Page 48 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

C haron’s abode, it turned out, was quite a bit farther from the Meadow than we had anticipated. It took two weeks of walking before the scenery started to change to something Orion recognized as Charon’s.

“I’m glad that this time I overpacked the supplies,” Orion grumbled on the tenth day. We’d also continued to make use of anything familiar and edible that we found along the route.

It was tiring, but I hoped that our trek had given Death plenty of time to implement whatever plan she had to keep Charon away from his home.

Orion and I moved as swiftly as we were able. At night we rested, but also used it as a chance to repeat our actions from the cottage. I already felt connected to Orion because of who he was, and I was surprised at the additional layer of intimacy I felt from sex.

I’d wanted it, but my observations of scandals in Emrys indicated it led only to trouble. I should have known they were as wrong about that as they were about many other things.

The ground slowly gave way from all the grass and flowers that filled the Meadow to large stones and boulders and a mossier ground covering.

“We’re getting close. I recognize this scenery,” Orion said when we made it to an area covered entirely in black stone.

When we came to a towering wrought-iron fence, my mouth dropped open.

“I don’t know what I expected, but this—” I swept an arm out, gesturing at the scene beyond the fence.

Charon’s home was built onto the black rock, directly on the edge of a drop similar to the canyon we’d traversed before.

I could hear the rush of water tumbling over the side.

The house had whole walls made of glass, with metal holding it in place.

There was a large porch that wrapped around the outside of the property, and two dark doors at the entrance.

I’d never seen anything like it.

Homes in Emrys were typically brick or stone. Nothing like this.

“How should we go about this?” I asked Orion, who was staring up at the gates.

“When I’m summoned, the fog leaves me here. I’m just able to push open the gates. Simple. Hold my hand, and I’ll see if it will give way.”

When he grabbed onto my hand, his was too warm, uncomfortably so. I normally relished the sensation, with the Ether’s chill. I wondered if he had a fever. Charon had harmed him, and he’d refused the entire journey to use any of the healing water until I made it onto the property.

His bruises were mostly faded, but it still worried me.

As long as we both made it through the gate all right, I’d insist that he use some after we got whatever was in Charon’s home.

“Well, here we go,” Orion said, pressing the hand not holding mine against the gates. “I’ll enter first.”

The left gate swung open without so much as a creak. Orion stepped across and onto the grounds, and with my hand firmly in his I followed just behind him.

I held my breath, tensing and awaiting pain, but nothing happened. Orion’s grip tightened around my hand, and he kept moving forward. We stepped slowly across the rock, making our way to the door of Charon’s home.

“If we can get in here and nothing happens, then I’ll let go,” he said .

Death had promised I could get on the grounds after she’d joined Orion and me, and that had been true. She’d promised to distract the deity, and he hadn’t shown up when we retrieved the baton. There was no sign of him on his grounds.

The smallest tendril of hope grew in my chest.

I could feel the mist created by the waterfall as we stood in front of the door, but the house itself looked dry.

“Death did say he liked water, and she wasn’t wrong,” I observed.

Orion’s shoulders stiffened as he pushed against the doors of Charon’s home. There was no knocker. Just flat, smooth black.

I could only imagine Orion’s mixed feelings. Charon had kept him alive but essentially a prisoner. This home was where he’d had some of the only real conversations during that time, but the god had harmed him.

“Will you be okay, going in here?” I asked.

Orion turned, and the door cracked open behind him.

“If we succeed here, we have everything we need to bring down a god. Trust me, Starlight, this is the first time I’m happy to be here.”

Just as we had with the gates, I let Orion step through first and then followed.

“Nothing,” I said after several moments standing in the entry of the house.

Orion blew out a long breath.

“Death was right. Blasted ghosts, but I was nervous.”

He let go of my hand, and we both stared at where we’d been touching for several moments, but I stayed whole and unharmed.

“You’ll use the water, then? You were burning up outside. I’m worried that he hurt you badly enough to bring on some sort of illness,” I told Orion .

“Once we get what we need here. Yes. I’ll use some,” he agreed.

The floor in Charon’s home was made up of the same stone that littered the ground on his lawn, but it was smoothed and gleaming. The floor-to-ceiling windows allowed the colorful lights of the Ether in, but the fog and sea spray kept it dim regardless.

The interior was just as different from Emrys homes as the outside.

I was used to grand rooms, but nothing with this sleek and tailored feel.

The interior was all blacks and greys. The room where we’d entered was a massive diamond.

