by Bella Klaus
“Bullshit,” Hades snapped.
“Believe what you want,” Mother said, her voice genuinely thick with emotion. “Maybe allowing my darling girl to self-destruct is the only way to save her from your unnatural demands.”
My lips formed a tight line. I didn’t know what to believe, even though Pirithous and Healer Iaso had said similar things about my body wearing thin. “We have healers here. And alchemists.”
“Kora.” Mother’s soft voice drew me out of my musings. “Please come back to me, even if it’s for an hour to save yourself from annihilation. I will allow you to return to the Fifth Faction, if that’s what you desire.”
Hades growled and placed an arm around my shoulders. “You’re more likely to wipe her memory again.”
I swallowed hard. Hades was right. With no recollection of my life with him, I wouldn’t even request that I return to the Fifth.
“Unless you’re willing to give me a cure for what you’ve done to Hades, get out,” I said to her. “Or we’ll find our own way to reverse the damage you’ve done to us.”
Mother shook the flowerhead. “Of all the ingratitude…”
Hades raised a palm, sending a rope of Hellfire around the plant’s stem. It caught fire, as did the lengthy leaves, the stalk, and the flowerhead. “Goodbye, Demeter. If I see you again, I will arrange your gruesome and protracted death.”
The flower thrashed from side to side, spreading flames over the bed curtains, the sheets, the rug surrounding our four-poster. Its giant maw expanded, spraying pea-sized balls of pollen across the room.
Hades doubled over and clutched his heart. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, trying to offer my support, but he raised another hand and set the air alight.
“Kora,” Mother said through the burning flower. “You cannot escape me. Each time you flare your magic, it feeds one of the many seeds I’ve scattered around the Fifth.”
I clenched my teeth, clinging to Hades as he continued to steam Hellfire through his hands. As the flaming balls of pollen sank to the ground, his coughing subsided into wheezes.
“Healer Iaso!” I shouted.
The door slammed open, and the old woman bustled inside, waving her hands to clear a path to the burning bed. “What in the hell is happening here?”
“One of the poisonous plants made it into our bedroom.” I rubbed Hades back.
He coughed out a cloud of pollen. “More importantly, how do we keep her out?”
The healer scratched the back of her neck. “I’ll have to move you to a sterile environment. If she has embedded any seeds on your bodies, they will be removed.”
I pressed a kiss on Hades’ cheek. “Do you need us to get up?”
She shook her head. “I can transport you one at a time.”
“Take Hades first,” I murmured.
He turned to me and frowned. “Kora—”
“She must have engineered that pollen to be poisonous to you specifically. You need to get out of here before it does any further damage.”
“Very well.” The healer walked to the side of the bed and pulled a lever, which spread a bubble of white magic over Hades’ body.
I shuffled back as the power engulfed him, hoping that this would free him of Mother’s toxic attack. The bubble became opaque before disappearing with a pop.
“Has it occurred to you that leaving Hades is the only way to ensure his survival?” asked Mother’s voice.
I turned from side to side, my features twisted into a scowl. “Where are you?”
Healer Iaso placed a hand over her mouth. “There’s a small flower in your hair.”
“What?” I combed my fingers through my strawberry-blonde locks, catching myself on a thorn. “Ouch!”
A stalk emerged from behind my head with a small tulip-shaped flowerhead. “You could save him, you know.” Mother’s voice was soft, coaxing. “By now, you’re aware that Hades hid your original body from me for millennia. Because of him, you have never been whole.”
“Is this your corporality sickness bullshit again?” I snapped.
The flower shook its head. “Now you’re picking up his filthy language. But what I told you about corporality sickness was true. Until you return to your immortal body, you’re forever doomed to inhabit weak vessels that will break before their third decades.”
I clenched my teeth. “There are enough professionals in Hell to help—”
“Kora,” she snapped. “You’re being stubborn. If you truly care about Hades, you will take up my offer.”
“This is a trick.”
“Your original body has all the plant magic you need to break his curse.”
My throat spasmed.
Persephone’s body could save Hades?
I held my features into an expressionless mask.
The flower grinned, its needle-sharp teeth glinting in the light of the wall sconces. “Yes.” Mother elongated the syllable. “When you were the goddess of spring, you could control any plant. It was you who developed panacea, you who developed the weapons that are tearing through the Fifth Faction, and you who can destroy them with a single thought.”
My throat dried, and I swallowed over and over, trying to resist her lure. It had to be a trick. Mother wouldn’t hand me the means to cure Hades unless it was a trap.
I turned to the Healer. “It looks like Demeter has put seeds on my body. Is there a way I can remove them?”
She rubbed her chin. “Your Majesty?”
“Do you have any salt?” I asked the older woman.
“Kora,” Mother snapped. “You will perish without my guidance, and your soul will splinter into millions of pieces. The next time I put you together, I’ll make sure you never see freedom again.”
I clenched my teeth. Now, she was showing her true intentions. “Healer Iaso?”
The healer stood to attention. “The bath is already full of salt if you would like to soak.”
