It was a fairy tale moment. My kiss bringing her back to life. Or it would have been had it not been my stupidity that kept her under in the first place. Of course she couldn’t regain consciousness until I restored her heartbeat.
“Hades,” she whispered. A smile touched her lips, and nothing else mattered.
Chapter XLVIII
Aphrodite
I OPENED MY EYES in a panic. Were they stupid? How could they let me wake up? Zeus ordered me to charm them into swearing fealty. That wasn’t going to go away unless...
Unless...
Blinking, I took in my surroundings. I lay on Demeter’s white couch in her cheerful living room with dozens of gods milling around, looking distressed. Craning my neck, I sought out Ares. His grin sent a rush of relief coursing through me. No overwhelming desire to charm him. Zeus must be dead.
I was free.
“Good nap?” Melissa’s sarcastic voice was music to my ears.
“It worked?” I demanded, swinging my legs off the couch and turning to face her.
“More or less. Zeus is dead, but so are Demeter and Triton. Persephone is MIA, and Hades seemed...” Melissa chewed her bottom lip. “Well... “
“Worried?”
“Unhinged.” She looked down. “He was also covered in blood.”
I raised an eyebrow and was about to comment when Persephone and Hades appeared in the middle of the living room. “Speak of the devil.”
Melissa’s eyebrows drew together in confusion, and I motioned behind her. She turned and gasped when she saw Persephone. Everyone else was closer, but Melissa shoved through them to reach Persephone first and yanked her into an embrace.
I studied Persephone, half afraid she would be different. With everything she’d been through, she should have been marked by some kind of a physical change. But she looked exactly the same. Leaning into Hades, she didn’t seem nearly happy enough to finally be done with this whole horrible situation. But in a way, the horror of Zeus’ capture was only just starting. Soon she’d have to deal with the fallout of her victory. Of Demeter’s death. Her eyes were filled with the weight of that sadness and fatigue.
Which was understandable given the circumstances.
Persephone clung to Melissa for a moment then pulled away. Hades stood behind her, hand drifting from her shoulder, to the small of her back, to her hand. He didn’t seem to be able to stop touching her. Happiness would be out of place here, but he looked like the worry and stress had melted away from him.
“It’s nice to see you in person.” Athena smiled at Persephone and held out her hand.
Persephone’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the one who wanted me to die.”
Athena’s smile froze on her face. “It’s nothing personal—”
“Right.” Persephone grabbed Athena’s hand and slammed Athena’s power back into her, breaking the bond of fealty. “Nothing personal.”
Athena stumbled backward, gasping for breath.
I smiled. It was about time Persephone grew a backbone. I watched Athena, speculating on how it must feel to have made such a powerful enemy. Persephone was kind of a big deal now. Since Triton had sworn to Zeus, and he had sworn to Persephone, she had access to every realm in creation, and the power to pretty much blow up every god in this room.
“Aphrodite!” To my surprise, Persephone pulled me into a hug. She drew back, locking gazes with me, and what I saw there brought tears to my eyes. Persephone understood.
We’d both been manipulated and abused by Zeus, and we’d both fought to overcome him in the end. Sure, her success had been more dramatic, but I’d played a part. And that was a pretty big deal for someone who’d been programmed to be loyal to Zeus.
“This is yours.” She pushed my power back into me, and I held up a hand before she broke the bond of fealty.
“Don’t. Mine wasn’t conditional. After everything I did to you, it’s the least I can do for you.”
She looked surprised but didn’t argue. “If you ever change your mind—”
“I won’t.” Zeus may be dead, but I still had to obey everyone in his bloodline who outranked me. That left only Persephone. I wanted my loyalty and my obedience to be my choice, not something forced upon me.
She nodded, then moved on to the rest of the gods, restoring power and breaking fealty bonds, not pausing until she came to Poseidon. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, almost too low for me to hear. “He was incredible. It isn’t right that he—” Tears overwhelmed her voice.
Poseidon clutched her hands in his, looking devastated. “Thank you for being there for him.” His voice was gruff. “For making his last memories better than what Zeus left him with.” He cleared his throat. “Can you restore his soul?”
She nodded. “Not enough to bring him back to life, but I should be able to put him back together. He’ll be able to dreamwalk, so you’ll see him again.”
Well, that was enough reunion crap for me. I reached down and grabbed my purse, reaching for my sunglasses and car keys.
“Where are you going?” Melissa asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m out of here. I was thinking of heading back to Florida. What can I say? I miss the beach.” I looked at Melissa for a minute, knowing the answer before I asked and hating it. “Want to come? I could charm your teachers for you.”
Melissa shook her head. “I’m staying here, but maybe I’ll visit over spring break.”
“Suit yourself.” I slid on my sunglasses.
“I think you’re forgetting something,” Melissa said.
“Hmm?”
She reached out and snatched the keys from my hands. “Those are my car keys.”
“Need a ride?” Ares asked, flashing me a grin.
I glanced between him, Adonis, and Hephaestus, all suddenly holding car keys.
