“No.”
He gives me a long look. “Will you hear me out before telling me no?”
“Let me think.” I glance at the ceiling and then back at him. “No. You have that scheming look about you, and I don’t want any part of it.”
“Cassandra.” There’s a rare edge in his voice. Theseus must have really gotten under his skin. “Hear me out. Please.”
I could walk out. Refuse to hear him out. I could…but I don’t. My second mistake of the day, and one I’ll no doubt come to regret.
He doesn’t wait long to prove me right. “Minos has ulterior motives for being here, but I can’t figure out what they are.”
“I know that.” Apollo has been muttering about it for weeks, ever since Minos’s party showed up and two of them competed for Ares.
“He had bargained with Zeus to trade information for citizenship, but so far everything he’s offered has been too vague to be of use. I’m sure that’s intentional.”
“Probably.” If it’s his only bargaining chip, he’ll want to squeeze out every bit of its worth. It seems foolhardy to want the attention of the Thirteen on you, but what do I know?
“This house party is going to be my best opportunity to find those answers. It will last for a week, which would theoretically give me plenty of time to dig around for evidence. Someone bankrolled his trip here, and if I can find out who it was, we won’t need Minos.”
Apollo is something of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to information. His title is technically Keeper of the Lore, and he does that by preserving records of Olympus’s history. But he’s also more than a little bit of a spymaster, sourcing information for the Thirteen and his own purposes constantly. Even after working for him for five years, I’m still not entirely sure how he comes by some of the info he finds. But it’s always accurate.
A week in Minos’s house should be more than enough time to get to the bottom of this mystery. I frown. “Why do I sense abutcoming?”
“But…” He sighs again. “You’ve worked for me long enough to know my strengths. I am more comfortable with data and archives than I am scrying out people’s motives.”
It’s true. If Apollo has one failing—and I’d hesitate to qualify it as such—it’s that he’s too honest. His brain doesn’t work in the twisty, deceptive ways required to understand the layers beneath layers of plots that play out in this city. He’s not naive; he knows the plots are there—he just can’t divine the shape of them instinctively. “You’ve survived this long. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Cassandra.” He gives a rueful smile that makes my chest ping. “You know better. I’m only as strong as my team, and I won’t be able to have you all there with me. If I can only bring one, I want you.”
I want you.
Not going to think about how those words make me feel. Not even a little bit. “Well, you can’t have me. Ask Hermes. She’s good at this sort of thing.”
“Hermes plays her own games and you know it.” He shakes his head. “And I’m not on her level. I can’t whisk in and out of rooms like magic.”
What Hermes does isn’t magic, though anyone who’s walked into a locked room and found her rooting through their shit might believe otherwise. Most people don’t pause long enough to realize breaking and entering is basically her love language and that she only does it to people she likes, but if I saythat, then I have to explain how I would know such a thing, and I’m not about to get into my exes with anyone, let alone Apollo.
“You’re very good at what you do, butno oneis on Hermes’s level,” I finally say. “You’ll have to find another way.”
“Agreed. Ihaveanother way.” He levels a look at me. “Come with me. Play the part of my date. You see things I don’t, and I need that perspective to successfully navigate this.”
Come with me.
Play my date.
At a house party that will last a week.
My brain skips and I shove to my feet. “No. Absolutely not.” Bad enough that I spend so much time in close proximity with him while we work together. Attending a party like that… We’ll be expected to share the sameroom. The samebed. He’ll have to touch me. He’s dated a few people in the years since he took his title. The soldier Hyakinthos. The model Coronis. Enough that everyone knows he’s touchy-feely with his partners. Enough that if hewasn’tthat way with me, it would raise questions.
I can’t do it.
I won’t.
“You’re out of your fucking mind, Apollo. I can’t believe you’d ask me this.” I’m still talking too sharply, my words filled with blades born of panic. “You know what that would mean for me and what everyone already thinks. You’d prove them right, andI’dhave to deal with the consequences.” No one in Olympus believes that I have no interest in power. They look at me and see the sins of my parents.
The bitter irony is that if my parents had just been content with their privilege and power, no one would look sideways at Apollo dating me. We were a legacy family, which meant I would be an acceptable marriage option for one of the Thirteen.
Everyone expects me to try to reclaim what we lost. They’ve been watching me like a bug under a magnifying glass for twelve years, and what Apollo’s asking for means putting myself into the public eye in a way that invites attacks.