Page 119 of Blood of Olympus

I snorted, causing said flamewielder to frown in our direction.

“Let’s go,” he said, leading us into the doorway to nothingness.

Arius waited with arms crossed and one sandaled foot tapping on the stone floor, though he seemed a little paler than when he’d left the Isle.

Methinks the mortal’s stomach doth rebel.

Lykos sniffed the air between us and the mortal king, then growled slightly as if doing so had offended him.

Methinks the mortal king doth require a change of outfit, he quipped back.

And no sooner had he sent the thought, did the unmistakable scent of human shit waft up my unprepared nostrils.

Your nose is really something, I told him as I coughed around both the foul smell and the hilarity of the wolf’s comment.

In this case, unfortunately.

“What—” Aros gagged around his own question, narrowing his eyes at the lone figure standing before us. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Really, man? You shit yourself?”

Arius’ eyes widened briefly before he threw up his mental defenses and initiated his trademark scowl — albeit with flushed cheeks. “I would never!”

“Save it,” Aros scoffed, tapping the side of his nose. “Gods, remember? Enhanced senses.”

The king’s eyes went even wider than before, his face immediately losing all colour as he stuttered incoherently.

“Go… tend to yourself. Then show us what you wanted us to see.”

Arius disappeared quicker than a centaur in a running race, leaving Aros, Haras, Erato, Diana and I fighting childish giggles and avoiding eye contact for the next several minutes.

Arius reappeared with a damp periskelis, smelling infinitely better — more like fresh, floral lake water and less like shit.

“Right this way.” The king gestured to the temple’s open exterior doors, painted red and gold with that same sword-and-spear symbol his ship’s banners bore.

We moved to follow him, but not before Aros could grip Diana by the upper arm, swing her round to face him, and snarl a warning in her slightly terrified face.

“I don’t trust you,” he growled.

Nor do I, Lykos growled his agreement.

“And the only reason you’re here is because I cannot trust you around my Queen any more than I’d trust a viper in a rabbit warren.”

Diana grit her teeth but held her furious tongue.

“One fuck-up and you’re done.” She inhaled to speak but he didn’t allow it, speaking right over her. “One whisper of treachery and I’ll ensure you’re exiled so far from Olympus they won’t even speak the same language, let alone know who you are.”

“You cannot do that,” she seethed.

“Perhaps not, but he can.” His blazing amber eyes flicked to me. “Or more accurately, his soul-bonded can — and will, as much as it might pain her to do so. She granted you a chance here, Diana. Do not waste it.”

Relinquishing her arm with a sharp shove, he stormed out the doors to join the irritated king.

“Noted,” Diana grumbled, rubbing where Aros held her hostage.

“He made his point violently, but he’s not wrong,” I murmured, brows lowered as I considered Diana and her many opposing motives. “If you’re only here to save your own hide, then fair enough — but do not go after Nyssa on your path to freedom. She faces enough without that threat lurking behind her every move, too.”

I stalked after Aros, hoping the snake in our midst would see reason… her serpent, too.

“I meant what I said, too!” Diana called after me, halting my footsteps. “I never liked that bitch Hera anyway, and I know she’s your mother but frankly, I do not care.”