“You’re a fucking moron,” Nick muttered.
Yeah, well, he might be, but if there was one thing Orpheus knew about Nick, it was that the half-breed would just as soon turn out someone in need as he would side with the gods. “What did you mean, if it were up to you we wouldn’t have been allowed entry into the colony?”
Nick held his hand out to the door behind him. “See for yourself.”
A strange feeling tingled low across Orpheus’s back. He pushed the door open. Inside the long room with its conference-style table and windows that looked out at the now-black lake, he spotted Queen Isadora, her sister Casey, Theron—the leader of the Argonauts—and Isadora’s new husband Demetrius.
Oh, this was just fucking terrific.
“Why don’t you sell tickets,” he mumbled to Nick. “There’s bound to be fireworks now.”
“Deal with it,” Nick muttered. “I’ve had to for the last few hours.”
The door closed behind them. Isadora’s concerned brown eyes bored into his. For whatever reason, she seemed to think he had some hero streak inside him. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that whatever heroic qualities were in his lineage had skipped right over him and shot straight to his younger brother Gryphon.
Or at least they had. Before Gryphon’s soul had been lost to Tartarus.
He pushed that painful thought aside and focused on the here and now. She looked better than she had the last time Orpheus had seen her. She’d gained a few pounds and her face was no longer pale and sunken in. And the slacks and sweater were a major improvement over the gowns she used to wear. Behind her, Demetrius’s jaw was set in a tight line as always. The Argonaut may have softened around the edges thanks to Isadora, but that didn’t mean he’d softened toward anyone else, even if that anyone else had helped save his life. Then there was Theron, leaning against the table with his hand on his wife Casey’s shoulder, watching Orpheus with an I always knew you were gonna fuck things up look on his face.
“Let me guess,” Orpheus said. “You’re all here on vacation. No, wait. Some kinky swingers’ honeymoon.” He caught the flash of annoyance in Theron’s eyes but ignored it. “You know, if it were me, Isa, I’d have gone for a sunny beach, not a creepy castle in the middle of nowhere. But then what do I know? Maybe kinky twisted shit turns you all on.”
Isadora shot Theron a warning look before he could respond, the shy little princess she used to be nowhere to be found in the confident queen she’d become. She stepped forward. “Tease all you want, Orpheus, but you know why we’re here.”
“No, I can honestly say I don’t. Don’t tell me you screwed the kingdom already, Isa.”
“Tell him,” Nick cut in. “Tell him what you told me.”
Isadora sighed. “We had a few visitors at the castle. Two, to be exact. Sirens. Sent by Athena to enlist the help of the Argonauts.”
“Help how?” Orpheus asked.
“In locating Apophis and the Orb of Krónos.”
Interesting. “Why?”
“Because Zeus wants it for himself.”
“That I get. But why come to you? And the Argonauts?”
“Zeus knows you’re looking for it. And he obviously also knows your link to the Argonauts.”
Of course he did. Zeus kept his ear to the ground too. Or rather his Sirens did.
His mind drifted to Skyla and their last few days together. But this news wasn’t anything he didn’t already know. He was well aware she’d been sent by Zeus to seduce him, snag the Orb when he finally found it, then kill him. They were both toying with each other in the meantime. What didn’t make sense was why the hell Zeus would think his chosen Siren couldn’t get the job done.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Isadora’s eyes softened again. “Because I sensed those Sirens weren’t telling me the whole truth. And because I’m worried about you.”
“You need to give up this crazy hunt for the Orb, O,” Theron cut in.
Orpheus ignored Theron. “What did you tell them? The Sirens?”
“That we would do what we can. Which,” Isadora added with a lopsided grin, “means nothing.”
Nothing. If it were up to Theron and the Argonauts, it’d be something.
“Why don’t you tell them about your traveling companion,” Nick said at Orpheus’s back.
Shit.
“Maelea?” Isadora asked. “We already know.”
“Not that one,” Nick said. “The other Siren.”
Isadora’s surprised eyes skipped back to Orpheus. “You’re traveling with a Siren?”
Man, he was so fucking ready to kill Nick. He didn’t have time for this shit. He still had to convince Maelea to tell him where the Orb was tonight so he could make tracks and find that shitty warlock. “The Siren is none of your concern. Yours either,” he said, shooting Nick a glare. “I can handle her.”
Isadora looked at her husband standing across the room with his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans, then to her sister and Theron leaning against the table, all three sporting the same what the hell did you expect? expressions. When she refocused on Orpheus, though, her eyes weren’t filled with the same indifference. They brimmed with worry. A worry that stoked his annoyance with this whole damn situation. “Orpheus—”
“Isa,” he mocked. What he wouldn’t give to call up his daemon and be done with all of them.
A frown turned her lips. “I know you can take care of yourself, but three Sirens in two days? That’s not good. Even for you.”
“You just worry about yourself, okay? I’ll worry about me.”
A knock sounded at the door. Nick answered with a yes, and seconds later a dark-haired half-breed popped his head into the room. “Um, Nick. We’ve got a situation.”
“What now?” Nick asked.
He handed Nick what looked like a palm-sized computer and ran his finger over the screen, calling up an image. “Sentries just spotted them. Two beyond the outer perimeter. Doesn’t look like they’ve figured out we’re here yet, but their tracking skills are among the best. They’ll figure it out soon enough.”
“Fucking A,” Nick muttered.
“What?” Theron said, letting go of Casey and stepping forward to look at the screen.
Nick pinned Orpheus with a hard look. “I just figured out what happened to the rest of the hellhound pack.”
“What do you—?”
Nick turned the screen so he could see the two Sirens lurking in the woods outside the cave where they’d left their vehicle. “Man, you are major-league fuckup if I ever saw one.” He glanced toward the male who’d brought him the news. “Get Kellon and Marc and take them down quietly.”
“Hold up.” Demetrius moved closer to Isadora. “You go killing a Siren or two and that’s bound to get back to Olympus. Orpheus is right. Zeus has never paid any attention to Maelea before, which means odds are good he’s not after the girl like we thought. He’s after Orpheus, just like O said. And that means killing his warriors isn’t going to do anything but piss him off more than he already is.”
Unease rippled through Orpheus. Why the hell was he being tailed by two more Sirens? Something smelled rotten. Little by little it was becoming clear Zeus didn’t trust Skyla as far as he could throw her. Which begged the question…why had he assigned her to Orpheus in the first place if he knew she was going to fail?
“Good point,” Theron said. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking disorienting them is a better bet,” Demetrius answered.
“A spell?” Orpheus asked, surprised Demetrius was embracing his Medean heritage so easily. The last time he’d used his powers, it had been to help Orpheus banish Atalanta to the Fields of Asphodel. But that had been out of pure hatred rather than anything else. As far as Orpheus knew, Demetrius hadn’t used his gift since.