Titonis’s pert nose twitched into a snarl. “I love that you’re trumped up on purpose. Truly, it’s inspiring. I regret to inform you, it’s all for naught. Even you know you’re kidding yourself. Hades is death. You can’t hurt him. All your vengeance. All your aggression. All your rage will do nothing but fuel the well of hatred he draws his strength from.”
Persephone stabbed the point of the blade into the table and ground it into the grain. “It seems you should want him dead. I doubt that mortal form can hold your essence for long. When it gives out, you two can begin your happily ever after together in the great beyond. Olympus knows you won’t get stuck in the Sea of Souls if Hades isn’t there to see to it.”
Titonis stared out the window at the sky painted shades of orange and purple as the sun set. “Even if that’s what I wanted, it’s not going to happen. He’ll kill you and be stuck in that monstrous form forever.”
Dragging her tongue over her top teeth, Persephone dropped the knife on to the table with a thump. “Not a bad way to go; leaving him with his outside as ugly as his black heart.”
“The man he is now, is not who he once was. Life has jaded my starlight.” Filling her lungs to capacity, Titonis expelled a wistful sigh. “He was a noble man, who never meant to fall for his brother’s wife. But the second we laid eyes on each other, we owned one another’s heart. Poseidon and I were a horrible match. The magic I possessed frightened him. He ordered me never to speak of it or use it in his presence again. It’s a part of who I am, who I was, and he denied it. Denied me. With Hades, I could be myself and know I was loved. In his arms, I felt like the honest version of who I was meant to be.” Clearing her throat, she pushed off the table she was leaning against, and paced the length of the room. “Of course, you know how our story ended. Hades was banished from the sea. That scheming Amphrite wriggled her way into our lives, and plotted my death to secure her place as Poseidon’s child-bride. I won’t lie, I took great pleasure in ripping her heart out.”
“The story I was told was a little less romantic, but that’s the gist.”
Stopping in front of the tapestry on the far wall that depicted an enchanting rose garden, Titonis’s finger traced over the curve of one thorn. “What the stories can’t convey is the last time Hades and I spoke. He had been imprisoned, and I swam down to the bowels of the castle of Atlantica to say good-bye to my love. I told him we were pregnant, that our love had produced a precious life. In the middle of that touching moment, the guards burst in to drag him off to be banished from the sea. The final words he spoke to me were, ‘Don’t ever let her magic be crippled as yours was. Our child is destined for greatness.’ I don’t think I ever loved him more than I did in that moment.”
Rolling her shoulders, Persephone shook out the knot of tension that had settled between her shoulder blades. “According to Sterling, she’s been morphed into a tentacled beast that preys on the downtrodden. So, it’s safe to say she didn’t let anyone hold her back.”
Titonis’s head whipped around, her top lip curling from her teeth. “My daughter has done what she must to survive.”
“As have I!” Persephone planted her feet in a battle-ready stance. “He was the love of your life, your sweet surrender. To me, he was a nightmare. The God of Death who would rather surround himself with tortured souls than with the innocent young woman forced to marry him. I was alone. I was petrified. Torn from everything and everyone I knew. And instead of showing me an ounce of kindness, he called me an ignorant child and ordered me out of his sight. You call him chivalrous? I call him a heartless snake.”
Pivoting on the ball of her foot, Titonis threw her arms out wide. “He treated you unkindly and nothing I can say will make up for that. I admit that. Still, you must realize that if we work together we can rehabilitate him and spare others from his wrath.”
The lunacy of such a claim knocked a bit of the wind from the sails of Persephone’s fury. “What is it you’re asking of me?”
While Titonis let one shoulder rise and fall in a casual shrug, the look in her eye was far more deadly. “Whatever you did to attach my spirit to this body allowed me to keep my magic intact. Surely you’ve noticed hints of it?”
“It does explain how a prepubescent child knocked me flat on my back, yes.”
“That was fun,” Titonis giggled. “Well, if we execute my plan properly, I could take on your appearance and present myself to all of Wonderland as… you.”
