by Amy Braun
But all I could think about was what she might really want. Everyone, god or mortal, had motives and desires. They wanted things from other people.
And I was no different.
“My lady, I want to ask something of you.”
Wheat rasped against her dress as she walked closer. “What do you wish for, my son?”
I needed to be careful. I wanted Persephone’s help, but I couldn’t be caught in debt to another god. I was already snared by them, quite literally bound to one of the worst. But I had to make bargains and sacrifices where I could.
“Ares has placed two hexes on me. The War Pact, and a hex that stops me from speaking the truth to my friends.” I scraped my nails against the War Pact. If only I could scratch the damn mark off so easily. “I need them both removed.”
Persephone looked at my neck. Her fingers grazed my skin, raising goosebumps. Her touch was featherlight and icy cold.
“This is your forefather’s,” she stated. “My magic cannot override his.”
“I didn’t say anything about overriding it.”
Persephone looked me dead in the eye. Her expression, once so warm and welcoming, turned frosty and hard. Her aura seeped out and slammed against mine, ripping the air from my lungs.
“No,” she hissed. “Absolutely not.”
“Please, just hear me out.”
Persephone glared, her aura crippling the air around me. I took a breath, exhaled—it was so cold that I could see my exhalation turn into mist—and told her my plan.
“Ares’ hexes can only be undone one of two ways. By Ares, or by death. And you are a goddess of the Underworld. You’re connected to death in ways I can’t be. You control aether. And, if I’m being totally honest, you’re the only one I trust to do this.”
My other options were hiring a sorrow scion to temporarily kill me and hoping my gamble worked or taking my chance with another Olympian. Neither of those sounded particularly great.
“I’m not asking for a permanent death,” I clarified. “Five minutes would be the most I ask. Just long enough to completely erase the hexes. Ares won’t find me if it’s removed, and I can keep my friends safe.”
She kept staring at me with those beautiful, haunting eyes. I was freezing, my breath misting out in front of me and my muscles tight against the cold. She still said nothing.
“Queen Persephone, please.” I touched the scar. “I never wanted this to begin with. It was forced on me, and it’s done more harm than good. It’s literally only brought me more curses. Things will only get worse the longer it stays on.” I hesitated and added, “I will be in debt to you.”
The rational half of my mind kicked the desperate half. Declaring that I was indebted to a god was tantamount to playing Russian roulette. I might get lucky, but I’d more likely end up dead.
“I don’t want to die,” I confessed, “but I can’t live under Ares’s thumb. I can’t put the people I care about at risk.”
Memories raced through my mind—Mason teasing Corey and getting a shy laugh from him; Thea fiercely defying Kallis and her past; Selena standing on the balcony, walking a line between fragility and strength; Liam joking, growing, and always standing beside me.
They’d all suffered enough. I couldn’t be the reason they suffered any more. I had to take that danger out of the equation for good. If that meant I owed Persephone a favor, then I was willing to pay that price.
“You love them all, don’t you?”
I slipped out of the memories to look the goddess in the eye. Her icy aura had dimmed a little. My breath was no longer a fog.
“Yes,” I answered. “I do.”
I tried to read her, but it was like reading stone. She gave nothing away. It made me wonder what it was like to survive the Courts of the Underworld.
I can’t imagine it would be all moonlight picnics and glitzy balls.
“I will do this thing for you,” Persephone said.
I waited, but she added nothing. “What do you want in exchange?”
“I have yet to decide.”
“But—”
A spear of coldness struck me again. For a minor Olympian, she was strong.
“I am about to kill one of my sons, after meeting him only hours ago. Do not make further demands of me.”
Quickly, I bowed my head. “Forgive me. It wasn’t my intent to offend.”
Persephone said nothing else. I was starting to feel uncomfortable.
“Where… where should we do this?”
“Here shall suffice.” She reached out to touch my chest. Aether curled around her finger.
I jumped back. “Wait, I… I need to tell my brother.”
Persephone raised an eyebrow.
“We have a blood bond,” I explained. “I don’t know how death will affect it, but he’s going to know something’s happened to me. I can’t risk scaring him like that.” And I want him here. If something goes wrong… I need him here.
Because while I would never admit it aloud, I was fucking scared by what I was about to do.
Yes, it had been my plan from the moment I left Kallis’s cell to find Persephone. Yes, I tangled with death all the time in my job and on our mission. Yes, I usually brushed it off.
But seeing that spiral of aether around the goddess’s finger, not knowing for sure if it would be permanent, having no idea what I would encounter on the other side, aware that Hades would probably figure out I was an illegitimate son of his wife’s and Ares’s the moment he saw me…
Yeah. I was scared.
Persephone lowered her hand and nodded. Taking another breath—I just couldn’t seem to catch them out here—I called my brother.
He didn’t answer immediately, but he was there only fifteen minutes later. He slowed down when he saw me standing with Persephone.
he said,
I folded my arms across my chest and sighed. “I know how to get rid of Ares’ hexes. Persephone can do it.”
Liam narrowed his eyes. “But there’s a huge catch, isn’t there?”
