Goddess Interrupted
Goddess Interrupted
Aimee Carter
After surrendering her mortal life, Kate’s about to be crowned queen of the mythical Underworld, home to the Gods. Her king – dangerous, mesmerising Henry – the boy she sacrificed everything for, is becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then he is abducted in the midst of her coronation.Forced to take up her role in a bitter war between the Gods, Kate battles to save Henry’s life. Worse, her only hope of victory means turning to Persephone, Henry’s first true love…and the greatest threat to Kate’s future. Kate now knows that rescuing the one she believed to be her destined soulmate could mean losing him forever.‘A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to this romantic fable.’ Cassandra Clare on The Goddess Test
Praise for
THE GODDESS TEST
‘A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to this romantic fable.’
—Cassandra Clare
‘This absorbing, contemporary take on the Greek myth of Persephone features romance, mystery, suspense, and an engaging, fully dimensional protagonist.’
—Booklist
‘Absolutely unique, fresh and fascinating.’
—BewitchedBookworms.com
“Do you accept your role as Queen of the Underworld?” said Henry.
I could do this. I had to do this. For Henry’s sake—for my mother’s sake. For my sake. Because in the end, without Henry, I didn’t know who I was any more.
As I opened my mouth to say yes, a crash shattered the silence. I twisted around to survey the damage, but before I could get a good look, Ava appeared beside me and took my elbow. “We have to get out of here.” As we scrambled forward, another crash echoed through the hall, and a shimmering fog seeped into the palace. The same fog from my vision.
This was the thing that had nearly killed Henry and now it was attacking all of us. Without warning, it sliced through the air faster than the members of the council could control it, but it wasn’t aimed at Henry or Walter or Phillip.
It went directly for me.
Books byAimée Carter
THE GODDESS TEST
GODDESS INTERRUPTED
Goddess Interrupted
Aimée Carter
www.miraink.co.uk (http://www.miraink.co.uk)
For Melissa Anelli, who knows how it feels to climb that
long, winding road just to see the dawn.
Acknowledgments
I’m beyond grateful for all the help, encouragement and support from the people who were brave enough to stick around while I wrote this monster. I especially want to thank the following:
Rosemary Stimola, my magical agent, for the smiley faces.
Mary-Theresa Hussey, Natashya Wilson and the entire team at my publisher’s, for believing in these books.
The incredible community of YA book bloggers, for their enthusiasm and love of reading.
Angie, Stacey, Mandy and the rest of the crew, for being a second family.
Lauren DeStefano, for the ups and downs and late-night e-mails.
Carrie Harris, for the laughs and infectious cheer.
Sarah J. Maas, for the endless optimism.
Courtney Allison Moulton and Leah Clifford, for being Angels.
Nick Navarre, for the music.
Sarah Reck, for never holding back.
Caitlin Straw, for putting up with me.
And last but never least, Dad—for everything.
PROLOGUE
Calliope trudged through the sunny field as she ignored the babble of the redhead trailing behind her. Ingrid was the first mortal who had tried to pass the test to become Henry’s wife, and maybe if he’d spent more than five minutes a day with her, Henry would’ve understood why Calliope had killed her.
“You’re in for a treat,” said Ingrid, scooping up a rabbit from the tall grass and hugging it to her chest. “Everything’s going to bloom at noon.”
“Like it did yesterday?” said Calliope. “And the day before that? And the day before that?”
Ingrid beamed. “Isn’t it beautiful? Did you see the butterflies?”
“Yes, I saw the butterflies,” said Calliope. “And the deer. And every other pointless piece of your afterlife.”
A dark cloud passed over Ingrid’s face. “I’m sorry you think it’s stupid, but it’s my afterlife, and I like it this way.”
It took a great deal of effort, but Calliope fought off the urge to roll her eyes. Upsetting Ingrid would only make things worse, and at the rate this was going, it would be ages before Calliope got out of here. “You’re right,” she said tightly. “It’s only that I never spend any time in this realm, so the process is unfamiliar to me.”
Ingrid relaxed and ran her fingers through the rabbit’s fur. “Of course you don’t spend time here,” she said with a giggle that set Calliope’s teeth on edge. “You’re a goddess. You can’t die. Unlike me,” she added, skipping across a few feet of meadow. “But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.”
If that idiot of a girl knew a damn thing, she’d have known that Calliope wasn’t just any goddess. She was one of the original six members of the council, before they’d had children and the council had expanded. Before her husband had decided fidelity was beneath him. Before they’d started handing out immortality like it was candy. She was the daughter of Titans, and she wasn’t merely a goddess. She was a queen.
And no matter what the council and that bitch Kate had decided, she didn’t deserve to be here.
“Good,” said Calliope. “Death is a stupid thing to fear.”
“Henry makes sure I’m comfortable. He comes by every once in a while and spends the afternoon with me,” said Ingrid, and she added with a catty grin, “You never did tell me who won.”
Calliope opened her mouth to say that it wasn’t a contest, but that wasn’t true. Every part of it had been a competition, and she’d worked for the prize far more than the others. She’d wiped out her opponents masterfully. Even Kate would have died if Henry and Diana hadn’t intervened.
Calliope should’ve won, and the grin on Ingrid’s face felt like salt in the gaping hole where her heart had once been. First she’d lost her husband, and when she thought she’d found someone who could understand her plight and give her the love she so badly desired, that someone—Henry—had never given her a chance. Because of it, she’d lost everything. Her freedom, her dignity, every ounce of respect she’d fought to gain through the millennia, but most of all, she’d lost Henry.
They’d been together, two of the original six, since before the beginning of humanity. For eons she’d watched him, shrouded in mystery and loneliness no one could break, at least until Persephone had come along. And after what she’d done to him—
If anyone deserved to be punished, it was Persephone. All Calliope had ever wanted was for Henry to be happy, and one day he would understand that the only way he would ever be was when they were finally together. No matter how long it took, she would make him see. And in the end, Kate would pay for robbing them of precious time from their future.
“Calliope?” said Ingrid, and Calliope tried to shake the thoughts from her head. The words escaped into the recesses of her mind, but her anger and bitterness remained.
“Kate,” said Calliope, spitting out the name as if it were poisonous. “Her name’s Kate. She’s Diana’s daughter.”
Ingrid’s eyes widened. “And Persephone’s sister?”
Calliope nodded, and behind Ingrid, a strange fog formed in the distance. It seemed to beckon toward her, but she resisted the urge to cut loose from Ingrid and follow it. As long as she was serving her sentence spending time with each girl she’d killed, she couldn’t leave without alerting Henry. If she deliberately disobeyed the council’s orders, she would be permanently banished and her spot on the council filled by someone else.
She knew exactly who that someone else would be, and she swore to herself that as long as she was still a goddess, Kate would never get anywhere near her throne.
Calliope eyed the fog. “Have you ever been through there?”
“Through where?” said Ingrid. “The trees? Sometimes, but I prefer the meadow. Did you know the flower petals taste like candy? You should try them.”
“I don’t eat candy,” said Calliope, still distracted by the fog. She hadn’t seen anything else like it while in the Underworld, and it must mean something. Maybe it was Henry’s way of telling her she could move on to the next girl. Perhaps he understood how awful Ingrid was after all.
“How can you not eat candy?” said Ingrid. “Everyone eats candy.”
“I’m not everyone,” said Calliope. “Stay here.”
“So you can walk away?” said Ingrid. “I don’t think so. You need me to forgive you before you leave, or have you forgotten already?”
Calliope gritted her teeth. Of course she hadn’t forgotten, but as far as she was concerned, Ingrid was never going to forgive her. Even if she did, Calliope doubted every girl she’d killed would, as per Kate’s ruling, which meant she would likely be stuck in the Underworld for eternity. That was longer than Calliope was prepared to wait. “Unless you want me to attach your feet to the ground, you will stay,” she snapped.
“You can do that?”
Calliope didn’t bother answering. Instead she headed toward the fog and away from Ingrid, who at least had the decency not to follow her. The farther from Ingrid she got, the dimmer the meadow became, until Calliope was surrounded by rock—the real face of the Underworld now that there wasn’t a dead soul around to influence its appearance.
Now that she was closer, she could see that the fog wasn’t really fog after all. Instead it seemed to shimmer in the air, a thousand tendrils of light reaching for her. Calliope reached back, and the moment her fingers touched the strange glow, she understood why it had called to her. At last, after decades of waiting, he was awake.
Calliope smiled, and a rush of power so ancient it didn’t have a name spread through her. With Ingrid nothing more than a distant memory, she stepped forward, and the anger she’d harbored for so long finally found its purpose.
“Hello, Father.”
CHAPTER ONE
RETURN TO EDEN
When I was a kid, each fall my teachers had the class write and present one of those horrible “What I Did Last Summer” essays, complete with pictures and funny anecdotes designed to make a classroom full of bored students pay attention.
Each year I sat and listened as my classmates in my New York City preparatory school talked about how they’d spent the summers in the Hamptons or in Florida or in Europe with their rich parents, or au pairs, or as we grew older, boyfriends and girlfriends. By the time we reached high school, I heard the same glitzy stories over and over again: escapades in Paris with supermodels, all-night parties on the beaches in the Bahamas with rock stars—every student vied for attention with exploits that got wilder every year.
But my story was always the same. My mother worked as a florist, and because most of her income went to paying for that school, we never left New York City. On her days off we spent our afternoons in Central Park soaking up the sun. After she got sick, my summers were spent in the hospital with her, holding her hair back as the chemo attacked her system or flipping through the television channels looking for something to watch.
It wasn’t the Hamptons. It wasn’t Florida. It wasn’t Europe. But they were my summers.
The one after my first six months with Henry, however, blew every single summer my classmates ever had out of the water.
“I can’t believe you’d never swum with dolphins before,” said James as I drove down a rough dirt road that didn’t see much use. We were back in the upper peninsula of Michigan and surrounded by trees taller than most buildings. The closer we got to Eden Manor, the wider my grin spread.
“It’s not like we had a ton of them in the Hudson River,” I said, nudging the accelerator. We were so far from civilization that there weren’t any posted speed limits, and the last time I’d been down this road, my mother had been too ill for me to risk taking advantage of it. But now, after the council had granted me immortality, the only thing I risked was my old beat-up car. So far, I liked the perks. “I’m more impressed with the volcano erupting.”
“No idea why it did that,” said James. “It’s been dormant for longer than some of us have been alive. Might have to ask Henry about that when we get back.”
“What would he have to do with a volcano?” I said, and my heart skipped a beat. We were so close now that I could almost feel him, and I drummed my fingers nervously against the steering wheel.
“Volcanoes run through Henry’s domain. If an old one’s going off like that, then something’s up.” James bit off a piece of jerky and offered me the rest. I wrinkled my nose. “Suit yourself. You realize you’re going to have to tell him about everything we did, right?”
I glanced at him. “I hadn’t planned on otherwise. Why? What’s wrong with that?”
James shrugged. “Nothing. I figured he wouldn’t be too thrilled with the idea of you spending six months in Greece with some handsome blond stranger, that’s all.”
I laughed so hard I nearly drove off the side of the road. “And who was this handsome blond stranger? I don’t remember him.”
“Exactly what you should say to Henry, and we’ll both be in the clear,” said James cheerfully.
It was a joke, of course. James was my best friend, and we had spent the whole summer together touring ancient ruins, vast cities and breathtaking islands in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Maybe one of the most romantic, too, but James was James, and I was married to Henry.
Married. I still wasn’t used to it. I’d kept my black diamond wedding ring on a chain around my neck, too afraid of losing it to wear it properly, and now that we were only a mile or so away from Eden, it was time to put it back on. I’d struggled to pass the seven tests the council of gods had given me to see if I was worthy of immortality and becoming Queen of the Underworld, and because I’d won—only barely—Henry and I were now technically husband and wife.
With the silence between us for the past six months, however, it didn’t feel like it. I hadn’t admitted it to James, but I’d spent the summer glancing around in hopes of seeing Henry in the crowd, there even when he wasn’t supposed to be. But no matter how hard I’d looked, I hadn’t seen any sign of him. Granted, half a year was practically a blink of an eye for someone who had existed since before the birth of humanity. But surely a sign that he missed me wasn’t too much to ask for.
During my winter with him though, I’d had to fight for every small step forward. Every look, every touch, every kiss—what if six months apart brought us back to square one? He’d spent a thousand years mourning his first wife, Persephone, and he’d only known me for one. Our wedding hadn’t been the perfect ending to a wonderful love story. It’d been the beginning of eternity, and nothing about our new life together was going to be easy. For either of us. Especially considering that on top of adjusting to marriage, I’d have to learn how to be Queen of the Underworld, as well.
And no matter how many years I’d spent caring for my dying mother, I had a sinking feeling none of it would help when it came to ruling over the dead.
I pushed my worries from my mind as the black wrought-iron gate of Eden Manor came into view. New York, school, my mother’s illness—that was my past. My mortal life. This was my future. No matter what had or hadn’t happened during the summer, I would have the chance to be with Henry now, and I wasn’t going to waste a moment.
“Home sweet home,” I said as I drove through the gate. I could do this. Henry would be waiting for me, and he’d be thrilled to see me. My mother would be there, too, and I wouldn’t have to go another six months without seeing her again. After nearly losing her, spending the summer without my mother had been torture, but she’d insisted—this first summer was my own, and she and Henry wouldn’t be involved. But I was back now, and everything would be okay.
James craned his neck to look at the brightly colored trees that lined the road. “All right?” he said to me.
“I should be asking you that,” I said, eyeing the way he drummed his fingers on the armrest nervously. He stilled, and after a moment I added before I could stop myself, “He’ll be happy to see me, right?”
James blinked and said coolly, “Who? Henry? Couldn’t say. I’m not him.”
That was the last answer I’d expected, but of course he wasn’t going to be cheerful about it. James would have been the one to replace Henry as the ruler of the Underworld if I’d failed, and even though it hadn’t come up on our trip, James was undoubtedly sore about it.
“Could you at least try to pretend to be happy for me?” I said. “You can’t spend your entire existence mad about that.”
“I’m not mad. I’m worried,” he said. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know. No one would blame you.”
“Do what? Not go back to Eden?” I’d already passed the tests. I’d told Henry I’d be back. We were married, for crying out loud.
“Everyone’s acting like you’re the be-all and end-all for Henry,” said James. “It isn’t fair to put you under that kind of pressure.”
Good lord, he really was talking about not going back. “Listen, James, I know you liked Greece—so did I—but if you think you can talk me into not going back—”
“I’m not trying to talk you into anything,” said James with surprising firmness. “I’m trying to make sure no one else does. This is your life. No one’s going to take your mother away from you now if you decide you don’t want to do this after all.”
“That’s not—that’s not why I’m going back at all,” I sputtered.
“Then why are you, Kate? Give me one good reason, and I’ll drop it.”
“I can give you a dozen.”
“I only want one.”
I sniffed. It wasn’t any of his business. I’d nearly died in my attempts to save Henry from fading; I wasn’t going to walk away from him because of the possibility that I might not like the Underworld. “I don’t know how you do things, but I love Henry, and I’m not going to leave him just because you don’t think he’s good for me.”
“Fair enough,” said James. “But what are you going to do if Henry doesn’t love you?”
I slammed on the brakes and forced the car into Park so violently that the head of the stick shift snapped off. The car was a piece of shit anyway. “That’s impossible. He said he loves me, and I trust him not to lie to me. Unlike someone else I know.”
I glared at him, but his expression didn’t change. With a huff, I climbed out of the car, cursing as the seat belt caught on my jeans. After my few failed attempts to untangle myself, James reached over and gently undid it for me.
“Don’t be mad,” he said. “Please. After what happened to Persephone—I want to make sure you don’t have to go through the same thing, all right? That’s all.”
I wasn’t an idiot. I knew part of Henry would always be in love with Persephone. After all, he’d lost the will to continue after she’d given up her immortality to die and spend eternity with a mortal, and he wouldn’t have felt that way if his entire existence hadn’t revolved around her. But I could give him the one thing she never had—requited love.
“If you really are happy and you two love each other equally, then great,” said James. “Good luck to you both. But if you don’t—if you wake up one day and realize you’re forcing yourself to love him because you think it’s the right thing to do, not because he makes you happier than you’ve ever been—then I want to make sure you know you have a choice. And if you ever want to leave, all you have to do is say the word, and I’ll go with you.”
I stormed toward the front doors of the manor, yanking hard. “Great, so if I ever decide that Henry’s life isn’t worth it, I’ll be sure to let you know. Help me with these, will you?”
James didn’t say a word as he joined me and opened the heavy doors as if they were made of feathers. I slipped inside and forced a smile, expecting to see Henry waiting for me in the magnificent entrance hall made of mirrors and marble. But the foyer was empty.
“Where is everyone?” I said, my smile fading.
“Waiting for you, I suspect.” James stepped in after me, and the door slammed behind us, echoing through the hall. “You didn’t think we were going to stay here, did you?”
“I didn’t know there was anywhere else to stay.”
He draped his arm over my shoulders, but when I shrugged it off, he shoved his hands in his pockets instead. “Of course there’s someplace else. Follow me.”
James led me to the center of the foyer, where a crystal circle shimmered with a rainbow of colors in the center of the white marble floor. When I tried to continue to the other side of the hall, he grabbed my hand and stopped me.
“This is our stop,” he said, looking down.
I stared at the crystal beneath my feet, and finally I saw it. A strange, shimmering aura seemed to emanate from where we stood, and I jumped out of the circle. “What is that?”
“Henry didn’t tell you?” said James, and I shook my head. “It’s a portal between the surface and the Underworld. Totally safe, I promise. They’re like shortcuts so we don’t have to take the long way around.”
“The long way around?”
“If you know where to look, you can find an opening into the Underworld and travel through various caves and that kind of thing,” he said. “Dark, gloomy, time-consuming, and trouble if you’re skittish about having millions of pounds of rock pressing down on you.”
“There’s nothing underneath the surface except lava and dirt,” I said, ignoring the thought of being buried alive. “Every eight-year-old knows that.”
“We’re gods. We’re excellent at covering our tracks,” said James with a boyish grin, and this time, when he offered me his hand, I took it and stepped back into the circle.
“What else are you good at?” I grumbled. “Turning water into wine?”
“That’s Xander’s specialty,” he said. “I’m surprised he hasn’t turned the Dead Sea into one big keg party by now. Must be too salty for him. As for me, I can find anything or anyone or anyplace you want. Didn’t you notice we never got lost in Greece?”
“Except that one time.”
“We weren’t actually lost then, either,” he pointed out.
“Still.” I gave him a look, and he turned pink. “I just thought you knew the area well.”
“I did, thousands of years ago. They’ve made some modifications since then. Close your eyes.”
A rush of electrifying power swirled around us, and a roar filled my ears. Without warning, the ground dropped from under us, and I shrieked.
My heart leaped into my throat, and my eyes flew open as I tried to pull away from James, but his arm wrapped around me like steel. We were surrounded by rock—no, we were inside rock, and we went through it as if it weren’t any more substantial than air. James’s expression was as calm as ever, as if slicing through stone and earth and god only knew what else was perfectly normal.
It seemed to last for ages, but only a few seconds later my feet landed on solid ground. James loosened his grip on my shoulders, but my legs trembled so badly that I clung to him even though all I wanted to do was thwack him upside the head.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he said cheerfully, and I glared.
“I will get you for that,” I snarled. “You won’t see it coming, but when it’s over, you’ll know what it was for.”
“I look forward to it,” he said, and at last I felt steady enough to stand on my own. I bit back my retort as I looked around, and my eyebrows shot up.
We were in a massive cavern, so big that I couldn’t see the top. The only way I could tell it was under the earth—besides the harrowing journey I’d barely survived—was the lack of sunlight.
Great. Apparently Henry lived in a cave.
Instead of the sky, rivers of crystal ran through the rock, providing a glowing light that illuminated the entire cavern. Giant stalagmites and stalactites joined together in rows of columns that couldn’t have possibly been natural, and to my relief, they formed a path to a magnificent palace made of shiny black rock that looked as if it had grown out of the side of the cavern.
“If I may,” said James. “On behalf of the council, let me be the first to welcome you to the Underworld.”
I opened my mouth, but before I could say a word, Henry’s enraged cries filled my ears, and I fell to my knees as the world went black.
CHAPTER TWO
GIFT
Henry appeared inches in front of me, his face twisted with such fury that I shrank back. He was in the Underworld, surrounded by the same crystal-infused rock I recognized from my landing, but the cavern wasn’t the same. It was so vast I couldn’t make out the other side, and it was bare except for the massive gate that looked as if it were made of the wall itself.
Henry raised his trembling hands against a thick fog that seeped between the bars made of rock, his jaw set. His brothers, Walter and Phillip, flanked him on either side, but it was clear that Henry was the general in this battle.