Choices, choices. I took a moment to relish the freedom to make my own decisions. A grin broke out on my face. Choices were fun and all, but why pick one when you can have all three?
“Road trip?” I suggested.
Chapter XLIX
Hades
SHE’D WOKEN UP screaming again.
But it hadn’t taken long for her to return to sleep. I leaned against the headboard, one hand rhythmically stroking her hair. Power flowed through my fingertips, keeping her nightmares at bay.
I could deal with nightmares. And really, after everything she’d been through, if sleepless nights were the only noticeable change, we were lucky. She had her moments during the day—if something reminded her of her mother, or whenever she saw Triton in a crowd of souls—but for the most part she was coping well. She was stronger than I’d ever given her credit for. I could handle emotional breakdowns.
What I couldn’t handle, what set my heart beating in rage, was the fear in her eyes when she woke from her nightmares and saw me. The second when she wasn’t sure whether I was myself, or Zeus in disguise.
But I’d discovered a nice outlet for my anger. When I was certain she wouldn’t wake again, I shifted the covers to the side, climbed out of bed, and teleported to the deepest, darkest dimension of Tartarus.
A white room with a single metal chair.
“Back again?” Zeus sounded amused. He looked comfortable, no small accomplishment given that he was strapped to the chair and only half-healed from the Prometheus treatment. I didn’t always keep him in here of course. There was an entire realm full of all the tortures Zeus had inflicted on us over the millennia.
I summoned all the equipment I’d need. Knives today. Perhaps a table. I’d wanted to torch his soul the moment it entered the Underworld, but I had questions that needed answers. The missing demigods were not in the Underworld. We needed to locate them and find out how he’d gotten ahold of Olympian Steele.
Plus, torturing Zeus was kind of f
un.
“So, how’s the wife?”
I stiffened, but said nothing.
Zeus grinned. “I’m sure she’s adjusting well. She’s quite the trooper. Fastest recovery times I’ve ever seen. Did I tell you about the time I ripped out one of her lungs?” He laughed. “You should have seen her flopping around like—”
My fist hit his face with a satisfying crunch.
“Enjoy that?” Blood and spittle drooled from Zeus’ mouth. Tartaran souls could bleed, otherwise where would the fun be?
“A little.”
He smirked. “I wonder about you sometimes, Hades. You’ve got that hot piece of ass warming your bed, and instead of enjoying it, you’re here beating the daylights out of me. Unless...” He paused dramatically. “You’ve figured it out.”
I didn’t rise to the bait. Instead I laid the knives out on the table.
Zeus waited for me to ask, but when it became clear I wasn’t going to, he continued on as if I’d spoken. “You know she doesn’t love you as much as you love her, right? I’ve been in her head. There’s not much going on up there, but when she thinks of you there’s always a caveat.”
“Where are the demigods?” I examined one of the knives in the light.
“You should have seen her face when she thought I was you. She was so happy, so certain you had come to rescue her.” He smiled. “She pressed that hot little body against me.” He studied my face for a long moment as if calculating how far he could push me before I snapped. “It’s been quite some time since I’ve been kissed like that. She’s got so much... spirit. I took great pleasure in watching that spirit drain out of her while I hacked her to pieces.”
Persephone’s face flashed into my mind, eyes wide with fear. Screw the demigods. I summoned the Olympian Steele. “There’s something I’ve wondered for quite some time.”
Zeus’ grin faltered. “You won’t do anything permanent. You need me. You want to know where I got that Steele, and you want to know about those demigods.”
“What would happen if I used this on a soul?” I approached Zeus.
“You need me.”
“No, I don’t.” Zeus was never going to tell me what I wanted to know. He knew it was the only thing keeping his soul intact. Maybe she would sleep better if I torched his soul. I touched the Steele to his skin.
“I didn’t touch the demigods.” Zeus’ eyes darted from the Steele to me. I applied more pressure.
“Then I really don’t need you.”
“Yes, you do. You need me more than ever. You think you saved the world by killing me, but you’ve doomed it. What’s coming is worse. And Hades—” he inclined his head to the Steele “—they’re armed.”
I considered for a moment.
“You need me,” Zeus insisted. “You want to be prepared for what’s to come.”
If Zeus wasn’t responsible for the demigods, then who was?
Did it matter?
I was probably going to regret this. But I was done. I was done being manipulated by Zeus.
“You need me.” He locked eyes with me. “You know you do.”
“Like hell.”
I WIPED THE BLOOD from my hands as I exited the torture chamber. In the blink of an eye I was in my restroom in fresh clothes reaching for a washcloth.
“Can’t sleep?”
I dropped the washcloth in the sink and turned to find Persephone standing behind me, bathed in light. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I don’t mind.” She reached for the now pristine washcloth I held in my left hand, the movement sending one of the thin straps of her white nightgown slipping down her arm. “Are you okay? I thought I saw—”
“I’m fine.” I dropped the washcloth in the sink.
Persephone’s green eyes searched my face and I smiled at the worry I found there. All she’d been through, and she was worried about me.
