Broken God (19 page)

“This is where you’re hiding
,” she
murmurs, and it’s warm. Almost loving.

“Artie,” I grin, and fumble to my feet, swaying as the world
spins dizzy futures, threads and threads of silver and shining gold. My eyes
cross. “Gods
,
you’re shiny.”

Her eyes fly wide at that, and she shoots Del a panicked
look.

“He chose to take it back,” she says, her voice very calm.
Like she isn’t yanking the rug out from under my sister.

Like she isn’t enraging a goddess.

“Why?”

“To protect you, Artie,” I murmur. I glance at Del and she
watches me with clear, lucid eyes. Somehow, sometime along the way, the balance
had shifted and now she was the sane one in this relationship.

And still here. Still mine. Still Del.

She gives me that soft smile that reminds me how long she
dealt with this. How long she was the crazy person in this relationship. And it
helps. I grin at her and then turn to my sister.

“I saw what would happen to Olympus. How we would fall.”

“She Spoke for you?” Artemis snarls, her pretty face twisting
with fury. “Are you insane, Del?”

“Not anymore,” she answers blandly and I giggle at that.

“You destroyed him,” Artemis snaps.

“I served my god, Artemis. That is my job. Not to serve you
or anyone else. It’s only ever been to serve Apollo. He asked for something,
and I gave it, against my own wishes. If you have a problem with it, take it up
with your brother.”

Artemis huffs. “I will.”

Del’s gaze goes flinty. “Be careful with him, goddess. He
isn’t the brother you remember.” She’s a badass, my Del.

Artemis waits as Del kisses my hair and then retreats, headed
to our small garden. I like the garden. It gets plenty of sun and grows delicious
vegetables.

I giggle. The sun might have a little help.

Artemis sits next to me and I let my head roll a little, to
find the spot on her shoulder that feels like mine, and home.

My sister has always felt like home. Everything else may
change and the years may drag on forever. But Artemis is home and always will
be.

“Because if I did, I could find out how the family will fall.
We are, you know. You
know
we are.”

She nods. Because yes. She does. We all know that the
pantheon is falling.

“And this? Taking your power back? How does that protect us?”

“I need an Oracle, for it to come to pass. If I don’t have an
Oracle
…”

“You’ll go mad,” she interjects and I grin at her.

“I’ll be able to circumvent prophecy.”

She stares at me, and I smile at her, mad and wild and
hopeful. I need her to understand. She doesn’t have to like it. She just needs
to understand.

Finally, she sighs. “The family will just
love
this.”

Chapter 21.

It’s not a small thing, to meet a god. In hindsight, Iris
handled it surprisingly well. She was on the cusp of madness when she did,
already tipping toward insane. But still. Gotta give the girl props for not
freaking out or bolting.

And then, to meet Artemis. She didn’t blink and met my twin
with respect and if not on equal footing, damn close to it.

She’s amazing. It’s something I know, and something I am
absurdly proud of because it’s not like I made her amazing. She was before she
met me, and she will be when I finally bud out of her life.

But as she stands in the storm that is my family, her head
high and her eyes curious, it hits me.

This girl that I claimed, that is
mine
, is
fucking amazing.

“You made an Oracle?” Persephone snarls and Hades catches my
aunt’s hand, tugs her back.

“They love each other very much, don’t they?” Iris says,
watching them.

“Don’t pick at the family, love,” I murmur, and a smile
twists her lips.

“Because you don’t like it?”

“Because they don’t. And they can kill you.”

She shrugs, a careless thing that makes me swallow my laugh.
“You’d never permit it.”

“Do you think he can stop us?” Ares almost purrs.

She twists to look at the War Lord, and a smile curves her
lips. “You are very prickly, aren’t you?” she muses, almost to herself, and
leans into his space. Ares throws me a glare, almost a ‘control you’re human’
and I shrug at him.

“Strong though. The wars have been good to you, I think,” she
muses softly, and her gaze wanders over the family. Psyche and Cupid,
Aphrodite, and Heph. She snags, for a moment, on Athena, and a smile curves her
lips wide. “My brother would like you,” is all she offers though, before she
moves on.

“You haven’t made an Oracle in two thousand years, Apollo,”
Zeus says.

“And now, now that gods are dying and we are all gathered,
you chose now to make one.” Poseidon spits, and I swing to face him. “I didn’t
choose this.”

Still, still, still silence.

And then a laugh, high and slightly cracked. “Oh,
that
didn’t
help at all, did it? Gods, you are all scared as fuck.”

“Delphi,” I murmur, and even though it is not her name, and
I have never used it for her, Iris quiets, and curls into my side.

“Is she—is she the one your Oracle spoke of?”

“Yes,” I say, softly, and Hades sighs, a noise that echoes
through the room.

“I thought you were avoiding this. That you were fighting
the prophecy. Isn’t that why you spent the last two thousand years mad as a
hatter?”

I give Dionysius a dry look and he grins at me from behind
oversized sunglasses. A joint hangs from his lips. The man is a walking fucking
stereotype, and I’ve never bought it. There’s depth there, that the depravity
and hedonistic life hides.

