Page 29

“Two,” I confirm, and now that I have their attention, I reveal the pain we will all soon suffer. “They will be born here in the Underworld, as Goddesses. And they will die shortly after. Atropos has her shears ready, and she will fray their life thread as she frayed Persephone’s. The souls of my daughters—our daughters—daughters of the Underworld—will travel to the living realm where human women will bear them. Like Persephone, their immortal souls will be touched by humanity, and it is because of that they will become the immortal queensof humanity, taking their places at the sides of the Gods to whom their souls have been stitched together by the thread spun by the hand of Clotho. This is the fate of the daughters of the Underworld, which has been seen by Lachesis, and decreed by the three.”

There is silence. And then there is no more silence.

The room erupts in chaos. Everyone speaks at once. Questions fly. Curses are spit. Rage flows on tap at the horror of losing the precious gift we’ve been given. Life in a place where no new life has ever been conceived. Sprung from the ash of the land, such as Hydra and those like her, but never conceived of living seed.

Never before.

My mind quiets as my mate—the mother of my daughters—appears in the door.

And then it comes to me in a wash of cool horror.

The Underworldhasconceived life. But only once before.

It conceived her.

And now she is the portal through which life has again been seeded.

My special, lovely little goddess blessed and cursed by the Moirai to heal the realms of the sins of Gods.

“I’m awake.” Her eyes connect with mine as the room falls silent. She has been in and out of sleep since our visit to the Moirai, but never conscious enough to converse with. Now, she is aware. Completely aware. “I remember everything, Hades. Everything.”

For the second time, the room erupts.

Chapter

Thirteen

Persephone

The water is deliciously warm.It turns out spending a week in and out of sleep, just conscious enough to eat before drifting back into the bliss of mental darkness, really takes it out of a girl. My body aches, as though I’ve started lifting weights for the very first time. Or maybe I’m getting a flu.

I hope I’m not getting a flu. I can’t afford to be sick. Not when an immortal war of Gods crackles just under the surface of the reality humanity knows.

Urgh, this kind of stress can’t be good for a pregnant woman.

Goodness, I’m pregnant. I’ve hardly had time to process the fact I’m having a child. Two children.

Hades’ voice breaks the silence. “So, you remember?”

My eyes drift from the water that shimmers under the faint glow of flames that flicker within the blue agate chandelier to the God who sits across from me in the warm bathing pool.

He's so handsome. Even though he's mine, and I know he's mine, there’s a sense of awe when I look at him. Of wonder.

Even now that I have memories of the past, that I have memoriesof centuriesof loving him, he still sparks a quickening inside me when I look at him.

Even now, I can't look away.

Can't see him and not be drawn closer. Not want more. Everything.Him.

Even now, having seen the magical gold thread that binds our souls in unbreakable stitches, I marvel at the draw I feel toward this man. This God.

I understand the reason that I can't fight it, can't pull away, can't distance myself. Still, I honestly believe without those gold threads binding us tightly together, there would still be a pull. There would still be a draw I would be helpless to deny.

Putting the magic of fate aside, I would still want him because he is more than bound to me.

He is Hades, God of Death and Afterlife. He is compassion wrapped in darkness. He is enchanting and kind and the most loyal of the Gods.

He is the father of my daughters, and he is mine.