Page 27

27

Icarus

I’m shocked I was able to sleep at all, but when I open my eyes, the light creeping in from the partially closed blinds is bright. It’s well past noon now. Poseidon is already awake, typing one-handed on his phone. His other hand is pressed to the small of my back. When I move to slide off him, he releases me easily. My back aches, but not as much as I expected it to. Probably because Poseidon was my mattress for that little nap.

I’ve never slept with someone the way I sleep with him. It’s not a simple sharing of a bed until the appropriate time to slip away. I sleep deeply. I’m pretty sure there’s a drool spot on his shirt from me. What the fuck? I drag my hand through my hair and duck into the bathroom.

By the time I return, he’s sitting up, still on his phone. I don’t know if I’m supposed to go sit with him or… I cross my arms over my chest. “You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long.”

“You needed it.” He appears to give me his full attention. “Zeus has garnered both Athena’s and Ares’s support—privately—so we’re moving forward as planned. It’s time.” He holds out his phone.

I take it gingerly. It’s tempting to duck back into the bathroom to make this call, but I’ve been cowardly enough. Over and over again in the last few days, I’ve shown Poseidon the absolute worst version of myself and he hasn’t flinched away. What’s one more?

Deo is the first number I dial. He answers quickly, likely waiting by his phone for this exact outreach. “We’ve considered your offer.”

Offer. Interesting term for blackmail. As much as I don’t want to show my ugly underbelly to Poseidon, I put the call on speaker and force a smile to my lips and a coquettish tone to my voice. “Darling, it means the world that I’ve been on all your minds. I hope we’re in agreement about the right course of action.”

Deo and the others have already made their decisions, but he’s a stubborn bastard and the idea of plucking Olympus is tempting. “I could simply kill you, you know. Your father isn’t the only one who has pet assassins.”

I shiver. My father isn’t , not wasn’t . Circe and her people don’t know Minos is dead. That is a clever move on Olympus’s part. I glance at Poseidon, but he hasn’t so much as twitched since this conversation started. He’s watching me closely, but it doesn’t feel like he’s ready to launch himself forward if I do or say something to betray him. More like I’ve just revealed a new facet to him and he’s analyzing it and fitting it into the puzzle in his head that represents Icarus.

“You could,” I say breezily. “I still like the odds of my being able to push a button and send all this damning evidence to Circe and the rest of Aeaea before they can cut me down.”

“How do we know you won’t release the information anyway?”

“You don’t.” There’s no point in pretending otherwise. There’s no foolproof assurance I can offer, so I don’t bother. “But I’ve managed to keep these secrets just between us for nearly ten years. You don’t think I’m going to spill it out of spite, do you? You all weren’t that bad in bed.”

“Fuck you, Icarus.”

“I already did, darling. I even have videos.”

“You—”

“You’re just going to have to trust me, Deo. Promise to sail away and never return, and none of this juicy evidence will ever see the light of day.” He truly doesn’t have a choice. Circe won’t tolerate this kind of rebellion, and a good portion of the sailors on those ships are conscripts. They won’t stand between him and someone out for his blood. He has to know that. This plan of attack only works if Circe and the Aeaeans have surprise on their side.

So why haven’t they actually attacked?

I can’t ask. Showing any kind of ignorance will put me in a position with less power. Deo and the others need to believe I’m unassailable.

Finally, he curses. “Fine. We’ll do it. We don’t have any other choice.”

“You really don’t. I want you to sail away at…” I glance at Poseidon and he holds up ten fingers and then two. “Midnight. It’s suitably dramatic, but also late enough that Circe won’t have time to pivot to a different defense. Douse the lights and take off.”

“So be it. I’ll text you when we’re leaving.” He hesitates a long moment. “Circe’s ship is run by a skeleton crew. If you’re quick and quiet, they won’t see you coming.”

He truly is helpful when he gets out of his own way. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Do whatever you want. Just hold off your damn attack until we’re out of the way of crossfire.”

“Good boy.” The words taste foul on my tongue.

“Icarus, if you’re fucking me over, I won’t kill you,” he says calmly. “I’ll hunt down that sister of yours who sailed away a few days ago and slit her pretty throat.”

It takes everything I have to keep my voice cheery. “It’s been a true pleasure doing business with you, Deo. I’ll be waiting for your text and watching for your retreat.” I end the call.

I’m shaking and I can’t seem to stop. I toss the phone onto the cushion beside Poseidon. “There. Done. All four of them will abandon Circe at midnight tonight.”

Instead of appearing victorious, he just seems worried. “Deo’s threats were…convincing.”

“It goes with the territory.” I shrug, though the motion is too tense to fully pull off. “If any of them really had assassins in Olympus, they would have already tried to kill me after the call last night. It’s been hours, and even without MuseWatch reporting on my whereabouts, any assassin worth their salt would have figured out where I am. We haven’t exactly been hiding.”