At the points on each side, there were halls leading away, but at the back there was a clear view of the falls, rushing past the window.

“There’s another story above us, where you can see the top of the falls. He has a balcony out there. It’s one of the few locations I’ve actually seen,” Orion said.

Around the edges of the room were a few short standing columns, each holding a small sculpture or vase on top. Everything was grey, white, or beige. No bright colors to speak of, which I found odd, considering the Ether’s forest was so vibrant.

The only exception was a ribbon of blue running through the black stone under our feet. It mimicked lights in the night sky in the Ether.

“When we’re not outside, this room is where Charon meets with me.” Orion gestured to the entryway around us.

I saw no comfortable seating, or even seating at all. Orion would have had to stand and wait for Charon each time.

How could he treat the man I loved like that?

But Charon didn’t view us as people, with love and relationships. He viewed us as souls that could be used in his petty squabbles. We didn’t understand the intricate nature of the gods’ realms, their relationships, or their powers. But how could we?

He’d soon find out, though, that love could fuel vengeance as readily as anger. And I had plenty of both.

“Where should we start looking?” I asked Orion.

He rubbed a hand under his chin.

“If I were Charon, I’d keep the key to the Shades somewhere personal.” Orion followed a vein of blue in the floor and chose one of the darkened hallways off the main room.

The first hall led to a room that had to be an office, containing a large desk made of a blackened wood with sweeping curves at the corners. The walls were made of the same bark as the Ether’s trees, and I was surprised to see books on Charon’s shelves.

We pulled several down, but none that I could read referenced music in any way. There were some in the languages of the other countries. While Emrys primarily used a universal language heard across Rayus, I knew Mejje and Sez had their own local languages as well.

“I’m very rusty, since my education was well over a century ago, but I did learn the basics in both. I don’t see anything here related to music,” Orion said as he placed a few books back on the shelf.

The desk did not open easily for us. The drawers were locked tight.

“If it’s in there, then we’ll have to pry it loose,” I said, tugging on one of the closed doors for a third time and making no progress.

If we did that, though, surely Charon would figure out someone had been in his home.

Orion shook his head.

“I think we’ll be drawn to it, just like the people of Emrys feel and are drawn to the Shade song. We felt the baton. I’m not picking up anything in here, are you?”

I shook my head.

The only thing that changed in the hallways was the color running through the stone floor. It might be purple, orange, blue, or green. Only one at a time, and always a color that mimicked the sky.

Eventually we made our way up a sweeping staircase on the side of the home to the upper story. What a god like Charon used these rooms for was beyond me. There were a few set up as bedrooms, but I couldn’t imagine the god playing host to guests.

“I never rest here. I have to stay in the entrance for as long as Charon cares to keep me here,” Orion said as we closed the door on yet another room that didn’t hold what we were looking for.

And I knew there were times he was gone for days. He had to be exhausted as well as the victim of Charon’s frustrations.

My fury grew with each room we explored.

The whole house was maddening. I tugged at my hair as we shut the door on a room that had been empty except for dozens of the glowing orb moths that lit the Meadow.

“What does he think he’s playing at? Do you think he knew we were coming, or that Death would send someone? What if he’s just having fun at our expense?”

Orion shook his head, his jaw tense.

“I doubt it. Charon, from what I’ve seen, has no sense of humor. I don’t think he gives much consideration to most of this space at all. Maybe it was different back when the deities were more cordial. Perhaps that’s the purpose of the extra space.”

Anything was possible. The bedrooms were the only section of the home that didn’t follow Charon’s color scheme.

One even contained pink flowers in a vibrant blue vase.

The sight had almost brought me to tears—it was the first pink I’d seen since I left home.

I didn’t think I could ever bring myself to miss pink dresses, but I did miss the family home the color represented.

We were nearing the end of one side of the oval on the upper level when I threw out an arm to stop Orion.

“What is it?” He tensed, head swiveling to check the hall.

“I feel something. A tug, drawing me, like when you sing. It makes me want to move closer.”

I paused, trying to center myself. There was that desire to go in the direction of the feeling, but something new as well. Something pulled at my throat, urging me to sing. Surely it had to be connected to the Shade song.

I followed the feeling, Orion at my side.

We entered a room that had the same floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the cliffs that others had. There was the roar of the waterfall outside, and mist and droplets sprayed against the windows.

That wasn’t what held my attention, though. Inside this room was a gorgeous grand piano. Sleek and black, with the lid open and ready to play. The bench looked plush and comfortable.

We’d found our answer.