Authors: Aimée Carter
The Goddess Test Boxed Set: Goddess Interrupted\The Goddess Inheritance\The Goddess Legacy (26 page)
As we drove away, I twisted around to see
my mother's grave, dark against the remaining piles of white snow. James
was right; this wasn't an ending. It was the beginning my mother
had wanted for me and the beginning I'd wanted for
myself all along. I may not have planned on living forever, but now that I was,
I was going to make the most of every moment.
In one way or another,
everyone who has ever been a significant part of my life has helped me down this
path, and I'm grateful for everything. I'd like to acknowledge the
following people in particular:
Rosemary Stimola, my lovely agent who never
gives up. Thank you for taking a chance on me.
Mary-Theresa Hussey, my amazing editor, and
Natashya Wilson, Senior Editor at Harlequin Teen. You've both been
wonderfully supportive, and I'm so excited to continue this journey with
you.
The many teachers I've had over the
years, especially Terry Brooks, Jim Burnstein, Kathy Churchill, Larry Francis,
Wendy Gortney, Kim Henson, Chris Keane, Bob Mayer, Mike Sack and John Saul. By
teaching me how to tell a story, you showed me who I am.
Shannon and John Tullius. Your tireless
support gave me hope that maybe I wasn't as terrible as I thought I
was.
Sarah Reck and Caitlin Straw, the two best
friends and first readers I could ever ask for.
Melissa Anelli, the world's greatest
cheerleader.
And Jo, who changed my life just by living
hers.
Thank you all so much for everything.
Immortality or love. You can't
have both.
If you loved
The Goddess
Test,
don't miss the rest of the Goddess Test series. Available
now!
The Goddess Hunt
(novella)
Goddess Interrupted
The Goddess
Legacy
The Goddess Inheritance
“A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to
this romantic fable.”
âCassandra Clare on
The Goddess
Test
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Kate Winters has won
immortality. But if she wants a life with Henry in the Underworld, she'll
have to fight for it.
Becoming immortal wasn't
supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of
the Underworld, she's as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for
Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he's becoming ever more distant and
secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate's coronation, Henry is abducted by the
only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.
As the other gods prepare for a
war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths
of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld,
Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to
her future.
Henry's first wife,
Persephone.
“Do you accept your role as
Queen of the Underworld?” said Henry.
I could do this. I had to do
this. For Henry's sakeâfor my mother's sake. For my sake. Because in the
end, without Henry, I didn't know who I was anymore.
As I opened my mouth to say yes,
a crash shattered the silence. I twisted around to survey the damage, but
before I could get a good look, Ava appeared beside me and took my elbow.
“We have to get out of here.” As we scrambled forward, another crash echoed
through the hall, and a shimmering fog seeped into the palace. The same fog
from my vision.
This was the thing that had
nearly killed Henry, and now it was attacking all of us. Without warning, it
sliced through the air faster than the members of the council could control
it, but it wasn't aimed at Henry or Walter or Phillip.
It went directly for
me.
* * *
Praise for
THE GODDESS
TEST
by
Aimée Carter
“This absorbing,
contemporary take on the Greek myth of Persephone features romance,
mystery, suspense, and an engaging, fully dimensional
protagonist.”
â
Booklist
“[A]bsolutely unique, fresh
and fascinating.”
â
BewitchedBookworms.com
“The narrative is well
executed, and Kate is a heroine better equipped than most to confront and
cope with the inexplicable.”
â
Publishers
Weekly
Also by
Aimée Carter from Harlequin TEEN
THE GODDESS TEST
THE GODDESS HUNT (ebook)
AIMÃE CARTER
For Melissa Anelli,
who knows how it feels to climb that long,
winding road just to see the dawn.
Prologue
Calliope trudged through the sunny field as she ignored the babble of the redhead trailing behind her. Ingrid was the first mortal who had tried to pass the test to become Henry's wife, and maybe if he'd spent more than five minutes a day with her, Henry would've understood why Calliope had killed her.
“You're in for a treat,” said Ingrid, scooping up a rabbit from the tall grass and hugging it to her chest. “Everything's going to bloom at noon.”
“Like it did yesterday?” said Calliope. “And the day before that? And the day before that?”
Ingrid beamed. “Isn't it beautiful? Did you see the butterflies?”
“Yes, I saw the butterflies,” said Calliope. “And the deer. And every other pointless piece of your afterlife.”
A dark cloud passed over Ingrid's face. “I'm sorry you think it's stupid, but it's my afterlife, and I like it this way.”
It took a great deal of effort, but Calliope fought off the urge to roll her eyes. Upsetting Ingrid would only make things worse, and at the rate this was going, it would be ages before Calliope got out of here. “You're right,” she said tightly. “It's only that I never spend any time in this realm, so the process is unfamiliar to me.”