“True,” he says slowly, his amber eyes still worried. For me . “But that doesn’t mean Deo didn’t do harm.”

I laugh. I can’t help it. “You truly are too pure for this world or any other. Harm is a reality of life, Poseidon. The powerful harm the weak. It’s how they stay in power.”

He rises slowly. He’s so fucking big . Last night was amazing—beyond amazing—and it did nothing to ease my attraction to him. I want to tie him down and paint my name in wax over his chest. I want to prick each and every one of his freckles with a needle until he’s panting and begging and dripping his pre-come all over his stomach.

But it’s not just lust; if it were, maybe I could control my reactions better. I want quiet meals while he decompresses from his day. I want him to show me around the shipping yard, to share all the things he very clearly loves. I want to spend my nights sprawled across his chest, feeling safer than I ever have.

I want…everything.

He proves just how good he is by pulling me into a hug that feels like maybe he really could press all my broken pieces back together with sheer determination and acceptance.

Dangerous thoughts. Dangerous desires. “Now what?” I speak against the soft fabric of his T-shirt.

“Now, we wait for sunset.” He strokes a hand down my spine, obviously aiming to soothe me. I mostly don’t hate that it works. “Are you hungry?”

Yes, but not in the way he means. I lift my head. “Poseidon?”

He goes still, instantly picking up on the change in mood. “Yes?”

“If we don’t have anywhere to be, if tonight is going to be the big fight that frees Olympus and changes everything…” I lick my lips, my cock hardening when he follows the movement. “I want you again before it’s over. Please.”

He doesn’t move away, but it’s clear he’s trying to think his way out of the lust slowly settling around us. “I know you seduced me for safety, Icarus. But you don’t have to. I’ll keep you safe. No stipulations. No demands.”

Fuck, but he keeps saying things I don’t know how to deal with. I blink past the way my eyes start to burn. “I know.”

“You say that, but I…” He curses, but he doesn’t retreat physically. “I don’t hold a single thing you’ve done against you—no one should—but I don’t want to be another person who harms you, intentionally or not.”

“Poseidon, I know .” I run my hands up his chest and cup his face, his beard scratchy against my palms. “I won’t pretend I didn’t initially seduce you because I thought it would compromise you emotionally and ensure you kept me safe, but…I care about you. It’s too soon and not the right timing and I don’t expect you to feel the same way, but—”

He presses his fingers to my lips. “I care about you, too.”

“This will never work,” I mumble. I don’t know why I say it. He isn’t offering to make anything work. Saying he cares about me is the bare minimum. It doesn’t mean he’s letting himself imagine a future that’s impossible. Even if he declared himself in love with me and even if we are successful in removing the threat of Circe, Poseidon is a legacy title. He has a responsibility to Olympus to father a bunch of heirs and spares to keep that title going.

I can’t believe I’m even thinking it. My cart is so far in front of my horse that it’s out of sight.

As if he can hear my increasingly frantic thoughts, he shifts his hand around to cup the back of my neck and presses his forehead to mine. “Maybe it won’t work; only time will tell. First, we have to survive tonight and whatever comes after.”

I lean back and he allows the distance, just like he allows me to see the desire kindling within him. “How long do we have?” I ask softly.

“A couple hours. Hades and Zeus are coming to the shipyard to strategize at first dark. We’ll launch close to midnight.”

By sunrise, the fate of Circe will be sealed and Olympus will be able to start picking up the pieces. Zeus might demand my head, but I’m reasonably sure Poseidon will give me a ship and send me on my way before he has a chance to collect. Poseidon is honorable like that. But surviving, reaching my sister, starting a new life, all of it means leaving this man behind. Even if he wanted a future with someone as broken as I am, the Thirteen would never allow it. Neither would the city itself. One villain killed in the depths of the night before even reaching Olympus’s shores won’t be enough to make people feel like justice was served. They’ll be out for blood.

But not today. Right now, it’s only Poseidon and me in this little apartment. I drop my hands and take a step back. After the briefest hesitation, he lets me go. He watches me carefully as I walk to the door and flip the lock. “I want to outline something I’d like to do to you, with you. If you have any reservations at all, I want you to tell me.”

That beautiful flush rises in Poseidon’s cheeks. He clears his throat and shifts from foot to foot. “Okay.”

It takes effort to maintain our distance, to not do anything to heighten the desire between us until I’ve laid out my proposal. By the time I’m done, his chest rises and falls with quick little breaths and his cock is a hard line against the front of his jeans. “Yes. I want that. Right now.”

“Tell me your safe word.”

“Trident.”

“Good boy. Now, go get ready for me.”