“It won’t work,” said a girly voice that made my insides turn to ice. Behind Henry stood Calliope, her eyes bright with amusement. “He’s already awake.”
“Why?” said Henry, his voice strained with effort. “Are you really so far gone that you believe this is the answer?”
But whatever the question happened to be, I didn’t get the chance to find out. Henry and his brothers vanished, and I opened my eyes and sucked in the cool, damp air of the cavern that held the palace. Somehow I’d wound up on my hands and knees, and James knelt beside me, his brow knit as he rubbed my back. “Are you okay?” he said.
“What happened?” Catching sight of two approaching figures in the distance, I tensed. It couldn’t be Henry and Calliope. He would never let her anywhere near me.
“Nothing,” said James uncertainly. “Did you hit your head?”
I didn’t answer, too busy scrutinizing the two silhouettes. James wasn’t worried, so it couldn’t be Calliope—but had he seen the cavern with the gate? Did he know she was out there, fighting against Henry and his brothers?
Finally the two figures came into view, and relief flooded through me. “Mom,” I called, standing on shaky legs. James steadied me, and I managed to take a few steps forward.
My mother, who had spent years battling the cancer that had eventually killed her mortal form, walked toward me looking radiant. I still hadn’t adjusted to the idea that she too was a goddess and had failed to mention that to me for eighteen years, but at that moment all I cared about was filling the hole that had grown inside of me during the six months I’d been gone.
“Hello, my darling,” she said, embracing me. I breathed in her scent, apples and freesia, and hugged her tightly in return. I’d missed her more than I could have possibly put into words, and as far as I was concerned, no one would ever talk me into leaving her for any length of time again.
“What was that all about?” said a second voice. Ava. My best girlfriend and the reason I’d met Henry in the first place. Another one who’d lied to me about being mortal. “Kate looked like she was having a fit.”
“It’s nothing that can’t be controlled with a little practice,” said my mother, touching my cheek. “I see you got plenty of sun. Did Greece treat you well?”
She let me go, and Ava swooped in for a hug and a squeal. “You look gorgeous! Look at your tan—I’m so jealous. Did you dye your hair? It looks lighter.”
I searched over her shoulder, but the path that led to the obsidian palace was empty. Henry hadn’t come to greet me after all. My heart sank, and I avoided James’s stare. I didn’t want to see him gloat. “What do you mean, something that can be controlled with a little practice?”
“Your gift, of course.” My mother’s smile faltered. “Do tell me Henry explained this to you last winter.”
I gritted my teeth. “From here on out, how about everyone assumes that if Henry was supposed to tell me something, he didn’t. Sound like a plan?”
“Probably didn’t think you’d survive long enough for it to matter,” muttered James.
Ava ignored him and looped her arm in mine. “You’re grumpy today.”
“You would be too if you fell through a hole in the floor and wound up in hell,” I said.
My mother took my other arm, and James trailed after us as we headed toward the palace. “Don’t let Henry hear you call this place hell,” she said. “He’s very touchy about that sort of thing. This is the Underworld, not hell. It’s where—”
“—people go after they die,” I said. “I know. He told me that much. Where is he?”
Even as I asked, I had a sick feeling I knew exactly where he was.
“He and a few of the others had a matter to attend to,” said my mother. “They will be back before your coronation ceremony tonight.”
“Does that matter have anything to do with a giant gate and Calliope?”
Ava stopped short, and I tugged on her arm, but her feet remained planted on the ground. “How did you know that?”
I shrugged. “That’s what I was trying to tell you all—I saw it, just now.”
Up on the surface, seeing visions like that would’ve gotten me committed, but my mother didn’t so much as blink. “Yes, sweetie, that will happen from time to time, and eventually you will learn to control it.”
“Great,” I said waspishly. “Could you at least explain what it is?”
“No need to get upset,” said my mother, and my exasperation immediately dissolved. She may not have been dying anymore, but after I’d spent four years watching her teeter on the edge between life and death, I’d all but forgotten how to be upset with her. Six months away wasn’t going to change that.
“I’m sorry,” I said, guilt rushing through me. I glanced at James, who lingered in the background, his hands shoved in his pockets and his mop of blond hair falling in his eyes. But I wanted answers, not more diatribes about how I had a choice. “What’s going on? Why could I see Henry?”
My mother wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and I relaxed against her. “Why don’t we go inside where it’s comfortable, and then we’ll tell you everything?”
Somehow I doubted that I would ever really learn everything that was going on when it came to my new family, but my jeans were damp from the ground, and the sooner we got to the palace, the sooner I would see Henry. And then—
And then what?
James’s offer trickled back into my mind, circling my thoughts until I couldn’t ignore it any longer. He was wrong. He had to be. I’d survived; I’d passed, and Henry loved me. As soon as we saw each other, everything would fall into place, and things would be normal again. And I’d feel like an idiot for ever questioning Henry.
The path was shorter than I’d thought, sloping downward toward a courtyard in front of the palace. Instead of flower beds and trees, the ground was littered with magnificent jewels in a rainbow of colors that glittered in the light. Much in the same way that my mother’s gardens were art, this was a masterpiece, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.
“Persephone designed it,” said Ava as we approached the intimidating doors. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from a rude retort. I’d never considered how much being in the Underworld would remind Henry of Persephone, and after they’d spent millennia together, there was no way I could combat every piece of her that lingered in his life. But I hadn’t been prepared to face it this soon.
I took a deep breath. Everything would be fine. I was jet-lagged, that’s all, and as soon as I got some rest and saw Henry, everything would go back to normal. Getting angry about every little thing wasn’t going to help.
The entranceway was nothing like I’d expected. Unlike the darkness of the world outside the palace, it was cheerful inside, with red walls and mirrors much like the ones that hung in Eden Manor. This room was smaller though, homier somehow. From the gold accents around the mirrors to the brown leather furniture scattered throughout the corridor, everything was warm. The palace was huge, but inside, it didn’t seem the least bit impressed with itself.
I liked it.
“This is where I’ll be living during the winter?” I said, and my mother nodded.
“This is the private wing of the palace, meant for you, Henry and your guests.”
“There are guests?”
Ava skipped beside me, almost wrenching my arm out of its socket. “Like us, silly. The entire council’s here right now to see your coronation.”
“They are?” My mouth went dry. “I thought it was just going to be me and Henry. And you guys.”
“Of course the entire council is here. Henry will be crowning a new Queen of the Underworld tonight,” said my mother, setting her hand on my back to lead me down another hallway. “That doesn’t happen very often.”
She seemed to know exactly where she was going, and trepidation bubbled inside of me. She must’ve spent time here with Persephone, who had been her daughter—my sister—and her familiarity with the palace was one more reminder of how deeply entrenched Persephone had been in Henry’s life. How deeply entrenched her memory still was.
“Your bedroom,” said Ava, pointing toward an elaborately decorated door at the end of the hallway. I wanted to ask her how she’d known that, but as we drew closer and I recognized the intricate wooden carvings, I nearly choked.
It was the exact same door as the one in Eden that led into Persephone’s bedroom. On the top half was a beautiful meadow, and somehow the artist had managed to create sunlight in the wood. Below it stood the Underworld with its pillars of stone and gardens of jewels, and it was all I could do to speak. “Do you think Henry would mind if I did some redecorating?”
Ava and my mother exchanged a confused glance, but James, who had been quiet up until then, stepped forward. I didn’t want his sympathy though. Or his understanding. Henry was busy, not ignoring me, and he couldn’t have possibly known how a simple door would feel like a punch to the gut to me. I didn’t want him to choose between me and his dead wife; I only wanted to be a more important part of his life now. Maybe it would take some time, but that was time I was willing to put in if Henry was, as well.
I shook my head. Of course Henry would want this. He’d been the one to approach me beside the river to begin with. He’d been the one to protect me during my time in Eden. He was the one who’d helped bring me back from the dead. He was the one who’d stayed by my bedside nearly every waking hour after. He cared. He had to.
That was all before I’d been granted immortality by the council though, said a small voice that sounded suspiciously like James’s in the back of my mind. My mother was Henry’s favorite sister. Maybe he was only trying to protect me for her sake.
I forced the thought aside. I was panicking over nothing. Henry would show up soon, and he couldn’t avoid me all winter. Even if he did have some apprehension about this whole thing, we’d be able to talk about it. It wasn’t like I wasn’t nervous, too.
“This is your home too now, and you should do what makes you comfortable,” said James. “If Henry really loves you, he’ll understand.”
“How could you say something like that?” said Ava, appalled. “Of course he loves her. I should know.”
“Yes,” he said curtly. “You should. If you’ll all excuse me, I have things to do before the ceremony.”
He kissed me on the cheek before breezing past Ava and my mother, and the three of us watched him go. I tried not to let it get under my skin, but the thought of going six months without seeing James after spending all summer with him was hard to swallow. No matter what his feelings for me may or may not have been, he was still my friend.
“I’ll go see what’s the matter with him,” said my mother once James was out of sight.
“Thanks,” I said. “He wasn’t like this while we were in Greece.”
She sighed. “No, I’d imagine he wasn’t.” Giving me a hug, she added, “I’ll check in on you before the ceremony. Ava, stay with her until Henry returns.”
“Planned on it,” said Ava, and once my mother had hurried after James, Ava turned toward me with a sly grin. “So, want to see where the magic happens?”
The look on my face sent her into a fit of laughter, and it was only when I threatened to follow my mother that she sobered up.
“I’m sorry, it’s just—you’re such a prude.”
I didn’t dignify that with an answer. The only time I’d slept with Henry had been after being dosed with an aphrodisiac, thanks to Calliope. While the thought of me failing a test had enraged Henry, part of me held out hope that he’d enjoyed it as much as I had. We hadn’t slept together since, but now that we were married, it might be something he was expecting.
I wasn’t sure which was worse: the thought of Henry expecting me to sleep with him, or the thought of Henry not wanting to sleep with me at all.
Ava finally pushed the door open, revealing a large bedroom suite on the other side. The carpet was soft and the color of cream, and the walls were painted the same rich red as the entrance hall. In the center stood a massive bed on a raised platform, and the sheets were gold. It was perfect, and I hated myself for liking it so much.
“Please tell me someone’s changed the sheets since Persephone lived here,” I muttered, and Ava laughed.
“Of course. I even talked Henry into letting me redecorate for you. I didn’t think the door would bother you, else I’d have changed that, too.”
The knot in my stomach unraveled. “Next time, open with that,” I said, wandering around the room to inspect it. Furniture was scattered throughout, including two love seats, a desk and a vanity, and a great bay window overlooking the courtyard and the garden of jewels. I pulled the gold curtains shut.
A high-pitched yip caught my attention, and I whirled around in time to see Pogo, the puppy Henry had given me last winter, come barreling toward me. His little legs could hardly keep him steady, and his tail wagged so enthusiastically I was afraid he would break it against something.
“Pogo,” I cooed, scooping him up and cradling him to my chest. “You haven’t grown a bit, have you? Where’s Cerberus?” He licked my cheek, and I grinned. Finally something was going right.
“Cerberus has his own job down here,” said Ava from across the room. “I took care of Pogo for you—taught him a few new tricks and everything.”
My grin faded. “I thought Henry was going to take care of him.” He’d gotten Pogo for me because he wanted to show me that he intended for our relationship to last, and instead of taking care of him like he’d promised, he’d handed him off to Ava for the summer? I hugged Pogo tighter.
“He gets busy sometimes,” said Ava, and I crossed the room to join her. “Now, this is your closet. I even talked Henry into letting me choose your outfits for you this time instead of Ella.”
Ella, who along with Calliope had attended to me throughout my stay in Eden, had spent the first few months dressing me in the most painful fashions of the past thousand years solely to make me squirm. I would’ve rather spent the next six months wrapped in a sheet than wear the hoopskirts and corsets Ella would have undoubtedly provided for me.
Ava opened a door, and my eyes widened. It was the biggest closet I’d ever seen, complete with rows of jeans, stacks of blouses and sweaters, and an entire wall covered with shoes. There was also a row of fancy dresses, but Ava had mercifully kept those to a minimum.
“I figured you wouldn’t want them, so I stole most of them for myself,” she said as I ran my hand over a shimmering silver gown that I almost would’ve considered wearing if I had somewhere to go. “Don’t tell Henry.”
“I won’t.” I sat down next to the wall of shoes and inspected the nearest pair. Size seven, like me. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone else?”
She was by my side in an instant, and the hunger in her eyes for gossip almost made me reconsider. But I had no one else to talk to other than my mother and James, and I was too embarrassed to go to my mother about this, and James—well, he was sort of the problem.
“Of course,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “You know you can tell me anything, and I won’t tell a soul.”
I wanted to believe her, but I still remembered the girl in Eden who had tricked me into breaking onto Henry’s property, only to have her try to abandon me there. Her stunt had backfired, leading to Ava dying and Henry offering to heal her if I stayed with him for six months a year. Since then, however, she’d become one of my best friends, and I couldn’t ignore that.
“It’s about James,” I said, staring down at the heel I held. It would go perfectly with the silver gown. “He said I had a choice. That I didn’t have to come down here if I didn’t want to.” I stopped before I mentioned the part where he’d offered to leave with me. “I think he’s jealous of Henry.”
Instead of laughing in my face, Ava settled on the floor beside me. “It’s a possibility. None of us were happy about the idea of Henry fading, but at least James would’ve gotten something out of it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t mean jealous of him ruling the Underworld. I mean—jealous that he has me.”
“Oh.” Ava’s eyes widened. “Oh. You think James …?”
I shrugged. “It sort of seems like it, doesn’t it? We spent the entire summer together. He was so happy and relaxed and—James while we were in Greece, but now that we’re back here, he’s gotten all moody and proper and doesn’t want to be around me anymore. And I think it’s because of Henry.”
“Because Henry has you and he doesn’t.” Ava tapped her finger against her porcelain cheek. “You know who I am, don’t you?”
I eyed her. Was this a trick question? “Yeah. You’re Ava.”
“And what am I the goddess of?” she said, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder.
No one had ever told me, but out of the fourteen members of the council, Ava was by far the easiest to match with her Olympian counterpart. Next to Henry, of course. “Goddess of love.”
She beamed. “Very good, although you forgot beauty and sex.”
Yes, she was definitely Aphrodite. “What’s your point?” Most of the time I managed to forget how stunning Ava was, but when I remembered, it was hard to feel like anything but an unattractive lump next to her.
“My point is that I have certain gifts, and I can tell James loves you. But we all love you, Kate. You’re part of the family now.”
“What kind of love is it? For James, I mean.”
She sighed dramatically and gave me a pat on the knee. “Telling you would be a terrible invasion of James’s privacy, and I do have to put up with him for the foreseeable future.”
I rolled my eyes. “Since when have you cared about privacy?”
“Since Henry showed up ten seconds ago.”
I scrambled to my feet. Butterflies invaded my stomach as I dashed out of the closet, but I stopped short when I saw Henry sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands folded together and his face stony. He looked pale and exhausted, and I thought I saw a slight tremble in his hands, but that wasn’t what held my attention.
A deep gash ran down his neck and disappeared under his shirt, but more noticeable was the smear of crimson on his skin.
He was bleeding.
CHAPTER THREE
CORONATION
I didn’t know much about being a god, but I did know gods weren’t supposed to bleed.
They could fall sick or become injured when they adopted mortal bodies for short periods of time, like Ava had done when I’d first met her in Eden and like my mother had done for the first eighteen years of my life. But one of the major perks of being immortal was not worrying about pesky things like blood and death.
“Henry!” I flew to his side, my fingers hovering above the gash in his skin. He badly needed stitches, but how was anyone supposed to heal a god? “What happened?”
He flinched as I gently rolled down his collar to expose the rest of the wound. His black shirt was wet from the blood, and without asking I began to unbutton it.
“I’ll—I’ll go get Theo,” said Ava, and she dashed out of the room, Pogo at her heels, leaving me to tend to Henry on my own.
“It is nothing,” said Henry, but the tension in his jaw said otherwise. Once I’d unbuttoned his shirt, I peeled the fabric away, exposing a cut that ran down his chest and halfway to his navel.
“That doesn’t look like nothing,” I said. “Lie down.”
Henry started to protest, but I gave him a stern look, and he caved. Once he was on his back, I hovered over him, trying to figure out something I could do to help, but he wasn’t bleeding so badly that I needed to apply pressure, and I didn’t want to hurt him more than he already was.
“How did this happen? I thought gods weren’t supposed to get injured like this.”
“Normally we are not.” The corners of his lips turned upward into a faint smile. “You look well, Kate. How was your summer?”
He was bleeding all over the bed, and he wanted to know how my summer had gone. “Compared to how my autumn’s going so far? Fantastic. Can’t I do something? You’re getting blood all over the sheets.”
The bed was the last of my worries, but it was enough to distract Henry from asking any more questions. “My apologies. I will make sure to clean it up before tonight. Theo will be here shortly, and—ah, there you are.”
I whirled around in time to see Theo enter. Most of the council had acted as staff at Eden Manor, and Theo had taken up the position of Master of the Guard. Security, I thought, but as I saw him walk through the door, towering over Ava as she snuck in behind him, I realized his role might have extended beyond that. Henry was able to heal me, he’d proven that, but apparently he couldn’t heal himself. Then again, he wasn’t supposed to be capable of getting injured in the first place.
“Where are the others?” said Theo. As I stepped out of his way, I opened my mouth to ask who the others were, but then quickly shut it. Walter and Phillip, Henry’s brothers. The same people I’d seen in my vision.
“They are coming,” said Henry. Theo set his hands over the wound, and Henry’s pained expression relaxed. “They insisted I go on ahead.”
“Are they injured?” said Theo, and Henry shook his head.
“The attack was mostly focused on me.”
I watched Theo anxiously, looking for any signs that whatever he was doing was working. At first I saw nothing, but then, after several seconds, a strange glow formed between his hands and Henry’s skin. As he passed his palms over the wound, it closed, leaving behind a faint silver line. That was all the evidence I needed to know that this wasn’t an everyday occurrence. Henry had no other scars.
“There,” said Theo once he’d finished. He fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his hands. “I would recommend taking it easy this afternoon in case there’s any damage I didn’t catch.”
“There isn’t,” said Henry as he sat up. He started to pull his shirt back on, but he must have felt how damp it was, because he set it aside. “Thank you, Theo. Ava.”
Theo wasted no time leaving, and Ava lingered behind him, her brow furrowed with concern. She jerked her head toward Henry, and I shook my head. As much as I wanted her around, now that Henry was here, there was no reason for her to stay.
I sat on the edge of the bed and ran my fingers through Pogo’s fur as Henry folded his ruined shirt. A dozen questions ran through my mind, but I didn’t know where to start, so I left it up to him. Eventually he would have to talk to me, even if he didn’t want to tell me what had really happened.
Nearly a minute passed before he spoke, and by that time I’d shoved my hands between my knees, too nervous to try to pretend not to be. “Are you looking forward to the ceremony this evening?” he said, and I gaped at him.
“We haven’t seen each other in six months, you’re covered in blood, and that’s what you want to talk about?”
He shrugged. “It is as good a topic as any.”
“No,” I said, digging my nails into my jeans. “It’s really not. Why don’t we start off with how you managed to get hurt so badly when you’re supposed to be immortal?”
He stood and headed toward a door next to my closet. When he opened it, I saw that he had a wardrobe of his own, only smaller and more monochromatic. He pulled out a black shirt that was identical to the one he’d discarded, but before putting it on, he headed over to another door. The washroom.
“I’ll help you,” I said, hopping off the bed and hurrying after him. He didn’t object, and I followed him into a large bathroom decorated in black and gold. Spotting a washcloth, I grabbed it and turned on the faucet. “I didn’t expect the Underworld to have plumbing.”
That at least got a faint smile out of him. “Ava can be very convincing at times.”
I wiped away the blood that stained his skin, taking care to avoid the thin scar that now ran down his chest. Henry stood motionless, and when I glanced up at him, I saw him staring down at me with an oddly tender look.
“What?” I said, blushing. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No,” he said, and as quickly as I’d noticed it, the look was gone. “You asked how I got this. There was a problem I had to take care of, and while there are few things that can injure my family, they are out there.”
“Like what?” I said, rinsing the washcloth out. The water turned pink as it swirled down the drain.
“Nothing you ought to be concerned about.”
Terrific. Apparently while I’d been getting a tan in Greece, he’d reverted back to the same Henry I’d met a year ago instead of the one I’d married. I glared at him. “Really? That’s all you’re going to tell me? You promised you’d never lie to me.”
“I am not lying—”
“You said you wouldn’t keep secrets from me anymore,” I countered. “So which is it? Are you going to treat me like a fragile little girl you need to protect at all costs, or are you going to treat me like your partner? Because in a few hours, I’m going to be queen of this place, and I’m never going to be able to help you rule properly if you always hold everything in. I have a right to know.”
