Page 97 of Blood

Zeus’s voice takes on one of faux sympathy. “Of course, Violet. They’re being freed as we speak.”

Bullshit.

I just barely hold in the snort that threatens to escape.

How stupid does Zeus think I am? But maybe he doesn’t care about my intelligence. Not truly. In his mind, every person and monster in existence comes second to him. He’s the smartest creature alive. He’s the strongest. He’s the fastest. He’s the bravest. I’m merely an inconvenience he wishes to eradicate, a roach in need of extermination.

But that’s his first issue.

He underestimated me.

And that will lead to his death.

“Why are you even doing this? Why do you need more power? You’re already the most powerful monster that ever lived.” It actually hurts to speak those words. They feel like acid clawing at my throat, burning the skin there. But I need to play to his ego. There’s nothing that will calm Zeus more and put him at ease. If he thinks I’ve given in, that I accepted he’s the biggest badass around, then he’ll lower his defenses.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Probably.

Zeus eyes me critically, his head tilting to the side. I spot a cheese puff in his mane of snarled black hair, and I have to hold in the vomit that threatens to erupt. Goddamn him. Does he really have to ruin cheese puffs for me, along with everything else he has done? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat one again.

“Come.” Zeus jerks his chin toward a pathway directly behind his castle that weaves through the pink and purple trees decorating the lawn. I hesitate, biting on my lower lip, when a bright orb bouncing in the distance captures my attention. Taking unexpected comfort in Balor’s presence, I step forward to follow Zeus, making sure to keep an adequate amount of distance between us.

Now that I’m no longer standing directly in front of the castle’s shadow, the harsh light from the sun blinds me. I squint my eyes and quicken my pace, breathing out a sigh of relief when we reach the edge of the forest, where the twenty-foot trees blot out most of the light, darkening the world. Still, my head harbors a slow and consistent throb of pain that doesn’t seem to want to let up.

Fuck, how much longer do I have until the army arrives?

Three minutes?

Four?

The uneven, winding path of dirt transforms into even brick the farther into the forest we walk. Zeus doesn’t seem in any particular hurry to speak, his hands clasped behind his back and his chin tilted to the hidden sunlight. The buildings of Mount Olympus soften the farther away from the palace we get, rolling into hills and streams and small pockets of trees.

Finally, Zeus turns toward me, his features painted gold in the thin shaft of sunlight.

“We don’t have to be enemies, you know,” he begins conversationally, extending his arm, as if he actually expects me to take it.

“You killed my mate.” I don’t even bother to hide the rage in those words. He knows what he did, and he would be suspicious if I acted nonchalantly about it all.

“Technically, I didn’t—”

“Don’t start that shit with me.” I begin to tremble with the force of my anger. “You know what you did. I want to know why.”

“I already told you.” He blows out a breath, as if this entire conversation is tiresome to him. “The prophecy—”

“Why Mason? Why?!” The last word is a screech, ripped from the deepest depths of my throat, tugged upward like a hot coal connected to a string.

“Because it would break you, Violet Dracula,” Zeus responds casually, as if discussing the weather and not the death of one of the men I love most in the world. “And did it?” Those penetrating eyes slide my way and stick there. “Did it break you?”

Finally realizing we’ve stopped walking, the pathway having looped around until we’ve found ourselves once again in front of the castle’s entrance, I ignore his question and ask one of my own instead. “Why are you doing this? You still haven’t answered my question. You don’t need any more power.”

He scoffs. “You don’t know what it’s like to have a brother like Lucifer.” Anger expands his pupils. “Did you know that we were some of the only creatures who weren’t born? Lucifer and I don’t have a mother or father. We just...arrived, exactly as we are, same as the Fomorians. There are a lot of theories for why that is. Some say it was a Big Bang. Others believe it was divine intervention. Hell, some believe that we are the divine and we willed ourselves into being.” He slowly shakes his head, as if that mere thought is ridiculous. “But for millions of years, it’s been the two of us.”

“I thought you guys were happy,” I interject. “I mean, you ruled Mount Olympus. Lucifer ruled Hell. What more could you both want?”

“I didn’t want anything,” Zeus growls venomously, hatred sparking to life in his eyes. “It was your bastard of a father who wanted more, more, more. He couldn’t be happy just having Hell. Oh no. Your father wanted to be worshiped as well. You see, when I created the humans, your father decided to create his own beings to worship him. The—”

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