I nodded and took a deep breath. “I have to die.” I raised a hand. “Briefly. Just long enough to nullify the Pact and the honesty hex. Then Persephone will bring me back. Should only take a couple of minutes.”
His eyes bored into me. “If it works.”
I nodded. “If it works. But she’s an Underworld goddess, ace. The only person with more control or understanding of it is Hades, and I don’t exactly want to explain the situation to him. Persephone is the only goddess we can trust won’t hurt us.”
“Because she’s our foremother.” He was sounding it out, reasoning it in his own head, as if he hoped it would make more sense there.
I nodded again. Eternity seemed to pass before Liam spoke again.
“How certain are you that this will work?”
“Not really,” I answered honestly. “But what choice do we have?”
Liam huffed. “I’d rather you pick the option that doesn’t kill you.”
Persephone glided past me. She moved next to Liam and placed a hand on his shoulder. He stared at her with wide eyes while she looked at him with complete adoration.
“I will not allow any suffering to befall him, Liam. You have my word and honor.”
Those were no small promises. Yet Liam didn’t look convinced.
“I’m not going to move from wherever she puts me,” I assured my brother. “Wherever I end up, that’s where I’ll stay until she brings me back. I swear on Selena’s life and yours.”
That caught his attention. I didn’t make the best choices. I owned that. But I made them because I wanted to keep my friends safe, and pain was an old, bitter friend. I hated that my choices hurt those I cared about indirectly, but I hadn’t learned how to stop yet. It was something I was so used to, a reflex. I’d taken so much pain for Liam in the past that it was just engrai
ned into me. Liam was the reason I tried to be better every single day. I loved him. And Selena.
I felt it like a punch in the chest.
Gods, I do. I love her so much.
I knew I disappointed them by standing in the line of fire. I knew that had to change. But not today. Today, I had to free myself from Ares.
Liam shuddered and drew away from Persephone. He clapped his hands to his face and paced back and forth. I watched him until he stopped and faced me.
“How long? How long will you be down there?”
“Five minutes, tops.” I gave Persephone a weak smile. “Sooner would be better.”
“What is this going to cost you?” Liam interjected. “What was the new bargain to get rid of your hexes?”
I knew what he meant, and I was quick to say through the bond.
He gripped his hair. “This is by far the stupidest, craziest thing you’ve ever done. And I’m including the time you fought a manticore one-on-one.” He squeezed his fists again, then sighed and released his hair. “But if it works… you’ll officially earn your badass rank.”
I laughed then walked over and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. Liam hugged me tighter.
“Five minutes, ace. I promise.”
He didn’t reply, just nodded.
We separated, and I looked at Persephone. Her face had turned to stone once more. She held out her hand. Aether swirled in her palm, and when it vaporized, two copper coins lay there.
“Coins for Charon. You cannot die unless you pass over with him.”
I stared at the coins, my stomach sinking with every passing second. The reality of what I was about to do finally hit me, and it did not feel good.
“Once you cross to the other side, I shall retrieve you. Do not touch Charon. Do not touch the water.”
I nodded and took the coins. “I understand,” I told her hollowly. “I’m ready.”
Persephone’s eyes were cold. A frosty tinge of magic spilled into the air.
“No. You are not.”
A black aether tendril reached out and touched my chest. A blistering, freezing pain speared through me. I closed my eyes.
I woke up on cold, rocky ground. Gods above and below, I’d never been so cold in all my life.
I pushed myself up, feeling hollow in my chest. I looked at it but saw no mark. What the hell happened? I couldn’t remember much. Something to do with my brother and a woman…
Water lapped nearby. I looked up and felt another chill go down my spine, one that had nothing to do with the temperature.
A vast lake stood before me. The water was coal gray. A pale layer of fog rested atop it and stretched to a ceiling I couldn’t see. I couldn’t see through the fog either. The entire space was a dreary, misty room that seemed to close in from every direction.
As my eyes adjusted, I could make out the barest details.
In the middle of the haze was a small rowboat. Standing inside the rowboat was a hooded figure. I was too far away to see the details of his face, aside from his eyes.
Two blazing red eyes against a shadowed face.
“Come, Derek Areios. It is time to pay your dues and cross.”
The voice was deep and creaky, like an old basement door being pulled open. I most definitely did not want to cross. I was trying to hang on to memories, some kind of promise I made, but I knew that going with that… person was not going to take me anywhere good.
Yet… there was something I needed to do. Something important.
I squeezed my fist shut. Felt something inside it. Looked into my palm and saw… two copper coins.
Coins for Charon.
My feet worked automatically. Suddenly, I was standing in front of the hooded man and holding out the coins. I looked into his hood, seeing only parts of a face—the sharp edges of a pointed jaw, the hard line of a mouth, the slash of a nose. His eyes flickered and burned like flames.
His fingers were made of aether, and his touch was sharp and bony when he scraped the coins from my hands. He held the coins up to his eyes. The ember irises burst in a flash, and the coins were incinerated.
“The payment is fair. Board and pass away, Derek Areios.”
