But, I mean … maybe he wasn’t understanding that without this box, the whole world ends and all the humans that are infatuated with you won’t be around anymore,” I rushed to add.
She looked at one of her sculptures. “Yes that would be awful. Hmm … I’m not sure though. Heppy can be so temperamental when it comes to Cronus.”
“And…” I wanted to lay it on thick, “it would save me, Selene’s daughter, because I am the living box and we don’t know how Death will—”
She cut me off, her laughter ringing out. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m just fucking with you. I’ll talk to him, but you need to talk to Cronus about apologizing. Hep will want that.”
Oh great. An apology? Was Cronus capable of such a thing?
I swallowed hard, resolving myself to agree to anything to ensure this happened. “Consider it done.”
#BlowJobForApology #HadToWork
“Do you think you can convince your husband to help us?”
Aphrodite gave me a wry grin. “Oh, honey, I can convince a man to do anything.”
My mouth went dry. This woman was … dangerous. I also wanted to be her when I grew up. “Come back later tonight and Hep will start on the box.”
My eyes widened. “Tonight? The world is ending now.”
She shrugged. “He’s on his annual hunting trip off-world. Won’t be back until later.”
Off-world. She’d fucking said off-world, right?
With no other option, I stood and thanked her, before going out to meet Cronus.
“Well?” He watched my expression with concern.
I grabbed his arm and waved to Aphrodite, smiling as we walked to the front door.
“She’ll help us but we need to hold things off until tonight when Hep gets back.”
“Tonight!” Cronus growled and I pulled the door back to reveal Rhea, covered in dirt and pacing in the snow.
“There you are!” she shouted at Cronus.
We stepped outside before I could tell Cronus he’d have to apologize. #OhWell #SaveThatForLater
“How did it go with Zeus?” I asked her, hoping this current mood was for another reason.
Rhea shook her head, rubbing her temples. “He’s fucking gone! Hound was beaten and tied up to a tree.”
The air crackled with electricity. “What?” Cronus said in a deadly voice.
Rhea grasped his forearm. “I have delivered Hound safely to Panacea, where he will remain while he heals. He’s going to be fine.”
#GetYourHandOffMyMan
I didn’t have to say that out loud; Cronus yanked his hand back. All of the other gods a
nd Titans started to pop in: Ares, Apollo, Okeanos, Hype, and many others I didn’t recognize. I swallowed hard. Cronus stepped forward and the skies darkened slowly until they were nearly black.
“Zeus escaped,” he growled. “Hep won’t be able to help us until later tonight, and the sins are massing now.”
Each god and Titan before us wore grim expressions. Cronus stepped forward and everyone fell back a pace. “It’s clear what I have to do. I’m going to stop time.”
There was a collective gasp, myself included.
#SayWhatNow
“Hyperion, Maisey and I, will still move, but you all will be frozen.”
Thanatos’ voice came from nowhere: “Stopping time can have disastrous consequences.” I spun around but didn’t see him. Where was he?
Cronus’ jaw ticked. “I know that. I’m the Titan of time, remember? I can handle it.”
Rhea covered her arms. “What are you going to do? Find Zeus?”
Cronus shook his head. “Fuck Zeus. That useless bastard can wait. I’m waking the other Titans—it will take all twelve of us to finish this.”
Twelve Titans. Good luck with me remembering their names.
Maybe I’d just give them numbers.
Save us all the headache.
Chapter 13
At that moment, there was a snapping sound and everyone froze. My breath hitched. The snow no longer fell from the sky … even the fucking clouds stopped!
Everything but Cronus, Hyperion, and myself.
“More Titans?” I said, my voice unnaturally high. I was a little unnerved by the way no one around us was breathing.
Cronus didn’t look my way—it was as if he was barely listening to me. Obviously he was distracted—you know, freezing time and all. Hyperion reached out and grasped my hand. “There are twelve of us total. We’re the main group so to say, but the others are still powerful. Taking them from the underworld will have … effects. It’s why we didn’t do it before.”
“That’s fucking right, so don’t do it!”
Thanatos’s voice again. I looked around widely, trying to figure out where he was.
Hyperion grimaced. “He’s currently in the underworld projecting his voice.”
“Are we going to lis—?”
I didn’t even get half my sentence out before Hyperion zapped me to some … green forest. Cronus was right beside us, remaining in deep concentration, staring off into the distance. There was a hiker just beyond the path, mid-step, frozen.
My fucking boyfriend froze the entire earth! #ShookButAlso #TurnedOn
“My wife Theia is this way,” Hyperion said, his voice softening. “I instructed our son Helios to bury her here.” He started off down the path, Cronus following us in his current zombie-like fashion.
I looked back at him. “Is he okay?”
“I’m … fine,” Cronus mumbled.
Hyperion nodded. “Just takes a lot of brain power to do what he’s doing.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” #NotReally #TooHard
“Thanatos is gonna … be pissed,” Cronus muttered.
“He’ll have to get over it. Earth needs the Titans more,” Hyperion said.
“Umm, clue me in here. What does it matter if we resurrect all twelve Titans? How does that affect the underworld?” I struggled to keep up with the speed-walking of the Titans. When Cronus noticed, he scooped me up into his arms and carried me. As long as he was by my side, I’d never have to actually work out and that was something I’d marry a guy over.
“The underworld was a different place when we first arrived,” Hyperion told me.
“Dark. Hell hole,” Cronus ground out.
