Nora laughs again. At Hades.
Hoping that’s it, I lower into my seat. But Boone tugs my chair closer to him as I do, and I don’t miss that or the fact that he leaves his arm draped across the back. I have no idea why, other than helping me save face here. I’ll ask him later.
Boone grins. “Lyra was so pissed about the bank, she made sure—” I step on Boone’s foot, and he stops talking, looking at me with interest-bright eyes.
I forgot to tell him that only Hades knows that I’m just a clerk, and he was about to reveal that I put the earnings from that score under Lakshmi’s name, not his. Part of my job. Guaranteed to bring up questions.
“Made sure what?” Meike asks. Seriously, she and Dionysus could be twins.
Boone clears his throat. “She called the police, letting my sorry ass cool off in jail for a few days before sending another pledge to spring me.”
“Maybe she should have learned from you instead,” Dex says. He sounds reasonable. Beside him, Rafe nods along with an eager face.
But I’m close enough to hear the way the back of my chair creaks with the sudden strength of Boone’s grip, and his grin disappears behind a look of anger so stark I blink. I’ve only ever seen him look like that once, when one of the apprentices was accidentally killed because of a mistake a visiting master thief made.
“Lyra was angry with me for a reason,” he says. “I broke two cardinal rules with that stunt, ultimately putting other pledges of the Order in harm’s way. She was teaching me a lesson I needed to learn.” He leans forward, eyes so sharp they could slice flesh. “And while I’m at it…the gods may not be allowed to interfere in the Crucible, but I’m not bound by the same restriction. I hear that gift of foreknowledge you received doesn’t work all that great. You might want to watch your back while I’m here.”
Dex’s face goes so tight he looks like a pissed-off plastic doll. “It works well enough that I’m still alive and in it. We all have different ways of playing. My home could use the gods’ blessings, and I have a family to”—he cuts himself off, glancing down at Rafe, then continues—“to get back to.”
“The same as everyone else,” Boone snaps. “Are those the excuses you tell yourself for being a dick? Good luck living with your actions and decisions when it’s over.” He glances significantly at Rafe. “Someday, he’ll be old enough to see for himself through eyes not looking with rose-tinted innocence.” Then Boone hooks a thumb at Zai, who is sitting at the other table. “Ask him if you’re curious. He grew up with a father who played the Crucible the same way you are.”
Clearly, I told Boone way too much on that pegasus flight. I whistle softly. The signal for stop now.
Boone straightens to blink at me, and I can see the struggle in his eyes. He really would go after Dex if Rafe wasn’t right there. I have no doubt. And my chest tightens with reaction. If I didn’t know better—if I wasn’t carrying this curse—I’d think he really cared.
I whistle again, the signal for all fine.
His lips flatten, but finally he nods.
The others are all still staring at us in fascination. Well…Dex is glaring.
“What was that?” Athena asks. This is the first time I haven’t seen the goddess in calculating mode. Her entire body seems lit up with curiosity. There’s the thirst for knowledge we all expect from her.
“My thieves use whistles to signal one another.” Hermes is the one to answer—rather smugly, too. Then again, as the messenger god, I can see how he’d like that elegant solution.
“Lyra’s idea,” Boone tells the others. “We had our crypticodes but needed something for in the moment. At the time, we were using hand signals and sign language, but that meant needing line of sight. She came up with the whistles when she was just six.”
My only true accomplishment, as far as the Order is concerned.
I can’t help the heat creeping up into my cheeks. No one has ever in my life bragged about me. Not once.
It feels…nice.
Nora’s sudden laugh breaks the silence around us and sends me sitting straighter, which only makes me lean closer to Boone. A knowing light enters his eyes as he glances past me to her and Hades, then back to me. But he doesn’t say anything.
Then Zeus, no doubt needing to reclaim the center of attention, claps his hands. “Welcome again, guests. Let us all enjoy the feast.”
Not likely.
69
Come Bearing Gifts
The soft knock at my door doesn’t exactly wake me up. After the party, Boone said he wanted to explore Olympus and Hades left with the other gods and goddesses, so Zai and I walked home with his mother together. She, by the way, is a sweet but definitely timid woman.
I’ve only had time to change into pajamas and brush my teeth. The party lasted well into the night, and the stars still blanket an inky sky outside my window in pinpricks of light—so many we don’t need the moon to illuminate the lands here.
Frowning, I open my door.
Boone stands there, leaning against the frame, one ankle crossed over the other, and in his hand, presented to me like a gift, is the Helm of Darkness.
“Holy shit!” I grab him by the arm and yank him into my room, looking both ways down the hall and almost expecting an irate Dex to be barreling after Boone. He’s not. The hall is empty, and I close the door before whirling on him. “What in the hellfires are you thinking?”
Boone’s self-satisfied smile fades, turning to something like accusation aimed directly at me. “I’m thinking I’m a fucking thief, Lyra. What about you?”
I stand firm, crossing my arms over my thin pajama top, not completely unaware that I’m not wearing a bra right now. “What about me?”
He steps closer. “Your skills may be rusty, but the second that dickhead Dex tipped his hand that he’s gunning for you, you should have taken this.” He holds up the helm. “And you know it. That’s just the way the world works, even here.”
He tosses the helm on my bed.
“I’m not going to play like that.” I lift my chin.
“Dex can survive without the helm.” His hands curl into fists. “You might not, given the way he can use it to get close to you. You’ll be dead before you realize.”
“I already have more tools than the others,” I say. “Hades has been punished once for it. I’m not taking away someone else’s just because I don’t like them.”
