Arms are around me instantly, though I can’t tell which pair belongs to which guy. What I do know is that I’m in Aphrodite’s destroyed apartment, lying on a bed that smells fresh, like the sheets have been cleaned recently.
“See? I told you she’ll be fine,” a familiar voice retorts dryly from somewhere over their shoulder.
Athena?
“Don’t you ever fucking do that shit again,” Krystian reprimands me, pulling back just enough to stare at me intently. Tears glisten in his dark-blue eyes. “Don’t you dare fucking die again.”
I manage a weak smile. “Wasn’t planning on it.”
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Everett roars, his arms tightening around me.
He lowers his head so he can inhale my hair—which probably smells retched, if I’m being completely honest. Ugh.
“Athena told us you were making a deal with Hades to come back to us, but when you didn’t wake up…” Zaid’s voice breaks.
I flick my gaze in Athena’s direction, only to find her watching me, her gaze keen and knowing.
“What happened?” I ask, my mind racing. “How did you guys get to me? How did you know where I was?”
“Athena pieced it together,” Krystian responds, though he still doesn’t sound like his usual jovial self. When I glance at him, he offers me a tentative, wobbly smile, his eyes glossy. “She told us that Aphrodite was more than likely behind your disappearance. We came here straight away.”
“Aphrodite was the one who convinced me to create the rune in the first place,” Athena pipes up, her tone solemn. “And she has been more powerful lately, though the change has been so subtle I’ve barely paid attention to it. More crimes of passion. More sexual scandals. More affairs. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together and realize she was the one behind all of this. She would’ve wanted you close, so I told your men that she’s keeping you somewhere near her apartment.”
“Of course you managed to break free without our help,” Zaid says, a tiny sliver of amusement entering his voice. “Then…”
“Then you fucking died,” Rafe snaps.
I tilt my head back to stare into his dark, arresting eyes, currently locked on me and brimming with unbridled anger.
“You died, and there was nothing we could do.”
“We would’ve lost our shit completely if Athena hadn’t told us you would come back,” Everett says severely.
Once again, I glance at Athena, who’s sitting in an armchair in a living room that has otherwise been torn apart.
The Goddess of Wisdom has certainly lived up to her name.
“You knew, didn’t you? About my parents?” I ask her softly, though I already know the answer.
“I suspected,” Athena says, her gaze distant. “Hades’s reaction to Ares’s attack only confirmed it.”
“Your parents?” Krystian asks, a frown marring his perfect face.
“Hades and Persephone. They’re my adoptive parents, apparently,” I say.
Quickly, I explain what they told me and about the deal I made to remain with my guys.
“You’ll be…immortal,” Zaid repeats, sounding dazed. “Like us.”
“And all I’ll need to do is reap souls for Hades,” I say.
Everett’s perpetual scowl deepens. “Do you know what that will entail?”
I know he’s thinking about the centuries of torture I endured reaping souls for Aphrodite. The insanity. The excruciating pain.
“It won’t be like that,” Athena interjects, sounding tired. “There will be no side effects reaping souls for the Underworld. And I doubt you’ll reap much, anyway. Hades has thousands and thousands of reapers to do his bidding. I suspect he only offered Thea the position as a way to keep her around.”
“Thea…” Krystian regards me curiously. “Should we even call you that anymore? Or should we start referring to you as Winnie?”