Silence. I sighed.
“Does this have anything to do with Calliope?”
Henry tensed. “How much did your mother tell you?”
My mother knew about this? “Nothing,” I said, and when I realized I’d have to tell him about what had happened sooner or later, I grimaced. “I had a vision, I guess. I don’t know what else to call it. When James brought me down here, I suddenly saw you and Walter and Phillip fighting—something. I don’t know what it was, but you were in front of this gate, and Calliope showed up behind you and told you that it was pointless, because he was already awake.”
The silence seemed to stretch on forever. It wasn’t until I picked up the washcloth again that he replied, and when he did, he spoke with an eerie calm.
“So that is your gift, then. I had wondered.”
“Gift?” My mother had mentioned the same thing, but she’d never gotten around to explaining it.
“Along with immortality comes certain talents,” said Henry. “It varies from individual to individual, and oftentimes it coincides with what we represent. For instance, healing is not Theo’s only talent. As the god of music and poetry, he also has perfect pitch.”
He was trying to make me laugh. That had to be a good sign. I managed a small smile as some of the anxiety drained from my body. “I’m sure that comes in handy all the time.”
“It does make the entertainment during family get-togethers more bearable.”
Another moment passed in silence. That must have been what James meant by never getting lost. My mother’s ability to coax life from even the most neglected patch of land, Henry’s ability to travel great distances in the blink of an eye—how else could he have traveled through the Underworld?
“Why can I see things that are happening in other places?” I said. “What’s the use in that? Is that supposed to make me better at deciding people’s fates?”
“Yes, and it will have other uses, as well. Once you are crowned, you will begin to develop other powers,” said Henry. “I will help you as much as I am able, and over time you will learn to control them.”
So on top of learning everything else about the Underworld, I’d have to deal with uncontrollable abilities, as well. Not that the thought of being able to do godlike things wasn’t exciting, but I didn’t like the idea of having visions without warning. Not when they gave me a pounding headache after. “What are my abilities going to be?”
“I am not certain. The things Persephone could do will not necessarily transfer to you.”
My heart sank. At the rate this was going, I would never escape Persephone’s shadow. “What could she do?” I said, even though she was the last thing I wanted to talk about. “Could she see things?”
“Yes. Her other abilities were much the same as mine.” The hint of a smile appeared on his face, and I tried to convince myself that it was because the blood was nearly gone. Not because he was thinking about her. “She could travel. She also had a talent for telling a truth from a lie, and she could create, like all of us can.”
“Create?”
He held out his hand, and a moment later, a flower made of jewels appeared in his empty palm. Exactly like the ones in the garden outside. “For you.”
I took it and examined the delicate petals made of pink quartz. Nestled between them were tiny cream pearls, and the stem was made of metal that was as light as air. I touched the blossom to my nose, but smelled nothing. As stunning as it was, it wasn’t the real thing.
“My brothers and sisters and I are much more powerful than our descendants,” he said. “With each generation, the gifts grow less potent.”
My stomach churned. Our descendants, not their. Then again, Henry always grouped them together as if they were one single entity instead of six individual beings. “Do you—have kids?” I said timidly.
It was humiliating, realizing that I knew so little about him. After studying long and hard last year, I knew what the myths had taught me and what he himself had told me, but myths weren’t always accurate, and Henry had been less than forthcoming about himself. Calliope had once told me it was widely believed Henry had never slept with anyone before me, not even Persephone, but Calliope had turned out to be less than reliable.
“No, I do not,” said Henry, and I nearly choked sucking back my sigh of relief.
“Do you—” I stopped, but Henry nodded encouragingly. “Do you want to someday? A few decades or centuries from now?”
He gave me a wan smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “We will see how you feel then. I do not wish to saddle you with another responsibility you did not ask for. Now come, we must get you ready.”
I frowned. What was that supposed to mean? Did he think I didn’t want this, to be married to him and everything that came along with it?
James’s words floated back to me. This was the choice he’d been talking about, wasn’t it? He knew Henry was having doubts. He knew Henry thought he was a burden to me, or that I was going to pull a Persephone and leave him. Worse, James had tried to talk me into it.
“You know I want this, right?” I said. “No matter what anyone else has said—”
“No one else has said a word about this to me,” said Henry. “Even your mother has respected my boundaries. For once,” he added under his breath. “But this is the beginning of our rule together. We do not need to make these decisions right away.”
Our rule together, not our life together. Another distinction, but this time it wasn’t a slip of the tongue. My throat tightened. “Not when you think I might back out of it anyway, right?”
He hesitated. “I am not your captor. If you wish to leave, you may.”
“No, you’re not my captor. You’re supposed to be my husband,” I snapped. “Do you want me to leave? Do you want to rule alone or—or fade or whatever will happen to you if I go?”
I wanted him to yell at me. I wanted him to be livid. I wanted to make him feel the overpowering emotions he triggered in me when he was like this, when I was so desperate for the approval he refused to give me that I was practically tearing my hair out.
Instead he watched me with a maddeningly calm gaze and said evenly, “I would like for you to give us both some time to adjust to this. It is a new life for us both, and I wish to grow into it together rather than war. There is no need to rush. We have eternity.”
It was rational. That was the worst part about it; I had nothing to bark at him about. He was being the mature one, giving us both space to adjust to this, and I was being the one who clung to him because even though I trusted him with my life, I didn’t trust him enough to love me the way I wanted him to. And in that moment, part of me hated him for it.
“Just tell me if you want me to be here or not,” I whispered. “Please.”
He lowered his head, as if he wanted to kiss me, but he pulled away at the last second. “What I want should never dictate what you do. I want you to be happy, and so long as you are content, I will be, as well.”
That wasn’t an answer and he knew it, but I deflated and followed Henry into the bedroom, where he put on his shirt. I didn’t want to fight, either. I knew things weren’t going to be perfect, and maybe it was James’s fault for making me doubt Henry to begin with, or maybe it was the reminders of Persephone everywhere I looked, but all I wanted was a little reassurance. A touch. A kiss. A word. Anything.
I brushed my fingers against the jeweled flower in my pocket. That would have to be enough for now.
“I presume Ava showed you the closet,” said Henry. “You may pick out anything you wish to wear, though as the ceremony tonight is considered formal, something dressier than you may prefer would be more appropriate.”
“Right,” I said softly. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
I hesitated. Did he love me? Was he still in love with Persephone? Did he even want me to be crowned his queen, or was I simply a stand-in for my sister? Why hadn’t he come to see me while I’d been in Greece with James?
But the courage it took for me to ask those questions had disappeared. I dug deep, trying to find some remnants of it as I imagined the inevitable six months of tension and loneliness if I didn’t, but I came up empty. Every piece of me was drenched in sick fear that Henry didn’t want me here after all, that he’d only gone along with it because my mother and the rest of the council had forced him to. That I would be to Henry what he had been to Persephone: nothing but an obligation. So I copped out. “Which dress do you prefer?”
As Henry led me into the closet to peruse the rack of formal gowns, I reached for his hand, but the moment I touched him, he pulled away. Instead he held up the silver gown I’d admired before. “What about this?”
Nausea washed over me. Maybe he’d simply reached for the dress and hadn’t realized I’d been reaching for him, but half the time he seemed to know what move I was going to make before I did. No matter how I justified it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d done it on purpose.
But continuing to fight would only give him an excuse to push me further away, and I’d had enough of that for one day. Tonight, after the ceremony, after everything was settled, then we would talk, and I wouldn’t give him the chance to walk away.
“That’s nice,” I said, forcing a smile. I took the dress, but before I could move toward the changing screen, a loud bang echoed from the bedroom, and I dropped the hanger.
James burst into the closet, stopping short when he saw me standing there with Henry. His shoulders slumped and all the air seemed to leave his lungs, and I could have sworn I saw a flash of resentment on his face. But before I could say a word, it was gone, replaced by the same blankness that had been there earlier.
“There’s been another attack.”
Henry stiffened, and any hope I had of an afternoon with him was gone. He picked up the gown and handed it to me, and one moment he was beside me, and the next he was in the bedroom.
“Tell them to continue preparations for the ceremony,” said Henry as he finished buttoning his shirt. “James and I will return before it starts.”
I stared at him. “You’re going out again? After nearly bleeding to death?”
His lips formed a thin line. “It is my duty. This will not take long.”
“What if whatever hurt you this time makes things even worse?”
“It won’t,” said Henry flatly. “Do as I say and do not worry about it. We will return shortly.”
I huffed indignantly. Do as he said? During my time in Eden, he’d given me orders to keep me safe, but we were supposed to be partners now. Bossing me around wasn’t okay. If that’s the way he was going to play it, then things were going to have to change. I wasn’t a helpless mortal anymore. And it was about time we both started acting like it.
I had no time to voice my protests. James at least had the decency to give me an apologetic look, but Henry’s expression was blank as they both blinked out of sight, leaving me alone in the bedroom. Something wrenched inside of me as I realized those might be the last words I ever heard Henry say, and I clutched the dress so tightly that the fabric threatened to rip.
“I swear,” I muttered to Pogo, “if either of them dies permanently, I am never speaking to them again.”
I may not have been in Eden anymore, but some things never changed.
Ava helped me get ready, sitting me in front of the vanity and spending nearly an hour doing my hair. I let her apply some foundation and lipstick, but I put my foot down when she tried to attack me with eyeliner and mascara.
“Come on, Kate,” she said with a pout. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You have to look absolutely ravishing, or else I would never forgive myself.”
“Are you saying I need makeup to look beautiful?” I said, and her perfectly done eyes widened.
“No, of course not! I only meant—I don’t want to make you look like a different person. I just want to make you the best you that you can be.”
“Will it make a difference in the ceremony?”
“No,” she said reluctantly, and that put an end to that.
I managed to keep my panic subdued for the next half hour or so, but when it came time for the ceremony and Henry and James hadn’t returned, it began to grow until I could no longer ignore it. What if something had happened to them? How would anyone know to help?
“This feels familiar,” said Ava cheerfully as she led me through the corridors that stretched from the private wing to what I could only assume was the public section of the palace. The walls changed from red to cream and gold, and for a moment I forgot we were in the Underworld—at least until we passed a curtained window, and I made the mistake of glancing outside.
It would have been bearable had Henry been there with me, but when Ava stopped me outside a set of double doors that reminded me strongly of the ballroom in Eden Manor, there was still no sign of Henry or James. On the bright side, I finally understood what Ava meant by familiar.
“Did Henry have Eden Manor built like this place?” I said, looking around as we waited. Everything, from the color of the carpet and the walls to the path Ava had taken to lead me here, reminded me of Eden. It wasn’t exactly the same, but it was similar enough that I couldn’t help but remember the night I’d been introduced to the council almost exactly a year ago.
“Some parts,” said Ava. “The palace is bigger, of course, but he kept the important bits.”
At least Henry would never get lost in his own home, no matter how many he had. “Do you think he’ll be back on time?”
“Of course,” she said with a breezy attitude I wished I could trade for the knot in my stomach. “He can’t miss it.”
“James would probably get himself killed so he wouldn’t have to come.” I scowled. “Why do you think they ran off like that before the ceremony?”
Ava stilled, and she didn’t quite meet my eye as she answered. “Because it’s Henry’s job.”
“It couldn’t wait?”
Her painted lips tugged downward into a frown. “You can’t expect Henry to be someone he’s not. He hasn’t been married in a thousand years. It’ll take him some time to get back into it, but when it happens, it’ll be worth it. He’s used to putting his duties first, that’s all.”
Her answer made me feel like an idiot, and my cheeks burned underneath the layer of makeup she’d wrestled onto my face. “He barely touched me,” I said, fighting to keep my voice even. “It’s been six months, and he couldn’t even kiss me hello. I don’t want him to change for me, but it’d be nice if he at least tried to let me know that he was happy to see me. I can’t—” The words caught in my throat, and it took me a second to work my way around the lump that was forming. “I can’t spend half my life with someone who doesn’t love me.”
“Oh, Kate.” Ava hugged me, taking care not to mess up my hair or makeup. “Of course he loves you. He’s never been very good with physical affection, that’s all, and he’s a man. They’re never good at realizing what we want and acting on it, especially when they’ve been alone for as long as Henry has been. Do I really have to spend the next six months making sure you know how much he loves you?”
I sniffed. “No, but it would be nice if he did.”
“Give him time,” she said. “He’s probably just nervous with all that’s happening.”
“What is happening?” I said, trying to pull away enough to look at her, but while she was being gentle, her grip was unbreakable. “What’s going on with Calliope?”
Ava tensed. “Didn’t Henry tell you?” she said in a timid voice.
“No, and if you don’t either, I’m going to rub my lipstick all over my face. And yours.”
She jumped away from me and held out her hands, as if to ward me off. “Don’t you dare. I’ll delay the ceremony if I have to.”
“I think Henry and James are already doing it for you.” I crossed my arms. “Tell me what’s going on. I have a right to know.”
She sighed. “You do, but Henry will kill me if he finds out I’ve told you.”
“Then I won’t tell him it was you.”
Ava glanced around nervously and tugged on one of her blond curls. “I’m only telling you this because Henry isn’t here to do it for me, because you really should hear it from him,” she said in a lowered voice, but I was positive she was telling me because she knew Henry wouldn’t. “Calliope escaped. Henry and Daddy and Phillip aren’t saying much about what’s going on, but—well, you saw the condition Henry was in. Obviously something bad is happening.”
Something bad enough to scar a god. “How did Henry get injured—have they said anything?”
“Said anything about what?”
I whirled around. James headed toward us, his hair a mess and his jacket torn in the shoulder, but at least there didn’t seem to be any blood this time.
“James!” I flew toward him, hair and makeup be damned. He gathered me in his arms and hugged me tightly, and I heard Ava’s strangled cry of protest. For her sake, I didn’t kiss him on the cheek. “Are you all right? What happened?”
“It was nothing,” he said. “A minor mishap. Everything’s fine.”
“You mean it didn’t have anything to do with Calliope?” I said, and James opened his mouth to answer when a second voice interrupted.
“It did.”
James winced, and he immediately let me go and stepped to the side. Henry crossed the hall toward me, and unlike James, he looked impeccable.
“Are you bleeding to death again?” I said, unable to keep the frostiness out of my voice. Henry either pretended not to notice or was too distracted to care.
“I am fine.” He nodded toward the double doors behind me. “I will escort you in. We should not keep the rest of the council waiting.”
That was the last thing I was concerned about, but when Henry offered me his arm, I took it. At this rate, it was the most contact I’d have with him all winter.
Ava and James ducked through the doors, and Henry stared straight ahead as we waited. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, looking for any signs that he’d been attacked again, but he was as composed as ever. As if having his new wife devote her life to helping him rule the Underworld was an everyday occurrence.
My chest tightened. I couldn’t make that kind of commitment if things weren’t going to change. If he wasn’t going to trust me, if he didn’t want me as his queen, then I didn’t want to do this. “Whatever’s going on with Calliope, I have a right to know.”
“You do,” he said. “I assure you, as soon as we get a moment, I will tell you everything.”
“We have a moment now,” I said. I didn’t want to fight, not on the cusp of the moment my life was going to change irrevocably forever. But that was exactly why I had to do this. “It doesn’t feel like you trust me or—or want me here, and I need to know that you do. And if you don’t, then we don’t have to do this.”
Henry hesitated. I watched him for any signs of what he was thinking, but his expression gave nothing away. “If you don’t want to—”
“I do,” I said, desperation clawing inside of me. “I want to stay. I want to do this. I want to be with you. I don’t know how to make that any clearer. But I need you to want it, too, okay? Please, just tell me you want me here so I can do this.”
I expected silence in return, and when he didn’t answer, I started to turn away from the doors.
Henry’s hand stopped me.
“Kate,” he said softly. “It has been a difficult day, and I am sorry for the worry I have put you through this afternoon. However, no matter how hard things become, no matter how much time it takes for both of us to adjust to this new life, never doubt that I want you here. You are capable and insightful, and you are better suited to stand beside me as my queen than any mortal I have ever known.”
My heart sank. His reasons were rational, but had no heart. If Henry had his way, I was certain that his queen was all I would ever be to him, but there was no point in pressing the issue. He’d answered me.
“Thank you,” I said as my voice trembled. It wasn’t enough, but he needed time, and I would give it to him. The ceremony was now though. What happened if he decided he could never love me as more than a friend after all?
You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know.
I shook James’s voice out of my head. Not now. Not when I was about to do the single most important thing I’d ever done in my life.
And not when we were stepping into the most jaw-dropping room I’d ever seen.
It put the ballroom in Eden Manor to shame. Pillars of chiseled stone held up the high ceiling, which was made of the same quartz that ran through the cavern outside, and it lit up every inch of the great hall. Windows with heavy black-and-gold curtains rose high above my head, and a magnificent chandelier hung in the middle of it all. At least now I knew why the palace was so big. It had to be in order to house a room like this.
The click of my heels echoed with each step I took across the shimmering marble floor. Row after row of pews faced the front, as if Henry often expected a crowd, and at the end of the lone aisle of pillars were two thrones. One was made of black diamond and the other white.
This was the throne room of the Underworld.
The other members of the council sat in the front row of benches, and thankfully everyone except James wore clothing as extravagant as the dress Henry had picked out for me. At least I wouldn’t have to bear the embarrassment of overdressing on top of everything else.
“Remember to exhale,” said Henry, his breath warm against my ear, and I shivered. He was right though; somewhere between entering the throne room and reaching the end of the aisle, I’d forgotten to breathe.
Henry turned us around so we faced the council, and he nodded once in greeting. I did the same and tried to focus straight ahead, sure that if I caught anyone’s eye, my nerves would get the best of me, but eventually I had to look.
My mother sat in the center, her back ramrod-straight and her eyes shining as she watched. James sat on the very end, and from the way he slouched in his chair, I knew he didn’t want to be there. I didn’t blame him.
Everyone else seemed at least moderately interested, but before I could take it in, Henry faced me and held out his hands palms-up. I hesitated, but he gave me an encouraging nod, and I shakily set my hands over his.
“Kate.” He spoke in a normal voice, but it reverberated through the room, amplified by Henry’s power or the structure of the hall or both. “As my wife, you have consented to take up the responsibilities of the Queen of the Underworld. You shall rule fairly and without bias over the souls of those who have departed the world above, and from autumnal equinox to spring of every year hence, you shall devote yourself to the task of guiding those who are lost and protecting all from harm beyond their eternal lives.”
I couldn’t even convince Henry not to go off on suicide missions. How was I supposed to help protect every single soul in this place?
Henry’s hands grew strangely warm. A warm yellow light glowed between ours, and I bit the inside of my cheek, barely able to stop myself from pulling away. It would take me more than a few hours to get used to that sort of casual show of power.
“Do you accept the role of Queen of the Underworld, and do you agree to uphold the responsibilities and expectations of such?” said Henry.
I hesitated. This wasn’t for a year or five or even ten; this was forever. I hadn’t even decided what I wanted to major in during college, let alone what I’d wanted to do with the rest of my life, but here Henry was, giving me a choice. And for a fraction of a second, his gaze met mine, and I saw my Henry underneath the distant god in front of me. His moonlight eyes sparkled, the corners of his lips twitched upward into the faintest of smiles and he seemed to glow with warmth from the inside out. He was looking at me like he had back in Eden, like I was the only person in the world, and in that moment, I would’ve torn apart heaven and hell to make sure I never lost him.
But then he disappeared back into himself, behind the mask he wore to protect the side of him that Persephone had ripped to shreds, and reality crashed down around me. It wasn’t a real choice, was it? Everything I’d done since moving to Eden had been leading up to this moment. Henry hadn’t married me out of love, and I’d known that from the beginning. He’d married me because I had passed the tests no one else had passed, and because the council had granted me immortality. I was the only girl who had lived long enough to become his queen. What if he stayed like this for the rest of eternity? What if all I ever was to him was a friend and a partner? The way he’d been in Eden, how he’d talked to me until the small hours of the morning, how he’d seen me in a way no one else had, how he’d risked his own existence to save mine—what if I never saw that side of him again?
Then again, what if this was the proof he needed that I wasn’t going to leave him? What if this was the final push to show him that it was safe to fall in love with me completely?
I swallowed. I’d already made my decision the moment I’d married him. I loved him, and walking away and letting him fade wasn’t an option, no matter what it cost me.
I could do this. I had to do this. For Henry’s sake—for my mother’s sake. For my sake. Because in the end, without Henry, I didn’t know who I was anymore, and every night during my summer in Greece, I’d gone to sleep dreaming about what it would be like to spend the rest of my existence loving him and being loved in return. As long as I gave him a chance, this could be everything I hoped it would be. Henry was worth the risk.
