Page 44 of Summer’s Seduction (Sinful Seasons #2)
LARKSPUR
G reen eyes containing eons of knowledge bored into mine, searching for something. A small frown formed on Hecate’s lips, leaving me feeling like I’d let her down before she turned toward Artemis and the body cradled in her arms.
“What happened?” Hecate asked as the white tattoos coating her dark arms pulsed with magic.
Artemis’s spine stiffened. “Ares joined Hypnos’s side.”
Hecate’s eyes went wide a moment before she shook her head. “That explains how Hypnos’s failed attempt at usurping Hades has turned into an all-out war.” She tilted her head to the side, lost in thought. “And could account for the high number of deaths reported from the covens. Do you know of any others who have allied against us?”
Artemis shook her head. “I intend to find out as soon as I send off my warriors.”
Hecate lifted a brow. “She is a child of mine, born to my magic in another life. My blessing is needed to allow her soul to be reborn into magic, but if she earned a place among your huntresses, I won’t stop you from the funeral rites afterward.”
“Agreed,” Artemis said before carrying Megara into the mouth of the cave, leaving Camilla and Cyrene to follow.
“How are things in the covens?” I asked Hecate once the others had vanished. Maybe the earth coven was torture for me under Demeter’s rule, but there were other covens with innocent witches who genuinely wanted the best for The Realm of The Living.
Hecate’s gaze cut to me, her shrewd eyes feeling like they were peering into my mind. “I haven’t been able to return.”
My brows furrowed, but it was Morpheus who spoke next. “Death magic?”
“No,” Hecate cut in with a shake of her head. “Thanatos is still able to travel to The Realm of The Living, along with Hades and Persephone, though don’t mention that last bit to Zeus. The rest of us are blocked.”
“How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” Hecate breathed. “But that isn’t the power of Ares.”
“Hermes,” Morpheus growled. “She created a portal into The Dark Palace for the meeting with The Olympians. Despite being the only reason they could cross realms, not one god offered her a seat at the table. Not even Hades.”
“You think Hypnos would?” I asked. “He doesn’t seem like the type of person to share power.”
Hecate huffed a bitter laugh. “After lifetimes with Zeus, Hypnos seems downright welcoming.”
“We know Ares, Hermes, Lord Egreius of Lycia, and probably most of The Night Children have joined my father.”
Hecate’s eyes widened before her brows knit together. “I’m sorry, Morpheus.”
He shook his head, acting as if the betrayal was nothing but another box to check on the list of enemies we were constructing, but I felt the twist of pain in his chest like it was my own.
“If all entrances to the Realm of The Living are closed, we must assume he’s already fled The Underworld.”
Hecate looked as if she might nod but then stopped. “Thanatos reported the northern territories, particularly those north of The Echoing Mountains, to be vacant. Even The Glass Palace was devoid of life.”
“The prison is empty?” I asked. “What about those inside?”
“Hypnos wouldn’t have killed them,” Morpheus answered gravely. “Or moved them, but if Thanatos and I are correct, he may have sealed it.”
“Sealed?”
Morpheus nodded, but it was Hecate who continued.
“Thanatos believes those inside have been placed in infinite slumber with the glass sealed by blood. He thinks, like you, that your father must have taken The Cornucopia containing The Sands of Time and is now stoking the flames of war from The Realm of The Living to draw Hades out.”
“Gods below,” Morpheus breathed, drawing a hand through his long hair. “If Hades breaks the mandate of Zeus and leaves The Underworld…”
“Zeus will declare war,” Hecate finished grimly.
“Can’t you just open it, though?” I asked. “If Psyche is trapped inside, you can undo whatever Hypnos did and save her, right?”
There was a heaviness to the set of Morpheus’s shoulders as he answered. “Normally, The Glass Palace can only be opened when the moon is at its peak. If Hypnos has sealed it, it will require the strength of the full moon.”
“Which is in three days,” Hecate added, seeing me note the sliver of the moon still cast in darkness.
“Doing so with my blood will break my father’s incantation completely.”
“Meaning it will also reverse the effects of slumber,” I said, realization dawning. “And not just for Psyche.”
Morpheus nodded. “We will go in three days’ time, little monster, when the moon is at her peak, and the stars burn bright.”
Nodding, I shifted on the balls of my feet as I weighed everything we’d just learned. The anticipation of finally seeing my sister after years of searching buzzed through my veins. Three days. In three days, she would be free.
“What do you believe?” I asked, my gaze flicking to Hecate. “You said Thanatos agreed with Morpheus that Hypnos fled The Underworld because all the portals from this realm to the next are sealed, but you didn’t say you agreed.”
Hecate let the silence stretch, drawing Morpheus’s confused stare before she answered. “Not every portal has been checked.”
“You think Hypnos is still here?” I asked, disbelief and something like hope bleeding through. Because if he was, that meant we had a chance to face him before Zeus got involved and prevent another war from following one that had cost my sister her childhood.
“The Nightmare Kingdom once held a portal, one poised on the edge of a cliff and guarded by?—”
“Chimeras,” I breathed, brows furrowing as I recalled the portal in question.
It wasn’t like the others in The Underworld. Most were passages through endless pools, infinite staircases, or even twisted paths through forests, but this portal was a patch of shifting wind. It looked as if a piece of sky didn’t fit. The mist surrounding it was the same shade of gray as the rest, the trees beyond it just as tall, but there was a warmth, a bending of the light if you looked just the right way where this world blended into the next.
“Yes,” Hecate said, her voice strong despite how gently she spoke. “It could be seen from The Scarlet Palace.”
“No,” I said as the past and the present collided. It felt like threads were unraveling—like I’d lived the last seven years of my life with a blindfold on. Only it was much longer than that.
Lucius’s voice echoed through my mind. “None of this was your fault, princess. Hypnos believes you’re dead, and it will stay that way…”
Morpheus peppered me with questions after a dream—a dream where he’d had to bite me to pull me out of it.
“And your magic?” he asked.
“Persuasion.”
“That’s not a power among the witches, Larkspur.”
“It’s from my mother’s side… A gift from The Dark Ones.”
“Oh gods,” I panted, my hands gripping the sides of my skull to keep it from splitting in two.
“You know this,” Hecate continued despite me willing her to stop. “Because you are the last living descendant of Melinoe, Goddess of Nightmares, the last of The Strix Family, and rightful Queen to The Nightmare Kingdom.”