I swirled my drink. “What are you doing in Wisteria?”
“Preventing a catastrophe. Though you seem determined to cause one, anyway. You’ve always been a hopeless fool when it comes to the Huntress.”
“For a reason,” I growled, feeling the glass strain under my grip.
“Temper,” she started, but Tuck cleared his throat, playing his usual role of mediator between us.
“Honestly, I think he’s worse this time.” Tuck shot me the look of a concerned brother rather than a subordinate. “Hiding her in a veiled realm. Using his power against Ezra even if it pissed off the Fates. Standing on the precipice of bargaining himself away to Alastor. He’s making a mess. It’s a good thing you’re here, Minnie, because on top of all of that, the balance is getting worse.”
Minerva’s eyes gleamed. I hated when they fucking gleamed. “Getting worse or breaking? Or are we simply losing what was never truly ours?”
I caught a flash of movement in the corner. Bellatora, Serene and Valen huddled together on the back side of our table like children eavesdropping on their parents’ conversation. Let them listen. Their memories would be gone before they reached the door.
I curved the conversation back to my point. “You haven’t answered my question.”
“Haven’t I? Tell me, what better place to gather intelligence than the king’s council? While others skulk in alleys searching for scraps of information, I sit at the table where news is served, and decisions are made.”
Tuck leaned in. “And what have you learned?”
“I use that seat to learn about mortals but I think you’d be more interested to learn what I know of the circling gods. It seems your little Huntress has become quite the prize. Several of our kind know she holds power that doesn’t belong to her. They want to take it back, of course.”
The glass in my hand cracked. “They’d be fools to try.”
“Would they?” Minerva asked, “Because at the moment, Alastor holds all the cards. Fortunately, he won’t let her die, not until he gets what he wants. But he’ll try to break her.”
“She won’t bend,” I growled.
“Neither will he.” She leaned back, studying me with the same worried expression she’d worn when I’d first told her about the Huntress, countless lifetimes ago. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t care. So, don’t take that tone with me. You’ll get my help whether you want it or not because you need it. See beyond your tunnel vision to the bigger picture, for Fate’s sake. One life, Thorne. You have only years left with her before her soul is severed and gone.”
“Not if I can save her.”
With her tiny elbows on the table, she propped her chin on her hands. “And how’s that working out for you?”
“I’m going to assume that’s rhetorical.”
“Assumptions are the bane of my existence,” she said, sharing a look with Tuck.
“This is what I get when Knowledge and Reason are the only gods at my table.”
“We could always call Bellatora over for a little chaos and irrationality,” Tuck said into his mug.
“If we’re going to do that, bring the naked one too. Most lose all sense of reason when Serene’s around and I can disappear before Bella gets too whiny.”
Tuck’s eyes grew wide. “I thought you were about to say you liked the breasts. Almost died there, Minnie. Damn.”
“I shall keep that in mind for the next timeyouget on my nerves, Zentuchal.”
“My full name? Really? I thought we’d come to an understanding about that centuries ago.”
She lifted a casual shoulder. “Must have slipped my mind. Old age.”
He lowered his chin. “You don’t get to play the old age card on me.”
A wry smile curled her lips before she changed forms into a beautiful woman with sharp eyes, dark skin and red lips. Her favorite way to mess with Tuck.
“I’m never going to understand how you can shift,” he said looking away from the face of a demigod he’d once had a thing for.
“We’ve been over this.”