My feet felt like lead. I didn’t want to leave that shore. I felt safe there, sure of things. But the nagging in the back of my mind persisted.
I set one foot into the rowboat and then another.
Charon laughed, the noise rippling down my spine, and pushed away from the dock.
We were enveloped by the mist. There were no lights save for Charon’s glowing eyes. I reached for my magic, but nothing happened. It was gone.
This isn’t right.
No matter how many times I tried to use my fire, I failed to conjure it. Charon laughed at every failed attempt.
I settled into the boat and tried to remain calm.
That was when I heard the voices.
I didn’t know what they were saying. I heard fragments of words and distant screams and haunting laughter from all around me. Left, right, back, front, overhead. Everywhere. Some of the voices were horribly familiar. Others were from strangers who somehow knew my name.
I swear I heard my own voice calling me.
But the worst, the absolute worst, was when I looked over the edge of the boat.
Flickers of faces peeked up from under the dark water. Haunting phantoms with elongated, screaming expressions. Skeletal fingers creeping along the edge of the boat. Flashes of faces that belonged to people I’d cared about once.
I gripped the edge of the boat and peered closer. I needed to see where they were. They didn’t belong there. They needed my help.
Didn’t they?
Charon’s laugh deepened, becoming a cackle of glee when I stretched my hand out over the boat’s edge.
Do not touch the water.
But if it works… you’ll officially earn your badass rank.
Five minutes, ace. I promise.
I yanked my hand back, placed both of them on the cold wooden seat and sat on them. Then I glared at Charon until he stopped laughing.
But soon, he was cackling again.
“Some are strong enough to resist Styx’s call,” said the ferryman. “Let us see how you fare on the other side.”
Wood grated along gravel, and the boat came to a stop. I turned and saw we were out of the fog. The shore looked like the same rocky scrap of land I’d woken up on, but beyond it…
I staggered out of the boat and walked forward. I stopped at the edge of a cliff.
Beyond me were incredible, roaring waterfalls, the likes of which I had never seen. Orange, green, blue, white, and purple streams cascaded from five great rivers. Nestled around those rivers were towering buildings and palaces that looked like they’d been carved from marble or obsidian. Craggy stalagmites and stalactites turned the entire wide cavern into a maw of teeth. The area I stood in seemed small, and yet I knew the place had no ending to it. What I was seeing… it was just the beginning.
I took another step forward.
“Derek.”
I paused, recognizing that voice. I looked over my shoulder.
A goddess stood behind me, her skin pale as the ghost fog I’d just passed through, her black hair threaded with gold, her eyes a mix of gold and blue. She wore a silver crown and a black gown as if she expected to mourn.
She extended a hand to me. “It is time to return.”
I blinked. Return? To where? And why? That place beyond the cliffs, where the rivers fell for eternity…
“My Queen,” rasped Charon.
Her power rippled across the shore, cold and unforgiving. “Be silent, servant,” she snapped. “This is between me and my charge. You will not speak a word of it to my husband.”
Charon bowed so low he nearly broke in half. “Of course, my Queen. Your will is without question, your grace and fury with
out measure.”
She didn’t even blink in his direction. Her hand remained extended, her eyes mesmerizing.
“Return, Derek Areios. Return to the sun. Your loved ones wait with tears and hopes.”
Loved ones. A boy with brown hair and a woman with silver-blue eyes.
Liam. Selena.
I reached for the queen, placed my hand in hers.
Light burst through the cavern. My chest imploded, and I sucked in a breath.
Sunlight stabbed my eyes. Hard earth put an ache in my back. Wheat tickled my arms and neck.
Whoa. That was intense.
Persephone stood to my right, dressed exactly as I’d seen her in the Underworld.
Gods above and below. I had been to the Underworld. And I came back.
I pushed myself up, feeling groggy and heavy and barely able to comprehend—
A body slammed into me and knocked me to the earth again. Arms tightened around my neck and hair fell into my mouth. She was shaking.
“You idiot,” Selena whispered. “You complete, godsdamned idiot. What the hell were you thinking?”
I slid my arms around her. “It’s okay,” I murmured. “I’m back. I’m still alive.”
She choked on a sob and squeezed tighter.
“Sel.” Liam’s voice sounded thick and ragged. “Let him up, please.”
Selena gripped me a moment longer, then raised herself off me. She grabbed my hand and helped me to my feet. I stood easily enough, though when a rush of dizziness and lightheadedness hit me, I widened my stance so I wouldn’t fall.
Why is it daylight out? And why is Liam so pale?
“The scar is gone,” he said.
I pressed my fingers to my neck where the War Pact was supposed to be and found only smooth, unbroken skin. I couldn’t help but smile.
“It worked.” I turned to Persephone. “I can’t thank you enough, Lady Persephone.” I bowed. The queen inclined her head and smiled politely, yet her eyes were distant and focused on something other than me.
Selena hadn’t let go of my hand. I turned back to her and Liam.
“Guys, this is a good thing,” I reminded them. “Ares can’t control me anymore. It was worth a couple of minutes—”
“It wasn’t a couple of minutes, Derek,” Liam interrupted.