Persephone closed her eyes for a beat, half expecting to wake up from this mad dream. No such luck. “I got your second-hand husband, and now you want my kingdom and my crown? Give me one reason why I should even entertain that arrangement?”
Alice/Titonis moved in a blur of speed, snatching a knife from the table and pressing it to Persephone’s throat. Her hot breath assaulted Persephone’s cheek, burning her warning into her. “The reason is, I will let you live. I’ve asked nicely. I’ve beseeched your better judgment. Now, I’m done asking. I couldn’t save myself. I failed to protect Vanessa. I will not fail him. You can’t hurt Hades. You know that.”
Persephone kept her face an impassive neutral. “Clearly I can, or it would make this little spectacle of yours completely pointless.”
Inhaling through flaring nostrils, Titonis forced herself to release Hades’ actual queen. “I won’t deny your power, Persephone, or that you’ve earned your anger. What you need to realize is that love is the only thing that can stop Hades now. I can use it to keep all of mankind safe from him… if you let me.”
Persephone smoothed her hands over the front of her gown to straighten the fabric. “And if I don’t?”
“Then, I will do whatever it takes to stop you.”
One corner of Persephone’s lips curled up in a truly villainous smirk. “By all means, try…”
Brow furrowed, Sterling stared into the shard of glass in his hand and tried to make sense of what Alastor was showing him. “Alice, but not Alice. Titonis, the mermaid mother of the girl you love. But not a mermaid. A ghost, trapped in Alice. But where is Alice, no one can say…”
The image in the mirror waved, allowing Alastor’s haunting silhouette to return. “There was a time I would have called you mad for rambling in such a way. Today, however, I believe you’re grasping the gist of the situation. Seeing as you’ve made it to Wonderland, our plan is on course there. Unfortunately, with the addition of Titonis, we’ve lit the fuse that will fire the canons of war. If you don’t find the looking glass hidden there, these so-called gods will rip each other apart and destroy entire realms in the process.”
Sterling shivered at the thought. “I find the mirror, call out to you through the shard, then we simply step into it?”
“If it was that easy, all tortured souls would escape the horrors of Wonderland through it.” He stared directly into Sterling’s soul, drilling the words into him. “It will only work if Persephone leads the way. Her Summerland magic will open the mirror portals that will allow us all to escape. If you can’t convince her to give up her quest for vengeance and make a fresh start, all we’ve done will be for naught.”
Tongue playing over the jagged points of his teeth, Sterling’s tail waved from side to side behind his head. “Right, of course. Simply get her to give up her all-consuming desire for retribution. Easy-peasy. What about you? Have you gotten through to Vanessa?”
At the question, the mirror’s haunting stoicism betrayed him with a tremble of his chin. “No. Not yet. She won’t speak to me.”
Hunkered in the corner of the bedroom he had been granted for the night, Sterling’s feline gaze tracked the flickers of the candle burning on his bedside table. “In one of my jumps, I encountered an all-knowing prophet whose words have haunted me… Venture too far, and lose who you are. Perhaps that’s exactly what’s happened to your love. She delved so far into depravity, she lost who she is. I sincerely hope you can find a way to remind her.”
“As do I, my friend.” With a firm set of his jaw, Alastor rega
ined his composure. “But that is my cross to bear. You must find the looking glass.”
Bounding up on the balls of his feet, Sterling’s taut posture was ready to charge from the room on a moment’s notice. “Right! I would go tonight, spirit out into the night and claim the artifact under a cloak of darkness… if I had any idea where it was.”
Glancing to the side, Alastor’s brow lifted in annoyance at something only he could see. “My master comes, I must go away. There’s a phrase I hate to say. Treating me more a slave than a squire, it gave me great glee to see his reptilian wing on fire. To save the souls that possess the merit, you must follow this path exactly as I share it. Cut through the rose garden to the dirt path where it ends, head south to the caterpillar too haughty for friends. Keep on ’til you reach the quaintest of tea parties, one sure to grant the most troubled heart ease. Within a kettle you’ll find a drunken dormouse, he is the key to his rather grand house. You’ll find the looking glass behind a wardrobe door, step through and be tarnished by magic no more. A word of warning before you embark on this quest… one will remain behind to save the rest.”
