Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
But I’m so tired of living in the shadows. I’ve been aware of the consequences since I was a small child. Isn’t that why I ended my pregnancy, at least in part?
I don’t want that life. Not for me. Not for him, either. Not for any children we might one day have.
“Asterion.” I gently place my hands on his scarred chest. “If we’re leaving this all behind, then I want us to leave it all behind. The violence. The danger. The strings that come attached to every action and word. I’m so tired of being afraid. I know it won’t be glamorous to live a normal life, but the price of all this is just too high. I don’t want it anymore.”
“You say that while standing in a penthouse that costs an unimaginable amount, after going on a shopping spree and eating in a fine dining establishment that we could never hope to afford on normal wages.”
I can’t tell if he honestly doesn’t get it or if he’s being intentionally difficult. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. I realize it’ll take some adjustment, but I’m game to make those adjustments if you are.” Truth be told, Icarus might have more difficulty with it than either of us, but he’ll have to deal with it. At least we’ll be alive.
Asterion seems like he’s about to keep arguing. I shake my head sharply before he can. “I want to travel with you. But eventually I want to settle down somewhere—with you. Have a life. Have a family. We can’t do that if we’re constantly looking over our shoulders because you still deal in the shadows.” I look up at him pleadingly. “Isn’t that what you want, too? Isn’t that why you’re going through all this to get me out of this city and away from my father?”
“Yes.” The word sounds like it’s ripped out of his chest. “Fuck, sweetheart, but this is going to be harder than either of us realize.”
“I don’t care. As long as we’re together. As long as we’re safe.”
He nods slowly. “If I trust you on this, then you need to trust me to get us out of here. That means no trip to the countryside. You need to stay out of trouble and stay safe until the barrier comes down.”
I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that when Hera seems one step away from violence. Our time is disappearing, slipping through our fingers like sand. We can only delay so long, but… “The tower. You can’t let it happen. Hera thinks she can stop them, but I know you can. Please, Asterion.”
He slides his hands down my arms and then takes my waist, pulling me back to tuck me against his body. “Ariadne, I know you. You were never going to be able to live with those kinds of losses. I’ll take care of it.”
I recognize the hypocrisy in telling him that I want us to leave the violence behind, then asking him to do violence in the next breath. This is how it works, though. You make deals with yourself, consider what losses are acceptable and what aren’t. This is the life we’re living currently. The one I want to leave behind. I don’t want to have to weigh a handful of lives against thousands. I don’t want that decision to be in my control.
“I love you.”
He goes so still that I’m not certain he’s breathing. We stare at each other, the only movement the water cascading around us. Asterion’s fingers flex on my hips. “Say it again,” he whispers.
“I love you.” Speaking those three words feels a little like throwing myself off a cliff and waiting for gravity to take hold. Inevitable. I don’t need to tell him that it’s been true for years. There are no secrets between us. Not anymore.
He strokes my hips like he can’t quite stop himself. His frown is downright fearsome. “I’ll be a shit dad, Ariadne. I might be a shit husband, too. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. You deserve better.”
I slide my hands up to cup his square jaw. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure all of it out. Together. I’m hardly a paragon of, well, literally anything. We’ll fuck it up and we’ll make it right and we’ll learn and do better.” I smile a little, though it doesn’t feel happy. “We can’t do any worse than my father.”
“When you say it like that, the bar is on the floor.” He exhales slowly. “Okay, sweetheart. We’ll do it your way. I’ll play hero long enough to get us out of here, and we’ll only keep our connections to the shadows until we get those papers and disappear properly. Deal?”
I should have learned a long time ago not to lean on hope. The world has a way of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it. I may have been protected from some of those consequences by virtue of my birth, but that doesn’t mean I am fully immune. The challenges before us are astronomical. Asterion is the most fearsome and capable man I know. But with both my father’s team and the Olympians working against him…