Page 99 of A Touch of Chaos

His eyes lowered to her bloodied clothes. “I think you might want to shower first.”

She looked down at herself as if she’d forgotten she’d just come from the labyrinth.

“I don’t have clothes,” she said.

“I’ll find you some.”

He thought she would leave then to go downstairs, but she hesitated.

“The baby,” she said. “Is he healthy?”

“Yes,” said Dionysus.

“And…who does he look like?”

“You mean other than an alien?”

She rolled her eyes. “I should have known better than to ask.” She turned and headed for the door.

“I think he has your nose,” Dionysus called after her. She paused, and when she turned to look at him, he added, “And your eyes.”

“You can’t know that,” she said. “He’s just a baby.”

“I would know your eyes anywhere,” he said.

She pressed her lips together, as if she were trying not to smile, and left his suite.

When he was alone, he blew out a frustrated breath.

Gods.

What thefuckwas he thinking?

He should never have gone down this path with her. He didn’t know how he’d managed to come this far or how he’d gotten so involved in this battle between the Olympians and the demigods, but here he was, delivering babies and kidnapping wives. He might as well have painted a target on his back, because he’d just invited a fucking sociopath into his territory.

And it was all because of Ariadne.

Fucking feelings, he thought as he left his suite and headed to the basement.

As he stepped off the elevator, he found the maenads scattered around the living area. Some were knitting, some cleaning weapons, some reading. A group of them were gathered in front of one of several television screens watching the finale ofTitans After Dark…or whatever it was called.

As he crossed the room, he caught a glimpse of Oceanus on screen, his face stricken with horror as he looked at Gaia, who wailed beside him. They were watching the world burn, ignited by Zeus’s lightning in the aftermath of the death of Typhon, who, in a previous episode, had laid siege to Mount Olympus.

Not that Dionysus was invested or anything. It just unnerved him. He felt like he was about to watch the same scene unfold around him in the mortal world.

Dionysus made his way down one of several darkened hallways that branched off the main room in search of Naia, who would likely have clothes for Ariadne.

The door to her room was ajar, but he knocked anyway, not wishing to intrude. She answered quickly, a book in her hand.

“You okay?” she asked, her eyes alight with amusement.

Clearly Lilaia had told her about what had transpired in the delivery room. He narrowed his eyes.

“How much do you know?” he asked.

“Oh,everything,” she said.

“And how many of the maenads know?”

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