Inescapable (Eternelles: The Beginning, Book 1) by Zee Monodee, Natalie G. Owens Page B

opened her eyes and turned toward her brother. “Now, what are you doing here?”
    He shrugged. The massive shoulders rolled under the thin silk of his shirt that lay opened to the middle of his smooth, muscled torso.
    Sera giggled as she released Zeus and went to embrace Ares. “Where are you coming from? The eighties?”
    “ Ibiza.”
    “Eighties in Ibiza? Is that a new clubbing trend or something?”
    He laughed. “I’ll take you next time.”
    “Over my dead body!”
    Zeus rolled his eyes. “Adrasteia, you have to let the girl live a little. If Ares says he’ll take her, he’ll be there to keep an eye on her.”
    Something definitely had to be amiss, because Zeus recommending Ares for a task—any task—spelt “fishy.” And not at all something she had the strength or the patience to deal with right then. She couldn’t tell them the truth about Sera.
    The whole lurid situation engulfed her and she stopped fighting the irritation. The anger and fear for her daughter’s safety got the better of her, and she crashed inside.
    “Trust him to do his job?” she threw out. “Like he’s been doing these past few weeks? Seems to me I heard rumbles of the Hamas about to sign a peace treaty with the Israeli government, so much the god of war has been otherwise occupied lately.”
    Ares narrowed his eyes and took a step forward. “Low blow, sis.”
    “Deal with it.”
    He engaged her in a battle of wills while they both stood there and glared at each other.
    “Father, have you heard? Adri has fallen in love.” He paused. “With a mere, insignificant mortal.”
    She gasped. “How dare you—”
    “Is that true?” Zeus asked.
    “No, it’s—”
    “His name is Des.”
    Adri drew to full height and stared her brother down. How dare he let her secret out like that? And she wasn’t in love with Des!
    “ Fae skata kai psofa rae malaka ,” she threw out. Eat shit and die, you wanker. Not poetic or grown up at all, but when riled up, especially by Ares, she reverted to the lowest of the low from her Greek upbringing.
    “ Ante gamisou ,” he said on a snort.
    Go fuck yourself ? He couldn’t do better? Up yours , she wanted to sling back, but settled for go to hell . “ Ai sto diaolo .”
    “Enough!”
    The loud bellow made the crystal chandeliers rattle. Rebuked, both Adri and Ares lowered their gazes. Sera concealed her laughter behind a snort.
    “We have more critical matters to attend to,” Zeus stated. “Ares informed me of what happened to you two. Are you okay?”
    She whipped her head up to glower at her brother. How dare he bring him in this?
    A muscle ticked in his cheek, and he inclined his head softly. “Something bigger than all of us is at play here, Adri. We need all the help we can get.”
    Yes, but not his . How to say that without sounding like a petulant child? “Fine,” she bit out.
    “How are you two doing?” Zeus asked.
    She shrugged. “Good. We’ve managed for one hundred and twenty-four years, you know?”
    She couldn’t resist throwing the barb. Where had he been all her life, when she had needed him the most? And since she’d had Sera, other than brief visits to see her over the years, enough to convince the impressionable girl the sun shone out of his arse, he’d been totally missing in their existence.
    And today he wanted to act all concerned and like he cared?
    “Adri,” Ares said on a sigh.
    True, though—she had to think of her daughter here. So she took a deep breath. “We might as well all sit down. Shall I ring for tea?”
    Zeus laughed as he folded his hulking body into a Louis XV sofa. “If your cook has any of those lemon scones in your kitchen, I wouldn’t say no.”
    She rang for tea. In strained silence—at least what felt like strained silence to her, as Sera babbled a thousand words a minute—they took their tea and settled back into their seats.
    “So Ares told you?” she asked.
    The big man nodded. “Vampyres were involved?”
    “And soul