Page 56 of Blood of Olympus

“This will make things harder…” Athena murmured from somewhere to my left. “Mortal casualties are always the first to fall in a war among gods… and they are always the heaviest to carry.”

Our attention was snagged by the sounds of someone retching.

Hermes had taken one look at the worrisome message beside the charred arm, and folded in half. “I cannot do this,” he whispered.

His black eyes clashed with mine, fear lining their edges.

“I won’t,” he declared softly, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. He straightened slowly, gaze never once leaving mine. “Dromaris will not side with you.”

My brows rose.

Caelus and Aros both moved at once, but Hermes’ gilded talaria had him snaking backwards, out of reach. “I won’t side with him either, though. My people need me,” he murmured, looking east.

Then, with nothing more than a click of his fingers, the god of thieves vanished, stealing a sliver of our remaining hope as he left us in the blackened sand.

“That’s not going to make things any easier either,” Aphrodite muttered.

“No. It won’t.” My mind whirled through a thousand different thoughts at once.

While Hermes was a thorn in my backside, his allegiance meant that we were one Olympian stronger in our war against Kronos — against evil. The loss of him now meant that the transportation of armies and supplies would fall solely on me.

An amused whistle jolted me out of my torrential mind. Aros teetered on the balls of his feet, somehow smirking amid the smoking ruins.

“So… Who wants to be the one to tell Poseidon about all this?”

He, at least, had the decency to cringe as my lip twisted up into a soundless snarl. “I guess that falls to me.”

CHAPTER 15

Nyssa

“Back so soon?” Poseidon drawled from his cot. Half his leering face was lit from the torches someone had seen fit to light around the otherwise empty prison, the other half lay quenched in obscurity — shadows concealing all but his piercing blue eyes. “And here I thought you’d have me locked away for a hundred years before deigning to bless me with your presence again.”

He faced me fully then, the lines of his sun-tanned skin etching out the map of his discontent.

“But here you are, assaulting my eyes twice in as many days. Which means you either need something…” His face split into a malicious grin. “Or things have gone terribly wrong.”

I clenched my teeth, refusing to be baited; delaying the inevitable shitstorm old seadick was about to throw down.

“Well?” he snapped. “Which is it, girl?”

Caelus shot forward with a growl, halted just as fast by the featherlight weight of my hand on his arm. Only the fact that he was acutely aware of my touch — and my will — kept him from throttling Poseidon through the bars. Likely, without ever having laid a hand on the captive god.

“Neros has fallen,” I announced. My voice came out hard and low, enunciating each syllable with precision. I made sure to leave no room for misunderstanding, nor did I make any attempt to soften the blow.

Poseidon shot to his feet, the clang of his shackled hands striking the bars reverberating around the open space. I watched as every possible emotion crossed his face — surprise to confusion, disbelief to hilarity, contemplation to horror — finally settling on fury.

“You lie!” he roared, slamming his fists against the steel once more.

I stepped up to his cage, eyeing him severely; daring him to so much as spit in my direction.

“I swear upon the River Styx,” I intoned, voice lethally soft. “Thaldon’s capital was attacked this night by an assailant as yet unknown. Almost all of its people died in the blaze that struck them. Men, women, and children — all gone.”

Poseidon paled, staggering backwards.

“Nothing remains of the city but charred ruins. We collected their bones and cast them into the ocean, as is their mortal custom. Nothing else could be done for them.”

“No,” he whispered, spearing a hand through his long, matted locks, the other shackled arm following awkwardly. “No… I’ve failed them…” He paced his cell in small circles, growing increasingly agitated with every step.