Page 79 of Hooked on a Witch
“No, ma’am. I’ve got enough to deal with, thank you. I don’t want all that. That’s an insane amount of responsibility. Without Poseidon or a similarly powerful ruler, there will be chaos underwater. I have visited a world, a dimension actually, where Poseidon doesn’t exist. The animals are scared and hurting. They need what only he can offer them: the assurance of his presence and control. If you swear to me on your soul and the soul of the children you love that you plan to dedicate all that you are to care for those who need their water god, then I will find this Trident for you.”
He and Athena gazed at each other in silence. He expected her to rip off his head or deliver an extremely painful hit now that he’d revealed he didn’t have the Trident and had thrown down an ultimatum.
“I want him to hurt,” Athena finally said. Pain transformed her beautiful face.
Merck said softly, “Poseidon did some dickhead thing to you? He probably doesn’t even remember it or didn’t think twice about it. I’m sorry. He’s a guy and sometimes, honestly, we just don’t get women or we’re so wrapped up in our own shit that we do things without thinking.” He shrugged. Been there, been guilty of it too many times, and may not have even recognized it when he’d done it other times. “Words from me won’t help, but destroying him and the balance of his underwater world won’t help either. Sure, it’ll feel great for about a minute. Then it’ll heap a load of extra duties on you for the rest of your existence. Have you ever told him to his face what he did that pissed you off?”
She tapped a long, silver-painted nail against her teeth. “I don’t like your arrogance, but you’re smart. He violated my temple with Medusa. It’s why I turned the bitch into a monster. Poseidon refuses to meet with me to discuss matters.” Her eyes darted over Merck’s right shoulder. “Isn’t that right, Bythos?”
Bythos bobbed in the water, back in his half-merman, half-horse form. “I don’t recall you submitting a request for an audience recently. If he refused, then perhaps he doesn’t think you mean to meet peacefully. The previous two times he agreed to meet with you there were traps meant to hurt him.”
Merck took a step toward Athena. The snake men around her tensed for attack. He said, “If you require death to end this vendetta to take a throne you have no plans to rule in the manner which it will need, then kill me. Kill Poseidon’s son. But first, vow you will stop attacking Shannon and her family who have nothing to do with any of this. If the Pleiades goddesses have been assassinated, then she and the others related to her are the last of the Pleiades bloodlines. They need to remain alive.”
He stood tall, ready for the deathblow but confident it wouldn’t come. He’d never felt so certain a threat wouldn’t kill him as right now. The gods who would preside over his live-or-die judgment in the next twenty-four hours would never let him out this easily.
“To his face, I would hear you call Poseidon a dickhead.” Athena savored the last word as if highly entertained.
“I can do that.”
She gazed at Bythos. “He is ready.”
With a wave of her hand, she and all her snake men disappeared.
What did that mean? Ready for what? His meeting to determine his fate? Anger slid through his mind. Damn it. Was all of this some sort of elaborate test?
All these people hurt, possibly killed. His ocean in chaos. And it was a fucking game. He hated the gods and their bullshit.
Bythos clapped a hand onto his shoulder. He flinched. Bythos was now back in humanoid form. “That could’ve gone very differently. Glad you understand the gravity of the missing Trident.”
Merck threw off Bythos’s hand. “What the hell was all this about?”
Bythos held out a glass bottle. “This is for thestraightswho got scratched by the Ericthonians. A drop or two on the scratch should do the job, but it’s got to be within the next hour.”
“Thanks.” He took the vial, relief settling into his chest that he wouldn’t have to run to work to get what little he had left to help Shannon. “But it doesn’t answer my question.”
“There are things I can discuss and things I can’t.” Bythos grinned as if he was thoroughly enjoying this.
Merck held out the sword. “Tell Aphros thank you. She’s really a remarkable weapon.”
Bythos shook his head, rejecting his offer of return. “The ever-sharp blade is meant for you and no other. A gift from your mother.”
“My mother?” He palmed the beautiful blade. The intricate hilt and etched blade were not human made. The sword exuded a rich energy. Old magic. “Who’s my mother?”
“You’re no bastard.”
His eyes shot to Bythos, shocked. “Amphitrite?” The true wife of Poseidon.
Bythos nodded.
“Why’d she give me up?”
Bythos glanced out to the ocean. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but you showed grit today. That I respect. To have another child your mother had to bargain.” His deep gaze returned to Merck. “The goddesses who govern children and childbirth forbade Poseidon more after his first few were disastrous. The only way Bendis and Aphrodite would allow your existence was to have you submitted to scrutiny. Your mother had to give you up for your younger years and let you be judged. Trust me when I say the negotiation was long and bitter.”
“They wanted to test me?”
Bythos nodded. “To see if any catastrophic issues arose as did with your brothers.”
“Do you think I’ll pass?”
Bythos’s face fell. He shrugged. “The judgment is not just about you. It’s political and complicated.”
That’s what he’d suspected. It meant he could probably do whatever the hell he wanted and it wouldn’t matter. “When will this judgment take place?”
“Today or tomorrow.” Bythos shrugged again. “I’m not sure.”
“How did someone get the Trident to begin with and why is Shannon involved? What did Athena mean byhe’s ready?”
Bythos grinned. He dove into the water, disappearing.
