Persephone (28 page)

“Because Melissa needed me, and she means more to me than any other human being in either realm. And I’m glad I was able to stop the suffering of the people in the living realm, because I care about them just as much as I care about the souls. They didn’t deserve to freeze for me, and yeah, on a more selfish note it was really nice to see the sun again. I belong on the surface just as much as I do here.” I touched a hand to his cheek. “If you still want to find a way to undo it, go ahead. But not on my account.”

He smiled at me. “I couldn’t ask for a better queen.”

“I love you.” The words left my mouth of their own volition. I gulped at the empty air, trying to take them back.

He froze.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure,” I babbled. “Well, I guess I kind of have to be if I actually said it, but I’m not stupid. I know I’ve only known you for, like, three months, and the age difference is kind of colossal. But I know you feel the same way.”

“Persephone—”

I held up a hand to stop him. “You’re about to remind me that you don’t want to take advantage of me, but we’re kind of
married
.”

“Marriage doesn’t mean anything to gods.”

I moved closer to him, standing on my tiptoes until our lips were inches apart. “Maybe not, but it means something to you.”

“You’re hardly the first woman I’ve shown interest in,” Hades scoffed. His eyes sparkled with challenge. He wasn’t going to shrink away from me. He leaned closer. “There was Minthe, and Leuce, and—”

“Minthe?” I interrupted his list. He looked at me quizzically and I shook my head. It was just a strange coincidence. “Never mind. You didn’t
marry
them.”

“They got turned into plants,” Hades grumbled.

“I love you,” I said firmly. “That might change over time, but for right now, you’re the first person I think about when I wake up and the last before I go to sleep. When I’m happy, I want to tell you, and when I’m scared or upset, I know you’re the only one who can make things right. We may never work as a couple, but we’re linked for the rest of eternity. And I don’t know about you, but that’s too long for me to wonder ‘what if.’”

“Persephone—”

“There’s no pressure to do anything about it. I just thought you should know. I—”

Hades kissed me, hands cupping my face. It was a soft kiss, but not a quick one. With regret I broke the kiss.

“Unfortunately, I’ve got a curfew. See you later this week?”

“Later this week?” Hades asked, his hand still touching my face.

“Mmm, court,” I reminded him, leaning into his touch. “You’ll have to reschedule it, though. I’ve got school.”

“We’ll work it out.”

A thought occurred to me and I stepped out of his grasp so I could pursue it without distraction. “I could only charm Boreas because he’d sworn fealty to Zeus? There’s no other way?”

“With enough power, you might be able to charm me, since we’re bound together, but anyone else?” He shook his head. “Not to my knowledge.”

My heart began to pound. “It’s not about power? I channeled
everything
I had to charm him. I felt like I was about to blow up or something.”

Hades gazed into the distance, thinking. “The Titans had enough power to charm the minor gods. Zeus often managed with some of the lesser deities. So theoretically, it’s possible to have enough sheer power to overwhelm another god, but you don’t.”

He would know. He’d been channeling my power for weeks.

“Why?” Hades asked.

I opened my mouth to tell him my horrible suspicion, but the words wouldn’t come.
Oh gods, I promised I wouldn’t tell.

Thanatos had sworn fealty to Zeus. He’d been working for him this whole time. He’d left me right by the river of fire. What had he done after that? Pirithous wasn’t just in the right place at the right time; he’d been led straight to me. Thanatos hadn’t interfered with my escape from the Underworld, even after Cassandra yelled for him. He’d known I was going to Boreas. I thought back on every conversation we’d ever had. The words suddenly seemed twisted and manipulative.

“Oh gods,” I whispered. Tears gathered in my eyes.

“I know you’re scared of Zeus.” Hades misinterpreted my panic. He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “But you don’t have to be. I can protect you.” He grinned. “Not that you can’t protect yourself.”

I tried to correct him, tried to explain myself, but the words wouldn’t come. I willed myself to speak the words.
Thanatos is working for Zeus.
My head felt light, blood roared in my ears, and my stomach twisted. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

I
had
to tell him. Thanatos was a psychopomp. He could come and go from the Underworld anytime he wanted. I looked into the ballroom, blood running cold at the sheer number of Reapers mixed in with the crowd. Sucking in the light around them.

I couldn’t speak. My hand seized at the very thought of writing. I searched frantically for some kind of loophole but couldn’t think of anything.

“Are you okay?” Hades asked, eyes wide with concern.

“I’m tired,” I whispered.

He nodded. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks. Come on, let’s get you home. You said something about a curfew?”

I nodded, numb as he lead me away. I couldn’t bring myself to smile at the souls I passed. They were all in danger because of me. Because I’d been an idiot and allowed myself to get locked into a promise.

Some queen.

Returning to school was strange. The campus which had once felt so large to me seemed minuscule now. I hadn’t missed much. School had been closed through the blizzard. The weather was warm again, so Melissa and I ate lunch outside on our picnic blanket and quizzed each other for our human anatomy test next period.

“Well, look who’s back,” Rachel said in a snarky tone as she walked by. Her face pulled into a mask of fake sympathy. “I heard you were…traveling.”

I smiled at her, for just a moment reveling in the knowledge that I could charm her into jumping off a cliff. I knew all about the rumors circulating the school.

