Page 10 of Invoking Ruin

“Yes, I have the knife.”

“With you?”

I scoff. “I’m not that stupid, grandmother. It’s safe. That’s all you need to know.”

Nyx’s fathomless eyes narrow, no doubt determining the best method for my destruction. Oh, how I hate her. My whole useless family.

Only now, she can’t easily dismiss me. I am important. I matter. All because I finally have something she wants. I can tell she hates even having to ask me for a bargain. Serves her right.

“What do you want?” she asks, finally, perching on the edge of the rock.

“A better way to go unnoticed by the gods. I cannot wear this helmet for all eternity. I need to turn Helios and Apollo’s gazes away permanently, to throw Nemesis off my scent once and for all.”

“You seem to have already succeeded at evading them, if you’ve kept the knife out of their hands.”

The rift knife is the only thing Nyx cares about. It’s a dangerous bargaining chip, as it’s the only thing with the power to kill gods. It can also open Gaia, Aether, and anything else that exists to the Void, rendering it lost forever.

Nyx had been slowly weakening the gods for centuries with that powerful blade. She’d used her moribund lover Erebus to keep the tear in existence open, draining everyone of the Tears of Ouranos that gave all gods their vitality.

Erebus is gone now, wholly destroyed by Eris. Even I shudder to think what Nyx would do with the knife, now that she can never have him again. Now that she has nothing more to lose.

“Yes, I’ve been staying one step ahead of my pursuers. It’s in both our best interests I continue to do so.”

I won’t offer her the knife, nor will I give it to her if she asks for it. Playing keep away with my mother and her new subjects is one thing. I’m not suicidal. Giving the knife to Nyx will get us all killed.

“Is that so?” Her voice lilts, an almost innocent tone.

I let out another scoff. “You forget I’m the one here with the power to manipulate, grandmother, not you. Yes, that is so. I’m not giving you the knife.”

“See if you can use your powers on me, then,” she challenges, cocking a lazy brow at me. “I concede that I want the knife. Therefore, accepting anything less and conceding to your desires is a bad decision on my part. So use your powers. Make me settle for your scraps.”

I glance from her face to the adamant chaining her wrists.

Fuck.

We both know I can’t compel her. Adamant isn’t picky about whose powers it negates. Once my compulsion enters her ears, her body, the cuffs will get a taste for my power and nullify us both.

All we both have is our wits.

I don’t like it.

When I don’t answer, her smile slices through the night on her face. “What? Nothing? A shame really, I’d have liked to hear whatever poisoned honey you’d whisper to me.” She shakes her head. “You rely too much on that silver tongue of yours and not enough on your own mind. It’s always made you a liability.”

“Like Lethe? Who has nary a thought in her head you didn’t put there?” I scowl, my fingers tightening around the lip of the helmet. “I think you didn’t know if you were strong enough to use me. Lethe was easier to bend to your will.”

“Yes.” She doesn’t deny it. I didn’t expect her to, but the easy acknowledgement still stings. She places her hands in her lap, the chains clinking. “And I gave you a kindness. I left you alone while you accumulated nearly all of the most precious and useful treasures of the gods and hid your hoard away like a squirrel hides nuts for winter. Surely something in your collection will serve your needs?”

“If I had such a treasure, I would not be here,” I grit out.

“Shame.” She tsks and brushes some dust from her robes. “You should have been more thoughtful about your strategy if you wanted to keep your precious Olympian to yourself.”

I freeze. I never told her about Dionysus. Never even intended to, and I doubt Eris would have brought it up in her interrogations. It wouldn’t have served any purpose.

So how does Nyx know?

“I’m here to seek your grandmotherly wisdom.” I force myself to stay diplomatic. If she knows she hit home, I’ll never succeed here, and I’ve come much too far to leave empty handed. “After all, you kept Apollo unaware of your plan for centuries. No easy feat.”

“I did, didn’t I? He’s such a righteous idiot.” She preens. No god I’ve ever met is above flattery.

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