Chapter Eighteen
All Persephone wanted was a few moments alone to scream out her fury at Titonis’s revelation. Instead, she had company. While the Queen of the Underworld sat ramrod straight on the edge of the four-post bed, a round-faced woman stared at her with her hands folded expectantly.
Persephone’s nostrils flared in an annoyed exhale. “There seems to be some confusion here. I was told this room was mine. Yet here you are. Shall I summon the guards to get this matter resolved?”
“No, Your Highness.” The woman blushed a brilliant red, her head bowing in a show of respect. “I’m your handmaid, here to tend to your needs.”
“I see. Exactly what needs of mine do you think require tending to?”
“The nights in Wonderland can be a bit chilly, m’lady. I could stoke the fire for you, turn down your bed, or even brush your hair.” The handmaid offered her such a sweet smile, Persephone almost felt bad for instantly hating her. Almost.
“And, for some reason, you consider me incapable of doing these things for myself?”
The handmaiden’s complexion drained of color. “N-N-No!” she stammered.
Persephone hitched one brow in question. “What is it then? You fear I’ll get lost under the bedding if I attempted to turn down my own bed? If that’s true, it seems a horrible idea for me to have been named queen.”
Glancing from Persephone to the door and back again, the poor woman prayed for escape. “I was simply trying to help, Your Highness.”
“By making me feel incompetent?” Persephone’s head tilted.
“Persephone, our conversation was not over!” Alice/Titonis burst into the room without knocking, only to pull up short when she saw the handmaiden. “Oh, I wasn’t aware you had company.”
Pushing off the mattress, Persephone smoothed out the front of the flowy, cotton nightgown she had changed into. “Not company, a handmaid sent to turn down my bed.”
Chin tucked to her chest, Alice’s brow creased. “As if you’re incapable of doing it yourself?”
“That’s what I said!” Persephone jabbed a hand in her direction.
“If you’ll excuse me,” the handmaid muttered in a barely audible whisper, “I think I’ll see if the stable hands need help with the horses.”
Both women waited for her to shut the door behind her before uttering another word.
It was Alice that broke the hush. “You are aware that what she was offering is a normal human custom in manners such as this?”
“I pieced that together pretty quick, what followed was completely for my amusement.” Grabbing the silk robe flung over her bed post, Persephone shrugged it up her arms.
Lips pursed, Alice considered that for a moment. “I can respect that.”
Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, Persephone secretly wished she had allowed the maid to stoke the fire before she chased her off. “That’s an odd proclamation coming from someone who very recently had a knife to my throat.”
“That’s exactly what I came to discuss.” Flipping a strand of hair from her eyes with a toss of her head, Alice said, “I didn’t… handle things the way that I should have. Emotions were running high. The knives were there. It’s not an excuse—”
“Not a good one, anyway.”
“My point is; there’s something I forgot to say to you that I feel needs to be said.”
With a flick of her wrist, Persephone sent a ball of fire sailing into the fireplace. It reignited the logs that were burning out, warming the room to a more comfortable temperature. “Let me guess, some further plea for your true love’s soul? Are you fearing I’ll damn him as he has to countless others?”
“Quite the contrary.” Despite Persephone trying to antagonize her, Alice managed to keep her voice calm and steady. “I’m more worried for yours.”
“I beg your pardon?” Persephone gave the undead merqueen a second chance to correct that statement before she smoked her like a brisket.
Ignoring the warning slathered into Persephone’s tone, she took a bold step forward and caught her by her wrists. “What I came to say, and you truly need to hear, is that I’m sorry. I’m sorry you ached for the love of a broken man. Sorry he never gave your marriage a chance. Sorry for the years and innocence he stole from you. I didn’t want this life for him. I need you to know that. I wish he could have moved on and made a happy life with you. That the two of you could have found a way to raise our daughter together, and pieced together a blissful existence from the shattered remains of tragedy. I know this may seem odd for me to say, and even more perplexing to hear, but from what I’ve come to know of you, you’re an amazing woman. Hades must have been blind not to see that.”
Biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste the coppery rush of blood, Persephone blinked back the hot rush of tears burning behind her eyes. “He was blinded… by you. He couldn’t see anything beyond his sorrow.”
Alice/Titonis’s hands slipped down, her fingers loosely linking with Persephone’s. “And you deserve better than that. I hope you know that.”
What could have been a tender moment of female bonding was ruined by a body falling from the ceiling.
The women jumped back as it crashed to the floor right next to them, with a thud that shook the ground beneath their feet.
“Is it dead?” Alice squawked in the same instant the crumpled form leapt to its feet. “Sterling?”
He shook his head once, and again, to shake off his fall. “Oh, good! There you are.”
“There we are? Where were you?” Persephone gasped, trying to remember how to breathe.
In place of an answer, Sterling’s head cocked with a feline twitch. “Is that what you wear to sleep? All that ribbon and lace. Roll wrong and you’ll tie yourself in knots.”
Using her arms to cover herself, Persephone pursed her lips. “Did you have something to share, Sterling? Or was your lone purpose to see if you could make our hearts leap into our throats? Because, as pastimes go, that one is not the greatest.”
“I have something very important to tell you!” Sterling bubbled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Before I do, do either of you need anything? A lucky charm? Favorite weapon? Anything at all you feel more confident having on your person.” A sideways glance to Persephone. “Like maybe clothing that doesn’t form a potential choking hazard?”
Catching his chin between her thumb and the side of her index finger, Persephone forced Sterling to make eye contact with her. “Sterling, I need you to focus. What is happening?”
Something that resembled sadness softened the features of the Cheshire Cat. Uncurling Persephone’s hand from his face, he held it in his and reached for Alice with the other. “All will soon be revealed. I just have to know that in this moment, you both have everything you need.”
Swallowing hard, Alice made the bold decision to jump in with both feet. “Ever
ything we need for what?”
Sterling’s mouth curled into a mischievous smile. “For… this.”
The world strobed around them.
Reality bent to Sterling’s will.
This time, he popped them out of one spot and into another with ease. As if it was as natural for him as breathing.
The scent of roses surrounded them the instant their bare feet sank into the dew-covered grass. Sterling celebrated his success with a beaming smile that neither of the ladies returned.
“What in Olympus’ name are you doing, Sterling?” Persephone spun in a circle, throwing her hands up at the walls of shrubberies surrounding them.
“I’m glad you know I’m not your sister. It’ll make it less emotionally jarring when I kick the ever loving crap out of you,” Titonis declared, stretching her neck in one direction then the other like a boxer moments from entering the ring.
“Oh, good! You’re angry! We can use that. We’ll need any and all weapons for what’s to come.” Reaching into the satchel he never seemed to take off his person, Sterling dug out two of the knives Persephone had been throwing earlier that same night. “These were all I could grab. I fear it’s far from enough.”
“Okay, don’t like seeing you with sharp things.” Lunging for him, Persephone slipped the blades out of his hand before he could take his own eye out. “I’ll take these, and maybe you explain why I’m in a garden in my nightgown?”
“I did mention the ribbons seemed a safety issue,” he pointed out, his tail curling into a question mark behind his head.
“A safety issue for what?” Persephone pressed, turning the knives blade down.
The night answered for him, in an ear-piercing shriek that echoed all around.
Falling into a crouch, Sterling searched the sky for signs of winged death. “Mostly… him. His mobility is back, and with it a fresh batch of white-hot hate. While you two were snipping over your mutual ex, he began circling the castle and looking for a chance to strike. Which seems to be right about now. That leaves you with two choices, Your Highness; stay and fight in that modest nightgown of frills and ribbon, or… we run.”
The Unfortunate Souls Collection Page 51