Page 220 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

The Search

I looked everywhere for her. I searched for what the mortals would call years.

The Underworld was no small place, it was a realm of lands within lands.

So I used my notes on cartography to seek her out.

I visited the midnights of the Realm of Night.

I walked through the lavender of the Asphodel Meadows.

I even visited the torrid volcanos of Tartarus.

None of the banks of the five rivers nor the Elysian Fields had seen her – but I found Hecuba in the Elysian Fields, after she had met with her oldest child, Hector.

She did not leave my side, which buoyed my spirits on my fruitless quest. Neither Hades’ palace nor orchards revealed anything to me.

So it made sense, by the end of this long, exhausting search, that the only place she could be was the Forest of Silence, but I could not enter there without careful planning.

When I finally returned to my home, tired and weary, I found Thanatos and Charon waiting for me.

I knew by the looks on their faces that they brought with them terrible news.