There was a second when my eyes met Aiden’s, before he was pushed through the door along with Marcus, when I saw the stark horror in his silver eyes. When I knew there was a good chance he’d never forgive me for this.
The heavy doors swung shut and locked from the inside.
“Aren’t you a killjoy,” Ares said, chuckling softly. “I was really looking forward to ripping the heart out of St. Delphi in front of you. But there’s always later.”
I turned around slowly, my breath catching in my throat.
Ares winked. “Now it’s just you and me.”
“Well, that’s not freaky or anything.”
“Ah, that’s so like you. To joke when you’re afraid.” His large boots thumped as he took a step forward. “Or what do they call it? You’re ‘snarky’?”
My chest rose sharply as fists pounded on the door behind me. The thick titanium muted their voices. “That’s what some people say.”
“Hmm…” Ares tilted his head to the side, brows raised. “You know what I think about this snarky thing you have going on? It’s a poor attempt to mask how affected you are by things. What?” He grinned. “You look so surprised. Do you think I don’t know you? That I haven’t watched you just as long as Apollo has? See, I’m just smarter than him. After all, I am a great strategist.”
“The god of war has been stalking me? Wow, I feel all kinds of special. Usually the other gods are known for such creep things, but you? Wow.”
He laughed again, the sound deep but flat. “You are amusing. Very pretty, too. I see why Seth is quite fond of you.”
“I’m guessing, since you’re here, Seth won’t be too far behind.”
Ares just smiled, and the fists on the door continued.
“How did you find me, by the way?” I asked, buying time—time for what, I wasn’t sure.
“Oh, I have comrades everywhere, little girl. Ways to get around stupid talismans.” One more step and he was only two feet away from me. “You’re shaking,” he whispered.
I was?
“You went to the Underworld recently. Pray tell, what for?”
My throat felt like it was closing up. “Well, I guess you don’t have comrades everywhere if you don’t know.”
Ares smirked. “Charming. You will tell me what you were doing there, or this will end with you not being able to talk. It’s your choice.”
I refused to back up even though every instinct screamed that I do so. “I thought I was going to end this begging for death. How can I do that when I can’t talk?”
He laughed again. “You are so simple, little girl. There are other ways to beg for death than with words.”
“Are there?” My voice cracked a little and I winced.
His all-white eyes gleamed. “I’ve seen it all in battle. There is the way the body curls into itself when it wants death. There is the silent scream for release. There are the eyes, and they speak even when the tongue no longer works. And then there is the soul that rots so poorly when death is wanted but withheld that it carries a certain stench.”
Ice shot through my veins, turning my blood to slush. At that moment I knew, no matter how much I fought, this… this was going to suck.
“So unless you want to experience these things firsthand, you will tell me why you were in the Underworld, and then you will submit.”
I swallowed, wincing as fists hit the door behind me again. “I’m not big on the whole submission thing.”
“You may want to rethink that.” He sounded civil as he suggested it. “Look at this rationally, little girl. All that I ask is that you connect with Seth. Allow him to do what he was made to. That is all. He will take care of you. You know that. How is that so bad?”
“He will strip me of who I am.”
“So what? You’ll be happy and alive. You will want for nothing.” He tipped his chin down almost playfully. “I’ll even let the ones you love live. It’s a win/win situation.”
“Except for the gods you want taken out, and the thousands, if not millions, of people who will die.”
He shrugged. “Consequences of war.”
“Sickening,” I said.
“It is the truth.”
My stomach churned. “Why… why are you doing this?”
“Why not?” He tapped a long finger off my chin. “For too long the Olympians have sat on their thrones doing nothing. Letting the entire world be overrun with the children of demigods and mortals while we are sequestered on Mount Olympus. The world should be ours.”
I shook my head. “The world belongs to humankind.”
“The world belongs to the gods!” he roared, eyes crackling. “To me and any other god who sees the truth. That is who the world belongs to.”
My fingers curled helplessly. “Why don’t you just take me to Seth? Why try to convince me?”
“Well, I can’t really just pop you there, now can I?”
“You didn’t think this through, did you?” I forced out a laugh. “You could just knock me out and stuff me in a car. Why go through this?”
His brows slammed down and a muscle ticked in his jaw.
“There’s something. You can’t force me to go with you.” My pulse sped up. “Can you?”
The god was seething. “You are the Apollyon. Therefore I cannot force you, but keep in mind, little girl, I can and will hurt you.”
“This ‘little girl’ is having a hard time believing that.” Courage fed my bravado, which usually was never a good combination. “Unless you’re like every villain who wants to give a long, unnecessarily boring speech, I’d figured you were a more-action-and-less-words kind of god.”
Ares’ lips parted. “You have no idea. The rules that protect the Apollyon are like all things in nature—balanced. While you cannot be forced with compulsion or by hand, you can be persuaded by certain other means.”
“You suck as a salesman, so you aren’t persuading crap.”
He let out a low, deep growl. “Submit, or so be it.”
I met the eerie all-white eyes. “Go to hell.”
For a moment, he almost looked disappointed, like the kind of disapproval parents feel when their kid is too stupid to figure something out, but then he smiled broadly. “I don’t think Seth will like this, but oh, well.”
“What do—?”
Ares shot forth, in my face in half a second. All thoughts of Seth fled, and instinct kicked in. I summoned forth akasha, knowing it wouldn’t kill but hoping it would send him back to Olympus with his tail between his legs, but that wasn’t what happened.
He caught my arm by the wrist and squeezed with what was probably the slightest pressure, but the spike of pain caused me to lose my concentration. “You will not like my persuasion, little girl.”
Then he pushed, and I hit the door with enough force to knock the air out of me. Unfortunately, his Dr. Evil speech hadn’t been all pomp. But if he could hurt me, I could take it. I wasn’t submitting. Too much was at stake. Too many lives. I could deal with this, and all I could hope was that he forgot about Aiden and Marcus when he was through, or they got with the program and got the hell out of Dodge.
I can deal with this.
Pushing off the wall, I spun to the right and extended my arm, but where his chest had been was empty space, and I stumbled into it.
“Missed me.”
I whirled around, finding him behind me. Dropping down, I swept my leg at his… but hit nothing but air.
“You can keep this up if you want.”
Looking up, he was leaning against the door, arms crossed. Now I was starting to get pissed off. Launching to my feet, I gained momentum and pushed into the air, twisting into the perfect butterfly kick that—