As I opened my mouth to say yes, a crash shattered the silence, and the tall windows exploded, sending shards of glass hurtling straight toward us.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE TITANS
As glass flew through the air, I covered my head instinctively, but the jagged edges glanced off my skin as if I were made of Kevlar.
Right. Immortal. I kept forgetting that part.
“What the—” I twisted around to survey the damage, but before I could get a good look, Henry pushed me behind him. I fell to the ground amidst the shards of glass, and while I scrambled to my feet, Henry and his brothers advanced toward the broken windows.
Ava appeared beside me and took my elbow. “Come on,” she said in a trembling voice as her face turned ashen. “We have to get out of here.”
“Why?” I said, but a sick sense of dread filled me as I stumbled along beside her. The others parted to let us through, each poised as if ready to strike. No matter how reluctant they were to talk about her, I knew this had to do with Calliope and the fresh scar running down Henry’s chest.
Ava didn’t answer me. She all but dragged me along the aisle, my heels skidding against the floor as I tried to regain my balance, but it wasn’t working.
I fell a second time, pulling Ava down with me. We landed in a heap, but she wasted no time hauling me to my feet again. As we scrambled forward, another crash echoed through the hall, and a shimmering fog seeped into the palace. The same fog from my vision.
In the past few hours, it seemed to have grown stronger. It crackled with strange tendrils of light, and for a moment, the fog hovered in front of Henry, as if recognizing him. Henry held up his hands again, exactly as he’d done in my vision, and the other members of the council formed a semicircle behind him and his brothers.
My heart hammered against my rib cage, and beside me, Ava froze. This was the thing that had nearly killed Henry, and now it was attacking all of us. The instinct to protect rose up inside of me as it drew closer to Henry and my mother and everyone I loved, but what could I possibly do to help stop it?
Without warning, it sliced through the air faster than the members of the council could control it, but it wasn’t aimed at Henry or Walter or Phillip.
It went directly for me and Ava.
I didn’t have time to think. Shoving Ava behind the nearest pillar, I darted after her, but not fast enough.
Unbelievable pain whipped my knee like lightning, shooting through my body until it surrounded me, pulsing with each beat of my heart. I cried out, and it was all I could do to stay standing.
“Ava,” I gasped, leaning against the pillar as shouts from the council echoed through the hall. “Get out of here.”
She stared at me uncomprehendingly. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I took her arm and forced myself forward, half limping, half hopping toward the exit. A trail of blood smeared across the floor behind me, but the fog didn’t try to strike again.
Someone shouted behind me, and I thought I heard Henry call my name, but everything sounded far away as my heart thudded. I was going to die. We were all going to die. Somehow, someway, that thing could kill gods, and this time there wouldn’t be an afterlife. Not for immortals.
I wasn’t ready to go. Not yet. Not ever.
An eternity later, we finally reached the doors, and I shoved Ava through. Dizzy with terror and agony, I grabbed the handle to keep myself upright and watched the battle raging on the opposite end of the hall.
Twelve members of my new family fought it, with Henry and James blocking the aisle from a force I couldn’t see. I could feel it though, deep within my bones and every nerve in my body. Whatever it was, it seemed to shake the very foundation of the Underworld.
Blood dripped down James’s exposed arm as he struggled to hold off the monster with his uninjured hand. Henry stood beside him, an unmovable force, and I couldn’t tear myself away.
“Brothers!” cried Henry. “On my count!”
The three brothers moved in toward the fog, and the others moved in behind them in a triangular formation, immeasurable power radiating from each of them. Dylan and the redheaded Irene took the lead, but they didn’t have a chance to attack.
In the blink of an eye, Henry and his brothers flew upward and out the window, taking the fog with them.
After the explosion of battle, the silence rang in my ears, and I finally let myself slump to the floor. Most of the remaining members of the council milled together near the thrones, but James and my mother hurried toward us.
James reached me first, and he dropped to his knees several feet away, his momentum sliding him toward me. “It got you, didn’t it? Theo!” he yelled over his shoulder, and I winced.
“Stop it,” I said. “You were hit, too.”
“Yes, but the difference is, if I die, Henry won’t rip the world apart.” His good hand hovered over my injured knee, not daring to touch me yet. I didn’t blame him. Blood dripped down my leg, pooling at my heel, and now that the threat was gone, however temporarily, every nerve in my body felt like it was on fire. I’d never been in this much pain before in my life, not even when Calliope had killed me and thrown my body in a river.
My mother reached us and observed the damage, but she said nothing. Instead she slipped behind me and took Ava by the elbow. Now that the fight was over, some color had returned to Ava’s cheeks, and when my mother tried to lead her away, Ava remained planted in front of me.
“You saved me,” she said, shaking like she was barefoot in the snow. “He would’ve killed me if you hadn’t pushed me out of the way.”
“It was nothing,” I said. “You would’ve done the same for me.”
Ava was silent. My mother moved to push her past me again, but this time Ava dropped down beside me, opposite James. “You don’t understand,” she said, her blue eyes wide and earnest. “They’re the only things that can kill us, and you saved my life.”
Caught between burning curiosity and agony, I said tightly, “Why did it attack us? Why didn’t it go after Henry and Walter and Phillip instead?”
“Because Calliope sent him,” said James, still fussing over my leg. He called over his shoulder, “Theo, she needs you now, not next week.”
Theo shuffled down the aisle toward us, his curly hair falling in his eyes. Ella matched his pace, but she focused on the ground, and her forehead was furrowed deeply. The only time I’d seen her look like that was when Theo had been attacked at Christmas last year. It was jarring, seeing the ever-confident Ella look as if she didn’t know up from down, and my stomach twisted.
“He got her,” said James, gesturing to my leg. Theo knelt down beside me and set his hands above my knee. I’d been healed by Henry before, and I expected the same comforting warmth to come from Theo.
Instead fiery light spread through the wound, pushing out the deep, agonizing pain. Burning heat replaced it, and I gasped, positive my leg was going to turn to ash and fall off. I didn’t dare open my eyes, and even when his hands pulled away, the pain remained.
“Done,” said Theo, and I heard him rise to his feet. “There is nothing I can do for the scar.”
Gathering what was left of my courage, I cracked open an eye, relieved when I saw that my leg was still attached, and by all accounts it looked perfectly normal. But when I tried to wiggle my toes, the fire started all over again.
“If it’s healed, then why does it still hurt?” I said, panicked. What if the pain never went away? How was I supposed to live with that? Had Henry experienced the same thing in his chest? How could he have possibly fought that thing again if he had?
“Because there is no power in the world that can take away the pain until it is ready to leave,” said Theo. “It’s not an ordinary wound. It won’t last longer than a few days, because he is still so weak, but there is nothing I can do for you until then.”
“He?” I gingerly touched the thin silver line that ran across my knee. “You’re all calling it a he.”
Theo nodded toward my mother. “I will leave this in your capable hands to explain. If you will excuse us.”
He slipped his arm around Ella’s waist and headed back toward the cluster of remaining council members. They all sat in the pews again, their heads bent together as they spoke among themselves. As Theo and Ella approached, Dylan, Ava’s ex from Eden High School, rose to make room for them. Even from across the massive hall, I could feel his eyes on us.
“Mom?” I said, rubbing my knee now that I knew it wouldn’t make it hurt any worse. “What’s everyone talking about?”
She offered me her hand. I took it, amazed by how strong she felt compared to the years of frailty, and with effort I stood. Ava stayed glued to my side as my mother led me to a bench in the antechamber, and I eased myself down. It wasn’t possible that Henry had been in this much pain and I hadn’t known it. It must’ve had something to do with the council granting me immortality only six months before. Or maybe Henry was immune.
Ava sat beside me and took my hand. James lingered in the doorway, leaning against it casually, but one look at him and I could see the fear beneath his mask of neutrality. First Ella, now him—whatever this was, it wasn’t good.
“Do you remember the Titans from your lessons with Irene?” said my mother in such a soft voice that I was jolted back to the days spent in a hospital, leaning over her so I could understand her dry and broken whispers.
I shook my head. Irene had seemed to hit only the most salient points in those myths, and I didn’t bother retaining much of that information past the first exam anyway. At the time, it hadn’t seemed important.
“They were your parents?” I said. My mother was Walter’s sister, but not by blood, as they had insisted time and time again. As Henry had told me nearly a year ago, family was the only word mortals had to describe anything close to the bond they shared, but it went much deeper than that.
“In a way,” said my mother. Spotting a few drops of blood on her sleeve, she waved her hand and they vanished. “The Titans were the original rulers of this world, and eventually they grew bored and created us. There were six of us in the beginning—myself, Walter, Henry, Phillip, Sofia and Calliope.”
“They were slaves,” said James.
“Toys,” corrected my mother. With the straightforward way she spoke, it was clear she’d told this story before. “That was our purpose. To be the playthings of the Titans. They loved us, and we loved them in return. But then they decided that we weren’t enough, so they made a new race that, unlike us, could cease to exist if they fought one another.”
“They created war.”
Ava sounded so small and meek that I hardly believed it was her speaking. Her blue eyes were rimmed with red, her cheeks had lost their color, and the hurt on her face was so palpable that I could barely stand to look at her.
“The Titans made humans do terrible things to entertain them.” Ava wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffed. “They were denied the most basic rights and freedoms.”
“Humans were soldiers who never saw the end of battle,” said James. “They were at the mercy of the Titans, but unlike the six siblings—”
“They were powerless to stop them.” My mother sat down beside me and set her hand over mine. “The things mortals do to one another is nothing compared to what the Titans did. Mental and physical torture. No sign of relief. No voice that could possibly sway the most powerful beings in the universe.”
“So the six rebelled,” said Ava. She stared at the space between us, seemingly studying the velvet bench cushion, but a thread of strength ran through her voice now. “They banded together and used the powers the Titans had given them to fight back.”
“And we won.” My mother smiled. She was the gentlest person I knew; she didn’t even kill the spiders and snakes that snuck into her garden. I couldn’t imagine her going to war untold eons ago with a force I didn’t begin to understand. “The Titans’ greatest weakness was their belief that there was no greater power in the world, and they couldn’t imagine us thinking for ourselves. Perhaps if they hadn’t created mortals or given us abilities for their own amusement, we would still be theirs after all this time. Their mistake was not in creating us, but in creating something for us to protect.”
She ran her fingers through my hair, and it was such a familiar gesture that my anxieties began to disappear, replaced by warmth that ran through me and melted the icy fear that had formed.
“We nearly lost so many times, and there were moments when we wanted to give in, but all it took in each of us was the memory of what the Titans were doing to the defenseless, and we pressed on. As long as we existed, we would not stand for it.”
With startling clarity, I finally saw the balance between gods and mortals: gods were, in a strange way, the ones who were chained because of a war the six siblings had won an incalculable amount of time ago. They—we depended on humanity for our survival as much as humanity had depended on Walter and the others all those eons ago. It was why James was so afraid of the day humanity would eventually die out and there was nothing left but the dead and those who ruled them. Once humans didn’t need him any longer, he would fade. They all would, except for me and Henry. But without humans, gods were nothing.
“Is that what that was?” I said. “A—Titan?”
“He’s called Cronus, and he was once the king of the Titans,” said my mother. “He has been asleep since the end of the war, trapped in Tartarus with Nyx watching over him and the other imprisoned Titans.”
Ava shuddered, but said nothing. I fidgeted. “Nyx?” I said, hating how little I knew about any of this. My lessons from the year before had focused on the Greek myths, not their true heritage, and no amount of studying would ever make up for the fact that I hadn’t lived through it like the rest of them. Or at least hadn’t heard the stories for millennia.
“She is the best guard we have,” said my mother. “Henry volunteered to keep Cronus and the rest of the Titans who posed a risk to humanity locked up in the Underworld so there would be no humans around to tempt them, but we knew that if we allowed Cronus to remain conscious, he would find a way out. So the only solution we had was to keep him trapped in his dreams, which is Nyx’s specialty.”
“Then how did he wake up?” I said. “How did he get to the palace?”
James shoved his hands into his pockets. “Henry and I think he’s been waking up for some time—at least a few decades. He’s kept quiet until now, gaining strength, but there’s no way to check and see how awake he really is without risking our lives.”
“The Titans created us,” said my mother. “And they can kill us, as well.”
That was the last thing I wanted to think about, Henry running off to fight that monster again while he might very well be in agony. “You still haven’t told me how he woke up in the first place,” I said, struggling to keep my voice from shaking.
“We don’t know,” said James. “We think Calliope did it.”
“But—” I frowned. “You said he’s been waking up for ages.”
“Decades,” he corrected.
I rolled my eyes. What was a lifetime to most people was the blink of an eye to the council. I would get there eventually, I supposed—if Cronus didn’t eat me first—but until then, I was on mortal time. Six months was six months, not a pleasant nap.
“There’s a strong possibility Calliope planned ahead and started the process when Henry made it clear he would never return her feelings,” said James. “When he started to bring girls home to meet the family and get tested, well …” He shrugged. “She must have snapped. No one but Calliope has the power to break Nyx’s loyalty to Henry and persuade her to wake Cronus up.”
Another thing I wasn’t crazy about hearing: how powerful the goddess who wanted me dead happened to be. “It doesn’t make any sense. If she was trying to protect humans, then why would she risk things going back to the way they were under the Titans?”
“We don’t know,” said my mother. “If we did, we would try to reason with her, but that has proven futile so far.”
“There’s a possibility she bargained with him,” said James. “Why she would trust him to keep his word, I don’t know, but she took your decision hard—”
“She hates you.” Ava squeezed my hand. “It’s the kind of hate that’s all-consuming, and it doesn’t stop for anything. Especially not reason.”
So I had been the target after all, not Ava. I shuddered to think what might have happened if I’d frozen, too.
And was James right? Would Henry have ripped the world apart if Cronus had killed me? I wanted to believe it would have been because of how he felt for me, but a nagging voice in the back of my mind pointed out that if I died, he might have to give up his position as ruler of the Underworld and fade, if he didn’t die going after Cronus. That would’ve pissed me off, too.
“James,” I croaked. “Please get your arm fixed before you bleed to death.”
Glancing at his ripped jacket that was now soaked with blood, he frowned, as if he’d forgotten he’d been injured in the first place. More proof my wound only hurt so badly because I could remember what pain felt like. “Oh. Right. I’ll go do that, then. You’re okay?”
I nodded, and he hesitated before crossing the antechamber and kissing my cheek. He didn’t say goodbye, and I was grateful for that small sign the council wasn’t afraid the world was about to end.
“Come,” said my mother, offering her hand. “Let’s get you someplace where you can rest.”
I wanted to protest. If Henry couldn’t rest, then what right did I have to do so while he was out battling a Titan? However, I knew better than to fight my mother on it. Stubbornness really did run in the family.
She and Ava helped me as I limped to the bedroom. It was humiliating, feeling as if my leg was on fire when the wound was gone and no one else seemed to be affected by injuries that were worse than mine. I tried to walk on my own and ignore it, but that only resulted in a few agonizing steps and the embarrassment of having to stop and lean against the wall. Eventually I gave in and let them help me.
Once I was settled in bed against the mountain of pillows and silk, my mother excused herself. “I would stay, but the others need me, too,” she said apologetically.
“I know,” I said. Whatever the others were discussing was undoubtedly more important and productive than hanging around with me. I wanted her to stay, but she wasn’t just my mother down here, and she had more responsibilities than holding my hand when I was upset.
After making me promise to let her know if I needed anything, she strode out the door, leaving behind a trail of worry she couldn’t hide. That, more than anything else that had happened that day, ate at me until I was sick with anxiety.
“Everything’s going to be okay, right?” I said to Ava as she settled down next to me. Pogo jumped up on the bed and snuggled between us, and I idly stroked his fur. At least I could count on him not to fret.
Ava didn’t answer right away. Wondering if she hadn’t heard me, I turned toward her, only to see that she was crying again.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. No matter how many fights they had or—or anything, they’ve never purposely hurt innocent people before. We’re supposed to protect them, and the six were always really, really adamant about that, you know? That’s why we never thought Calliope was the one killing Henry’s girls. It’s just—she’s never done anything like that before. None of them have.”
She set her head on my shoulder, and I forced myself to swallow the lump of fear in my throat. Ava needed reassurance much more than I did.
“They’ll figure it out,” I said, even though I had no way of knowing if I was telling the truth or not. “They’re strong, right? The council. And she’s one against thirteen.”
“But she has Cronus,” Ava said with a sniff. “When he regains his strength, there’s nothing any of us can do to stop him. It took the six of them ages to contain him the first time, and the only reason they won the war then was because they had the element of surprise. The Titans never thought they’d go against them. But now …”
Now Cronus knew what to expect, and he’d had nearly the entire span of humanity to come up with a way to defeat them. “There’s more of you now though,” I said, keeping my voice steady for Ava’s sake. It was easier to keep a lid on my own fears when she was in such bad shape. “You can win again.”
Ava wiped her cheeks, and when she gave me a hopeless look, I blinked, taken aback. Despite her moments of doubt, Ava had always been bubbly and optimistic, seeing the best in a situation no matter how bleak it was. After she’d died in Eden, instead of bemoaning the loss of her mortal life, no matter how temporary it might have been, she embraced being dead. Even when I’d imposed a harsh punishment for the role she’d played in the scuffle that had resulted in Xander’s supposed death and Theo’s grave injuries, she hadn’t turned on me. She’d fished my body from the river after Calliope had killed me, and she’d brought me back to Henry, believing he could do something to save me. Ava was the one who believed in the impossible, not me. When she lost hope, how was I supposed to have any?
“You don’t understand,” she said in a broken voice. “It took all six of them the first time. It doesn’t matter how many new gods there are. None of us combined are as powerful as a single one of them. Without Calliope fighting with them, we don’t stand a chance.”
I looked away, refusing to let her see my eyes fill with tears. Losing would mean destruction beyond anything I could comprehend. At best, it would mean enslavement for Henry and my mother and everyone I’d come to care about; at worst, it would mean our deaths.
The council might have had countless lifetimes to live, but I was nineteen years old, and I really wanted to see twenty.
I didn’t remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, Ava was gone and Pogo snored in the indent she’d left in the pillow. Sighing, I took inventory, pleased that at least some of the pain had dulled. Even if it did still hurt to move around, I was determined to grin and bear it.
But the moment I sat up, pain exploded behind my eyes, giving me a splitting headache. I moaned and lay back down, and Pogo licked my cheek as I massaged my temples. Apparently all the pain had gathered in my head while I’d been sleeping.
Someone to my right giggled, and my eyes flew open, taking in the rock walls around me. I wasn’t in my bedroom anymore. Instead I stood in the cavern where I’d watched Henry battle the fog I now knew to be Cronus, and the massive gate loomed before me, carved from the stone itself. I twisted around to find whoever it was that had laughed, and suddenly I was nose-to-nose with Calliope.
I froze. This was it. She’d somehow managed to kidnap me, and there was nothing I could do to protect myself. If she was half as powerful as Ava said she was, she could probably rip me in half with a single thought, and I knew better than to hope there was any way I could talk myself out of this.
To my amazement, she looked past me and stepped forward. Instead of running into me, she moved through me, as if I were nothing more than a ghost.
I wasn’t really here. Just like what had happened when I’d first arrived in the Underworld, this was another vision, and Calliope had no idea I was watching.
I hurried to follow her. She walked proudly through the cavern toward a smaller cave to the side, and I noticed an oddly shaped pile beyond the light that glowed from the ceiling. I could only make out shadows, but whatever it was made Calliope giggle again.
“I can’t believe it.” She stopped a foot from the cave entrance. “Eons of putting up with you, and this is all it takes?”
My insides turned to ice. I didn’t want to look, but my feet moved forward anyway until I could make out the three bodies piled together, bound by chains made of fog and stone.
Walter on the left, his head slumped forward as blood trickled down his cheek. Phillip on the right, an ugly wound running through an eye, down his face and disappearing underneath his shirt.
And Henry in the middle, as pale and still as death.
CHAPTER FIVE
OPTIONS
I flew to Henry’s side, too afraid to touch him, but too frightened to turn away, either. Desperately I searched all three brothers for any sign that they were still alive, but I saw nothing. No rise and fall of the chest, no telltale flutter of a pulse in their necks—except those were mortal ways of judging if someone was still living. Henry and his brothers weren’t mortal and never had been.
And finally, finally I saw Henry’s eyes crack open. Unlike Calliope, he seemed to focus directly on me, but whether or not he could really see me, I couldn’t be sure. He hadn’t seen me the first time. Then again, he’d been in the middle of a fight then, too.
