and strangely without malice. “I don’t wish to torture you, Harmonia. I simply know no other way to gain your cooperation.
“I need you to wake up now. Sneak outside of the palace and you will find someone waiting to bring you to me. Come alone. Do not wake Cadmus or anyone else. If you do, the consequences will be dire. I will not only send your mother and friends to Tartara, but I will be forced to take your daughter, as well. Don’t force me to do that.”
He studied me for a silent moment, his handsome face impassive as he waited. I struggled internally for a moment, but quickly came to the realization that I had no choice.
I nodded. “Fine. I will come to you and we will discuss this.”
“Oh, I doubt there will be much discussion. But come to me. And these three women will be saved.”
I opened my eyes. I was safely in bed with Cadmus and Raquel. But I wasn’t truly safe, I knew that. And at the moment, neither were Jess, Jenn or my mother. I sighed and brushed a kiss across Raquel’s brow. She was sleeping quietly, her face angelic in her slumber. I watched her for a moment, memorizing every plane of her face. I had no idea when I would see her again. I leaned over her and kissed Cadmus lightly on the cheek without waking him. In his sleep, he tightened his arm around us and a knot tightened in my throat. Quietly, I slipped from under his arm and out of bed.
“Mama?” A small voice called. “Where are you going?”
I startled and turned back. “Raquel, I thought you were asleep,” I whispered, leaning back over the bed.
She shook her head. “I’m too excited to sleep.” I brushed her hair away from her face.
“I’ll be back in just a while, sweetpea,” I murmured. “You stay here with daddy and keep him company, alright?”
She nodded trustingly and I swallowed hard as I bent to kiss her one more time before I turned and walked into the hall, working my way stealthily to the main floor of the palace.
Peeking out the back windows, I found everyone still dancing and laughing outside in the courtyard. I crept past the windows lining the terrace and out onto a side porch. I stopped abruptly when I found Eris sitting on the top step. Her dark hair was piled on her head and her white gown was spread around her.
She looked at me for a moment, but her gaze was not vindictive. It was just… matter-of-fact.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she murmured.
I returned her gaze and lifted my chin. It had seemed that treachery had found me once again. Would it never end?
Chapter Thirteen
“I should have expected this from you,” I hissed as I stepped down the wide stone steps after Eris. “What was I thinking in trusting you?”
Eris glanced over her shoulder at me as we quickly walked away from the palace. “Normally, you would be correct and entirely valid in your opinion of me. This time, however, I have had no choice. Hades has Alexi’s soul now. He said that he will return it to us if I do this one thing.”
“It’s always ‘one thing’ with you, isn’t it?” I asked wearily. “The Fates asked ‘one thing’ of you before- to bewitch Cadmus and kidnap him to the Spiritlands. You happily did that, didn’t you?”
“Are we back to that?” she snapped. “They promised to return my immortality. Surely you can understand why I took that deal!”
I tried to block the unwanted images of Cadmus and Eris locked in an embrace. She had bewitched him and given him a love potion to make him think that he was in love with her. She had taken him back to her home in the Spiritlands in order to lure Aphrodite and me there. It had worked and Eris had taken quite a lot of enjoyment in taunting me with that situation. It was hard to forget, but I shook the memories away now. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the past.
“No. I probably will never forgive you for that. But I suppose that I can somewhat understand your actions today,” I admitted gruffly. “I, too, would do anything for those that I love. I find that I cannot hold it against you.”
Eris looked strangely vulnerable for a moment and I wondered, just briefly, if she did possess a conscience after all. But she quickly masked it and continued walking briskly. I followed behind her and we fell into silence, but it wasn’t long until we came to a Lotus tree.
An owl was perched on the lowest limb and I would almost swear that it was the same owl that I saw next to the Necromanteion. I studied it and it looked back at me with unblinking amber eyes. It had to be the same. Eris held out her hand and the owl extended a clenched claw, dropping two small bright pink blossoms onto her palm. She held one out to me and put the other in her mouth.
“No, don’t!” I cried, reaching out to stop her, but it was too late. She was already chewing.
“Eris, what have you done? You know that you cannot leave here now.”
She stared at me calmly.
“What I know is that things are very muddled right now. It is difficult to say who will wind up on top. And is there really a ‘top’? I find, as time goes on, that things are rarely what they seem and power is a very fluid and finicky thing. Eating these is the only way to quickly arrive at Hades’ palace, a place where we both need to be. If Zeus comes to his senses, perhaps he will provide a way for us to return. If not, perhaps Hades will be good to us.” She shrugged her thin shoulders and then swallowed.
I stared at her in apprehension. Her words were uncharacteristically wise. She was right. We had no idea who would end up in control when all was said and done. In the meantime, we had to do what we needed to do in order to take care of ourselves. I reached out a shaking hand and took the flower. Chewing it, I damned myself to an eternal existence in the Underworld. My only hope now was that someone took mercy on me and set me free. I swallowed. But it was what I had to do. And as a mother, I would do it again and again and again in order to secure Raquel’s safety.
Eris looked at me and nodded. “Ready?” She grasped my hand and we were gone.
Before I knew it, we were standing in front of Hades’ imposing palace. My head whirled just a bit from the instantaneous travel, but after just a moment, I felt back to normal. I felt just like any other person would who was walking to their eternal damnation: Numb.