I swung my legs out of bed and placed my feet on the marble floor. As soon as I tried to stand, a wave of dizziness swept over me and pulled my body back to the mattress.
“Kora!” Mother shrieked.
“You’re the one who poisoned me with plant venom,” I said from between clenched teeth. “Why the hell are you acting so concerned?”
The flower dipped his head. “I only do these things out of love for you.”
Healer Iaso rushed to my bedside with another glass of thick green liquid. “Please, drink this.”
“What is it?” Mother snapped. “You can’t consume anything from Hell. You’ll be condemned to live there for an eternity.”
I took the glass and made a huge show of downing its contents and tried not to grimace at the bitter taste. It was childish, but I’d already decided to spend the rest of my life with Hades. That was also the reason why I hadn’t fretted about drinking aloe-panacea the first time Healer Iaso had given it to me.
Mother’s flower drooped. “I am so disappointed.”
The cool liquid settled in my stomach before sending its power across my insides. My limbs became stronger, more certain, and when I rose to my feet, there wasn’t a trace of dizziness.
“Kora,” Mother said from the mouth of the flower. “Don’t do this. You need my guidance.”
I glanced around the room. Most of the flames were already extinguished, but the walls were black from the fire, and the drapes around the window were still alight. I strode to the bathroom door, flung it open and stepped into a suite of black marble.
The sunken bath itself was at the end of a long room that was lined by long marble worktops with a wall of mirrors and recessed sinks. Without looking at my reflection, I continued toward the tub and ignored Mother’s warnings for me to stop.
“You know that I always win?” she sneered. “Kill this flower and the seeds I embedded in your hair, but I will get you eventually.”
I pursed my lips and stepped into a tub of lukewarm water that felt as thick as aloe vera gel. Whoever had prepared this bath
had dissolved the maximum amount of salt in the water to kill the plant that had infested Hades’ body.
“Kora?” Mother’s voice broke. “Won’t you save yourself the heartache of watching your husband die?”
My muscles stiffened. She knew exactly what to say to manipulate my feelings… and it was working. I needed to save Hades. I needed Persephone’s magic. Shit. I needed Persephone’s powerful and immortal body.
But at what price?
With one final glance toward the door, I lowered myself onto the bottom of the bath, held my breath, and lay back, completely submerging myself in the saltwater.
The sound of crackling filled my ear as the plants Mother had embedded in me fizzled. I wriggled from side to side, making sure to dislodge any seeds she had pressed onto my skin. My pulse pounded and my lungs burned, but I remained underwater for as long as my body could stand it. When I became lightheaded, I rose from the surface and gasped.
“Your Majesty?” The healer pressed a towel into my hands.
I dabbed at my eyes and flicked my wet hair off my face. “Yes?”
“May I suggest staying at a distance from King Hades until he’s fully recovered?” She made a nervous cough. “It would seem that your attacker used you as a means for tracking in deadly plants.”
I swallowed hard. “Will he be all right?”
She inhaled a deep breath. My heart sank. It was what I’d seen people do on TV shows while preparing themselves to share bad news. I gulped, trying to brace myself for whatever she would say next.
“Saltwater, aloe-panacea, and infusions of healing magic are keeping him alive, but I fear that exposure to these plants over a period of time will make him deteriorate.”
“Right.” I rubbed at my throat, trying to ease the guilt of having made his situation worse. “Is there any other way to counteract those plants?”
“Even with true panacea, all we can do is reverse the symptoms,” she murmured. “The moment the plants attack him again, he’ll be back to square one.”
“So the solution is to kill the plants?”
She shrugged. “If such a thing is possible.”
“If I could obtain plant magic, then I could switch them off.”
“It might be easier to ask the caster of the curse to cease attacking the Fifth Faction with her plants,” the healer said.
I shook my head. “She won’t do that.”
Over the next ten minutes, I told Healer Iaso about how Mother had pieced my soul together from when it had shattered during the Great Divide, how she’d kept it in a container until she and the coven had worked out how to transfer it to a Neutral’s body.
She nodded along, looking like none of this was news to her. “I apologize for speaking out of turn,” she said, her voice guarded. “But the body of an immortal goddess would solve the problems of your weakening vessel.”
“That offer she made will come with a cost, right?” I muttered. “Even if I get the power to break Hades’ curse, Mother will erase my memories. Then I’ll be back to the ignorant young woman living as the prisoner of a possessive goddess.”
She licked her lips. “There is another way.”
My brows drew together. “Wait. Are you sure she can’t hear us?”
The healer’s gaze wandered to the bathwater. Brown stalks floated on the water’s surface with dried flower petals scattered in all directions. The seeds were smaller than grains of sand, explaining how easy it was for someone like me to track them into Hades’ bedroom.
“Perhaps I should move us to another sterile location before we continue this conversation.” She offered me a hand.
I let her help me out of the water and wrapped the towel around my body before she transported us to a white room no larger than a closet. Light streamed from above, fizzing across my skin and drying it to the consistency of sandpaper.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“It removes foreign bodies from your person,” she murmured. “Any remaining plants, pollen, or microbes will die.”
