Page 47 of A Touch of Chaos

“If you think that makes me any less violent, you are wrong.” He spoke between clenched teeth. He still wanted to rip Hermes into pieces. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d cockblocked him.

He was just as bad as the fucking sheep from the island.

“Perhaps not,” she said. “But now you cannot blame Hera for your actions.”

He glared, and the Goddess of Witchcraft stepped out of the way, and he could see Hermes, Apollo, and a female goddess he had never met. Persephone, he assumed. She looked like spring with honeyed hair and bright eyes, yet there was a darkness to her. It lived on the edges of her aura, like storm clouds haunting a bright sky.

Dionysus stared at her.

“What do you want?” he asked.

She was not fazed, and she did not hesitate.

“Hades has been captured by Theseus,” she said, andthen her gaze shifted to Ariadne. “I am told you may have information about the labyrinth.”

Ariadne went rigid. “Who told you that?”

“Is it true or not?” Persephone demanded, frustrated.

Dionysus took a step forward. It was a strange instinct, a wish to protect Ariadne in some way, even if it was just from words.

“If you came hoping for help, you are out of luck,” said Dionysus. He felt the heat of Ariadne’s gaze. “She will not stand against Theseus. Not when he has her sister, Phaedra.”

She’d told them as much when Hades had asked her for information about the demigod’s operations, and while it was frustrating, Dionysus knew he couldn’t even begin to understand the fear she had for her sister. Ariadne had been with Theseus before he’d moved on to Phaedra, and she knew his cruelty better than most.

It was torture, watching someone so strong bow to the will of her abuser. Theseus influenced every decision she made, whether she realized it or not.

“He has your sister?” Persephone asked.

“He’s married to her,” Ariadne said. “He will assume any information about him was shared by me, and she will suffer for it.”

Dionysus expected Persephone to be angry, to challenge Ariadne in some way, maybe even offer to save Phaedra the way he and Hades had, but she didn’t.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said, looking at Hecate, then at Hermes and Apollo. “Trap or not, I have to go.”

“No, Persephone,” said Hecate.

“There has to be another way, Sephy,” said Hermes. “We just don’t know all our options yet.”

“We don’t have time for options!” she seethed, her eyes watering. It was like seeing her in a new light. She was broken beneath that beauty. “Theseus has the Helm of Darkness. He has released Cronos from Tartarus. He has stripped you of your powers and placed a bounty on my head. We havenotime. We were out of time the moment he took my ring.”

“Theseus has released Cronos?” Dionysus asked.

That was news.

“We believe Theseus will use Hades as a sacrifice to gain the Titan’s favor for the coming war,” said Hecate. “Unless we find him in time.”

No one spoke. Dionysus wanted to look at Ariadne because he wanted to see her reaction to these revelations, but he also didn’t want her to feel like he was guilting her into divulging information on Theseus.

He held Persephone’s gaze instead. He was about to suggest summoning his maenads, who might be able to give them other options, other ways into the labyrinth, when Ariadne spoke.

“I can help you through the labyrinth.”

Dionysus’s head snapped in her direction, and he could tell by the spark in her eye that she was formulating an idea.

He already didn’t like it.

“No,” Dionysus said, and Ariadne glared. “You would be playing right into his hands!”

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