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Aimee Carter
After surrendering her mortal life, Kate’s about to be crowned queen of the mythical Underworld, home to the Gods. Her king – dangerous, mesmerising Henry – the boy she sacrificed everything for, is becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then he is abducted in the midst of her coronation.Forced to take up her role in a bitter war between the Gods, Kate battles to save Henry’s life. Worse, her only hope of victory means turning to Persephone, Henry’s first true love…and the greatest threat to Kate’s future. Kate now knows that rescuing the one she believed to be her destined soulmate could mean losing him forever.‘A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to this romantic fable.’ Cassandra Clare on The Goddess Test
Praise for
THE GODDESS TEST
‘A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to this romantic fable.’
—Cassandra Clare
‘This absorbing, contemporary take on the Greek myth of Persephone features romance, mystery, suspense, and an engaging, fully dimensional protagonist.’
—Booklist
‘Absolutely unique, fresh and fascinating.’
—BewitchedBookworms.com
“Do you accept your role as Queen of the Underworld?” said Henry.
I could do this. I had to do this. For Henry’s sake—for my mother’s sake. For my sake. Because in the end, without Henry, I didn’t know who I was any more.
As I opened my mouth to say yes, a crash shattered the silence. I twisted around to survey the damage, but before I could get a good look, Ava appeared beside me and took my elbow. “We have to get out of here.” As we scrambled forward, another crash echoed through the hall, and a shimmering fog seeped into the palace. The same fog from my vision.
This was the thing that had nearly killed Henry and now it was attacking all of us. Without warning, it sliced through the air faster than the members of the council could control it, but it wasn’t aimed at Henry or Walter or Phillip.
It went directly for me.
Books byAimée Carter
THE GODDESS TEST
GODDESS INTERRUPTED
Goddess Interrupted
Aimée Carter
www.miraink.co.uk (http://www.miraink.co.uk)
For Melissa Anelli, who knows how it feels to climb that
long, winding road just to see the dawn.
Acknowledgments
I’m beyond grateful for all the help, encouragement and support from the people who were brave enough to stick around while I wrote this monster. I especially want to thank the following:
Rosemary Stimola, my magical agent, for the smiley faces.
Mary-Theresa Hussey, Natashya Wilson and the entire team at my publisher’s, for believing in these books.
The incredible community of YA book bloggers, for their enthusiasm and love of reading.
Angie, Stacey, Mandy and the rest of the crew, for being a second family.
Lauren DeStefano, for the ups and downs and late-night e-mails.
Carrie Harris, for the laughs and infectious cheer.
Sarah J. Maas, for the endless optimism.
Courtney Allison Moulton and Leah Clifford, for being Angels.
Nick Navarre, for the music.
Sarah Reck, for never holding back.
Caitlin Straw, for putting up with me.
And last but never least, Dad—for everything.
PROLOGUE
Calliope trudged through the sunny field as she ignored the babble of the redhead trailing behind her. Ingrid was the first mortal who had tried to pass the test to become Henry’s wife, and maybe if he’d spent more than five minutes a day with her, Henry would’ve understood why Calliope had killed her.
“You’re in for a treat,” said Ingrid, scooping up a rabbit from the tall grass and hugging it to her chest. “Everything’s going to bloom at noon.”
“Like it did yesterday?” said Calliope. “And the day before that? And the day before that?”
Ingrid beamed. “Isn’t it beautiful? Did you see the butterflies?”
“Yes, I saw the butterflies,” said Calliope. “And the deer. And every other pointless piece of your afterlife.”
A dark cloud passed over Ingrid’s face. “I’m sorry you think it’s stupid, but it’s my afterlife, and I like it this way.”
It took a great deal of effort, but Calliope fought off the urge to roll her eyes. Upsetting Ingrid would only make things worse, and at the rate this was going, it would be ages before Calliope got out of here. “You’re right,” she said tightly. “It’s only that I never spend any time in this realm, so the process is unfamiliar to me.”
Ingrid relaxed and ran her fingers through the rabbit’s fur. “Of course you don’t spend time here,” she said with a giggle that set Calliope’s teeth on edge. “You’re a goddess. You can’t die. Unlike me,” she added, skipping across a few feet of meadow. “But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.”
If that idiot of a girl knew a damn thing, she’d have known that Calliope wasn’t just any goddess. She was one of the original six members of the council, before they’d had children and the council had expanded. Before her husband had decided fidelity was beneath him. Before they’d started handing out immortality like it was candy. She was the daughter of Titans, and she wasn’t merely a goddess. She was a queen.
And no matter what the council and that bitch Kate had decided, she didn’t deserve to be here.
“Good,” said Calliope. “Death is a stupid thing to fear.”
“Henry makes sure I’m comfortable. He comes by every once in a while and spends the afternoon with me,” said Ingrid, and she added with a catty grin, “You never did tell me who won.”
Calliope opened her mouth to say that it wasn’t a contest, but that wasn’t true. Every part of it had been a competition, and she’d worked for the prize far more than the others. She’d wiped out her opponents masterfully. Even Kate would have died if Henry and Diana hadn’t intervened.
Calliope should’ve won, and the grin on Ingrid’s face felt like salt in the gaping hole where her heart had once been. First she’d lost her husband, and when she thought she’d found someone who could understand her plight and give her the love she so badly desired, that someone—Henry—had never given her a chance. Because of it, she’d lost everything. Her freedom, her dignity, every ounce of respect she’d fought to gain through the millennia, but most of all, she’d lost Henry.
They’d been together, two of the original six, since before the beginning of humanity. For eons she’d watched him, shrouded in mystery and loneliness no one could break, at least until Persephone had come along. And after what she’d done to him—
If anyone deserved to be punished, it was Persephone. All Calliope had ever wanted was for Henry to be happy, and one day he would understand that the only way he would ever be was when they were finally together. No matter how long it took, she would make him see. And in the end, Kate would pay for robbing them of precious time from their future.
“Calliope?” said Ingrid, and Calliope tried to shake the thoughts from her head. The words escaped into the recesses of her mind, but her anger and bitterness remained.
“Kate,” said Calliope, spitting out the name as if it were poisonous. “Her name’s Kate. She’s Diana’s daughter.”
Ingrid’s eyes widened. “And Persephone’s sister?”
Calliope nodded, and behind Ingrid, a strange fog formed in the distance. It seemed to beckon toward her, but she resisted the urge to cut loose from Ingrid and follow it. As long as she was serving her sentence spending time with each girl she’d killed, she couldn’t leave without alerting Henry. If she deliberately disobeyed the council’s orders, she would be permanently banished and her spot on the council filled by someone else.
She knew exactly who that someone else would be, and she swore to herself that as long as she was still a goddess, Kate would never get anywhere near her throne.
Calliope eyed the fog. “Have you ever been through there?”
“Through where?” said Ingrid. “The trees? Sometimes, but I prefer the meadow. Did you know the flower petals taste like candy? You should try them.”
“I don’t eat candy,” said Calliope, still distracted by the fog. She hadn’t seen anything else like it while in the Underworld, and it must mean something. Maybe it was Henry’s way of telling her she could move on to the next girl. Perhaps he understood how awful Ingrid was after all.
“How can you not eat candy?” said Ingrid. “Everyone eats candy.”
“I’m not everyone,” said Calliope. “Stay here.”
“So you can walk away?” said Ingrid. “I don’t think so. You need me to forgive you before you leave, or have you forgotten already?”
Calliope gritted her teeth. Of course she hadn’t forgotten, but as far as she was concerned, Ingrid was never going to forgive her. Even if she did, Calliope doubted every girl she’d killed would, as per Kate’s ruling, which meant she would likely be stuck in the Underworld for eternity. That was longer than Calliope was prepared to wait. “Unless you want me to attach your feet to the ground, you will stay,” she snapped.
“You can do that?”
Calliope didn’t bother answering. Instead she headed toward the fog and away from Ingrid, who at least had the decency not to follow her. The farther from Ingrid she got, the dimmer the meadow became, until Calliope was surrounded by rock—the real face of the Underworld now that there wasn’t a dead soul around to influence its appearance.
Now that she was closer, she could see that the fog wasn’t really fog after all. Instead it seemed to shimmer in the air, a thousand tendrils of light reaching for her. Calliope reached back, and the moment her fingers touched the strange glow, she understood why it had called to her. At last, after decades of waiting, he was awake.
Calliope smiled, and a rush of power so ancient it didn’t have a name spread through her. With Ingrid nothing more than a distant memory, she stepped forward, and the anger she’d harbored for so long finally found its purpose.
“Hello, Father.”
CHAPTER ONE
RETURN TO EDEN
When I was a kid, each fall my teachers had the class write and present one of those horrible “What I Did Last Summer” essays, complete with pictures and funny anecdotes designed to make a classroom full of bored students pay attention.
Each year I sat and listened as my classmates in my New York City preparatory school talked about how they’d spent the summers in the Hamptons or in Florida or in Europe with their rich parents, or au pairs, or as we grew older, boyfriends and girlfriends. By the time we reached high school, I heard the same glitzy stories over and over again: escapades in Paris with supermodels, all-night parties on the beaches in the Bahamas with rock stars—every student vied for attention with exploits that got wilder every year.
But my story was always the same. My mother worked as a florist, and because most of her income went to paying for that school, we never left New York City. On her days off we spent our afternoons in Central Park soaking up the sun. After she got sick, my summers were spent in the hospital with her, holding her hair back as the chemo attacked her system or flipping through the television channels looking for something to watch.
It wasn’t the Hamptons. It wasn’t Florida. It wasn’t Europe. But they were my summers.
The one after my first six months with Henry, however, blew every single summer my classmates ever had out of the water.
“I can’t believe you’d never swum with dolphins before,” said James as I drove down a rough dirt road that didn’t see much use. We were back in the upper peninsula of Michigan and surrounded by trees taller than most buildings. The closer we got to Eden Manor, the wider my grin spread.
“It’s not like we had a ton of them in the Hudson River,” I said, nudging the accelerator. We were so far from civilization that there weren’t any posted speed limits, and the last time I’d been down this road, my mother had been too ill for me to risk taking advantage of it. But now, after the council had granted me immortality, the only thing I risked was my old beat-up car. So far, I liked the perks. “I’m more impressed with the volcano erupting.”
“No idea why it did that,” said James. “It’s been dormant for longer than some of us have been alive. Might have to ask Henry about that when we get back.”
“What would he have to do with a volcano?” I said, and my heart skipped a beat. We were so close now that I could almost feel him, and I drummed my fingers nervously against the steering wheel.
“Volcanoes run through Henry’s domain. If an old one’s going off like that, then something’s up.” James bit off a piece of jerky and offered me the rest. I wrinkled my nose. “Suit yourself. You realize you’re going to have to tell him about everything we did, right?”
I glanced at him. “I hadn’t planned on otherwise. Why? What’s wrong with that?”
James shrugged. “Nothing. I figured he wouldn’t be too thrilled with the idea of you spending six months in Greece with some handsome blond stranger, that’s all.”
I laughed so hard I nearly drove off the side of the road. “And who was this handsome blond stranger? I don’t remember him.”
“Exactly what you should say to Henry, and we’ll both be in the clear,” said James cheerfully.
It was a joke, of course. James was my best friend, and we had spent the whole summer together touring ancient ruins, vast cities and breathtaking islands in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Maybe one of the most romantic, too, but James was James, and I was married to Henry.
Married. I still wasn’t used to it. I’d kept my black diamond wedding ring on a chain around my neck, too afraid of losing it to wear it properly, and now that we were only a mile or so away from Eden, it was time to put it back on. I’d struggled to pass the seven tests the council of gods had given me to see if I was worthy of immortality and becoming Queen of the Underworld, and because I’d won—only barely—Henry and I were now technically husband and wife.
With the silence between us for the past six months, however, it didn’t feel like it. I hadn’t admitted it to James, but I’d spent the summer glancing around in hopes of seeing Henry in the crowd, there even when he wasn’t supposed to be. But no matter how hard I’d looked, I hadn’t seen any sign of him. Granted, half a year was practically a blink of an eye for someone who had existed since before the birth of humanity. But surely a sign that he missed me wasn’t too much to ask for.
During my winter with him though, I’d had to fight for every small step forward. Every look, every touch, every kiss—what if six months apart brought us back to square one? He’d spent a thousand years mourning his first wife, Persephone, and he’d only known me for one. Our wedding hadn’t been the perfect ending to a wonderful love story. It’d been the beginning of eternity, and nothing about our new life together was going to be easy. For either of us. Especially considering that on top of adjusting to marriage, I’d have to learn how to be Queen of the Underworld, as well.
And no matter how many years I’d spent caring for my dying mother, I had a sinking feeling none of it would help when it came to ruling over the dead.
I pushed my worries from my mind as the black wrought-iron gate of Eden Manor came into view. New York, school, my mother’s illness—that was my past. My mortal life. This was my future. No matter what had or hadn’t happened during the summer, I would have the chance to be with Henry now, and I wasn’t going to waste a moment.
“Home sweet home,” I said as I drove through the gate. I could do this. Henry would be waiting for me, and he’d be thrilled to see me. My mother would be there, too, and I wouldn’t have to go another six months without seeing her again. After nearly losing her, spending the summer without my mother had been torture, but she’d insisted—this first summer was my own, and she and Henry wouldn’t be involved. But I was back now, and everything would be okay.
James craned his neck to look at the brightly colored trees that lined the road. “All right?” he said to me.
“I should be asking you that,” I said, eyeing the way he drummed his fingers on the armrest nervously. He stilled, and after a moment I added before I could stop myself, “He’ll be happy to see me, right?”
James blinked and said coolly, “Who? Henry? Couldn’t say. I’m not him.”
That was the last answer I’d expected, but of course he wasn’t going to be cheerful about it. James would have been the one to replace Henry as the ruler of the Underworld if I’d failed, and even though it hadn’t come up on our trip, James was undoubtedly sore about it.
“Could you at least try to pretend to be happy for me?” I said. “You can’t spend your entire existence mad about that.”
“I’m not mad. I’m worried,” he said. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know. No one would blame you.”
“Do what? Not go back to Eden?” I’d already passed the tests. I’d told Henry I’d be back. We were married, for crying out loud.
“Everyone’s acting like you’re the be-all and end-all for Henry,” said James. “It isn’t fair to put you under that kind of pressure.”
Good lord, he really was talking about not going back. “Listen, James, I know you liked Greece—so did I—but if you think you can talk me into not going back—”
“I’m not trying to talk you into anything,” said James with surprising firmness. “I’m trying to make sure no one else does. This is your life. No one’s going to take your mother away from you now if you decide you don’t want to do this after all.”
“That’s not—that’s not why I’m going back at all,” I sputtered.
“Then why are you, Kate? Give me one good reason, and I’ll drop it.”
“I can give you a dozen.”
“I only want one.”
I sniffed. It wasn’t any of his business. I’d nearly died in my attempts to save Henry from fading; I wasn’t going to walk away from him because of the possibility that I might not like the Underworld. “I don’t know how you do things, but I love Henry, and I’m not going to leave him just because you don’t think he’s good for me.”
“Fair enough,” said James. “But what are you going to do if Henry doesn’t love you?”
I slammed on the brakes and forced the car into Park so violently that the head of the stick shift snapped off. The car was a piece of shit anyway. “That’s impossible. He said he loves me, and I trust him not to lie to me. Unlike someone else I know.”
I glared at him, but his expression didn’t change. With a huff, I climbed out of the car, cursing as the seat belt caught on my jeans. After my few failed attempts to untangle myself, James reached over and gently undid it for me.
“Don’t be mad,” he said. “Please. After what happened to Persephone—I want to make sure you don’t have to go through the same thing, all right? That’s all.”
I wasn’t an idiot. I knew part of Henry would always be in love with Persephone. After all, he’d lost the will to continue after she’d given up her immortality to die and spend eternity with a mortal, and he wouldn’t have felt that way if his entire existence hadn’t revolved around her. But I could give him the one thing she never had—requited love.
“If you really are happy and you two love each other equally, then great,” said James. “Good luck to you both. But if you don’t—if you wake up one day and realize you’re forcing yourself to love him because you think it’s the right thing to do, not because he makes you happier than you’ve ever been—then I want to make sure you know you have a choice. And if you ever want to leave, all you have to do is say the word, and I’ll go with you.”
I stormed toward the front doors of the manor, yanking hard. “Great, so if I ever decide that Henry’s life isn’t worth it, I’ll be sure to let you know. Help me with these, will you?”
James didn’t say a word as he joined me and opened the heavy doors as if they were made of feathers. I slipped inside and forced a smile, expecting to see Henry waiting for me in the magnificent entrance hall made of mirrors and marble. But the foyer was empty.
“Where is everyone?” I said, my smile fading.
“Waiting for you, I suspect.” James stepped in after me, and the door slammed behind us, echoing through the hall. “You didn’t think we were going to stay here, did you?”
“I didn’t know there was anywhere else to stay.”
He draped his arm over my shoulders, but when I shrugged it off, he shoved his hands in his pockets instead. “Of course there’s someplace else. Follow me.”
James led me to the center of the foyer, where a crystal circle shimmered with a rainbow of colors in the center of the white marble floor. When I tried to continue to the other side of the hall, he grabbed my hand and stopped me.
“This is our stop,” he said, looking down.
I stared at the crystal beneath my feet, and finally I saw it. A strange, shimmering aura seemed to emanate from where we stood, and I jumped out of the circle. “What is that?”
“Henry didn’t tell you?” said James, and I shook my head. “It’s a portal between the surface and the Underworld. Totally safe, I promise. They’re like shortcuts so we don’t have to take the long way around.”
“The long way around?”
“If you know where to look, you can find an opening into the Underworld and travel through various caves and that kind of thing,” he said. “Dark, gloomy, time-consuming, and trouble if you’re skittish about having millions of pounds of rock pressing down on you.”
“There’s nothing underneath the surface except lava and dirt,” I said, ignoring the thought of being buried alive. “Every eight-year-old knows that.”
“We’re gods. We’re excellent at covering our tracks,” said James with a boyish grin, and this time, when he offered me his hand, I took it and stepped back into the circle.
“What else are you good at?” I grumbled. “Turning water into wine?”
“That’s Xander’s specialty,” he said. “I’m surprised he hasn’t turned the Dead Sea into one big keg party by now. Must be too salty for him. As for me, I can find anything or anyone or anyplace you want. Didn’t you notice we never got lost in Greece?”
“Except that one time.”
“We weren’t actually lost then, either,” he pointed out.
“Still.” I gave him a look, and he turned pink. “I just thought you knew the area well.”
“I did, thousands of years ago. They’ve made some modifications since then. Close your eyes.”
A rush of electrifying power swirled around us, and a roar filled my ears. Without warning, the ground dropped from under us, and I shrieked.
My heart leaped into my throat, and my eyes flew open as I tried to pull away from James, but his arm wrapped around me like steel. We were surrounded by rock—no, we were inside rock, and we went through it as if it weren’t any more substantial than air. James’s expression was as calm as ever, as if slicing through stone and earth and god only knew what else was perfectly normal.
It seemed to last for ages, but only a few seconds later my feet landed on solid ground. James loosened his grip on my shoulders, but my legs trembled so badly that I clung to him even though all I wanted to do was thwack him upside the head.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he said cheerfully, and I glared.
“I will get you for that,” I snarled. “You won’t see it coming, but when it’s over, you’ll know what it was for.”
“I look forward to it,” he said, and at last I felt steady enough to stand on my own. I bit back my retort as I looked around, and my eyebrows shot up.
We were in a massive cavern, so big that I couldn’t see the top. The only way I could tell it was under the earth—besides the harrowing journey I’d barely survived—was the lack of sunlight.
Great. Apparently Henry lived in a cave.
Instead of the sky, rivers of crystal ran through the rock, providing a glowing light that illuminated the entire cavern. Giant stalagmites and stalactites joined together in rows of columns that couldn’t have possibly been natural, and to my relief, they formed a path to a magnificent palace made of shiny black rock that looked as if it had grown out of the side of the cavern.
“If I may,” said James. “On behalf of the council, let me be the first to welcome you to the Underworld.”
I opened my mouth, but before I could say a word, Henry’s enraged cries filled my ears, and I fell to my knees as the world went black.
CHAPTER TWO
GIFT
Henry appeared inches in front of me, his face twisted with such fury that I shrank back. He was in the Underworld, surrounded by the same crystal-infused rock I recognized from my landing, but the cavern wasn’t the same. It was so vast I couldn’t make out the other side, and it was bare except for the massive gate that looked as if it were made of the wall itself.
Henry raised his trembling hands against a thick fog that seeped between the bars made of rock, his jaw set. His brothers, Walter and Phillip, flanked him on either side, but it was clear that Henry was the general in this battle.
“It won’t work,” said a girly voice that made my insides turn to ice. Behind Henry stood Calliope, her eyes bright with amusement. “He’s already awake.”
“Why?” said Henry, his voice strained with effort. “Are you really so far gone that you believe this is the answer?”
