“Perhaps you ought to have taken that into consideration before you attempted to kill him,” said Cronus neutrally, and Calliope tightened her grip around Milo, her scowl deepening.
“I was aiming for his shoulder, not his heart. And he wasn’t supposed to leave. You swore you’d heal him.”
She hadn’t meant to nearly kill him? I narrowed my eyes. Of course she’d been bluffing this whole time. She’d been in love with Henry for millennia—she wasn’t the type to give up on that. Like Cronus wanted me by his side, Calliope wanted Henry by hers.
“Then it seems as if things did not go according to plan,” said Cronus plainly. “You cannot hold me responsible for that.”
Milo started to cry, and Calliope let out a frustrated sigh. “Callum, be quiet. Mother’s trying to think.”
“His name isn’t Callum, and I’m his mother, you bitch,” I snarled, but of course she didn’t hear me. She deposited the baby into Cronus’s waiting arms.
“Here. He likes you better anyway. I need Henry, Father, and you need to get him back for me. He can’t die.”
Milo quieted. At least Calliope didn’t have him anymore. “If he is in Olympus, it is out of my control,” said Cronus.
“Then you’d better hope he isn’t,” she said.
Cronus tilted his head. “You dare speak to me in such a manner? I am your father, your ruler, your king, and yet you treat me with as little respect as you do your enemies.”
To my immense satisfaction, Calliope froze, her mouth forming a small circle. “I didn’t—” She paused, flustered. Served her right. “You know I respect you, Father, more than anything in the world. I just— Nothing’s going right anymore. Henry was supposed to be mine by now, but Ava couldn’t be bothered to fulfill her promise when he was here rescuing that hag.”
I stilled. What else had Ava promised Calliope?
“Such insolent behavior will not get you what you want, my daughter,” said Cronus. “Surely you must know that by now.”
She nodded, and for half a second, she appeared almost meek. “You’re still on my side, right, Daddy? You won’t stop loving me, too?”
I could’ve thrown up at her saccharine manipulation, but Cronus didn’t bat an eye. “No, daughter, I will not. We are in this together, and it would serve you well to remember that.”
“Of course.” Calliope bowed her head, the first sign of deference she’d shown since I’d arrived. “I’m sorry for upsetting you, Father.”
He waved dismissively, and she headed out of the nursery, closing the door behind her. For a long moment, the only sound that filled the room was Milo’s whimpers.
At last Cronus focused on me. His face morphed into a copy of Henry’s once more, though he now wore a mask of false concern. “My dear, what is wrong?”
Everything I’d planned to say was gone, but at least I didn’t have to pretend to cry. My eyes were red and puffy, and my cheeks flushed from arguing with my mother. Watching Calliope with my son had renewed my frustrated tears, and a lump formed in my throat. There was nothing fake about my grief.
“You know I know who you really are,” I whispered. “Change back to your normal face. Please.”
Cronus eyed me, and at last his appearance shifted until it was his own again. “I thought you would prefer it this way.”
He knew damn well he was fooling me the entire time, but maybe it wasn’t just to trick me—maybe he thought it would bring me some comfort, as well. Maybe that was his version of consoling me. I shook my head. “Henry’s dead. Rhea couldn’t help him. And she won’t—she won’t help us either.”
“I am sorry,” said Cronus. He set a sleeping Milo down in the crib and wrapped his arms around me. I held my breath, refusing to hug him back. He could say he was sorry all he wanted, but we both knew he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. He didn’t have it in him. “I was certain Rhea would help him.”
“We—we were too late,” I said in a broken voice, allowing the tears to flow. “By the time we got there...” It was so close to the truth that it wasn’t hard to imagine what it would have felt like to lose Henry completely. If Rhea hadn’t healed him, he would have been dead by now. I was sure of it.
We stood there in silence for several minutes. Cronus made the usual gestures someone did when comforting a loved one; soothing words, a gentle touch, promises that it would be all right as I wept into his shoulder. But I wasn’t crying about Henry’s supposed death, and Cronus didn’t really love me. How had I ever believed he could possibly be Henry?
“What did Ava promise to do for Calliope?” I said once my sobs had subsided. “Did she do something to make him die?”
Cronus shrugged and loosened his grip. “I am certain she did not, though I could not begin to guess what her intentions are.”
He was lying, but there was nothing I could do to call him on it. “Are you really loyal to Calliope?” I said in a small voice. “I thought you wanted me.”
“I do,” he said. “I am loyal to no one but you. I tell her what I must to keep her happy, but I live to see you smile.”
Bullshit. I hiccupped and pulled away from him, though he didn’t let me go completely. “Stop killing people. Please. No one else should have to die because of a stupid family argument.”
Cronus paused. “I would like nothing more than to grant your request, my darling, but surely you must know that is not possible. What do you expect me to do? To retreat back to Tartarus without so much as a second thought?”
“Of course not,” I mumbled, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. Cronus produced a handkerchief out of nowhere, and only because refusing him would do me no good, I took it. “Why does there need to be a war in the first place? Why can’t everyone coexist?”
“Because, my dear Kate, they will not stop until I have been imprisoned once more, and I cannot allow that to happen.”
“What if they promised not to try to send you back into the Underworld?”
“If it were that easy, we would have reached a solution eons ago. Unfortunately it is not. Zeus will never agree.”
“He’s a stubborn jackass,” I muttered, and Cronus chuckled.
“Right you are, my darling. Surely you understand that as long as he rules the skies, I cannot stop.”