The drawbridge lowered and the guards nodded to us. Clearly, we were expected. We quickly entered, stepping into the entryway and found Hades waiting.
“Ladies,” he nodded. I stared at him in return. He might think that he wanted to keep me for all of eternity, but I was not going to make it pleasant. “Welcome back.”
He snapped his fingers and a hunchbacked undead servant appeared.
“Yes, sir?” the servant asked.
“Bring Alexi,” Hades demanded.
I stared at him dumbfounded. “How did you get him so fast? He was in Zeus’ palace when I left.”
Hades smiled. “No, he wasn’t. He was in Zeus’ palace when you retired for a nap. Now he is here.”
He offered no explanation and I found that I really didn’t care to know how he had retrieved Alexi so quickly. Within minutes, the servant had returned with him. As always, Alexi was cold and unemotional. I knew now that it was because his soul was gone. I hadn’t known that when I had first met him- when he had shown up in my bedroom in the mortal world to take me to the Spiritlands for the Fates. I had just thought he was a jerk.
He stood before me now, his arms limply at his sides, his eyes straight ahead. He was handsome in a very pale way. He wasn’t my personal cup of tea, but Eris was staring at him with hearts in her eyes. I couldn’t believe that I had never noticed that before, either. I briefly wondered how long it had been going on before Hades moved to a corner of the room.
The Box of Souls sat on a marble pedestal. I almost cried out, but restrained myself. How had Hades gotten it from the Keres? But just as soon as I wondered, the answer came to me. Obviously, Alecto had somehow finagled it. I found that once again, I didn’t want to know the details.
Hades opened the lid and simply reached into the box. Within a second, he had withdrawn his ha
nd and closed the box once again, turning around to face us.
“You realize the price?” he asked Eris.
She nodded stoically, without saying a word.
“You are bound to me for eternity,” Hades said. “You belong to me now.”
Eris nodded once more, one short determined nod. I didn’t bother to protest or try to intervene. I knew what it was like to trade yourself for someone else. I knew her mind would not be swayed. I had to admit, I respected her for her decision. She was putting someone above herself, something I never thought I would see.
“Very well,” Hades said pleasantly. “We have a deal.”
He extended his hand and opened his fingers, blowing a puff of air in that direction. A shimmery cloud formed in front of us and sailed directly toward Alexi. He automatically opened his mouth and then stiffened as the cloud filled him up. He was rigid and silent for a moment while color quickly flooded his cheeks. The change was immediate and obvious.
Alexi looked around in confusion for a moment before he was able to compose himself. The first expression to cross his face was a perplexed one. And then relief as he saw Eris.
“Eris?” he breathed.
She flew into his arms in record time and I had the sudden urge to cry. Somehow, my arch nemesis had managed to procure a deal that would keep she and her beloved together for eternity. It didn’t matter to them that they belonged to Hades now- they would face that together. I felt an overwhelming rush of jealousy. I didn’t have that anymore. I had to leave my soul mate in order to protect my family. It was the story of my life.
“Now, then,” Hades said pleasantly. “You may return to the Spiritlands. You will be more useful there than here right now.”
“The Spiritlands?” Eris repeated uncertainly. Hades nodded.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Sometimes it is very useful to me to have people on the outside. You will assist me greatly in the future, I can feel it.”
Eris’ shoulders dropped just a bit and I saw the corners of Hades’ mouth curl slightly.
“It will be fine, Eris,” he soothed. “I protect my own. Now, go.”
He waved his hand and Eris and Alexi were gone. I was left alone in the foyer with the god of the Underworld. He assessed my mood from where he stood, his dark head cocked thoughtfully.
“And here you are,” he murmured, moving smoothly to my side. Lifting one slender hand, he stroked the side of my face. I struggled to not flinch. “You have done the right thing,” he assured me. “You will be happy here.”
“Will I?” I asked sharply. “I’ve had to leave my family.”
“We’ll discuss that over dinner,” he replied, offering me his arm. “Now that you can eat here, I have had a feast prepared in your honor. I’ll allow you to retire to your rooms to freshen up. You’ll find fresh clothing for you on your bed.”
He had laid out clothing for me? Strange. I shook my head, but knew that there was nothing I could do but comply. He led me to a suite of rooms, but instead of leaving me, he followed me in. I turned to him in surprise.
“Why are you staying?”
“Because I’m not ready to leave you yet,” he replied smoothly. His expression was almost eager and the fact that we were alone together in a bedroom slammed into me. I backed away.
“I will never give myself to you willingly,” I promised.
“We’ll see,” he murmured, sliding back up next to me. “Never is a very long time and I’m very patient. But for now, I only wanted to show you something. Come look.”
He moved to one corner of the elaborate suite and pulled a velvet curtain away from a long mirror. It stood at least seven feet tall and was framed in wrought gold.
“Show me Raquel,” he demanded. Instantly, the sparkling mirror shimmered and I could see inside Zeus’ palace, where Raquel and Cadmus were still peacefully sleeping. They had no idea yet that I was even gone. I felt a rush of relief. Even though it was inevitable, I wanted to put off their heartache for just a bit longer.
“Is this what you meant when you said that I could remain with her?” I asked. “Because that wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”
My Tattered Bonds Page 28