But whatever the question happened to be, I didn’t get the chance to find out. Henry and his brothers vanished, and I opened my eyes and sucked in the cool, damp air of the cavern that held the palace. Somehow I’d wound up on my hands and knees, and James knelt beside me, his brow knit as he rubbed my back. “Are you okay?” he said.
“What happened?” Catching sight of two approaching figures in the distance, I tensed. It couldn’t be Henry and Calliope. He would never let her anywhere near me.
“Nothing,” said James uncertainly. “Did you hit your head?”
I didn’t answer, too busy scrutinizing the two silhouettes. James wasn’t worried, so it couldn’t be Calliope—but had he seen the cavern with the gate? Did he know she was out there, fighting against Henry and his brothers?
Finally the two figures came into view, and relief flooded through me. “Mom,” I called, standing on shaky legs. James steadied me, and I managed to take a few steps forward.
My mother, who had spent years battling the cancer that had eventually killed her mortal form, walked toward me looking radiant. I still hadn’t adjusted to the idea that she too was a goddess and had failed to mention that to me for eighteen years, but at that moment all I cared about was filling the hole that had grown inside of me during the six months I’d been gone.
“Hello, my darling,” she said, embracing me. I breathed in her scent, apples and freesia, and hugged her tightly in return. I’d missed her more than I could have possibly put into words, and as far as I was concerned, no one would ever talk me into leaving her for any length of time again.
“What was that all about?” said a second voice. Ava. My best girlfriend and the reason I’d met Henry in the first place. Another one who’d lied to me about being mortal. “Kate looked like she was having a fit.”
“It’s nothing that can’t be controlled with a little practice,” said my mother, touching my cheek. “I see you got plenty of sun. Did Greece treat you well?”
She let me go, and Ava swooped in for a hug and a squeal. “You look gorgeous! Look at your tan—I’m so jealous. Did you dye your hair? It looks lighter.”
I searched over her shoulder, but the path that led to the obsidian palace was empty. Henry hadn’t come to greet me after all. My heart sank, and I avoided James’s stare. I didn’t want to see him gloat. “What do you mean, something that can be controlled with a little practice?”
“Your gift, of course.” My mother’s smile faltered. “Do tell me Henry explained this to you last winter.”
I gritted my teeth. “From here on out, how about everyone assumes that if Henry was supposed to tell me something, he didn’t. Sound like a plan?”
“Probably didn’t think you’d survive long enough for it to matter,” muttered James.
Ava ignored him and looped her arm in mine. “You’re grumpy today.”
“You would be too if you fell through a hole in the floor and wound up in hell,” I said.
My mother took my other arm, and James trailed after us as we headed toward the palace. “Don’t let Henry hear you call this place hell,” she said. “He’s very touchy about that sort of thing. This is the Underworld, not hell. It’s where—”
“—people go after they die,” I said. “I know. He told me that much. Where is he?”
Even as I asked, I had a sick feeling I knew exactly where he was.
“He and a few of the others had a matter to attend to,” said my mother. “They will be back before your coronation ceremony tonight.”
“Does that matter have anything to do with a giant gate and Calliope?”
Ava stopped short, and I tugged on her arm, but her feet remained planted on the ground. “How did you know that?”
I shrugged. “That’s what I was trying to tell you all—I saw it, just now.”
Up on the surface, seeing visions like that would’ve gotten me committed, but my mother didn’t so much as blink. “Yes, sweetie, that will happen from time to time, and eventually you will learn to control it.”
“Great,” I said waspishly. “Could you at least explain what it is?”
“No need to get upset,” said my mother, and my exasperation immediately dissolved. She may not have been dying anymore, but after I’d spent four years watching her teeter on the edge between life and death, I’d all but forgotten how to be upset with her. Six months away wasn’t going to change that.
“I’m sorry,” I said, guilt rushing through me. I glanced at James, who lingered in the background, his hands shoved in his pockets and his mop of blond hair falling in his eyes. But I wanted answers, not more diatribes about how I had a choice. “What’s going on? Why could I see Henry?”
My mother wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and I relaxed against her. “Why don’t we go inside where it’s comfortable, and then we’ll tell you everything?”
Somehow I doubted that I would ever really learn everything that was going on when it came to my new family, but my jeans were damp from the ground, and the sooner we got to the palace, the sooner I would see Henry. And then—
And then what?
James’s offer trickled back into my mind, circling my thoughts until I couldn’t ignore it any longer. He was wrong. He had to be. I’d survived; I’d passed, and Henry loved me. As soon as we saw each other, everything would fall into place, and things would be normal again. And I’d feel like an idiot for ever questioning Henry.
The path was shorter than I’d thought, sloping downward toward a courtyard in front of the palace. Instead of flower beds and trees, the ground was littered with magnificent jewels in a rainbow of colors that glittered in the light. Much in the same way that my mother’s gardens were art, this was a masterpiece, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.
“Persephone designed it,” said Ava as we approached the intimidating doors. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from a rude retort. I’d never considered how much being in the Underworld would remind Henry of Persephone, and after they’d spent millennia together, there was no way I could combat every piece of her that lingered in his life. But I hadn’t been prepared to face it this soon.
I took a deep breath. Everything would be fine. I was jet-lagged, that’s all, and as soon as I got some rest and saw Henry, everything would go back to normal. Getting angry about every little thing wasn’t going to help.
The entranceway was nothing like I’d expected. Unlike the darkness of the world outside the palace, it was cheerful inside, with red walls and mirrors much like the ones that hung in Eden Manor. This room was smaller though, homier somehow. From the gold accents around the mirrors to the brown leather furniture scattered throughout the corridor, everything was warm. The palace was huge, but inside, it didn’t seem the least bit impressed with itself.
I liked it.
“This is where I’ll be living during the winter?” I said, and my mother nodded.
“This is the private wing of the palace, meant for you, Henry and your guests.”
“There are guests?”
Ava skipped beside me, almost wrenching my arm out of its socket. “Like us, silly. The entire council’s here right now to see your coronation.”
“They are?” My mouth went dry. “I thought it was just going to be me and Henry. And you guys.”
“Of course the entire council is here. Henry will be crowning a new Queen of the Underworld tonight,” said my mother, setting her hand on my back to lead me down another hallway. “That doesn’t happen very often.”
She seemed to know exactly where she was going, and trepidation bubbled inside of me. She must’ve spent time here with Persephone, who had been her daughter—my sister—and her familiarity with the palace was one more reminder of how deeply entrenched Persephone had been in Henry’s life. How deeply entrenched her memory still was.
“Your bedroom,” said Ava, pointing toward an elaborately decorated door at the end of the hallway. I wanted to ask her how she’d known that, but as we drew closer and I recognized the intricate wooden carvings, I nearly choked.
It was the exact same door as the one in Eden that led into Persephone’s bedroom. On the top half was a beautiful meadow, and somehow the artist had managed to create sunlight in the wood. Below it stood the Underworld with its pillars of stone and gardens of jewels, and it was all I could do to speak. “Do you think Henry would mind if I did some redecorating?”
Ava and my mother exchanged a confused glance, but James, who had been quiet up until then, stepped forward. I didn’t want his sympathy though. Or his understanding. Henry was busy, not ignoring me, and he couldn’t have possibly known how a simple door would feel like a punch to the gut to me. I didn’t want him to choose between me and his dead wife; I only wanted to be a more important part of his life now. Maybe it would take some time, but that was time I was willing to put in if Henry was, as well.
I shook my head. Of course Henry would want this. He’d been the one to approach me beside the river to begin with. He’d been the one to protect me during my time in Eden. He was the one who’d helped bring me back from the dead. He was the one who’d stayed by my bedside nearly every waking hour after. He cared. He had to.
That was all before I’d been granted immortality by the council though, said a small voice that sounded suspiciously like James’s in the back of my mind. My mother was Henry’s favorite sister. Maybe he was only trying to protect me for her sake.
I forced the thought aside. I was panicking over nothing. Henry would show up soon, and he couldn’t avoid me all winter. Even if he did have some apprehension about this whole thing, we’d be able to talk about it. It wasn’t like I wasn’t nervous, too.
“This is your home too now, and you should do what makes you comfortable,” said James. “If Henry really loves you, he’ll understand.”
“How could you say something like that?” said Ava, appalled. “Of course he loves her. I should know.”
“Yes,” he said curtly. “You should. If you’ll all excuse me, I have things to do before the ceremony.”
He kissed me on the cheek before breezing past Ava and my mother, and the three of us watched him go. I tried not to let it get under my skin, but the thought of going six months without seeing James after spending all summer with him was hard to swallow. No matter what his feelings for me may or may not have been, he was still my friend.
“I’ll go see what’s the matter with him,” said my mother once James was out of sight.
“Thanks,” I said. “He wasn’t like this while we were in Greece.”
She sighed. “No, I’d imagine he wasn’t.” Giving me a hug, she added, “I’ll check in on you before the ceremony. Ava, stay with her until Henry returns.”
“Planned on it,” said Ava, and once my mother had hurried after James, Ava turned toward me with a sly grin. “So, want to see where the magic happens?”
The look on my face sent her into a fit of laughter, and it was only when I threatened to follow my mother that she sobered up.
“I’m sorry, it’s just—you’re such a prude.”
I didn’t dignify that with an answer. The only time I’d slept with Henry had been after being dosed with an aphrodisiac, thanks to Calliope. While the thought of me failing a test had enraged Henry, part of me held out hope that he’d enjoyed it as much as I had. We hadn’t slept together since, but now that we were married, it might be something he was expecting.
I wasn’t sure which was worse: the thought of Henry expecting me to sleep with him, or the thought of Henry not wanting to sleep with me at all.
Ava finally pushed the door open, revealing a large bedroom suite on the other side. The carpet was soft and the color of cream, and the walls were painted the same rich red as the entrance hall. In the center stood a massive bed on a raised platform, and the sheets were gold. It was perfect, and I hated myself for liking it so much.
“Please tell me someone’s changed the sheets since Persephone lived here,” I muttered, and Ava laughed.
“Of course. I even talked Henry into letting me redecorate for you. I didn’t think the door would bother you, else I’d have changed that, too.”
The knot in my stomach unraveled. “Next time, open with that,” I said, wandering around the room to inspect it. Furniture was scattered throughout, including two love seats, a desk and a vanity, and a great bay window overlooking the courtyard and the garden of jewels. I pulled the gold curtains shut.
A high-pitched yip caught my attention, and I whirled around in time to see Pogo, the puppy Henry had given me last winter, come barreling toward me. His little legs could hardly keep him steady, and his tail wagged so enthusiastically I was afraid he would break it against something.
“Pogo,” I cooed, scooping him up and cradling him to my chest. “You haven’t grown a bit, have you? Where’s Cerberus?” He licked my cheek, and I grinned. Finally something was going right.
“Cerberus has his own job down here,” said Ava from across the room. “I took care of Pogo for you—taught him a few new tricks and everything.”
My grin faded. “I thought Henry was going to take care of him.” He’d gotten Pogo for me because he wanted to show me that he intended for our relationship to last, and instead of taking care of him like he’d promised, he’d handed him off to Ava for the summer? I hugged Pogo tighter.
“He gets busy sometimes,” said Ava, and I crossed the room to join her. “Now, this is your closet. I even talked Henry into letting me choose your outfits for you this time instead of Ella.”
Ella, who along with Calliope had attended to me throughout my stay in Eden, had spent the first few months dressing me in the most painful fashions of the past thousand years solely to make me squirm. I would’ve rather spent the next six months wrapped in a sheet than wear the hoopskirts and corsets Ella would have undoubtedly provided for me.
Ava opened a door, and my eyes widened. It was the biggest closet I’d ever seen, complete with rows of jeans, stacks of blouses and sweaters, and an entire wall covered with shoes. There was also a row of fancy dresses, but Ava had mercifully kept those to a minimum.
“I figured you wouldn’t want them, so I stole most of them for myself,” she said as I ran my hand over a shimmering silver gown that I almost would’ve considered wearing if I had somewhere to go. “Don’t tell Henry.”
“I won’t.” I sat down next to the wall of shoes and inspected the nearest pair. Size seven, like me. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone else?”
She was by my side in an instant, and the hunger in her eyes for gossip almost made me reconsider. But I had no one else to talk to other than my mother and James, and I was too embarrassed to go to my mother about this, and James—well, he was sort of the problem.
“Of course,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “You know you can tell me anything, and I won’t tell a soul.”
I wanted to believe her, but I still remembered the girl in Eden who had tricked me into breaking onto Henry’s property, only to have her try to abandon me there. Her stunt had backfired, leading to Ava dying and Henry offering to heal her if I stayed with him for six months a year. Since then, however, she’d become one of my best friends, and I couldn’t ignore that.
“It’s about James,” I said, staring down at the heel I held. It would go perfectly with the silver gown. “He said I had a choice. That I didn’t have to come down here if I didn’t want to.” I stopped before I mentioned the part where he’d offered to leave with me. “I think he’s jealous of Henry.”
Instead of laughing in my face, Ava settled on the floor beside me. “It’s a possibility. None of us were happy about the idea of Henry fading, but at least James would’ve gotten something out of it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t mean jealous of him ruling the Underworld. I mean—jealous that he has me.”
“Oh.” Ava’s eyes widened. “Oh. You think James …?”
I shrugged. “It sort of seems like it, doesn’t it? We spent the entire summer together. He was so happy and relaxed and—James while we were in Greece, but now that we’re back here, he’s gotten all moody and proper and doesn’t want to be around me anymore. And I think it’s because of Henry.”
“Because Henry has you and he doesn’t.” Ava tapped her finger against her porcelain cheek. “You know who I am, don’t you?”
I eyed her. Was this a trick question? “Yeah. You’re Ava.”
“And what am I the goddess of?” she said, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder.
No one had ever told me, but out of the fourteen members of the council, Ava was by far the easiest to match with her Olympian counterpart. Next to Henry, of course. “Goddess of love.”
She beamed. “Very good, although you forgot beauty and sex.”
Yes, she was definitely Aphrodite. “What’s your point?” Most of the time I managed to forget how stunning Ava was, but when I remembered, it was hard to feel like anything but an unattractive lump next to her.
“My point is that I have certain gifts, and I can tell James loves you. But we all love you, Kate. You’re part of the family now.”
“What kind of love is it? For James, I mean.”
She sighed dramatically and gave me a pat on the knee. “Telling you would be a terrible invasion of James’s privacy, and I do have to put up with him for the foreseeable future.”
I rolled my eyes. “Since when have you cared about privacy?”
“Since Henry showed up ten seconds ago.”
I scrambled to my feet. Butterflies invaded my stomach as I dashed out of the closet, but I stopped short when I saw Henry sitting on the edge of the bed, his hands folded together and his face stony. He looked pale and exhausted, and I thought I saw a slight tremble in his hands, but that wasn’t what held my attention.
A deep gash ran down his neck and disappeared under his shirt, but more noticeable was the smear of crimson on his skin.
He was bleeding.
CHAPTER THREE
CORONATION
I didn’t know much about being a god, but I did know gods weren’t supposed to bleed.
They could fall sick or become injured when they adopted mortal bodies for short periods of time, like Ava had done when I’d first met her in Eden and like my mother had done for the first eighteen years of my life. But one of the major perks of being immortal was not worrying about pesky things like blood and death.
“Henry!” I flew to his side, my fingers hovering above the gash in his skin. He badly needed stitches, but how was anyone supposed to heal a god? “What happened?”
He flinched as I gently rolled down his collar to expose the rest of the wound. His black shirt was wet from the blood, and without asking I began to unbutton it.
“I’ll—I’ll go get Theo,” said Ava, and she dashed out of the room, Pogo at her heels, leaving me to tend to Henry on my own.
“It is nothing,” said Henry, but the tension in his jaw said otherwise. Once I’d unbuttoned his shirt, I peeled the fabric away, exposing a cut that ran down his chest and halfway to his navel.
“That doesn’t look like nothing,” I said. “Lie down.”
Henry started to protest, but I gave him a stern look, and he caved. Once he was on his back, I hovered over him, trying to figure out something I could do to help, but he wasn’t bleeding so badly that I needed to apply pressure, and I didn’t want to hurt him more than he already was.
“How did this happen? I thought gods weren’t supposed to get injured like this.”
“Normally we are not.” The corners of his lips turned upward into a faint smile. “You look well, Kate. How was your summer?”
He was bleeding all over the bed, and he wanted to know how my summer had gone. “Compared to how my autumn’s going so far? Fantastic. Can’t I do something? You’re getting blood all over the sheets.”
The bed was the last of my worries, but it was enough to distract Henry from asking any more questions. “My apologies. I will make sure to clean it up before tonight. Theo will be here shortly, and—ah, there you are.”
I whirled around in time to see Theo enter. Most of the council had acted as staff at Eden Manor, and Theo had taken up the position of Master of the Guard. Security, I thought, but as I saw him walk through the door, towering over Ava as she snuck in behind him, I realized his role might have extended beyond that. Henry was able to heal me, he’d proven that, but apparently he couldn’t heal himself. Then again, he wasn’t supposed to be capable of getting injured in the first place.
“Where are the others?” said Theo. As I stepped out of his way, I opened my mouth to ask who the others were, but then quickly shut it. Walter and Phillip, Henry’s brothers. The same people I’d seen in my vision.
“They are coming,” said Henry. Theo set his hands over the wound, and Henry’s pained expression relaxed. “They insisted I go on ahead.”
“Are they injured?” said Theo, and Henry shook his head.
“The attack was mostly focused on me.”
I watched Theo anxiously, looking for any signs that whatever he was doing was working. At first I saw nothing, but then, after several seconds, a strange glow formed between his hands and Henry’s skin. As he passed his palms over the wound, it closed, leaving behind a faint silver line. That was all the evidence I needed to know that this wasn’t an everyday occurrence. Henry had no other scars.
“There,” said Theo once he’d finished. He fished a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his hands. “I would recommend taking it easy this afternoon in case there’s any damage I didn’t catch.”
“There isn’t,” said Henry as he sat up. He started to pull his shirt back on, but he must have felt how damp it was, because he set it aside. “Thank you, Theo. Ava.”
Theo wasted no time leaving, and Ava lingered behind him, her brow furrowed with concern. She jerked her head toward Henry, and I shook my head. As much as I wanted her around, now that Henry was here, there was no reason for her to stay.
I sat on the edge of the bed and ran my fingers through Pogo’s fur as Henry folded his ruined shirt. A dozen questions ran through my mind, but I didn’t know where to start, so I left it up to him. Eventually he would have to talk to me, even if he didn’t want to tell me what had really happened.
Nearly a minute passed before he spoke, and by that time I’d shoved my hands between my knees, too nervous to try to pretend not to be. “Are you looking forward to the ceremony this evening?” he said, and I gaped at him.
“We haven’t seen each other in six months, you’re covered in blood, and that’s what you want to talk about?”
He shrugged. “It is as good a topic as any.”
“No,” I said, digging my nails into my jeans. “It’s really not. Why don’t we start off with how you managed to get hurt so badly when you’re supposed to be immortal?”
He stood and headed toward a door next to my closet. When he opened it, I saw that he had a wardrobe of his own, only smaller and more monochromatic. He pulled out a black shirt that was identical to the one he’d discarded, but before putting it on, he headed over to another door. The washroom.
“I’ll help you,” I said, hopping off the bed and hurrying after him. He didn’t object, and I followed him into a large bathroom decorated in black and gold. Spotting a washcloth, I grabbed it and turned on the faucet. “I didn’t expect the Underworld to have plumbing.”
That at least got a faint smile out of him. “Ava can be very convincing at times.”
I wiped away the blood that stained his skin, taking care to avoid the thin scar that now ran down his chest. Henry stood motionless, and when I glanced up at him, I saw him staring down at me with an oddly tender look.
“What?” I said, blushing. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No,” he said, and as quickly as I’d noticed it, the look was gone. “You asked how I got this. There was a problem I had to take care of, and while there are few things that can injure my family, they are out there.”
“Like what?” I said, rinsing the washcloth out. The water turned pink as it swirled down the drain.
“Nothing you ought to be concerned about.”
Terrific. Apparently while I’d been getting a tan in Greece, he’d reverted back to the same Henry I’d met a year ago instead of the one I’d married. I glared at him. “Really? That’s all you’re going to tell me? You promised you’d never lie to me.”
“I am not lying—”
“You said you wouldn’t keep secrets from me anymore,” I countered. “So which is it? Are you going to treat me like a fragile little girl you need to protect at all costs, or are you going to treat me like your partner? Because in a few hours, I’m going to be queen of this place, and I’m never going to be able to help you rule properly if you always hold everything in. I have a right to know.”
Silence. I sighed.
“Does this have anything to do with Calliope?”
Henry tensed. “How much did your mother tell you?”
