Page 46 of Invoking Ruin

Atê stands on the other side of the arena with a satisfied smile.

She turns and walks away.

I try to hold it in, but the scream comes anyway. I’m choking as a stream of water spills from my lips. It burns, icy cold. I cough and sputter.

White water flies through the air, collecting itself in the goddess’s palm before sinking into her skin. Her name comes to me—Lethe, Atê’s sister.

She’s staring at me, her mist-colored eyes wide.

“No one’s ever fought me before,” she whispers, disbelieving. “To keep the water inside. To not remember.”

All at once I recall the image of her, cupped hands tipping that same white water down my throat, while I thrashed and screamed. I let out a growl that has her backing away.

“It’s not the first time I’ve fought you, is it, Oblivion?”

Nemesis steps between us, no doubt sensing the threat in the air. “Do you remember who you are now, Dionysus?”

It’s all coming rushing back. If not for the vines still wrapping themselves around me, I’d sink to the ground. Regaining my memory feels like suffocating under the burden of everything I’ve done, everything I’ve lost.

Everything Atê took from me.

"Will you stay on Olympus?”

Disappointing my father is not a new feeling, but it never loses its sting.

“I belong on Gaia.”

Zeus shakes his head, scoffing into his beard. “You belong beside your brothers. The world is no longer a place for us gods.”

I clasp my hands behind my back, unwilling to react. “Apollo might say it isn’t, but I do not agree. I will return there, and stay.”

“If you do, don’t think that you’ll be welcome back,” Zeus snaps. “You have responsibilities on Olympus. People who need you. Will you turn your back on them?”

“I am turning my back on no one. I am simply doing as I am meant to do, wandering. On Gaia.”

“Then abandon us, and do not return. This new mortal world will turn on you in time. You will be alone.”

“But I’ll be free.”

Fuck, Atê wasn’t wrong. That dawning truth might be the worst part of all of this. She’d kept me in ignorance, which is its own sort of prison, but it’s nothing compared to the truth of who I am. Where I’m expected to live out my days.

I escaped Olympus once, and the cost had been my father’s respect and affection.

What will be the cost the second time around? Will I even be allowed to pay it?

Lethe peeks around Nemesis’ arm, bringing me back to present matters and grudges. Lethe was my poisoner. She was responsible for all of this. Were she and Atê in on it together?

“She should be in Tartarus,” I snarl.

Nemesis sighs, impatient. “Lethe was just as much a victim of Nyx as anyone else. She’s been pardoned for her crimes.”

The vines shake where they’re wrapped around me. “I didn’t pardon her.”

“Yes, well, you can lodge a complaint with the King and Queen if it makes you feel better,” Nemesis says. Something in her tone tells me it would be a waste of breath.

“Who rules our kind, now?” I ask, resting my hands on my knees, taking deep breaths as I sort through the pounding headache pressing on both sides of my skull.

“Apollo and Eris.”

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