Ingrid relaxed and ran her fingers through the rabbit's fur. “Of course you don't spend time here,” she said with a giggle that set Calliope's teeth on edge. “You're a goddess. You can't die. Unlike me,” she added, skipping across a few feet of meadow. “But it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be.”
If that idiot of a girl knew a damn thing, she'd have known that Calliope wasn't just any goddess. She was one of the original six members of the council, before they'd had children and the council had expanded. Before her husband had decided fidelity was beneath him. Before they'd started handing out immortality like it was candy. She was the daughter of Titans, and she wasn't merely a goddess. She was a queen.
And no matter what the council and that bitch Kate had decided, she didn't deserve to be here.
“Good,” said Calliope. “Death is a stupid thing to fear.”
“Henry makes sure I'm comfortable. He comes by every once in a while and spends the afternoon with me,” said Ingrid, and she added with a catty grin, “You never did tell me who won.”
Calliope opened her mouth to say that it wasn't a contest, but that wasn't true. Every part of it had been a competition, and she'd worked for the prize far more than the others. She'd wiped out her opponents masterfully. Even Kate would have died if Henry and Diana hadn't intervened.
Calliope should've won, and the grin on Ingrid's face felt like salt in the gaping hole where her heart had once been. First she'd lost her husband, and when she thought she'd found someone who could understand her plight and give her the love she so badly desired, that someoneâHenryâhad never given her a chance. Because of it, she'd lost everything. Her freedom, her dignity, every ounce of respect she'd fought to gain through the millennia, but most of all, she'd lost Henry.
They'd been together, two of the original six, since before the beginning of humanity. For eons she'd watched him, shrouded in mystery and loneliness no one could break, at least until Persephone had come along. And after what she'd done to himâ
If anyone deserved to be punished, it was Persephone. All Calliope had ever wanted was for Henry to be happy, and one day he would understand that the only way he would ever be was when they were finally together. No matter how long it took, she would make him see. And in the end, Kate would pay for robbing them of precious time from their future.
“Calliope?” said Ingrid, and Calliope tried to shake the thoughts from her head. The words escaped into the recesses of her mind, but her anger and bitterness remained.
“Kate,” said Calliope, spitting out the name as if it were poisonous. “Her name's Kate. She's Diana's daughter.”
Ingrid's eyes widened. “And Persephone's sister?”
Calliope nodded, and behind Ingrid, a strange fog formed in the distance. It seemed to beckon toward her, but she resisted the urge to cut loose from Ingrid and follow it. As long as she was serving her sentence spending time with each girl she'd killed, she couldn't leave without alerting Henry. If she deliberately disobeyed the council's orders, she would be permanently banished and her spot on the council filled by someone else.
She knew exactly who that someone else would be, and she swore to herself that as long as she was still a goddess, Kate would never get anywhere near her throne.
Calliope eyed the fog. “Have you ever been through there?”
“Through where?” said Ingrid. “The trees? Sometimes, but I prefer the meadow. Did you know the flower petals taste like candy? You should try them.”
“I don't eat candy,” said Calliope, still distracted by the fog. She hadn't seen anything else like it while in the Underworld, and it must mean something. Maybe it was Henry's way of telling her she could move on to the next girl. Perhaps he understood how awful Ingrid was after all.
“How can you not eat candy?” said Ingrid. “Everyone eats candy.”
“I'm not everyone,” said Calliope. “Stay here.”
“So you can walk away?” said Ingrid. “I don't think so. You need me to forgive you before you leave, or have you forgotten already?”
Calliope gritted her teeth. Of course she hadn't forgotten, but as far as she was concerned, Ingrid was never going to forgive her. Even if she did, Calliope doubted every girl she'd killed would, as per Kate's ruling, which meant she would likely be stuck in the Underworld for eternity. That was longer than Calliope was prepared to wait. “Unless you want me to attach your feet to the ground, you will stay,” she snapped.
“You can do that?”
Calliope didn't bother answering. Instead she headed toward the fog and away from Ingrid, who at least had the decency not to follow her. The farther from Ingrid she got, the dimmer the meadow became, until Calliope was surrounded by rockâthe real face of the Underworld now that there wasn't a dead soul around to influence its appearance.
Now that she was closer, she could see that the fog wasn't really fog after all. Instead it seemed to shimmer in the air, a thousand tendrils of light reaching for her. Calliope reached back, and the moment her fingers touched the strange glow, she understood why it had called to her. At last, after decades of waiting, he was awake.
Calliope smiled, and a rush of power so ancient it didn't have a name spread through her. With Ingrid nothing more than a distant memory, she stepped forward, and the anger she'd harbored for so long finally found its purpose.
“Hello, Father.”