Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake Read Free Book Online

back.”
    “It’d be better if they did,” Odysseus said. “I should keep getting held back. I could be in your year, and then Cassandra’s.”
    “Well.” Henry shrugged. “Good luck then.” He turned and went back upstairs with his dog. A few seconds later, his door shut, and music turned on.
    “I thought he would’ve warmed to us by now,” Odysseus said.
    “Really?”
    “Well, to me at least.” He walked into the kitchen and pulled out a chair. “Want to come by and see us off?”
    Cassandra ground her teeth together. Malaysia wasn’t where they should be going. They should be going after Aphrodite. But even though Cassandra was the god killer, Athena ran the show. Heat flared in Cassandra’s palms, asking to be let out. Sooner or later, it would stop asking and demand.
    Odysseus eyed her. She’d been unconsciously flexing her fingers.
    “You okay with this?” he asked.
    “I suppose,” she said. “Aidan would want me to be.”
    “No,” Odysseus said, a little sadly. “Aidan would want you to run. Far, far away. But I’m glad you haven’t.”
    “What’s that face for?” Cassandra asked, grudgingly. “Is Athena not well?”
    Odysseus sat and put his elbows up on the table, slumped forward like he was exhausted.
    “There was only one feather,” he said. “Under her fingernail. She can’t feel any more. Unless she’s lying.”
    “I don’t think she’d lie to you,” Cassandra said, and was surprised she said it.
    “She would if she thought it was for my own good. And she always thinks she knows what’s for people’s own good. Gods are controlling buggers.”
    “Why don’t you just tell her,” Cassandra said quietly. “How you feel.” Even though Athena would break him like a toy. That was what gods did to mortals who loved them.
    “She’s not exactly the soul-baring type,” Odysseus replied. “And besides. She knows.”
    “She does love you,” Cassandra said. “Only, the way she loves isn’t enough to sustain a rat. You deserve better.”
    “You don’t know her like I do.”
    “I know that with everything she’s taken from me, she still won’t do me one favor.”
    “She’s trying,” Odysseus said.
    He looked at Cassandra calmly. Fondly. But she knew she was pushing it. If anyone else had talked about Athena that way, they’d have found themselves flat on their backs.
    “She’s trying to let you grieve,” he said. “Hate her for being a god, or hate her for trying to be human, but don’t do both.”
    Cassandra’s eyes dropped. “You know Artemis is probably dead, right?”
    “I know. But she’s their sister. If there was a chance for Henry, no matter how slim, you’d have to take it, wouldn’t you?”
    She would. Of course she would.
    “Don’t be gone long,” she said.

 
    4
    IN THE CAVERNS OF THE EARTH
    Olympus didn’t exist anymore. As far as Ares knew, it had cracked and crumbled into the sea. It dissolved into particles and was carried off in the mouths of birds. It disappeared the moment the gods left it, the moment they leaped or were thrown from it. The moment the humans forgot them.
    But Aphrodite was dragging him to Olympus nevertheless.
    “Olympus. Come home to Olympus,” she said, and her teeth shone like pearls. “Mother waits.”
    “Olympus is gone, sweet one,” Ares said, as she tugged and pulled, leading him through the trees, her pale, bruised fingers wrapped around his dark, bleeding wrist.
    He had lingered with Aphrodite in the wood for days and nights, leaving blood streaks across her skin. Despite the bruises on her rib cage and hips, she was still beautiful. So he let himself be dragged toward whatever delusion she wanted. Her hair swayed down her back, bright as gold, as she picked her way through branches. Her tiny puppy wriggled happily in the crook of her arm.
    “We shook Olympus down a millennium ago, pet. With our sadness and indifference.”
    “We don’t have time for indifference anymore, Ares,” she said, and