My mom couldn’t lie, so she’d told the main office I’d had a rare opportunity to do some exploring out of the country. Which was true, in a manner of speaking. We’d spent the weekend teleporting to all of her favorite places in Greece and Rome before I returned to school so I’d actually have something to tell the teachers. It had been fun until I realized I’d have to pull an all-nighter to write my reflections of a winter full of travels before school started.

“I had a great time,” I answered, looking her straight in the eye. “We got caught in some snow, though, which was weird. I heard it got pretty bad here too?”

Her pupils dilated and retracted. She looked at me, confused. “Uh, yeah,” she replied, sitting on the blanket. “It was so scary, we couldn’t go anywhere…”

I smiled at Melissa while she talked. School was much nicer since I’d gotten a handle on my charm. It was taking time, but I was working on releasing the students I’d unknowingly had in my power. With any luck, Rachel would be more like she used to be.

I drew six pomegranate seeds from my plastic bag. My hand froze halfway to my mouth, goose bumps rising on my flesh. A cool breeze tickled my hair, whispering my name in the wind. I stood, glaring into the stand of trees in the distance.

Someone was watching me.

A Sneak Peek at the Exciting Sequel to
Persephone

Daughter of Earth and Sky

I’d been here before. My bare feet glided down the leaf-strewn path, unharmed by the rocks and twigs crunching beneath me. Massive live oaks draped with Spanish moss created a canopy above me, transforming the forest path into a tunnel of speckled sunlight. The air was heavy with humidity. The moist heat pressed against my skin and stole the breath from my lungs.

A memory tugged at my mind, but I was unable to place it. My Eeyore nightshirt clung to my skin when I reached the path’s end.

“Dungeness,” I whispered, coming to a halt when I recognized the sprawling ruins of the ancient ivy-covered brick and stone manor. Athens Academy had taken my class on a weeklong trip to Georgia’s coastal islands freshman year. Cumberland Island had been a major highlight because of the sea turtles, wild horses, and these ruins.

“But how did I get here?” I knelt to pick up a smooth, white stone. The weight of it in my hand felt reassuring.

I turned, hoping the path held some answers, but it was no longer there. I stood on the shoreline looking out to sea. In the distance, a girl stood thigh-high in the ocean, clad in a gown of strategically placed sea foam. Although her back was to me, I could tell she was perfect. The curly ringlets of hair cascading down her flawless creamy skin matched the intense orange of the sky as the sun sank into the sea.

She glanced over her shoulder, aquamarine eyes meeting mine. I was shocked to hear Boreas’ cold voice roll off her tongue. “Zeus lives.”

My mind screamed against the onslaught of images that raced through my head: Cumberland Island, two sunsets, lightning crackling in the sky.

Dasvidaniya.
I forced myself to think the word, closing my mind to the invasion of images bombarding my mind…

I bolted up in bed with a gasp. A weight in my hand made me look down. I unclenched my fist, revealing the white stone from Dungeness. That had been no ordinary dream.

Gods used dreams to communicate with each other, but an unguarded mind is ripe for attack. To protect myself, I was supposed to think the word
dasvidaniya
before bed, closing my mind to other deities. But it had been months since Zeus had sent Boreas to abduct me, and nothing had happened since that horrible day in the clearing. I’d grown complacent.

That’s no excuse.
I glanced at my phone and saw it was almost three in the morning. With a groan I flopped back into bed, took a deep breath, and closed my eyes.
Hades.
I directed my thoughts to him. I could sense the energy of all the other sleeping deities, both alive and dead. It was a weird sensation, like catching a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye only to have it move before I turned my head. It was easier to find gods I knew. I could sense Hypnos’ energy right away, flickering like a strobe light beyond the horizon. He was always the easiest to find because I’d learned to dreamwalk from him in the Underworld.

I found Hades next, a bundle of dark energy guarded like a fortress. I sent out the mental equivalent of a knock and found myself in the Underworld, standing in his library.

“This better be good,” he grumbled, sitting in his usual oversized leather chair. The library faded into muted reds and browns, fuzzy and unfocused. Hades, on the other hand, was in hyper-focus, the sharp angles of his face almost too real in this strange setting.

My heart leaped at the sight of him. His dark curly hair fell into his bright blue eyes. His lips curved in a smile despite his grouchy tone. He loved me. How long would that last when he realized what I was hiding from him?

A few months ago, Thanatos, the God of Death, tricked me into promising that I wouldn’t reveal he was working for Zeus. Actually, I’d promised I wouldn’t tell anyone anything about Thanatos, and that Hades would have no help from me learning about his betrayal.

I was stupid like that sometimes.

I’d tried everything I could think of to break my word, but gods can’t lie. My promise was ironclad.

“It’s good to see you, too.” I leaned down and kissed his forehead, letting the images from my dream flow into him. I tried to slip thoughts of Thanatos through the kiss, but my mind rebelled at the idea, and I only managed to convey a troubled feeling. Given the nature of my dream, Hades wouldn’t think much of me feeling worried.

His eyebrows shot up. “When did this happen?”

“Less than a minute ago.” My hand trailed off his shoulder.

He gave me a disapproving look, but didn’t waste time lecturing me about leaving my mind unguarded. He could sense I was kicking myself enough as it was.