Page 92 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

‘Hekate. It’s Time to Go’

When I heard Styx’s voice calling to me,

I did not turn around.

‘I’m not leaving you,’

I said to him, my hands balled in fists of rage.

My father smiled at me,

‘You cannot help me, child.’

It felt like a blow to my chest,

like my heart itself was crushed.

‘Please, there has to be a way.’

I looked desperately around him,

but all I saw were other tired immortals

who had given up just like him.

‘Dear one.’ He touched my cheek

and I felt the slick ichor left on my skin.

‘This is my fate now.

Among my brothers.

I am no coward.

I will not run from this.

I, too, would not have been kind

to the Olympians had they lost.’

There was a coldness to these words

that sent a shiver through me.

‘Still,’ I pleaded, ‘No one deserves

an eternity of this.’

But he was already gone,

far away in his pain-filled dream,

his eyes in a distant place.

I took a deep, shaky breath,

and with blood-soaked feet,

felt myself returned to the floor.

I backed away from my father,

feeling sick with anguish.

Styx took my hand as I reached her and Hades.

We were silent on the journey back.

I promise , I whispered to myself,

One day, I will free him.

I will free them all.