Hyperion nodded. “Hades used to run things … differently. When we arrived, Hades fled, because he was working with Zeus. Thanatos stepped up, taking over, putting everything back into order. With our power, Thanatos was able to spruce the place up, make it a viable afterlife that people enjoy coming to.”
I frowned. “I guess that's good.”
Hyperion nodded. “No one wants to spend an eternity being chased by Erynomus.”
I frowned in confusion.
“Demon. Eats flesh and souls,” Cronus said roughly. Sweat beaded his brow and I signaled for him to put me down.
“Yeah, let’s not have soul and flesh-eating demons chase after my two moms. That’s a good plan,” I said as Cronus set my feet back onto the earth.
“Here it is.” Hyperion sounded wistful. Clearly he loved his wife … my grandma?
“So will this demon soul eater come back once we call up the Titans?” I queried.
Both of the men shrugged. “Probably, but that’s Thanatos’ problem. Not ours.” Hyperion was focused on the fact that he was about to see his wife again, his voice clipped and unconcerned.
“You fuckers, don’t do this!” Thanatos voice called out from nowhere again.
“Stop. Or I’ll freeze you too,” Cronus warned.
The voice went silent but it felt like his presence was still there.
Hyperion knelt and held out his hand, blasting a little shot of light magic at the dirt at the base of a beautiful tree.
I knelt as well, my knees on the grass. “Why did you bury her here?”
Hyperion gave me a lopsided grin. “We conceived Selene under this very tree.”
#Vomit #TMI #GrandparentsBumpingUglies #GetMyTherapist
“Maybe we don’t need to talk about the tree anymore,” I said with a shudder.
I saw a small smile play on his face, but he was mostly focused on retrieving an old bone from the ground. If you’d have told me six months ago that I’d be digging up old people’s graves I’d have smacked you in the face. And yet here we were.
I looked back up at Cronus, not liking the way he was so out of it. I understood it, but it was disconcerting.
He must have felt my gaze on him. “I’m trying to get a read on where the sins are without restarting time,” he said, slowly and deliberately. “Holding the world, I can’t hold them too, so they’re out there…”
“Maisey and I got this,” Hype assured him.
“We do?” I looked nervously at the bone in his hand, remembering all the times I’d blacked out or thrown up from these little adventures. Sometimes I felt like these Titans had so much more faith in me than I could ever have in myself.
Hype started to mutter an incantation, and blue arcs of magic flared off of his body. I ducked down to keep the magic from touching me, and watched as he stroked the bone tenderly.
Weird. #TryingNotToJudge #DefJudging
“Give me a boost,” he called out to me, and I placed two hands on his back, the sins within stirring as Titan magic swirled inside of me.
“I sense Zeus,” Cronus suddenly said.
I stiffened, feeling sick from the magical drain as Hyperion pulled on everything I had to resurrect his wife. “Umm, could you be more specific? Like is he in another country or a hundred feet away.” I eyed the tree line warily.
Cronus screwed up his face. “He’s … in another … realm.”
Relief crashed through me. Zeus being in another realm was perfect. Now he just had to fucking stay there. Now that we had our plan of waking all the Titans, we didn’t have time to fight that asshole.
“I got this,” Hyperion told me, and I nodded, peeling my hands off him and walking over to Cronus.
“Where are the sins?” I asked him.
His breathing was so slow, almost like he himself was half frozen. For a long moment he didn’t speak and I knew better than to bother him.
Finally his brow furrowed. “Right smack dab in the middle of the ocean. About to converge.”
“The ocean?”
He nodded. “Bermuda Triangle. Some energy there is lending them power.”
I groaned. “How the fuck are we going to fight the sins in the middle of the fucking Bermuda Triangle.”
“Okeanos is our best shot,” Cronus said softly, and went back to his absent stare.
“Hello, love,” Hyperion murmured in the gentlest voice I’d ever heard from him.
Shifting my stance, I found myself staring at a beautiful brunette he was holding in his arms. Their faces were wreathed in joy.
“Oh, darling,” she cried. “It must be bad for you to bring me back. Thanatos is on a rampage. I missed you.”
They embraced, and then she pulled away and faced me. “Sweet Maisey. Come here, child.”
Having a hot thirty-year-old call you child and talk like a grandma was weird. I mean, technically she was my grandma.
I met her halfway and we hugged. It wasn’t as weird as I expected. She smelled warm and summery, the way I remembered vacation as a child. There was a sense of calm and content about her that set some of my soul at ease.
“We need to get the rest before Thanatos locks the underworld down with no way in and out,” Cronus reminded us.
“Theia and I will take Tethys, Themis, and Mnemosyne,” Hyperion said quickly.
Cronus nodded. “Leaving Iapetos and Phoebe for Maisey and me.”
Not even for a million dollars could I have pronounced most of the names they were saying. It was like they were speaking ancient Greek… #OhWait #BlondeMoment
Didn’t matter though, I’d caught the part where I was with Cronus and that was all that mattered.
“Are you sure you can handle two resurrections?” I asked him, because he seemed to barely be able to hold a conversation, let alone raise the dead.
The first few times we’d brought a Titan back, he’d been handicapped by his powers not being restored. This time, it was the fact he was holding time across the world.
Oh, and he was housing some sins.
“It’s too much,” I whispered. Cronus was trying to take on too much. His power would be depleted. I wasn’t sure how much help I’d be either—my energy was only just starting to return after helping Hyperion.
“I’ll be fine,” Cronus told me. “I have more than enough power for this.”
“And you’ll have Maisey’s help, as long as she doesn't vomit,” Hyperion piped up.