Page 72 of Deathless
"Six dead," he said. "Twelve wounded. And Mateo."
I kept my hand on his wrist. “You made the right call, Diego.”
Diego finished the suture in silence. He taped the bandage down, smoothed the edges with his thumb, and then he kept his hand on my shoulder.
"You could’ve died," he said. "Achilles had me on the ground and you came out of nowhere."
"That's not what happened."
"That's exactly what happened. He had me dead, Jasper. The sword was already coming down."
I remembered the corridor. Achilles above Diego, the blade at the top of its arc. I hadn’t made a decision. There was no decision to make. Diego couldn’t die. That wasn’t a plan or a promise. It was the rule, and the katana enforced it before I had time to think.
"I had the angle," I said.
"You had a death wish." He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against mine. His skin was hot and gritty with dust. "Don't do that again."
"Can't promise that."
Diego pulled back first.
"Your turn," I said.
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding through your shirt on the left side." I reached for the medical kit. "Your turn."
He looked like he wanted to argue. Then he pulled his shirt up, and I got a clear look at the gash along his ribs where he'd hit the stone wall dodging Achilles's sword. The cut ran shallow but long, crusted with tunnel grit. I ran my thumb along the edge , gauging depth, then cleaned it with antiseptic.
Diego hissed through his teeth and held still.
"Eight," he said while I worked.
Our daughter was somewhere in a compound with Zeus, and everything we'd just survived was the prologue to going in after her.
"Nothing's changed," I said. "Achilles came for us. She's still where Nevada said she'd be."
"With him."
"With him." I pressed a bandage against his ribs. "Which means we go get her."
Diego covered my hand with his, holding the bandage in place. "Luka called a war council. Twenty minutes."
"Then we should stop bleeding on each other and go."
He almost smiled. "Come on," he said, and pulled me to my feet.
The war council lookednothing like the one where they'd planned Nevada's extraction.
That room had been measured, full of people who sat and took their time. This room was full of people who'd just been hit, some of them still bleeding through their bandages, all of them standing because sitting down meant admitting the adrenaline was gone. The air tasted like sweat and iron and too many bodies in too small a space.
Rhadamanthys stood in the corner with his hat on, hands at his sides. Everyone in the room already knew about Hades. Luka stood at the head of the table, arm in a sling, Rafael beside him. Lorenzo leaned against the far wall with his arms crossed.
Diego took a position near Luka. I stayed by the wall where I could see everyone and no one stood behind me.
Luka opened his mouth, and the door swung open before he got a word out.
Nevada walked in like he owned the building and was considering selling it.