“You are very empty,” Iris says, and my grip on her hand
tightens, past the point of painful, but it’s too late. She inhales a
shuddering breath, and then, “
Lonely
and empty and desperate to fill it. Dark, dark despair, oh it cuts, it’s cold
and nothing touches it. There’s a light coming. You don’t think it will. Not
anymore. Waiting. You’ve been waiting so long. It’s coming. The wait is almost
over.
” She shudders, “
Whiskey sweet honey strong opposites and broken,
broken, broken.
” She
laughs, and blinks. Gives Dion a smile that’s bright and happy. “
Oh, sugar. You have no idea what you have coming
for you. I almost feel bad for you.”

He makes a noise that’s a little strangled and I snag
Artie’s eye. She moves smoothly, tugging Iris away from me and out of the hall.

Gods, she’s Speaking prophecy in the middle of the Hall of
Gods, and I’m supposed to calm these nervous bastards down?

“What the actual fuck?” Zeus manages to demand, his voice
sharp and furious, and I shrug.

I’ve been crazy long enough I can maybe get away with this.
“She’s new, Father. Still learning decorum and shit.”

“She’s wild and unpredictable and the last Oracle you had
did enough damage to last a lifetime.”

“Zeus,” Hades interjects.

“She isn’t hurting anyone,” I protest.

“How long, Apollo?”

The voice is sticky sweet, little girl curious and
dangerous.

Aphrodite is dangerous. She always has been. I eye her
briefly.

“How long have you had a new Del and when the fuck did you
go back to Delphi?”

There it is. The tiny slip that tells me just how close to
the edge my sister is riding.

Too close.

We are all too close. There is still a killer on the loose
and my cousin is lying in a room in this fucking house, recovering from an
attack that none of us can explain or pin blame on.

Much as I want to be pissed that they are so angry, I can’t
be.

Del predicted, two thousand years ago, that my Oracle would
be the harbinger of our downfall. And now she’s here and gods are dying.

Prophecy coming true.

Iris Spoke to Dion, and I wonder how long he will have to
wait before the girl who will fill that black hole in him appears.

Not long, if I’m right. If Del’s prophecy is right.

In all the centuries Del has served, and in all the long
years I was lost in insanity, Del has never been wrong. The visions may not be
what any of us want, but she Speaks truth.

“We don’t live in Delphi. Not anymore than you live in
Olympus.”

I wonder if the apartment that has become her haven and mine
is new Delphi. It doesn’t feel like it. Not the way new Olympus feels like our
old mountaintop home.

Aphrodite’s teeth click shut and she glares at me.

“She’s dangerous,” Poseidon snaps.

“She doesn’t change the future, Uncle. She merely speaks
what she sees. With her at my side or not, the future is set. You can blame the
triplets for that.”

There’s a hum of noise, then I shrug. “Uncle.”

Poseidon bristles and I smile, tight and sharp. Let my power
slip just a little. “Not you, Poseidon.”

Hades is expressionless when he nods. “Let the girl rest.
When he wakes, she can Speak to him.”

I give him a tiny bow, a sign of respect I wouldn’t afford
any of the other gods—not even Zeus, and then retreat. My family is very petty.
And arguing with them over my Oracle will solve nothing. I will tend to my
Oracle.

Artemis follows me from the Hall of Gods, and catches my
arm. “Is she capable of this?”

I shrug her off. “She has to be, doesn’t she?”

Artemis frowns at me, and she bites her lip, but there isn’t
anything to say.

And Iris needs me more than she does. Maybe she always has.
Maybe we have always been headed here. Her eyes narrow at me.

“I’m not letting you go, brother,” she snaps. “Whatever the
pantheon decides regarding your girl. I’ve never left your side.”

“And you’ve never left Olympus.” I answer, my voice flat.

“I was with you before Delphi, and before you were mad,
before Olympus and before we took our first breath. I will always be with you.”

I stare at her and she comes a step closer, her eyes boring
into mine, and I nod, finally, acknowledging her words. A tiny, relieved smile
curls up her lips and she goes on tiptoes to kiss my cheek before she steps
away. “Go, then.”

Iris is shaking, these tiny tremors I usually associate to
when we’re in bed and she’s riding me.

This is different. This is her, shaking apart. I pull her
close, press my lips to her hair. “Shh, sweetheart. You did wonderful. You were
perfect.”

“They hate me.”

“They are scared. And even if they do, you’re mine.” I frame
her head and tilt her back, my thumbs pressing softly against her throat. “What
does that mean, Iris?”

“It means you won’t let anything hurt me,” she whispers and
I nod.

“Trust me?”

“I shouldn’t,” she answers, and I grin. “But I do,” she
adds, and that is when I kiss her. Pull her close and cover her lips with my
own and I know. I
know
my family is only a room away, I can hear them fighting,
but it doesn’t matter because my girl is in my arms. The girl who isn’t Del,
who will never be Del, but who is
mine
and precious, and who, against all odds and reason, trusts
me.

I kiss her until her body goes butter soft and sweet against
me, until her hands are digging into my sides, clutching and pulling me closer,
until her lips part on a whimper and she sighs into my mouth when I press the
advantage and kiss her deeper, licking into her mouth and stealing all of the
little noises she makes, claiming them and her. I told her that I didn’t love
her.

And when I said, it was true.

But love, like so many things, is a slow slide. And I am
startled, as I stand in new Olympus, with her hands on my waist and her tongue
twisting around mine, to realize.

I do.

I love her, to the point of madness.