Page 90 of Invoking Ruin

Something in my sister’s expression hardens, as though she might understand. We were both victims of our grandmother. Lethe for longer, and more intimately, but I hate being made to look like a fool. Perhaps it isn’t such a surprise we might finally understand each other.

“Are you sure it’s her, up there?” The sky above us blackens, the wind starting to pick up.

“I’m sure.”

“How can you be? She’s sacrificed others before.”

“Because, if it were me, and Dionysus were gone, I would do the same thing.”

Lethe huffs a breath, and I swear she mutters a few words under it. Unintelligible, but I’m sure it’s savage. My darling little sister isn’t quite as docile as she used to be.

Hephaestus is doing her some good.

“What about Dionysus? Where is he?” She looks around as though she expects him to burst out of the bushes somewhere, but my hooks in him had sunk deep. Far deeper than they rightfully should have. He won’t be breaking free until I’m done.

“Walking the perimeter of Olympus.”

“Atê…” Lethe stares at me, the words dangling between us, somewhere between said and unsaid before her shoulders sag. “You’re an idiot.”

“Maybe.” Probably.

“He’ll be free of me. He wants that.”

He used to. Now, it’s a lie.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Lethe frowns at me as if she means to argue, but there’s no time.

“Look, Lethe. If I… if this works, don’t let them bully him into staying on Olympus.”

“Stay here and tell him yourself.”

The shoes give a little pump of their wings, and I step into the air, letting them carry me. I pause about six feet off the ground, glancing down at Lethe’s upturned face. If this is my last day, my last hour, well, there’s only one regret still at the top of my mind.

“I’m sorry. About Thebes.”

“I know you are.” Lethe manages a wan smile. “Be careful. I don’t want to have to tell him you’re gone.”

I tell myself it won’t be some huge disappointment for him. Dionysus will probably say good riddance and forget his end-of-the-world confession. This is for the best.

I scoff, pushing down the longing in my chest, the memory of him devouring me in the hallway. Kissing me like he might love me.

He doesn’t.

“He’ll be glad I’m gone.” I push off, winged sandals flapping as I run higher and higher, clearing the trees and the columns surrounding the pavilion.

Lethe, and eventually all of Olympus shrink into nothing more than tiny dots in the landscape. There’s nothing around me for miles but open air. I’m free of Gaia’s grasp and deeper into the Aether, the territory of Ouranos.

Let’s hope he’s feeling kind to his descendant today. I have enough problems without angering another primordial god.

The sky goes on forever, and I kick my feet, urging the sandals to go faster. So damnably slow, these things. Pegasus would have cleared this distance in no time.

But I’d never let the Void have Pegasus any more than I would let it have Dionysus.

“Are you happy now, mother?” I mutter to myself. “I’m being a hero after all.”

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