Page 44

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

P ersephone

I can’t sleep. The room is too quiet, the shadows cast by the low flames in the hearth too dark. Still, I long to fall into dreams. To see Hades.

I ache for him in a way that has salty tears stinging my eyes. I ache for the comfort of Leuce and Hydra.

Hydra made it out mostly unscathed, thanks to the rescue of Ares’ war horses—or Pegasuses. But Leuce was taken away by the gladiator guards she’d fought in valiant effort to save me from Athena and lost.

Ares spoke candidly about Leuce’s fate, and I’ve been distraught ever since. Knowing that she is suffering because of me is too much to bear.

Negative thoughts are a whirl of wind in my thorny mind. The thorns keep catching them, one after the other, feeding them to me until my breaths are shallow and my tears are hot. As soon as I overcome one, another snags.

The cycle is vicious.

A sharp sob cuts the silence as I roll onto my side, wishing Hydra could be with me now. Instead, she is with Ares’ horses, guarding Hephaestus’ mountain abode from any who, most assuredly, are searching the realm for us.

Snagging a pillow, I yank it into my chest. It makes me feel just a little less alone and for a moment, my body sags into the mattress. The fire gives another little pop, the sound somehow soothing in the silence. My eyes flutter closed as, for a single moment, there is blissful silence.

I dream that I am hanging over the arena. Ares is no longer fighting, no longer moving. Athena laughs in my ear before she drops me.

A scream rips from my throat and my body jolts as the dream begins to fade. Only, warm strong arms and the scent of woodsmoke and earth pull me back in. Hades .

A sob wrangles my scream, and he shushes me gently, soothingly. “Shhh. I’ve got you. Shhh.”

“You’re here.”

“I’m here.” His lips are on my ear where the icy burn of Athena’s lips still stings. I shudder in his arms that tighten around me. “I’m here, little goddess.”

Everything is dark until it isn’t. My bedroom in Hephaestus’ home comes into view, and Hades releases me slowly. I twist to find his eyes are taking in the room, brows furrowed.

“Well, this is nicer than where I found you.”

A sound between a bark, laugh, and a sob escapes me. Hades’ furrowed brows arc up.

I clear my throat. “Are you trying to be funny?”

“I’d be anything to make you smile right now.”

The words do the trick. I smile.

Hades rumbles, “That’s better.”

I don’t deny the pull of his arms as he tugs me onto his lap.

The nip of his beard against the soft skin of my neck calls an explosion of tingles to the surface of my flesh.

I shiver, and Hades nabs my blanket. He wraps it tightly around me before lifting me and carrying me to the massive Hephaestus-size chair that sits beside the fireplace.

He settles us in before asking, “Want to tell me where you are, little goddess?”

I twist to look at him. “I’m in Olympus.”

Hades shakes his head. “You’re not in the castle.”

“Oh.” I shake my head. “No. This is Hephaestus’ house.”

A single brow lifts. “Hephaestus’ house? Why?”

At the memory of the events that preceded me being carried by a very wounded Ares to this stone sanctuary, I bury myself deeper into his chest. The comfort of him is massive, even if it’s only in my dream.

Even if that rope of misty black and foggy white cuffs his wrist, threatening to pull him away from me at any moment.

“I—” I shudder. “Hades, it was awful.”

Hades is quiet, until he whispers, “You prayed to me, Persephone. It sounded like,” he cuts off, continues, “like a goodbye.”

I tuck my head under his chin. “I’m sorry.”

His arms pulse around me. “Tell me what happened.”

Pulling in a deep breath, I begin the story I know I won’t soon forget.

Honestly, I think I could live a million years, and I would still be able to smell the blood-soaked sand of the arena, the feel of the air whipping around me as I fell fast to a death that blessedly did not come.

A death that would have bound me eternally to the prison of Olympus.

I finish, “And now me and Hydra are safe here, but Leuce is—” I cut off with a cry. I shake my head as another swell of tears forms. “She’s being tortured in the castle prison, Hades.”

“Leuce is strong,” Hades assures me.

“They’re going to kill her, Hades. What if they kill her here and?—”

“They won’t kill her.”

“They will!” I cry. “I know it.”

“They won’t, because they know as soon as they kill Leuce, they will lose her.”

I stiffen, pulling away to look at him. “What?”

“Her soul belongs to the Underworld, Persephone. If she dies outside the Underworld, she will reform again in the Underworld.” Hades winces.

