Page 144 of A Touch of Chaos

That was true. Even Poseidon—terrible bastard that he was—confirmed it.

I fucked her and left her, he had said.If I had known the value of her beautiful head, I’d have cut it off where she lay.

Dionysus’s hands curled at the thought.

The God of the Sea was almost as great an enemy to him as Hera. Indeed, they had been rivals since ancient times. It had begun with Beroe, a nymph they had both loved, and now Ariadne, a woman Poseidon and his son Theseus seemed to be obsessed with.

“I have an idea,” said Naia.

“What is it?” Dionysus asked, turning to face her.

“Perhaps…it is time to consult your oracle,” she said.

“I do not have time to unravel a silly rhyme,” Dionysus said, immediately dismissing her suggestion. “And in case you’ve forgotten, my oracle is supposed to speak forme, not the other way around.”

“She is your oracle. She offers you prophecies as well!” Naia argued.

“Prophecy. Prediction.Not certainty, which is what we need right now.”

“Well, you have nothing right now, so which will it be?”

Dionysus ground his teeth.

“Do not be a child,” Naia said. “Just because you used to date—”

“We did not date,” Dionysus snapped.

“Oh, sorry.Fucked.”

He glared.

“Dionysus,” Naia said, her gaze both hard and pleading. “Think about what happens if Theseus gets his hands on Medusa.”

He didn’t want to think about what would happen. He already knew. Theseus would decapitate her, and not only would another innocent woman die at his hands, but the demigod would also have another powerful weapon.

He scrubbed his face, “Fuck,” he said again under his breath before dropping his hands. “You will be okay?”

She knew what he was really asking. Was everything going to be okay?

“We’ll be all right,” she said, smiling a little. “You have to do this. You have no choice.”

He swallowed, nodding.

“I’m…uh…going to tell Ariadne,” he said.

She would want to know where he was going—not for his sake but because their partnership had begun over their quest to locate the gorgon.

“Of course,” she said, but as Dionysus turned to go, she called after him. “Might I advise you not to take too long with your goodbyes.”

Dionysus held up his middle finger as he disappeared down the hall in search of Ariadne. He did not have tolook long, finding her sitting on the floor outside her room, her knees drawn up to her chest.

She was crying.

He knelt in front of her. “Hey,” he said. “Are you all right?”

“No,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “I feel awful. I should have never said those things to Phaedra.”

“You were not wrong,” he said.

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