[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]
“What devil?” Thom asked.
Seamus looked down, staring into his mug of tea, his jaw tightening for a second as some color washed into his face. It didn’t make him look all that much healthier, but it did swallow some of the pallor, at least for a few seconds. He took a slow, quiet breath, then exhaled before he answered. “I made a deal with Pluton. In exchange for his assurance that Olympium would leave the isle alone, I would deliver Orcus to him.”
Hecate sucked in a breath, her lips thinning. “That was why,” she whispered. “That was why all the plans were abandoned.”
Seamus swallowed hard, glancing at her, then at the rest of us. Phelan looked as shocked as Hecate sounded. Leinth didn’t, though. I watched her for a second, then cleared my throat.
“You knew.”
“Only since this morning,” she said softly. “I’m not even sure that Seamus fully remembered until recently.” She glanced at him, then back to me. “You have to understand, the situation was complicated—made far worse by the upheaval that took place in my homeland around the time Seamus was taken by the Hunt. I’d stolen away to have my child in safety, but it was utter chaos. My sister was pregnant, too, by Seamus because he did his husbandly duty before he was handed over—my father saw to that. He would have accepted no less and he got what he wanted and then the bastard got what he deserved.” A shudder raced through her before she continued. “He promised me to Orcus when I was practically a baby and Orcus wanted to press that claim. I refused him because I was in love with Seamus—and Seamus was in love with me. Even if he had been handed to the Hunt, I still refused Orcus what he wanted and that put both Seamus and I under threat.”
“So I did something about it,” Seamus murmured. “I made a deal that was mutually beneficial—or so I thought. Pluton had some kind of beef with Orcus and I was only too happy to solve his problem and mine. Orcus was alive when I handed him over but I was so sure that Pluton killed him shortly after, but it looks like I was wrong.” He sighed. “And now it seems that’s put us all under threat.” He looked at his cousin, at Tala, at Matt and Hecate and finally to Thom and I. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I am so sorry.”
