“Soon you will be my queen,” said Cronus, his lips tickling my ear. The look on Henry’s face was murderous. “You have not changed your mind, have you, my dear?”
My eyes locked on Henry. He had to understand it was all an act. “No,” I said. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Good girl,” murmured Cronus, and Henry straightened, his hands balled into fists as if he were seconds away from decking Cronus.
“I’m going to find Calliope,” said Henry. “You stay here.”
My eyes widened, but despite my silent protest, Henry leaned across the cradle to kiss my cheek. At least he understood.
As he left the room, Cronus ran his hands down my back before returning to my shoulders. “When you and I are together, you will never know tears,” he murmured. “You will never know pain. You will only know joy and happiness. Everyone will bow to you. Everyone will know that you, Kate Winters, are my queen. And they will all love and fear you for it.”
I didn’t want to be feared. I didn’t want anyone to bow to me, but Cronus would never understand what it meant to be happy without absolute power. He would never understand why I would always love Henry and never love him. But at least Henry wasn’t here to hear this.
“What are you doing?”
Cronus’s hands stilled. I tried to turn, but he blocked my way. Not that it mattered. I would’ve known that voice anywhere.
Ava set a load of blankets down on the dresser and moved toward us, her eyes focused on Cronus. She couldn’t see me. “Who are you talking to?”
“The baby,” said Cronus smoothly. “Someone must ensure his education.”
“No, you weren’t,” said Ava, advancing on him. Her hands trembled. She was as afraid of Cronus as everyone else. “You said Kate’s name.”
“So I spoke of his mother.” Cronus straightened and dropped his hands. Apparently he’d realized that massaging an invisible person’s shoulders didn’t do much to support his argument. “What of it?”
Ava eyed him. “Kate’s here, isn’t she?”
“Perhaps,” he allowed. “Perhaps not.”
My stomach twisted into knots. She was so close that I could reach out and touch her if I wanted to.
“I want to talk to her,” said Ava. “I know you two communicate. I know you can hear her and she can hear you, and—and I want you to tell her something.”
How could she possibly know that? Cronus hadn’t mentioned it to her, else she wouldn’t have sounded so determined to be right. Who else knew? The council, but none of them had been in contact with Ava. Unless there was another traitor.
No, impossible. I trusted the council with my life. Except for Dylan, but he wouldn’t have done anything to risk losing a battle, especially feed information to the enemy. Unless it was all a ruse and he really was reporting to Cronus, after all.
I bit my lip. I couldn’t think like that, not unless I had proof. With how much he seemed to hate me, it was easy to suspect Dylan of being a snake, but that kind of thinking and suspicion would tear us apart. The last thing the council needed was someone else backing down. Dylan and I might not have liked each other much, or at all, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t work together toward a common goal. As long as he wasn’t doing what he’d accused me of and telling his girlfriend secrets behind the council’s back.
“If you would like to speak to her, then speak,” said Cronus, and the false note of warmth he used with me evaporated. “She is perfectly capable of hearing you.”
Ava took another tentative step forward, focusing somewhere over my right shoulder. “Kate—Kate, I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t know what Calliope was doing. I would’ve never risked your baby’s life if I had.”
I shifted protectively in front of Milo’s crib. Fat lot of good that would do, but it made me feel better, at least. “It’s too late for apologies,” I said, and to my surprise, Cronus opened his mouth and spoke those same words, exactly as I’d said them.
Ava’s expression grew stricken. “Please. I’ll do anything.”
“Come back to Olympus,” I said, and once again Cronus repeated me. “Leave Calliope.”
“I can’t,” she said. “You don’t understand—she has Nicholas, and if I don’t cooperate, she’s going to kill him like she killed Iris and Henry.”
The moment she said those words, a cold silence settled over the room, and she blinked several times.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, and I could hear the sob bubbling up inside her. “I’m so, so sorry, Kate. I can’t tell you...”
“Then don’t,” I said. “If you’re really sorry, then do something to prove it. I don’t care what. But stop acting like a helpless victim and stand up for what you believe in before you have nothing left at all.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks, and she didn’t try to stop them. “I just want things to be okay again. Please, Kate—you have to understand. You would’ve done the same thing for Henry, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” I said softly. “But I would have hated myself every moment for it, and the instant I realized you were pregnant, I would’ve fought Calliope to the death to protect you. I would’ve never let her destroy you like she’s trying to destroy me.”