My mother knew about this? “Nothing,” I said, and when I realized I’d have to tell him about what had happened sooner or later, I grimaced. “I had a vision, I guess. I don’t know what else to call it. When James brought me down here, I suddenly saw you and Walter and Phillip fighting—something. I don’t know what it was, but you were in front of this gate, and Calliope showed up behind you and told you that it was pointless, because he was already awake.”
The silence seemed to stretch on forever. It wasn’t until I picked up the washcloth again that he replied, and when he did, he spoke with an eerie calm.
“So that is your gift, then. I had wondered.”
“Gift?” My mother had mentioned the same thing, but she’d never gotten around to explaining it.
“Along with immortality comes certain talents,” said Henry. “It varies from individual to individual, and oftentimes it coincides with what we represent. For instance, healing is not Theo’s only talent. As the god of music and poetry, he also has perfect pitch.”
He was trying to make me laugh. That had to be a good sign. I managed a small smile as some of the anxiety drained from my body. “I’m sure that comes in handy all the time.”
“It does make the entertainment during family get-togethers more bearable.”
Another moment passed in silence. That must have been what James meant by never getting lost. My mother’s ability to coax life from even the most neglected patch of land, Henry’s ability to travel great distances in the blink of an eye—how else could he have traveled through the Underworld?
“Why can I see things that are happening in other places?” I said. “What’s the use in that? Is that supposed to make me better at deciding people’s fates?”
“Yes, and it will have other uses, as well. Once you are crowned, you will begin to develop other powers,” said Henry. “I will help you as much as I am able, and over time you will learn to control them.”
So on top of learning everything else about the Underworld, I’d have to deal with uncontrollable abilities, as well. Not that the thought of being able to do godlike things wasn’t exciting, but I didn’t like the idea of having visions without warning. Not when they gave me a pounding headache after. “What are my abilities going to be?”
“I am not certain. The things Persephone could do will not necessarily transfer to you.”
My heart sank. At the rate this was going, I would never escape Persephone’s shadow. “What could she do?” I said, even though she was the last thing I wanted to talk about. “Could she see things?”
“Yes. Her other abilities were much the same as mine.” The hint of a smile appeared on his face, and I tried to convince myself that it was because the blood was nearly gone. Not because he was thinking about her. “She could travel. She also had a talent for telling a truth from a lie, and she could create, like all of us can.”
“Create?”
He held out his hand, and a moment later, a flower made of jewels appeared in his empty palm. Exactly like the ones in the garden outside. “For you.”
I took it and examined the delicate petals made of pink quartz. Nestled between them were tiny cream pearls, and the stem was made of metal that was as light as air. I touched the blossom to my nose, but smelled nothing. As stunning as it was, it wasn’t the real thing.
“My brothers and sisters and I are much more powerful than our descendants,” he said. “With each generation, the gifts grow less potent.”
My stomach churned. Our descendants, not their. Then again, Henry always grouped them together as if they were one single entity instead of six individual beings. “Do you—have kids?” I said timidly.
It was humiliating, realizing that I knew so little about him. After studying long and hard last year, I knew what the myths had taught me and what he himself had told me, but myths weren’t always accurate, and Henry had been less than forthcoming about himself. Calliope had once told me it was widely believed Henry had never slept with anyone before me, not even Persephone, but Calliope had turned out to be less than reliable.
“No, I do not,” said Henry, and I nearly choked sucking back my sigh of relief.
“Do you—” I stopped, but Henry nodded encouragingly. “Do you want to someday? A few decades or centuries from now?”
He gave me a wan smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “We will see how you feel then. I do not wish to saddle you with another responsibility you did not ask for. Now come, we must get you ready.”
I frowned. What was that supposed to mean? Did he think I didn’t want this, to be married to him and everything that came along with it?
James’s words floated back to me. This was the choice he’d been talking about, wasn’t it? He knew Henry was having doubts. He knew Henry thought he was a burden to me, or that I was going to pull a Persephone and leave him. Worse, James had tried to talk me into it.
“You know I want this, right?” I said. “No matter what anyone else has said—”
“No one else has said a word about this to me,” said Henry. “Even your mother has respected my boundaries. For once,” he added under his breath. “But this is the beginning of our rule together. We do not need to make these decisions right away.”
Our rule together, not our life together. Another distinction, but this time it wasn’t a slip of the tongue. My throat tightened. “Not when you think I might back out of it anyway, right?”
He hesitated. “I am not your captor. If you wish to leave, you may.”
“No, you’re not my captor. You’re supposed to be my husband,” I snapped. “Do you want me to leave? Do you want to rule alone or—or fade or whatever will happen to you if I go?”
I wanted him to yell at me. I wanted him to be livid. I wanted to make him feel the overpowering emotions he triggered in me when he was like this, when I was so desperate for the approval he refused to give me that I was practically tearing my hair out.
Instead he watched me with a maddeningly calm gaze and said evenly, “I would like for you to give us both some time to adjust to this. It is a new life for us both, and I wish to grow into it together rather than war. There is no need to rush. We have eternity.”
It was rational. That was the worst part about it; I had nothing to bark at him about. He was being the mature one, giving us both space to adjust to this, and I was being the one who clung to him because even though I trusted him with my life, I didn’t trust him enough to love me the way I wanted him to. And in that moment, part of me hated him for it.
“Just tell me if you want me to be here or not,” I whispered. “Please.”
He lowered his head, as if he wanted to kiss me, but he pulled away at the last second. “What I want should never dictate what you do. I want you to be happy, and so long as you are content, I will be, as well.”
That wasn’t an answer and he knew it, but I deflated and followed Henry into the bedroom, where he put on his shirt. I didn’t want to fight, either. I knew things weren’t going to be perfect, and maybe it was James’s fault for making me doubt Henry to begin with, or maybe it was the reminders of Persephone everywhere I looked, but all I wanted was a little reassurance. A touch. A kiss. A word. Anything.
I brushed my fingers against the jeweled flower in my pocket. That would have to be enough for now.
“I presume Ava showed you the closet,” said Henry. “You may pick out anything you wish to wear, though as the ceremony tonight is considered formal, something dressier than you may prefer would be more appropriate.”
“Right,” I said softly. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
I hesitated. Did he love me? Was he still in love with Persephone? Did he even want me to be crowned his queen, or was I simply a stand-in for my sister? Why hadn’t he come to see me while I’d been in Greece with James?
But the courage it took for me to ask those questions had disappeared. I dug deep, trying to find some remnants of it as I imagined the inevitable six months of tension and loneliness if I didn’t, but I came up empty. Every piece of me was drenched in sick fear that Henry didn’t want me here after all, that he’d only gone along with it because my mother and the rest of the council had forced him to. That I would be to Henry what he had been to Persephone: nothing but an obligation. So I copped out. “Which dress do you prefer?”
As Henry led me into the closet to peruse the rack of formal gowns, I reached for his hand, but the moment I touched him, he pulled away. Instead he held up the silver gown I’d admired before. “What about this?”
Nausea washed over me. Maybe he’d simply reached for the dress and hadn’t realized I’d been reaching for him, but half the time he seemed to know what move I was going to make before I did. No matter how I justified it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d done it on purpose.
But continuing to fight would only give him an excuse to push me further away, and I’d had enough of that for one day. Tonight, after the ceremony, after everything was settled, then we would talk, and I wouldn’t give him the chance to walk away.
“That’s nice,” I said, forcing a smile. I took the dress, but before I could move toward the changing screen, a loud bang echoed from the bedroom, and I dropped the hanger.
James burst into the closet, stopping short when he saw me standing there with Henry. His shoulders slumped and all the air seemed to leave his lungs, and I could have sworn I saw a flash of resentment on his face. But before I could say a word, it was gone, replaced by the same blankness that had been there earlier.
“There’s been another attack.”
Henry stiffened, and any hope I had of an afternoon with him was gone. He picked up the gown and handed it to me, and one moment he was beside me, and the next he was in the bedroom.
“Tell them to continue preparations for the ceremony,” said Henry as he finished buttoning his shirt. “James and I will return before it starts.”
I stared at him. “You’re going out again? After nearly bleeding to death?”
His lips formed a thin line. “It is my duty. This will not take long.”
“What if whatever hurt you this time makes things even worse?”
“It won’t,” said Henry flatly. “Do as I say and do not worry about it. We will return shortly.”
I huffed indignantly. Do as he said? During my time in Eden, he’d given me orders to keep me safe, but we were supposed to be partners now. Bossing me around wasn’t okay. If that’s the way he was going to play it, then things were going to have to change. I wasn’t a helpless mortal anymore. And it was about time we both started acting like it.
I had no time to voice my protests. James at least had the decency to give me an apologetic look, but Henry’s expression was blank as they both blinked out of sight, leaving me alone in the bedroom. Something wrenched inside of me as I realized those might be the last words I ever heard Henry say, and I clutched the dress so tightly that the fabric threatened to rip.
“I swear,” I muttered to Pogo, “if either of them dies permanently, I am never speaking to them again.”
I may not have been in Eden anymore, but some things never changed.
Ava helped me get ready, sitting me in front of the vanity and spending nearly an hour doing my hair. I let her apply some foundation and lipstick, but I put my foot down when she tried to attack me with eyeliner and mascara.
“Come on, Kate,” she said with a pout. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You have to look absolutely ravishing, or else I would never forgive myself.”
“Are you saying I need makeup to look beautiful?” I said, and her perfectly done eyes widened.
“No, of course not! I only meant—I don’t want to make you look like a different person. I just want to make you the best you that you can be.”
“Will it make a difference in the ceremony?”
“No,” she said reluctantly, and that put an end to that.
I managed to keep my panic subdued for the next half hour or so, but when it came time for the ceremony and Henry and James hadn’t returned, it began to grow until I could no longer ignore it. What if something had happened to them? How would anyone know to help?
“This feels familiar,” said Ava cheerfully as she led me through the corridors that stretched from the private wing to what I could only assume was the public section of the palace. The walls changed from red to cream and gold, and for a moment I forgot we were in the Underworld—at least until we passed a curtained window, and I made the mistake of glancing outside.
It would have been bearable had Henry been there with me, but when Ava stopped me outside a set of double doors that reminded me strongly of the ballroom in Eden Manor, there was still no sign of Henry or James. On the bright side, I finally understood what Ava meant by familiar.
“Did Henry have Eden Manor built like this place?” I said, looking around as we waited. Everything, from the color of the carpet and the walls to the path Ava had taken to lead me here, reminded me of Eden. It wasn’t exactly the same, but it was similar enough that I couldn’t help but remember the night I’d been introduced to the council almost exactly a year ago.
“Some parts,” said Ava. “The palace is bigger, of course, but he kept the important bits.”
At least Henry would never get lost in his own home, no matter how many he had. “Do you think he’ll be back on time?”
“Of course,” she said with a breezy attitude I wished I could trade for the knot in my stomach. “He can’t miss it.”
“James would probably get himself killed so he wouldn’t have to come.” I scowled. “Why do you think they ran off like that before the ceremony?”
Ava stilled, and she didn’t quite meet my eye as she answered. “Because it’s Henry’s job.”
“It couldn’t wait?”
Her painted lips tugged downward into a frown. “You can’t expect Henry to be someone he’s not. He hasn’t been married in a thousand years. It’ll take him some time to get back into it, but when it happens, it’ll be worth it. He’s used to putting his duties first, that’s all.”
Her answer made me feel like an idiot, and my cheeks burned underneath the layer of makeup she’d wrestled onto my face. “He barely touched me,” I said, fighting to keep my voice even. “It’s been six months, and he couldn’t even kiss me hello. I don’t want him to change for me, but it’d be nice if he at least tried to let me know that he was happy to see me. I can’t—” The words caught in my throat, and it took me a second to work my way around the lump that was forming. “I can’t spend half my life with someone who doesn’t love me.”
“Oh, Kate.” Ava hugged me, taking care not to mess up my hair or makeup. “Of course he loves you. He’s never been very good with physical affection, that’s all, and he’s a man. They’re never good at realizing what we want and acting on it, especially when they’ve been alone for as long as Henry has been. Do I really have to spend the next six months making sure you know how much he loves you?”
I sniffed. “No, but it would be nice if he did.”
“Give him time,” she said. “He’s probably just nervous with all that’s happening.”
“What is happening?” I said, trying to pull away enough to look at her, but while she was being gentle, her grip was unbreakable. “What’s going on with Calliope?”
Ava tensed. “Didn’t Henry tell you?” she said in a timid voice.
“No, and if you don’t either, I’m going to rub my lipstick all over my face. And yours.”
She jumped away from me and held out her hands, as if to ward me off. “Don’t you dare. I’ll delay the ceremony if I have to.”
“I think Henry and James are already doing it for you.” I crossed my arms. “Tell me what’s going on. I have a right to know.”
She sighed. “You do, but Henry will kill me if he finds out I’ve told you.”
“Then I won’t tell him it was you.”
Ava glanced around nervously and tugged on one of her blond curls. “I’m only telling you this because Henry isn’t here to do it for me, because you really should hear it from him,” she said in a lowered voice, but I was positive she was telling me because she knew Henry wouldn’t. “Calliope escaped. Henry and Daddy and Phillip aren’t saying much about what’s going on, but—well, you saw the condition Henry was in. Obviously something bad is happening.”
Something bad enough to scar a god. “How did Henry get injured—have they said anything?”
“Said anything about what?”
I whirled around. James headed toward us, his hair a mess and his jacket torn in the shoulder, but at least there didn’t seem to be any blood this time.
“James!” I flew toward him, hair and makeup be damned. He gathered me in his arms and hugged me tightly, and I heard Ava’s strangled cry of protest. For her sake, I didn’t kiss him on the cheek. “Are you all right? What happened?”
“It was nothing,” he said. “A minor mishap. Everything’s fine.”
“You mean it didn’t have anything to do with Calliope?” I said, and James opened his mouth to answer when a second voice interrupted.
“It did.”
James winced, and he immediately let me go and stepped to the side. Henry crossed the hall toward me, and unlike James, he looked impeccable.
“Are you bleeding to death again?” I said, unable to keep the frostiness out of my voice. Henry either pretended not to notice or was too distracted to care.
“I am fine.” He nodded toward the double doors behind me. “I will escort you in. We should not keep the rest of the council waiting.”
That was the last thing I was concerned about, but when Henry offered me his arm, I took it. At this rate, it was the most contact I’d have with him all winter.
Ava and James ducked through the doors, and Henry stared straight ahead as we waited. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, looking for any signs that he’d been attacked again, but he was as composed as ever. As if having his new wife devote her life to helping him rule the Underworld was an everyday occurrence.
My chest tightened. I couldn’t make that kind of commitment if things weren’t going to change. If he wasn’t going to trust me, if he didn’t want me as his queen, then I didn’t want to do this. “Whatever’s going on with Calliope, I have a right to know.”
“You do,” he said. “I assure you, as soon as we get a moment, I will tell you everything.”
“We have a moment now,” I said. I didn’t want to fight, not on the cusp of the moment my life was going to change irrevocably forever. But that was exactly why I had to do this. “It doesn’t feel like you trust me or—or want me here, and I need to know that you do. And if you don’t, then we don’t have to do this.”
Henry hesitated. I watched him for any signs of what he was thinking, but his expression gave nothing away. “If you don’t want to—”
“I do,” I said, desperation clawing inside of me. “I want to stay. I want to do this. I want to be with you. I don’t know how to make that any clearer. But I need you to want it, too, okay? Please, just tell me you want me here so I can do this.”
I expected silence in return, and when he didn’t answer, I started to turn away from the doors.
Henry’s hand stopped me.
“Kate,” he said softly. “It has been a difficult day, and I am sorry for the worry I have put you through this afternoon. However, no matter how hard things become, no matter how much time it takes for both of us to adjust to this new life, never doubt that I want you here. You are capable and insightful, and you are better suited to stand beside me as my queen than any mortal I have ever known.”
My heart sank. His reasons were rational, but had no heart. If Henry had his way, I was certain that his queen was all I would ever be to him, but there was no point in pressing the issue. He’d answered me.
“Thank you,” I said as my voice trembled. It wasn’t enough, but he needed time, and I would give it to him. The ceremony was now though. What happened if he decided he could never love me as more than a friend after all?
You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, you know.
I shook James’s voice out of my head. Not now. Not when I was about to do the single most important thing I’d ever done in my life.
And not when we were stepping into the most jaw-dropping room I’d ever seen.
It put the ballroom in Eden Manor to shame. Pillars of chiseled stone held up the high ceiling, which was made of the same quartz that ran through the cavern outside, and it lit up every inch of the great hall. Windows with heavy black-and-gold curtains rose high above my head, and a magnificent chandelier hung in the middle of it all. At least now I knew why the palace was so big. It had to be in order to house a room like this.
The click of my heels echoed with each step I took across the shimmering marble floor. Row after row of pews faced the front, as if Henry often expected a crowd, and at the end of the lone aisle of pillars were two thrones. One was made of black diamond and the other white.
This was the throne room of the Underworld.
The other members of the council sat in the front row of benches, and thankfully everyone except James wore clothing as extravagant as the dress Henry had picked out for me. At least I wouldn’t have to bear the embarrassment of overdressing on top of everything else.
“Remember to exhale,” said Henry, his breath warm against my ear, and I shivered. He was right though; somewhere between entering the throne room and reaching the end of the aisle, I’d forgotten to breathe.
Henry turned us around so we faced the council, and he nodded once in greeting. I did the same and tried to focus straight ahead, sure that if I caught anyone’s eye, my nerves would get the best of me, but eventually I had to look.
My mother sat in the center, her back ramrod-straight and her eyes shining as she watched. James sat on the very end, and from the way he slouched in his chair, I knew he didn’t want to be there. I didn’t blame him.
Everyone else seemed at least moderately interested, but before I could take it in, Henry faced me and held out his hands palms-up. I hesitated, but he gave me an encouraging nod, and I shakily set my hands over his.
“Kate.” He spoke in a normal voice, but it reverberated through the room, amplified by Henry’s power or the structure of the hall or both. “As my wife, you have consented to take up the responsibilities of the Queen of the Underworld. You shall rule fairly and without bias over the souls of those who have departed the world above, and from autumnal equinox to spring of every year hence, you shall devote yourself to the task of guiding those who are lost and protecting all from harm beyond their eternal lives.”
I couldn’t even convince Henry not to go off on suicide missions. How was I supposed to help protect every single soul in this place?
Henry’s hands grew strangely warm. A warm yellow light glowed between ours, and I bit the inside of my cheek, barely able to stop myself from pulling away. It would take me more than a few hours to get used to that sort of casual show of power.
“Do you accept the role of Queen of the Underworld, and do you agree to uphold the responsibilities and expectations of such?” said Henry.
I hesitated. This wasn’t for a year or five or even ten; this was forever. I hadn’t even decided what I wanted to major in during college, let alone what I’d wanted to do with the rest of my life, but here Henry was, giving me a choice. And for a fraction of a second, his gaze met mine, and I saw my Henry underneath the distant god in front of me. His moonlight eyes sparkled, the corners of his lips twitched upward into the faintest of smiles and he seemed to glow with warmth from the inside out. He was looking at me like he had back in Eden, like I was the only person in the world, and in that moment, I would’ve torn apart heaven and hell to make sure I never lost him.
But then he disappeared back into himself, behind the mask he wore to protect the side of him that Persephone had ripped to shreds, and reality crashed down around me. It wasn’t a real choice, was it? Everything I’d done since moving to Eden had been leading up to this moment. Henry hadn’t married me out of love, and I’d known that from the beginning. He’d married me because I had passed the tests no one else had passed, and because the council had granted me immortality. I was the only girl who had lived long enough to become his queen. What if he stayed like this for the rest of eternity? What if all I ever was to him was a friend and a partner? The way he’d been in Eden, how he’d talked to me until the small hours of the morning, how he’d seen me in a way no one else had, how he’d risked his own existence to save mine—what if I never saw that side of him again?
Then again, what if this was the proof he needed that I wasn’t going to leave him? What if this was the final push to show him that it was safe to fall in love with me completely?
I swallowed. I’d already made my decision the moment I’d married him. I loved him, and walking away and letting him fade wasn’t an option, no matter what it cost me.
I could do this. I had to do this. For Henry’s sake—for my mother’s sake. For my sake. Because in the end, without Henry, I didn’t know who I was anymore, and every night during my summer in Greece, I’d gone to sleep dreaming about what it would be like to spend the rest of my existence loving him and being loved in return. As long as I gave him a chance, this could be everything I hoped it would be. Henry was worth the risk.
As I opened my mouth to say yes, a crash shattered the silence, and the tall windows exploded, sending shards of glass hurtling straight toward us.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE TITANS
As glass flew through the air, I covered my head instinctively, but the jagged edges glanced off my skin as if I were made of Kevlar.
Right. Immortal. I kept forgetting that part.
