“What do you actually want?” the woman demanded to know.
“I need an assistant to run errands for me. I can have a very hectic schedule managing things like my properties, among many other things,” I said, smiling at her.
“You don’t know me, nor do you know what I can and can’t do,” the woman said.
Hestia was sitting up, and Adrestia was wrapping something around her shoulder. They were arguing about how long it was taking. Hestia did not seem to have much patience with being a patient.
There it was. She was no mortal. Nay, she was supernatural. She was a witch who presumably controlled the fire from the depths of Hades. The warmth that I felt radiating off of her was more than just a feeling from seeing a beautiful woman. It was from the magic radiating off of her.
It wasn’t a lie. Hearing Tia’s voice had brought back a surge of emotions and regret that I had all but forgotten about. This place, though. This place was something else to me entirely. It was a symbol of my freedom.
I was torn between the letter in my hands and the letter in my pocket. How much longer could I prolong the inevitable? It was better to let everyone down now before making promises I could not keep. No one needed me. Not my team. Not my family.
But it would be rude to just leave Hestia high and dry. She deserved a face-to-face explanation, just like my team did.
Oh, this was going to hurt.
I laughed more in an attempt to lighten the mood than because I found her brand of honesty humorous. I needed her help, after all. “I’m back for good this time, and I’m going to make amends for my absence. I’ve been an ass to my family, and I want to change that.”
I looked over at my arm and saw dark tendrils wrapping it tight. Shadow magic. I sank more power into my struggle to be free, but sometimes shadows were more powerful than the sun.
I bit my lip as I examined the map. I traced my finger across the map from our location to the red pin. When my finger touched the red pin, I felt a chill go down my spine.
My eyes got wide, and I sat back again. While Corey probably felt like he had screwed up, the truth was, I felt like I had screwed up. Corey had been more loyal to me than pretty much anybody ever had. He was definitely the most loyal mortal I knew.
It had been a very long time since I had seen any of the Creionides, much less Astraeus. What would the Titan of the Dawn want from me? Were the titans mounting another attack on us? They couldn’t be, right?
“Wait, are you serious? This could be a huge story! An assassination attempt on Pollo, New York City’s Most Eligible Bachelor, successful pop star, night club mogul.”
I smiled and closed my eyes. I loved my club, the drinks, the music, the dancing, the women. Delos was my home, both the island and now the club. I’ve been living here in the penthouse for a few months now. I needed the space from my family for a bit.
I quirked an eyebrow. I agreed to an interview about me, not Asterson. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do the interview anymore. I shifted in my seat and looked back over at Rebecca, who was turning her attention to me. “Pollo, what do you know about the mysterious Thomas Asterson?”
My breathing was a little broken, and I noticed my shoulders shaking slightly. Was I upset? I didn’t recall ever feeling sadness before, not even after the death of Phaeton. No, this wasn’t sadness. It was more a painful emptiness. No one, male or female, had ever gotten over me. The majority had remained devastated for the rest of their lives. Clymene walking away from me was a new experience. I didn’t like it.
The week prior I had been announced as one of the top three Most Eligible Bachelors.I was Pollo, the up-and-coming pop-rock superstar. I knew I was a shoo-in in this competition. After all, I was a god, the God of the Sun, Music, Healing, and Prophecy, to be exact.