“Nothing to worry about.” My fingers trailed over her smooth skin as I pushed the strap of her nightgown back into place. She tilted her head, leaning into my touch. Abandoning the strap I caressed her face, leaning down to touch my lips to hers.
“I love you,” she whispered, arms twining around my neck.
I pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her.
“I love you, too.”
Chapter L
Persephone
TRITON’S FACE WAS completely blank. He sat on the bed, not seeming to notice when I came in. I took a deep breath. “I am so sorry for what happened to you.”
He didn’t blink. Didn’t move.
I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, releasing the bond of fealty he’d sworn to Zeus that I’d inherited and giving him back his memories, his thoughts, and his soul. There were parts of him I kept. I didn’t have a choice in the matter; his powers wouldn’t return to him now that he was dead. I’d give them to Poseidon next time I saw him.
The life returned to Triton’s eyes, and I moved away from him and sat on a chair next to his bed.
“I know you,” he said after a moment. He paused as if he were sorting through his memories. “Kind of.”
“Kind of.” I still didn’t fully understand how Triton had been in my dreamscape after his death. Hades had tried to explain Zeus essentially just held on to Triton’s soul and tossed him into a dreamscape of Poseidon’s realm in case Zeus needed information from Triton later. When I stepped out of my dreamscape, Zeus saw the opportunity to throw me into Triton’s, manipulating me into thinking I was waking up there, when in reality all I was doing was hopping from dreamscape to dreamscape.
Hades thought Zeus had a prophet telling him his plans, or at the very least a mole. He hadn’t realized until the very end it was him. I’d surrendered my mind to Zeus, and Hades kept me informed of every step of the god’s plans through our link. The only time I’d been out of Zeus’ “earshot” was when I was in Hades’ dreamscape, but that privacy only lasted until I was back in Triton’s dreamscape, allowing Zeus to sit in on all our meetings right after they happened.
I’d stopped trying to wrap my head around the whole thing about ten minutes into Hades’ lengthy explanation. All I needed to know was that Triton was down here without a part of his soul. That I could fix.
He glanced around the room. “So this is the Underworld?”
I nodded, not sure how he was going to take the news.
He raised his eyebrows. “Weird. I would have thought it was all underground and cave-like. Hey, can I meet Hades? Is he blue? You know, like that movie? Is his hair on fire? Can I meet Cerberus? Dad said he was the best dog. Oh, are there nymphs here... ?”
I smiled despite myself as Triton continued chattering. Yeah. He was going to be fine.
Later, in the living realm, I swung by my mom’s flower shop to make sure Laurel, one of Mom’s higher-ranking priestesses, had everything she needed.
“Are you sure you want me to run it?” she asked for what felt like the thousandth time.
“For now.” Looking around the shop, I could almost see my mom at every corner. A smudge of dirt on her cheek from working on the nursery out back, talking on the phone with that unflappable patience. My eyes filled as I realized we’d never get back to that. Everything had been so normal before Pirithous had walked through these doors. I hadn’t known what I had.
And now it was gone.
“You’re going to be every bit as amazing as she was, I know it.” Laurel smiled at me through a sheen of tears.
“She’s going to be better.” Melissa came down the stairs from where she’d been packing up the last of Aphrodite’s things. “Hey, this came today.” She picked up a stack of mail from the counter top. “I figured I’d bring it, and then we could go celebrate.”
“Celebrate?” What could I possibly have to celebrate?
/>
“Um, yeah, it’s our birthday. Yay eighteen.”
I blinked. I’d forgotten.
“And you sort of saved the day. And of course—” Melissa took one of the letters and handed it to me. It was from UGA. Confetti drawing decorated the envelope, and written in the corner in big red letters was “Your official acceptance letter.”
“Kind of takes all the mystery out of opening it.” I took the letter from her, and she held up another envelope, its twin.
“I know, right? But good news. Apparently we both got in.”
The phone rang and Laurel answered it, disappearing into the back of the shop.
“What happened to Iowa?” I looked at Melissa. I knew she’d been accepted into the creative writing program there.
She waved a dismissive hand. “After everything you went through, please. My place is here. You need me now more than ever.”
I looked at the envelope. It wasn’t addressed to me, it was addressed to Kora. I’d gone by Kora my whole life, especially after Orpheus told the whole planet that Persephone was a goddess. This letter, the apartment above the shop, Melissa and I going to college together—it was all I’d wanted for so long. A return to normal life.
I dropped the envelope in the shredder.
Melissa yelped in surprise. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not Kora anymore.” There was no going back to normal, and for the first time, I was okay with that. I wasn’t human, but that didn’t mean I had to be some evil, crazy goddess either. There was blood on my hands, but I hadn’t enjoyed it. If after everything I’d gone through I was still connected enough to give a damn, then I was going to be just fine. “And you’re not giving up your dreams for my sake.”
“Don’t you need me here?”
I shook my head. “Not as a priestess. You’re my best friend. I can teleport, remember? I’ll swing by to hang out, maybe cry on your shoulder a bit.”
She gave me a hug. “Anytime.” She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. “Are you okay?”
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