Page 88 of Invoking Ruin

“Dionysus.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s get out of here. I want to see the sun.”

He smiles, like dawn breaking, and my heart bleeds. “All right.”

When he turns his back to me, I follow him a few steps before shoving him into the wall. He grunts, surprised, but I lean in, nuzzling his neck, breathing in his scent one last time.

I swallow down bile as I trail my lips up to his ear. He shivers, and I wish I could savor it.

I have to make this count.

My own voice comes out weak, swallowed up by how my power lunges for him. “Leave me. Walk twice around the length of Olympus and don’t follow me.”

My words land true. His eyes go vacant, his jaw slack. When I release him, he nods, walking away from me on wooden legs like a puppet.

It’s not until he turns the corner that the realization hits me hard as a punch:

Leaving me had been a bad idea.

Chapter twenty

Atê

Dionysus is nowhere to be found as I stumble my way out of Olympus’ dungeons. Good. I’m not sure I could face him again without trying to take back my compulsion.

He hadn’t wanted to leave me. Since my compulsion worked, that means it had been ruinous to leave me.

Ruinous for him or for me?

Later, I'll worry about it later, if there is one. Right now, there are about a dozen staircases to climb to get outside, and I dash up each one. The Moirai and their damn warning sounds more and more dire. Then again, with the path I’m on, it’s more a self-fulfilling prophecy.

My favorite kind.

Outside, the sun should be blinding, but the crack in the sky has widened enough to absorb all of its light. It’s only mid-morning, and the sun is not yet to the zenith. I wonder what will happen when it reaches the tear. Will it be dragged into the Void, never to be recovered again, like the black hole in mortals’ science?

Apollo won’t like that.

The courtyard is empty of gods, thankfully. Only green, manicured garden stretches out before me. The fewer of my kin I have to fight off, the better.

Now, where would they have put the chariot, and would it still have the chest? I hadn’t seen any of the chest’s treasures earlier. I don’t think they even brought the chariot inside. Laziness on their part, but a lucky break for me.

Hermes certainly isn’t about to lend me his sandals back, and I don’t have time to plan a heist on Olympus, of all places.

A whinny pierces the air.

Could it be?

Through a small grove of trees, Pegasus paces, the chariot not far off. He’s agitated, shaking his head and his wings as he stamps his feet.

Pegasus doesn’t enjoy being an afterthought any more than I do.

“Poor boy. Did they just leave you here?”

He comes right over to me, butting his head into my chest, and I stroke his snout, his ears. “I’m sorry, boy. I don’t have anything for you.” He’s already snuffling at my pockets, not believing me for a second. “I can’t stay.”

“He missed you.” The sweet, dreamy voice has me nearly jumping out of my skin, not for the first time.

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