Henry stood, and so did the others. Across the circle, Ava held hands with Nicholas, and I looked away. I’d known the council for a year. They’d known each other since the dawn of humanity, and everything I was feeling was in-consequential compared to what they were going through.
As the clock chimed, Henry stepped into the center of the circle, and the others joined him. My mother gave me a sad smile, and I raised my hand in a silent goodbye.
When the twelfth chime rang, they were gone.
I sank against the arm of my throne, my face buried in my hands as great hiccupping sobs escaped me. Overwhelmed with helplessness, I pushed my mind toward the battle and struggled to see them. I had to know what was happening.
Someone touched my shoulder, and I jumped, nearly tripping off the platform. My vision was blurry, but I made out a blonde with her hands on her hips, and for one terrifying moment I thought it was Calliope. It would serve me right for her to kill me now while the others were away.
“It’ll be okay,” she said, and I let out an audible sigh of relief when I recognized Ava’s voice. I wiped my eyes on my sleeves, and slowly she came into focus.
“Ava?” My face grew hot when I realized she must have seen me break down like that. “What are you doing here?
Shouldn’t you be with the others?”
“Someone had to make sure you didn’t run after us again,” she said, and even though she was joking, her words sucker-punched me. “Besides, I’ve never been very good at f ighting. I’m more of a make love, not war kind of person.
Come here, you’re a mess. How did you manage this in thirty seconds?”
A handkerchief appeared out of nowhere, and I let her wipe my cheeks and nose. It was such a motherly thing to do that my eyes f illed with tears all over again, and she rubbed my back comfortingly.
“Let’s sit, shall we?” She led me over to one of the cushioned pews, avoiding the thrones altogether. “Don’t worry so much. They’re all really good at what they do, and we’ve got a great plan. They’ll be back before you know it, I promise.”
Her reassurance was nice, but she had no way of knowing, and I couldn’t swallow false hope. “If anything happens, it’ll be my fault,” I said in between sniffs. “I’m the one who caused this.”
“Oh, Kate.” Ava hugged me. “Don’t tell me you really think that. Of course this isn’t your fault. The only person to blame is Calliope, and by the time we’re done with her, she’ll never do anything bad to anyone ever again.”
“They can’t defeat Cronus without her though,” I said.
“What if he kills them? Walter, he said—”
“Daddy likes being dramatic,” said Ava, and as badly as I wanted to believe her, I couldn’t. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but none of them will let anything bad happen to the others. What kind of family would we be if we did?” I didn’t have an answer for that. Bad things happened.
No amount of love could f ix that. If it could, my mother would have never suffered through cancer. I closed my eyes and made myself relax, hoping that for once my gift would cooperate and I could see what was going on. No matter what kind of pain I’d witness without being able to help, it would be inf initely better than sitting here waiting, I was sure of it.
“Are you trying to see them?” said Ava, breaking my concentration.
I opened my eyes and nodded. There was no point in lying about it.
“Don’t, sweetie,” she said, taking my hand and sandwich-ing it between hers. “You don’t want to see that.” A lump formed in my throat. “I can’t—I can’t just sit here and wait,” I said, my voice breaking. “How can you be so calm when they could die?”
“I’m calm because I know what to expect,” she said.
“Even if you could get your power to work, you’re so used to how mortals f ight that you wouldn’t understand what’s going on anyway. Henry’s going to need you when he gets back, and you don’t want to drain yourself by watching.” I stared down at the marble f loor. No matter what Ingrid said, no matter how Henry acted toward me, the fact remained that Persephone was beside him in battle. And if something happened to one of his siblings, he wouldn’t come to me with his pain. “He’ll have Persephone.” Ava snorted. “Oh, please. The moment she gets the chance, she’ll go running back to Adonis.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” I hesitated. “She kissed him.”
“What? Who?”
“Persephone,” I said. “She kissed Henry.”
“When?” said Ava in disbelief. “She hates him, why would she possibly—”
“She was trying to prove to him that their relationship was all in his imagination.” I leaned my head against the pew. “It was the night we got back. They were alone together in this room with a bunch of windows, and he was sitting, and she climbed into his lap. They talked a little, and she kissed him. I didn’t want to see it,” I added, in case she thought I’d purposely spied on them. “I couldn’t control it. But I saw it, clear as day. It wasn’t just a peck either, and I know Henry enjoyed it.”
“Yeah, he probably did,” said Ava, and she must have realized how completely unhelpful that was, because she quickly added, “Have things been better between you? I mean, how often are you two knocking boots?” I frowned. “What? You mean— Never. We haven’t—