Page 80 of Invoking Ruin

She’s entirely alone down there. No one will speak in her defense.

I look away.

“The dispute between Atê and I is for us alone to know. Not anyone else.”

Apollo cants his head, golden eyes unreadable. “Very well.”

The shrewd look on his queen’s face doesn’t get past me.

“I don’t have a dispute, either,” Lethe calls in a clear, dreamy voice.

“Yes, you do,” Hephaestus says in a low growl. “She nearly killed you.”

Lethe shrugs but says nothing. In a room full of gods who hold eternal grudges, her forgiveness feels like a breath of fresh air. Perhaps I don’t hate the goddess of Oblivion as much as I thought I did.

“Well, I do.” Deimos says, stepping forward. “She made me her puppet for months, and when she was done with me, she nearly got me killed.”

“Fuck nearly, I should have just done it,” Atê mutters. Her voice is very low, but the room is so quiet the sound carries.

Eris sighs, tipping her head back. “So you have no remorse, daughter?”

“Am I supposed to feel any?” I wish I could see her face, but from this angle, I only have the shine of her hair and the line of her shoulders. All her focus is on her mother. “Did you show remorse, when they dragged you before this court of petty fools?”

“No,” Eris admits.

Atê straightens, sitting a little higher on her knees. Seeing her like this brings back other memories of her on her knees, with my cock down her throat. Her submission then had been beautiful because it was mine. No one should know the sight of her like this but me.

I want to pluck out all of their eyes for daring to look.

Chaos what’s wrong with me?

“Then why should I?” she asks Eris.

Another angry murmur from the crowd. I glare around at all of them, but none of them notice.

“The crimes I was tried for were no more than what anyone else did to cause the war, and perhaps less than some.” Eris’ voice gains an edge as she looks at Ares, who shrinks back in his throne.

“I would say I’ve done far less than anyone here as well.”

“Have you? Whether coerced or not, you’ve aided our greatest enemy.” Eris stands straighter, as though trying to channel the queen she’s meant to be instead of the impish menace she is.

Atê’s shoulders lower, rounding as every word Eris aims at her means to stab deep into my goddess.

“Are you any different than Nyx is?” Eris prods. “Obsessed with your beloved, unable to let go of him. Your selfishness has endangered all of us.” She bites her lip and sucks her teeth. “Remorse isn’t much to ask for, given the circumstances.”

“You’re right,” Hermes speaks up. Hecate is out of the Underworld and seated in a throne to his right—another new addition to this little club. Peitho, Hermes’ other paramour, is perched on the arm of his throne. “This is a waste of time. Cast her in Tartarus and be done with it. If we don’t find Nyx soon, Atê’s fate won’t even matter. There could be a new Void tear draining us all dry as we speak.”

“In good time, brother,” Apollo says, frowning down at Atê. “There are questions I would like answered, such as how Nyx came to possess the knife you were so determined to hide.” He glances up at me. “Perhaps one of you two would care to enlighten us, seeing as you were there.”

Ah, the true reason for this sham of a trial. It makes sense. There’s no way Apollo would waste precious time mollifying a mob unless there was something in it for him. Much-needed information on Nyx’s tactics would do it. Getting it publicly is likely a bonus.

I hate politics.

“Momus was in league with Nyx,” Atê says. Her voice is monotone, cold. A recitation of facts and nothing more. “He attempted to take Dionysus hostage in Lake Como so I would give him the knife. I thought I had lost him there, but he had a back-up plan and managed to track us to my hiding place.”

“It was Momus who slaughtered those mortals in Lake Como?” Nemesis crosses her arms over her chest, every line in her broadcasting her doubt. “It very much looked like your work.”

“He purposefully made it look like mine,” Atê scowls in her direction. “Our powers affect mortals very similarly, you know.” When Nemesis continues to frown, Atê adds, “Ask yourself, aunt, what motive would I have for killing a score of random mortals? I had Dionysus there with me, safe, with none of you the wiser. Why would I attract your attention when I was doing everything in my power to make you think we were on Mykonos?”

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