Page 22 of Sweet Obsession

“Poseidon, I need you to understand something.” She finally turns back to face me, her hair coming free of its braid and whipping around her with the speed of our movement. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my family.Nothing.So you can stay by my side and ensure your people are protected in the bargain, or you can stand in my way and I’ll cut you down first. Do you understand me?”

She’s not saying anything that truly surprises me and yet I’m shocked all the same. I knew Hera was ruthless, but this isn’t something as simple as killing a spouse she never wanted. She’s talking about significantly more devastation. I have no doubt she meanswhat she says, which means I need to stay by her side and do my best to temper whatever plans she’s about to come up with. It’s the only way to ensure as many people survive as possible.

I exhale slowly, tension winding tighter and tighter through me. “You’re being intentionally difficult. We may not have a navy, but at this point, Circe only has five ships. Why are you wasting time with plotting when there’s a clear solution?”

Hera shrugs, appearing completely unconcerned with how she continues to complicate my life unnecessarily. “You might be right, but if there’s a proper war, then everyone will expect the Thirteen to be at the front of things. That’s how it’s supposed to be. My mother, my brother-in-law, right there with targets on their foreheads. Eros will be right there, because as much as Psyche gets frustrated with our mother, she will want her protected. Charon, Eurydice, Orpheus. All three of them will be conscripted to the battle for Olympus. I might not give a shit if that little asshole Orpheus dies, but Eurydice does.”

The feeling in my chest gets worse, the pressure more intense. “The people you care about aren’t the only ones who matter.Mypeople are more likely to be on the front lines than anyone in your family, regardless of what tradition would state for the Thirteen.”

“Precisely.” She says it so clearly, as if she’s led me to this point on her own. As if I haven’t been aware of it from the beginning.

“There is no ‘precisely’ about it. The longer we delay, the greater the chance of more people we care about dying. You’re not part of the solution. You’re part of the problem!”

“Poseidon.” Even over the whistle of the wind and the sound of the waves, her patronizing tone sets my teeth on edge. “Whatevergave you the impression that I’m trying to be part ofOlympus’ssolution?”

I could shove her over the edge right now. We’re still a good distance from shore, but not so far as to ensure she couldn’t make the swim. It wouldn’t be enough. I’d have to hold her under, have to muscle her beneath the surface until she stopped struggling. Until she drowned.

I’ve never killed anyone before. I’ve gone to great painsnotto kill people. When Icarus tackled me into the water, I could have ensured I would be the only one to emerge alive. The stakes are so much higher now.

“Are you thinking about murdering me?” she asks me carefully, her body tense.

Is it possible to drown with air in your lungs? It certainly feels like I’m drowning right now. “It wouldn’t matter if I did. With you dead, your mother still wouldn’t vote for war. We wouldn’t have majority.” The impossible situation presses down on me, harder and harder. There’snothingI can do to fix this. No matter how hard I fight or how thoroughly I compromise my morals, it seems like I only manage to make things worse.

If Hera died, that would fracture what’s left of the Demeter–Zeus alliance. It would ensure Hades never comes to another meeting with the Thirteen. It would make a shitty situation even more impossible.

Ican’tshove Hera over the edge and leave her to drown. I can’t do anything at all. Just like always. No matter how much power I supposedly have, I’m just as helpless to the whims of the Thirteen as I’ve always been.

I can’t fucking breathe. Getting closer to land only makes the sensation worse. I grab the edge of the dock and pull the boat close. “We’re done after this. I want no more part of your schemes.”

“Oh, Poseidon.” Hera steps onto the dock, laughter trailing in her wake. “You don’t get to decide that. We’re done whenIsay we’re done.”

13

Icarus

I still haven’t managed to fall asleep when the door to my room flies open and Poseidon appears. It was only a couple hours ago that he fled my presence, but he looks almost like a different man now. His eyes are too wide and he immediately starts pacing from one side of my bed to the other. “I need you to tell me something.”

I sit up and rub my knuckles across my eyes. It’s hard to focus, which means I was closer to sleep than I realized. My thoughts feel muddied and sluggish. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you…used pain in your past sexual encounters?”

A bolt of pure heat sears me, blazing away the last cobwebs of not quite sleep. I force myself to take several deep breaths and to think. He’s not coming to me in a flurry of lust. He’s running from something. That shouldn’t matter—this is what I wanted, after all—but…it does matter. A lot. “Poseidon, before I answer your question, I need you to answer one from me. Are you okay?” I’m slightly horrified by the words coming out of my mouth—even more so by the fact that Imeanthem.

“No,” he says simply. “I’m overwhelmed and I don’t know what the right choice is, and I can’t think. Or I’m thinking too much.I don’t know.” He shakes his head roughly. “I just need some space, a little bit of peace. I’m sure things will become clearer after that.”

I’m no stranger to using sex as a form of escape. I facilitated it in many of my partners over the years. When they start coming to you for escape, that’s when you have them in the palm of your hand. I suppose it’s a gift of sorts, but I’ve never cared enough about my lovers—or them about me—to see it as such. With this man, though, this near-stranger who I barely know? It feels like unearned trust. Guilt sprouts in my chest. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

He stops short and pivots to face me. For a moment, he looks more like the man I’ve started to get familiar with. The one who studies me as if he can reach inside my brain and map my very thoughts. “Earlier, you said you intend to seduce me. So seduce me.” He swipes his hand through the air. “I’m saying yes, Icarus.”

Unease still filters through me, but this is an opportunity I can’t afford to ignore. Or at least that’s what I tell myself as I climb out of bed and pad barefoot to stand in front of him. There’s a strange feeling in my chest, almost hidden beneath the odd guilt. Something almost like appreciation? No, that’s not quite right. He’s obviously in some measure of distress, and he came tomefor a solution. It indicates a trust I haven’t earned. A trust I have no intention of earning.

But turning him away feels wrong.

I reach out, stopping short of making contact with his body. “If you’re serious about this, then there are a few fail-safes that need to be put in place.”

“I don’t care about any of that.”

He trulyisdesperate. My guilt starts to fade, replaced by asensation I have no name for. Surely I’m not feeling protective of my captor? That would be absurd. It would make me the worst kind of fool. “It doesn’t matter if you care or not. Fail-safes are whatIneed in order for us to move forward.”

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