Page 84 of Aïdes the Unseen
That silence returned—but it wassharpnow. Like a pause before something splintered.
I touched Graven’s arm. Not hard. Just enough.
“Areyoualright?” I asked him softly, honestly.
His gaze dropped to me—fast, startled almost—but the moment it found mine, the tension around his mouth loosened.
He nodded once.
“Yes,” he said. “Now I am.” But his hand hovered near mine like he wasn’t quite ready to let go. Behind us, the gods waited.
I might throw-up but yes, they were definitely gods.
Watching.
Ready.
Gods.
Chapter
Sixteen
GRAVEN
The city was breathing differently today.
Beneath the heat shimmer off the pavement, beneath the scent of roasting beans and distant rain in the east, New York’s pulse wasoff-beat.Not broken—no, the city wasawake. Stirring like something half-buried and ancient was rolling over in its sleep.
They were coming.
They were all coming.
And Irina was at the center of it.
She stood beside me, her fingers still brushing the edge of my sleeve where she'd reached for reassurance a moment ago. The contact had grounded me—more than I wanted to admit. It shouldn’t have mattered so much. But it did.
Because this wasn’t just an interruption.
It was asummoning.
Lukas—Apollo—always arrived too early or too late, never when wanted.
Then Oscar—Hermes in all his irritating glory—offered his smirking charm in gold tones and false sunshine.
And now Kassian—Ares—wore that face like he deserved it. Like it hadn’t beenengineeredfor war.
I could feel others, like Artemis who kept her distance and Pollux who wanted to insert his own opinions. They were all there, pressing at the edges. Watching through mirrored windows and pigeon eyes and the rustle of elm leaves from across the street.
The old bloodlines were restless. The power running through Irina—half-buried, half-awake—was calling to them, whether she meant it to or not.
It’s too soon,I thought.Damn it, it’s too soon.
I leaned down just enough that my voice could reach only her.
“One word,” I said, low and quiet. “And I’ll take you out of here. No questions. No delay. Just say it.”
She glanced up at me, startled, but held her ground. Brave as ever. Unaware just how manywolvesshe’d wandered into the middle of.
