Page 100 of Blood of Olympus

“Aros?” I rasped. “What are you doing here?”

“We have to leave soon.”

Squinting in the soft light, I groaned and sat up.

Oh.

I’d awoken in my chambers at Aegis — not the Palace as I’d sleepily presumed. And that wasn’t a hellhound growling in the distance, but a dead-to-the-world storm-wielder snoring beside me… who was now clutching a pillow to his chest like a lifeline, in the space I’d just vacated.

I snorted softly at the sight — then cackled as Aros held Caelus’ nostrils closed, quashing the noise. A heartbeat later, Caelus panicked, sending his arms flying and landed a solid, albeit accidental, punch to Aros’ groin.

Full-bellied laughter erupted out of me at the pair — one reclaiming his breath, the other reclaiming his dignity. I stepped over Aros’ curled up body as he writhed on the floor, snickering at his pain-filled groans.

“You brought that onto yourself,” Caelus grumbled, following me to the tiny adjoining bathroom, barely big enough for one god, let alone two.

I turned on the faucet and grimaced at the reflection staring back at me. With frizzy hair, creases from the bed sheets cutting across my face, and brows askew, I wasn’t what anyone would call queenly.

“You’re adorable,” Caelus murmured, stepping up behind me and kissing the top of my head. Evidence of his growing arousal pressed firmly against my lower back, and hints of raspberry and caramel tainted the air.

“You’re delusional,” I replied, bending slowly over the sink to splash cold water on my face. A shiver skated down my spine as Caelus groaned — deep and thunderous — and it took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to climb him right there.

Instead, I reached for his hand and squeezed it thrice before searching the bedroom for my boots.

Aros wordlessly handed them to me, brows lowered in suspicion.

I perched on the edge of the bed, watching Caelus cup his hands in the stream of ice water and throw it over his face — though he reacted more violently than I had, which was amusing to say the least.

It seems I wasn’t the only one in need of a cold shower. Or ten minutes of uninterrupted peace.

As I laced up the boots that someone had thoughtfully removed while I slept, Aros leaned one shoulder against the wall and crossed his ankles in the pretense of nonchalance.

“Something’s different between you two,” he muttered, eyeing us both warily.

Caelus answered with a shrug. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Three, he said mentally.

Two, I answered.

Both our eyes flicked to Aros as his just about fell out of his head.

One, we said simultaneously, watching Aros’ mouth drop open.

“You had sex!” he roared, loud enough to be heard on the next floor of the academy.

“Shh!” Caelus chided. “No one else needs to know about our queen’s bedroom habits!”

The door banged open, rebounding off the wall and back into the aghast face of a familiar goddess.

“You had sex?!” Aph echoed. “You finally did it?” She bolted to my side, grabbed my arm and winked salaciously at the men. “Come. You can tell me all about it on our way to the temple.”

Shooting Caelus a despondent look — and Aros a withering one — I joined her in the hallway and began answering her many questions.

Quietly.

Athena dipped her head as we entered the main chamber of Itachene’s temple. Surrounding her was apparently everyone we had ever encountered in Athenos. The sounds of that many beings in one domed room should have been an assault on my senses, but something incredible happened when we arrived instead.

Everyone went silent. And not the terrible silence of fear, as I was accustomed to. No, this was something else. Something almost like respect.