“What the—” I twisted around to survey the damage, but before I could get a good look, Henry pushed me behind him. I fell to the ground amidst the shards of glass, and while I scrambled to my feet, Henry and his brothers advanced toward the broken windows.
Ava appeared beside me and took my elbow. “Come on,” she said in a trembling voice as her face turned ashen. “We have to get out of here.”
“Why?” I said, but a sick sense of dread filled me as I stumbled along beside her. The others parted to let us through, each poised as if ready to strike. No matter how reluctant they were to talk about her, I knew this had to do with Calliope and the fresh scar running down Henry’s chest.
Ava didn’t answer me. She all but dragged me along the aisle, my heels skidding against the floor as I tried to regain my balance, but it wasn’t working.
I fell a second time, pulling Ava down with me. We landed in a heap, but she wasted no time hauling me to my feet again. As we scrambled forward, another crash echoed through the hall, and a shimmering fog seeped into the palace. The same fog from my vision.
In the past few hours, it seemed to have grown stronger. It crackled with strange tendrils of light, and for a moment, the fog hovered in front of Henry, as if recognizing him. Henry held up his hands again, exactly as he’d done in my vision, and the other members of the council formed a semicircle behind him and his brothers.
My heart hammered against my rib cage, and beside me, Ava froze. This was the thing that had nearly killed Henry, and now it was attacking all of us. The instinct to protect rose up inside of me as it drew closer to Henry and my mother and everyone I loved, but what could I possibly do to help stop it?
Without warning, it sliced through the air faster than the members of the council could control it, but it wasn’t aimed at Henry or Walter or Phillip.
It went directly for me and Ava.
I didn’t have time to think. Shoving Ava behind the nearest pillar, I darted after her, but not fast enough.
Unbelievable pain whipped my knee like lightning, shooting through my body until it surrounded me, pulsing with each beat of my heart. I cried out, and it was all I could do to stay standing.
“Ava,” I gasped, leaning against the pillar as shouts from the council echoed through the hall. “Get out of here.”
She stared at me uncomprehendingly. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I took her arm and forced myself forward, half limping, half hopping toward the exit. A trail of blood smeared across the floor behind me, but the fog didn’t try to strike again.
Someone shouted behind me, and I thought I heard Henry call my name, but everything sounded far away as my heart thudded. I was going to die. We were all going to die. Somehow, someway, that thing could kill gods, and this time there wouldn’t be an afterlife. Not for immortals.
I wasn’t ready to go. Not yet. Not ever.
An eternity later, we finally reached the doors, and I shoved Ava through. Dizzy with terror and agony, I grabbed the handle to keep myself upright and watched the battle raging on the opposite end of the hall.
Twelve members of my new family fought it, with Henry and James blocking the aisle from a force I couldn’t see. I could feel it though, deep within my bones and every nerve in my body. Whatever it was, it seemed to shake the very foundation of the Underworld.
Blood dripped down James’s exposed arm as he struggled to hold off the monster with his uninjured hand. Henry stood beside him, an unmovable force, and I couldn’t tear myself away.
“Brothers!” cried Henry. “On my count!”
The three brothers moved in toward the fog, and the others moved in behind them in a triangular formation, immeasurable power radiating from each of them. Dylan and the redheaded Irene took the lead, but they didn’t have a chance to attack.
In the blink of an eye, Henry and his brothers flew upward and out the window, taking the fog with them.
After the explosion of battle, the silence rang in my ears, and I finally let myself slump to the floor. Most of the remaining members of the council milled together near the thrones, but James and my mother hurried toward us.
James reached me first, and he dropped to his knees several feet away, his momentum sliding him toward me. “It got you, didn’t it? Theo!” he yelled over his shoulder, and I winced.
“Stop it,” I said. “You were hit, too.”
“Yes, but the difference is, if I die, Henry won’t rip the world apart.” His good hand hovered over my injured knee, not daring to touch me yet. I didn’t blame him. Blood dripped down my leg, pooling at my heel, and now that the threat was gone, however temporarily, every nerve in my body felt like it was on fire. I’d never been in this much pain before in my life, not even when Calliope had killed me and thrown my body in a river.
My mother reached us and observed the damage, but she said nothing. Instead she slipped behind me and took Ava by the elbow. Now that the fight was over, some color had returned to Ava’s cheeks, and when my mother tried to lead her away, Ava remained planted in front of me.
“You saved me,” she said, shaking like she was barefoot in the snow. “He would’ve killed me if you hadn’t pushed me out of the way.”
“It was nothing,” I said. “You would’ve done the same for me.”
Ava was silent. My mother moved to push her past me again, but this time Ava dropped down beside me, opposite James. “You don’t understand,” she said, her blue eyes wide and earnest. “They’re the only things that can kill us, and you saved my life.”
Caught between burning curiosity and agony, I said tightly, “Why did it attack us? Why didn’t it go after Henry and Walter and Phillip instead?”
“Because Calliope sent him,” said James, still fussing over my leg. He called over his shoulder, “Theo, she needs you now, not next week.”
Theo shuffled down the aisle toward us, his curly hair falling in his eyes. Ella matched his pace, but she focused on the ground, and her forehead was furrowed deeply. The only time I’d seen her look like that was when Theo had been attacked at Christmas last year. It was jarring, seeing the ever-confident Ella look as if she didn’t know up from down, and my stomach twisted.
“He got her,” said James, gesturing to my leg. Theo knelt down beside me and set his hands above my knee. I’d been healed by Henry before, and I expected the same comforting warmth to come from Theo.
Instead fiery light spread through the wound, pushing out the deep, agonizing pain. Burning heat replaced it, and I gasped, positive my leg was going to turn to ash and fall off. I didn’t dare open my eyes, and even when his hands pulled away, the pain remained.
“Done,” said Theo, and I heard him rise to his feet. “There is nothing I can do for the scar.”
Gathering what was left of my courage, I cracked open an eye, relieved when I saw that my leg was still attached, and by all accounts it looked perfectly normal. But when I tried to wiggle my toes, the fire started all over again.
“If it’s healed, then why does it still hurt?” I said, panicked. What if the pain never went away? How was I supposed to live with that? Had Henry experienced the same thing in his chest? How could he have possibly fought that thing again if he had?
“Because there is no power in the world that can take away the pain until it is ready to leave,” said Theo. “It’s not an ordinary wound. It won’t last longer than a few days, because he is still so weak, but there is nothing I can do for you until then.”
“He?” I gingerly touched the thin silver line that ran across my knee. “You’re all calling it a he.”
Theo nodded toward my mother. “I will leave this in your capable hands to explain. If you will excuse us.”
He slipped his arm around Ella’s waist and headed back toward the cluster of remaining council members. They all sat in the pews again, their heads bent together as they spoke among themselves. As Theo and Ella approached, Dylan, Ava’s ex from Eden High School, rose to make room for them. Even from across the massive hall, I could feel his eyes on us.
“Mom?” I said, rubbing my knee now that I knew it wouldn’t make it hurt any worse. “What’s everyone talking about?”
She offered me her hand. I took it, amazed by how strong she felt compared to the years of frailty, and with effort I stood. Ava stayed glued to my side as my mother led me to a bench in the antechamber, and I eased myself down. It wasn’t possible that Henry had been in this much pain and I hadn’t known it. It must’ve had something to do with the council granting me immortality only six months before. Or maybe Henry was immune.
Ava sat beside me and took my hand. James lingered in the doorway, leaning against it casually, but one look at him and I could see the fear beneath his mask of neutrality. First Ella, now him—whatever this was, it wasn’t good.
“Do you remember the Titans from your lessons with Irene?” said my mother in such a soft voice that I was jolted back to the days spent in a hospital, leaning over her so I could understand her dry and broken whispers.
I shook my head. Irene had seemed to hit only the most salient points in those myths, and I didn’t bother retaining much of that information past the first exam anyway. At the time, it hadn’t seemed important.
“They were your parents?” I said. My mother was Walter’s sister, but not by blood, as they had insisted time and time again. As Henry had told me nearly a year ago, family was the only word mortals had to describe anything close to the bond they shared, but it went much deeper than that.
“In a way,” said my mother. Spotting a few drops of blood on her sleeve, she waved her hand and they vanished. “The Titans were the original rulers of this world, and eventually they grew bored and created us. There were six of us in the beginning—myself, Walter, Henry, Phillip, Sofia and Calliope.”
“They were slaves,” said James.
“Toys,” corrected my mother. With the straightforward way she spoke, it was clear she’d told this story before. “That was our purpose. To be the playthings of the Titans. They loved us, and we loved them in return. But then they decided that we weren’t enough, so they made a new race that, unlike us, could cease to exist if they fought one another.”
“They created war.”
Ava sounded so small and meek that I hardly believed it was her speaking. Her blue eyes were rimmed with red, her cheeks had lost their color, and the hurt on her face was so palpable that I could barely stand to look at her.
“The Titans made humans do terrible things to entertain them.” Ava wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffed. “They were denied the most basic rights and freedoms.”
“Humans were soldiers who never saw the end of battle,” said James. “They were at the mercy of the Titans, but unlike the six siblings—”
“They were powerless to stop them.” My mother sat down beside me and set her hand over mine. “The things mortals do to one another is nothing compared to what the Titans did. Mental and physical torture. No sign of relief. No voice that could possibly sway the most powerful beings in the universe.”
“So the six rebelled,” said Ava. She stared at the space between us, seemingly studying the velvet bench cushion, but a thread of strength ran through her voice now. “They banded together and used the powers the Titans had given them to fight back.”
“And we won.” My mother smiled. She was the gentlest person I knew; she didn’t even kill the spiders and snakes that snuck into her garden. I couldn’t imagine her going to war untold eons ago with a force I didn’t begin to understand. “The Titans’ greatest weakness was their belief that there was no greater power in the world, and they couldn’t imagine us thinking for ourselves. Perhaps if they hadn’t created mortals or given us abilities for their own amusement, we would still be theirs after all this time. Their mistake was not in creating us, but in creating something for us to protect.”
She ran her fingers through my hair, and it was such a familiar gesture that my anxieties began to disappear, replaced by warmth that ran through me and melted the icy fear that had formed.
“We nearly lost so many times, and there were moments when we wanted to give in, but all it took in each of us was the memory of what the Titans were doing to the defenseless, and we pressed on. As long as we existed, we would not stand for it.”
With startling clarity, I finally saw the balance between gods and mortals: gods were, in a strange way, the ones who were chained because of a war the six siblings had won an incalculable amount of time ago. They—we depended on humanity for our survival as much as humanity had depended on Walter and the others all those eons ago. It was why James was so afraid of the day humanity would eventually die out and there was nothing left but the dead and those who ruled them. Once humans didn’t need him any longer, he would fade. They all would, except for me and Henry. But without humans, gods were nothing.
“Is that what that was?” I said. “A—Titan?”
“He’s called Cronus, and he was once the king of the Titans,” said my mother. “He has been asleep since the end of the war, trapped in Tartarus with Nyx watching over him and the other imprisoned Titans.”
Ava shuddered, but said nothing. I fidgeted. “Nyx?” I said, hating how little I knew about any of this. My lessons from the year before had focused on the Greek myths, not their true heritage, and no amount of studying would ever make up for the fact that I hadn’t lived through it like the rest of them. Or at least hadn’t heard the stories for millennia.
“She is the best guard we have,” said my mother. “Henry volunteered to keep Cronus and the rest of the Titans who posed a risk to humanity locked up in the Underworld so there would be no humans around to tempt them, but we knew that if we allowed Cronus to remain conscious, he would find a way out. So the only solution we had was to keep him trapped in his dreams, which is Nyx’s specialty.”
“Then how did he wake up?” I said. “How did he get to the palace?”
James shoved his hands into his pockets. “Henry and I think he’s been waking up for some time—at least a few decades. He’s kept quiet until now, gaining strength, but there’s no way to check and see how awake he really is without risking our lives.”
“The Titans created us,” said my mother. “And they can kill us, as well.”
That was the last thing I wanted to think about, Henry running off to fight that monster again while he might very well be in agony. “You still haven’t told me how he woke up in the first place,” I said, struggling to keep my voice from shaking.
“We don’t know,” said James. “We think Calliope did it.”
“But—” I frowned. “You said he’s been waking up for ages.”
“Decades,” he corrected.
I rolled my eyes. What was a lifetime to most people was the blink of an eye to the council. I would get there eventually, I supposed—if Cronus didn’t eat me first—but until then, I was on mortal time. Six months was six months, not a pleasant nap.
“There’s a strong possibility Calliope planned ahead and started the process when Henry made it clear he would never return her feelings,” said James. “When he started to bring girls home to meet the family and get tested, well …” He shrugged. “She must have snapped. No one but Calliope has the power to break Nyx’s loyalty to Henry and persuade her to wake Cronus up.”
Another thing I wasn’t crazy about hearing: how powerful the goddess who wanted me dead happened to be. “It doesn’t make any sense. If she was trying to protect humans, then why would she risk things going back to the way they were under the Titans?”
“We don’t know,” said my mother. “If we did, we would try to reason with her, but that has proven futile so far.”
“There’s a possibility she bargained with him,” said James. “Why she would trust him to keep his word, I don’t know, but she took your decision hard—”
“She hates you.” Ava squeezed my hand. “It’s the kind of hate that’s all-consuming, and it doesn’t stop for anything. Especially not reason.”
So I had been the target after all, not Ava. I shuddered to think what might have happened if I’d frozen, too.
And was James right? Would Henry have ripped the world apart if Cronus had killed me? I wanted to believe it would have been because of how he felt for me, but a nagging voice in the back of my mind pointed out that if I died, he might have to give up his position as ruler of the Underworld and fade, if he didn’t die going after Cronus. That would’ve pissed me off, too.
“James,” I croaked. “Please get your arm fixed before you bleed to death.”
Glancing at his ripped jacket that was now soaked with blood, he frowned, as if he’d forgotten he’d been injured in the first place. More proof my wound only hurt so badly because I could remember what pain felt like. “Oh. Right. I’ll go do that, then. You’re okay?”
I nodded, and he hesitated before crossing the antechamber and kissing my cheek. He didn’t say goodbye, and I was grateful for that small sign the council wasn’t afraid the world was about to end.
“Come,” said my mother, offering her hand. “Let’s get you someplace where you can rest.”
I wanted to protest. If Henry couldn’t rest, then what right did I have to do so while he was out battling a Titan? However, I knew better than to fight my mother on it. Stubbornness really did run in the family.
She and Ava helped me as I limped to the bedroom. It was humiliating, feeling as if my leg was on fire when the wound was gone and no one else seemed to be affected by injuries that were worse than mine. I tried to walk on my own and ignore it, but that only resulted in a few agonizing steps and the embarrassment of having to stop and lean against the wall. Eventually I gave in and let them help me.
Once I was settled in bed against the mountain of pillows and silk, my mother excused herself. “I would stay, but the others need me, too,” she said apologetically.
“I know,” I said. Whatever the others were discussing was undoubtedly more important and productive than hanging around with me. I wanted her to stay, but she wasn’t just my mother down here, and she had more responsibilities than holding my hand when I was upset.
After making me promise to let her know if I needed anything, she strode out the door, leaving behind a trail of worry she couldn’t hide. That, more than anything else that had happened that day, ate at me until I was sick with anxiety.
“Everything’s going to be okay, right?” I said to Ava as she settled down next to me. Pogo jumped up on the bed and snuggled between us, and I idly stroked his fur. At least I could count on him not to fret.
Ava didn’t answer right away. Wondering if she hadn’t heard me, I turned toward her, only to see that she was crying again.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. No matter how many fights they had or—or anything, they’ve never purposely hurt innocent people before. We’re supposed to protect them, and the six were always really, really adamant about that, you know? That’s why we never thought Calliope was the one killing Henry’s girls. It’s just—she’s never done anything like that before. None of them have.”
She set her head on my shoulder, and I forced myself to swallow the lump of fear in my throat. Ava needed reassurance much more than I did.
“They’ll figure it out,” I said, even though I had no way of knowing if I was telling the truth or not. “They’re strong, right? The council. And she’s one against thirteen.”
“But she has Cronus,” Ava said with a sniff. “When he regains his strength, there’s nothing any of us can do to stop him. It took the six of them ages to contain him the first time, and the only reason they won the war then was because they had the element of surprise. The Titans never thought they’d go against them. But now …”
Now Cronus knew what to expect, and he’d had nearly the entire span of humanity to come up with a way to defeat them. “There’s more of you now though,” I said, keeping my voice steady for Ava’s sake. It was easier to keep a lid on my own fears when she was in such bad shape. “You can win again.”
Ava wiped her cheeks, and when she gave me a hopeless look, I blinked, taken aback. Despite her moments of doubt, Ava had always been bubbly and optimistic, seeing the best in a situation no matter how bleak it was. After she’d died in Eden, instead of bemoaning the loss of her mortal life, no matter how temporary it might have been, she embraced being dead. Even when I’d imposed a harsh punishment for the role she’d played in the scuffle that had resulted in Xander’s supposed death and Theo’s grave injuries, she hadn’t turned on me. She’d fished my body from the river after Calliope had killed me, and she’d brought me back to Henry, believing he could do something to save me. Ava was the one who believed in the impossible, not me. When she lost hope, how was I supposed to have any?
“You don’t understand,” she said in a broken voice. “It took all six of them the first time. It doesn’t matter how many new gods there are. None of us combined are as powerful as a single one of them. Without Calliope fighting with them, we don’t stand a chance.”
I looked away, refusing to let her see my eyes fill with tears. Losing would mean destruction beyond anything I could comprehend. At best, it would mean enslavement for Henry and my mother and everyone I’d come to care about; at worst, it would mean our deaths.
The council might have had countless lifetimes to live, but I was nineteen years old, and I really wanted to see twenty.
I didn’t remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, Ava was gone and Pogo snored in the indent she’d left in the pillow. Sighing, I took inventory, pleased that at least some of the pain had dulled. Even if it did still hurt to move around, I was determined to grin and bear it.
But the moment I sat up, pain exploded behind my eyes, giving me a splitting headache. I moaned and lay back down, and Pogo licked my cheek as I massaged my temples. Apparently all the pain had gathered in my head while I’d been sleeping.
Someone to my right giggled, and my eyes flew open, taking in the rock walls around me. I wasn’t in my bedroom anymore. Instead I stood in the cavern where I’d watched Henry battle the fog I now knew to be Cronus, and the massive gate loomed before me, carved from the stone itself. I twisted around to find whoever it was that had laughed, and suddenly I was nose-to-nose with Calliope.
I froze. This was it. She’d somehow managed to kidnap me, and there was nothing I could do to protect myself. If she was half as powerful as Ava said she was, she could probably rip me in half with a single thought, and I knew better than to hope there was any way I could talk myself out of this.
To my amazement, she looked past me and stepped forward. Instead of running into me, she moved through me, as if I were nothing more than a ghost.
I wasn’t really here. Just like what had happened when I’d first arrived in the Underworld, this was another vision, and Calliope had no idea I was watching.
I hurried to follow her. She walked proudly through the cavern toward a smaller cave to the side, and I noticed an oddly shaped pile beyond the light that glowed from the ceiling. I could only make out shadows, but whatever it was made Calliope giggle again.
“I can’t believe it.” She stopped a foot from the cave entrance. “Eons of putting up with you, and this is all it takes?”
My insides turned to ice. I didn’t want to look, but my feet moved forward anyway until I could make out the three bodies piled together, bound by chains made of fog and stone.
Walter on the left, his head slumped forward as blood trickled down his cheek. Phillip on the right, an ugly wound running through an eye, down his face and disappearing underneath his shirt.
And Henry in the middle, as pale and still as death.
CHAPTER FIVE
OPTIONS
I flew to Henry’s side, too afraid to touch him, but too frightened to turn away, either. Desperately I searched all three brothers for any sign that they were still alive, but I saw nothing. No rise and fall of the chest, no telltale flutter of a pulse in their necks—except those were mortal ways of judging if someone was still living. Henry and his brothers weren’t mortal and never had been.
And finally, finally I saw Henry’s eyes crack open. Unlike Calliope, he seemed to focus directly on me, but whether or not he could really see me, I couldn’t be sure. He hadn’t seen me the first time. Then again, he’d been in the middle of a fight then, too.
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Aimee Carter
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Фольклор
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
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О книге: After surrendering her mortal life, Kate’s about to be crowned queen of the mythical Underworld, home to the Gods. Her king – dangerous, mesmerising Henry – the boy she sacrificed everything for, is becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then he is abducted in the midst of her coronation.Forced to take up her role in a bitter war between the Gods, Kate battles to save Henry’s life. Worse, her only hope of victory means turning to Persephone, Henry’s first true love…and the greatest threat to Kate’s future. Kate now knows that rescuing the one she believed to be her destined soulmate could mean losing him forever.‘A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to this romantic fable.’ Cassandra Clare on The Goddess Test