“Here we go,” said Henry gently. “You’re safe here.”
He walked past me so slowly that he seemed to be moving through molasses. No wonder he’d taken so long. A turtle could have outpaced him. Upon spotting me, Milo waved his arms, and I managed a tearful grin.
“Hi, baby. Having fun with your daddy?”
He gurgled, and Henry smiled. “I wish I could stay here, too, but I will be back before the moon disappears from your window. In the meantime, I am sure your aunt Ava will be here soon to keep you company.”
With a wave of his hand, the cradle moved a few inches, presumably into a position where Milo could see the moon. A sob caught in my throat.
Henry pressed his lips to the baby’s forehead for a long moment before straightening. “Be good,” he murmured, and he looked straight at me. “Your mother and I love you.”
I froze. Did he know? Was it a coincidence? Another trick of Cronus’s?
And I love you. Though his lips hadn’t moved, his voice whispered through my mind, and I held my breath. Just like Milo, he knew I was there. Ava hadn’t lied; she hadn’t taken that love away from him.
I know what you’re doing. I pushed the words toward him, and he turned away to stare into Milo’s cradle. And I hope you can fight what Ava’s making you feel, because once this is over, I’m never letting you go again.
It might’ve been my imagination, but I could’ve sworn he smiled.
This will end, and we will be together again. My thoughts were firm and unyielding now. Just stay with me. Don’t let Calliope convince you that you’re someone you’re not, and everything will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.
Without so much as a glance my way, Henry walked toward the nursery door. But as he moved by me, his hand passed through mine, and this time I knew it was no accident. So will I.
* * *
When I returned to Olympus, the council was waiting for me. Everyone looked exhausted and well past their breaking points, with dark smudges under their eyes and pale skin that seemed to stretch too tightly over their faces.
“Kate,” said Walter. Even he looked spent. “Do you have news?”
Now they wanted to hear what I had to say? I bit back a sharp reply. They’d gone through enough that evening without having to deal with my inflated sense of injustice, as well. “Calliope really is torturing Nicholas to keep Ava in line. She has a room full of weapons I think he made—some of them look like test weapons before she finally settled on the dagger, and enough of them are infused with Cronus’s powers that if we can get close enough, maybe there’s a chance we could use them and—”
Walter raised a weary hand, and for once I fell silent. “If we are fortunate enough to get that far past Cronus’s defenses, it means we will have already won.” The note of inevitability he’d always used whenever he spoke of winning the war had disappeared.
“What happened during the battle today?” I said, and half a dozen of them looked away.
“Cronus was more...focused than usual,” said my mother. “We were lucky no one was injured.”
“He’s fighting harder because of me,” I said, and across the circle, Dylan scoffed.
“Always because of you, isn’t it? Couldn’t possibly be because he’s getting stronger the closer we get to the winter solstice, could it?”
“Maybe,” I allowed. “But I don’t think it’s a coincidence this happened the day after he found out I’ve been lying to him about Henry.”
Dylan scowled, but he didn’t say anything else.
“How is Henry?” said Sofia. “Did you see him?”
I nodded. What would they do if they knew Calliope had somehow convinced Henry to fight for her? Would they treat him like the enemy, too? He might still love me, but love wasn’t enough to convince the council that he wouldn’t fight against them if Calliope ordered him to.
“He’s fighting her,” I said. A half truth at best and a full-out lie at worst. “There’s only so much he can do without giving himself away, but he’s still in there.”
“Good,” said Sofia, settling back in her throne. “She doesn’t know him like she knows the rest of us. Gives her less of a chance to exploit his weaknesses and use them against him.”
That was exactly what she was doing, though. She knew his weaknesses—she knew he would do anything to protect me and Milo. Maybe she’d even asked Ava not to take his love for me away from him so he would remember why he was doing this. Or maybe she’d done it just so he could feel that heartbreak when he kissed her and remembered who he was really supposed to love.
Sadistic bitch.
“What did Ava want to discuss?” said Walter.
“She wanted to apologize again and try to explain.” It was the truth, for the most part. “She told me that Cronus is going to attack New York City once he’s escaped.”
A murmur rippled through the remaining members of the council, and James said to Dylan, “Need any more proof that he’s doing this because of Kate?”
“Shut it,” muttered Dylan, and James gave him a satisfied smirk. He might’ve liked rubbing his brother’s nose in it, but I would’ve given damn near anything for Dylan to be right.
“Very well, we will prepare for that outcome then,” said Walter, and I blinked.
“What if Ava was lying to me?” I said, and Walter shrugged tiredly.
“Then we are doomed.” He stood on trembling legs. “Go rest and recuperate. We will not attack tomorrow or any other day until the winter solstice.”
Dylan rose with what he must’ve intended to be indignation, but he looked more like an old man rising from an armchair that was too short for his legs. “We’re giving up?”
“We are saving our energy and strategizing,” corrected Walter. “We have exhausted our means as they are, with Cronus using the shields on the island against us. Now we must plan a different approach.” He nodded to me. “Kate, I would like you to join us.”
“Me?” I said, stunned, and my mother patted my hand. “I don’t know the first thing about planning a war.”
“But you have spent the most time in Cronus’s presence since his escape, and we can no longer ignore the validity of your claims,” he said. “You will collect what information you can during the day, and the council will gather each evening to receive it. Unless anyone has any other ideas,” he said, looking squarely at Dylan.