As soon as the sounds dissipated, the healer cleared her throat. “It’s now safe to speak, Your Majesty.”
I turned to her, my eyes wide. “What were you going to suggest?”
“As I was saying before, taking up the offer of an immortal body is the fastest way to solve both Your and His Majesty’s problems.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Healer Iaso was right. Nothing they’d tried had removed Hades’ curse. Perhaps nothing would help him unless I worked out a way to force Mother’s hand. My jaw clenched. The only thing that woman seemed to care about was gaining control of me.
Mother did have a point. Persephone’s body would control the plants. She had wielded it to wreak havoc throughout the Fifth, and I could use it to kill the parasite feeding on Hades’ body.
Shallow breaths eased in and out of my lungs. I would sacrifice myself to ensure Hades’ survival, but dealing with Mother would mean losing my memories and leaving Hades to deteriorate.
“You’re right,” I murmured. “With Persephone’s body, I could reverse the damage done to Hades and the Fifth, but how do we stop my mother from making me forget?”
The healer nodded. “This is what I wanted to tell you. There’s a Master of Crystals I know who specializes in memory stones. She lives in the Human World, but I can set up an emergency meeting.”
I met the older woman’s eyes. “You think I can avoid getting my mind wiped with a crystal?”
“Look at your options, Your Majesty,” she said. “We can spend weeks if not months muddling through a cure for King Hades while struggling to bolster your mortal body, or you can secure your memories with the help of an expert.”
“I’m not sure…” My gaze dropped to the white floor.
“What have you got to lose by meeting the Master of Crystals?”
I bit down on my bottom lip. She was absolutely right. I hadn’t said yes to anything yet, and all I’d be agreeing to right now was a conversation.
“All right, then,” I said. “Do it.”
After showering once more and dressing, I took another dose of aloe-panacea and stepped into the brass elevator for my meeting with the Master of Crystals. I leaned against the metallic walls as the device sped me up to the Human World.
Healer Iaso had advised me not to teleport while under the influence of plant venom, warning me that the poison would continue to affect my motor skills until I either switched bodies or consumed true panacea.
The doors opened with a hiss into a familiar office of white walls and matching floor tiles with an entire wall of windows that overlooked a courtyard of foundations. Sunlight streamed in through the opaque blinds, illuminating the white sofas on the left of the room.
Namara rose from her mahogany desk in full human glamour, clad in a bottle-green dress that skimmed her curvaceous figure.
“Your Majesty,” she said with a watery smile. “How is he?”
I inhaled a deep breath, pushing down my emotions. “He’s resting.”
She pressed her lips together and swallowed. “If you can reach him mentally, please tell him I wish him well.”
“Hades?” I asked into the bond.
He didn’t answer.
I shook my head. We had communicated just fine when I’d just teleported into Hell, and he had been at his worst. Perhaps our bond had weakened due to the distance?
“It’s not working across realms at the moment. Maybe when we remove the parasite…” A rush of emotion closed off my words, and I bowed my head. “This is all because of me.”
Namara rushed out from behind the desk, her stilettos clicking across the floor. “Your Majesty, please don’t speak like that.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “He was getting on fine before I came along.”
She guided me to the leather sofa opposite her desk and lowered us both onto the firm seats. “In the first two thousand years I worked for His Majesty, he was melancholy, reclusive, and forever brooding.�
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“What changed?” I asked.
“Captain Caria told him on his two-thousandth anniversary that he needed to make some changes,” she said with a firm nod. “It was time for him to find another love and stop pining for his lost wife.”
My gaze dropped to my lap. “I can’t imagine someone hanging on for two thousand years like that. What did he do after he gave up?”
Namara chuckled. “He’s indulged in superficial relationships for the past two decades. Every so often, he’d find someone special, but they were unavailable.”
“And he still pursued them?”
“I suppose it was his way of satisfying the captain’s wish that he move on while still keeping his heart for his wife.”
“And now he’s suffering.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen His Majesty so happy, even with all the trouble that has come to his doorstep. Your presence in his kingdom has made a huge difference.”
A knock sounded on the door, and a middle-aged woman with a shock of white hair stepped in. It was part-afro, part-dandelion seed head and looked at odds with her pale skin.
“I have a meeting with Queen Hades of Hell?” She glanced from me to Namara.
I cleared my throat. “That would be me.”
The older woman strode into the room, clad in a floor-length kaftan made of white linen that matched a carpet bag made of the same fabric. “Istabelle Bonhan-Sackville, how do you do?”
I offered her my hand. “Please call me Kora.”
Namara ushered us both into Hades’ wood-paneled office, where silver pots of tea, coffee, and hot chocolate awaited us on the low table. Mrs. Bonham-Sackille settled into an armchair and helped herself to a cup of tea.
“Healer Iaso informs me that you are looking for a way to store your memories. How many years?”
“Twenty-one,” I replied. “Is that possible?”
She brought her teacup to her lips. “When I heard you were the Queen of Hell, I considered a selection that ranged from a millennium to a century. Two decades will be no problem.”