“The process is excruciatingly painful, but possible. Leuce knew the risk when she decided to accompany you to Olympus. She knew there would be a very real possibility that the only way she would return to the Underworld would be in death. She took great pains to ensure her soul was protected before she left with you, Persephone.” Hades sighs a heavy sigh that tastes of exhaustion.

“The only reason she has not ended her own life, is because she doesn’t know where you are. That you are safe.”

“Oh, God.” My mind searches desperately for a way to communicate with her. “Can you connect with her in her dreams?”

“I can’t.” Hades winces. “I have tried. This is how I learned just how seriously she took guarding herself. There are wards she’s placed around her mind and soul. Wards even I can’t shatter.”

“But what about Hecate?”

Again, Hades shakes his head.

“What am I supposed to do? How do we save her?”

“Is there anyone Ares trusts in the castle to get word to her?” Hades asks.

Hades’ eyes lift to mine as I blink rapidly. I’m on the edge of panic. “I don’t know.”

“Either way, we need to get you back to the Underworld.” When horror invades my expression, Hades assures, “Olympus breached the contract of our deal when Athena dropped you, intending to drop you to your death. I will suffer no consequence for your return to the Underworld.”

The breath of relief I breathe is massive . The thought of returning home is…goodness, I want it so desperately.

But something dark and ugly holds me back from celebrating. “What about Zeus? He’s a monster, Hades. He steals innocent people and forces them to their death where they will be eternally trapped here in Olympus. Eternally prisoner.”

Flames burn in Hades’ eyes. Vengeance threatens to swallow him whole.

I add, “He is calling for a world war, Hades.”

“Without Ares, war of such calibre is unlikely.”

“Seemed to me Athena was doing just fine with starting little fires of hatred and distrust between nations.” I shift on his lap so that I can better see him. “Before I left for the Underworld, tensions between the people were high. Countries were already at war, others choosing sides.”

“Athena can light as many fires as she wishes, she will do little more than Aphrodite did when she submitted to Zeus’ demand she spark war between Troy and Sparta.”

I gasp, my jaw falling open. “Wait, what? Are you saying Aphrodite is the reason for the war between Troy and Sparta? For the Trojan Horse?”

“At Zeus’ command, Aphrodite blessed Helen of Troy with great beauty.

Both Agamemnon and Paris fell madly in love with her under the spell of Aphrodite.

Zeus knew that under Aphrodite’s spell, Paris would not be able to deny his affections for Helen, and those affections would drive him to take Helen for his own, forsaking the good standing that had been promised between the lands. ”

“He knew it would spark a war.”

Hades nods. “He did.”

“Where is Aphrodite now?”

“She took to the sea. She sought refuge in Atlantis, plagued by the guilt she carried for her part in the death of thousands when her gifts were to inspire love and beauty, not war.” Hades pauses.

“She has not been seen since. It is why there is so little love, so little true love, in the living realm. Aphrodite has not blessed humanity in a long while, and humanity is now lost.”

“Atlantis had already fallen, then?”

Again, Hades nods. “Atlantis fell thousands of years before the Trojan war. Such is the reason the Gods hungered for devastation. Prayer always follows bloodshed.”

“Why didn’t Zeus want a world war then?”

“Too many world wars would simply end the world. Little wars feed the Gods, Persephone.”

“But Zeus wants a world war now.”

Hades dips his chin. “Yes. And Ares will not give him one.”

“If Zeus doesn’t have Ares or Athena, and Aphrodite is gone where he cannot get to her, he has nothing, right? No way of starting a war.”

“He has Athena. She may have been torn apart, but ending a God is no simple thing. She will live.” Hades sighs a heavy sigh. “It is why the Gods and Titans of before are imprisoned, not dead. The death of a God is not only impossibly difficult but bears consequences no realm or land can face.”

“But Zeus was distraught at her death.” I frown. “Why would he care if she wasn’t truly gone?”

“Athena is—myth speaks that she was created of Zeus alone,” Hades tells me.

“It’s not wrong. Athena was crafted much the same way that Zeus crafts his humans, only she is whole, her soul unsplit.

It is similar to the souls of Gods and Goddesses, and he blessed her with immeasurable power and immortality, making her a Goddess in her own right. ”

“She is his daughter?”

“I believe his emotions for her are as close as Zeus is capable of feeling love.”

I scowl. “He didn’t touch her as a father would touch his daughter.”

“Relations between Gods have always been complicated.” Hades winces. “We are far from perfect. One only has to scan a mythology text to understand that.”

I don’t have the headspace for that. Not now. “What is the point of a world war?”