by Cate Masters
He studied her. “Interesting.”
“Right. Most people wouldn’t question it, I suppose.” They’d kill to come here. Or die.
His face softened, not quite a smile. “Most people aren’t you.”
Meaning most people didn’t have relatives in the Underworld. “I suppose I am tainted.”
“Unique,” he corrected her.
Ha, semantics. “Nice spin. You’d make a good PR guy.” And much more appealing than the Underworld’s.
“I meant it as a compliment. I’m sorry if I offended you.”
Now she’d disappointed him. Pushed too hard; one of her faults. “Never mind.” She sat on a rock and watched the water gush and spray, a force of nature. Did the same rules of nature apply here? It seemed unlikely, but she had no way to tell, and didn’t want another cryptic reply from Bodie.
He sat beside her. “What can I do?”
All the confusion and stress of the past few days rushed to the surface, an internal waterfall exploding with the same turgid strength. It fractured and burst her façade of aloofness. If only she knew, she could tell him. She didn’t dare speak; her lip quivered uncontrollably, and it took all she had to fight the tears threatening.
What the hell happened to her life? She’d gone out with friends to celebrate a freaking birthday. A milestone, supposedly. Had she known others waited for the same milestone to invade her privacy and ruin everything she’d worked so hard to build for herself, she’d have stayed home. Locked the damn door.
Bodie drew her against him. “Shhh.”
Until he smoothed her hair, she didn’t notice the hot tears on her cheek. So pathetic. Pull yourself together! Never show weakness. Or that she cared. It only made her vulnerable, a broken chink in her tough demeanor, a back door into her psyche someone could sneak into, exploit whenever, after this display.
The release felt too good to stop. Too necessary. She clutched his shirt and sobbed. Anger, frustration, and yeah, fear. She wouldn’t tell him that, for the first time in her life, she’d lost control of her future, and after fighting so hard for it. The thought might not terrify her quite so much if those wanting to take over her life weren’t the stuff of nightmares. Characters from a fairy tale gone wrong.
Oh yeah, that was her life. A fairy tale gone wrong.
Chapter Six
“No word of her?” From her would be too much to ask, apparently. Ungrateful wench. Hades glared at Zeveriah, Archduke of High Screwups.
Zev stared at a spot on the floor. “They’re in the Ante-realm.”
“You followed them there?” Hades rushed to add, “Did you make any attempt to stop them from entering?”
“Of course. The angel disabled my car, so—”
“You’re depending on mortal-made vehicles now?” Hades wanted to spit. He might have to rethink the CFO position. He wasn’t sure he wanted Zeveriah a permanent member of the family, if only through marriage.
Zev crumpled, an apoplectic emptiness in his gaze. “No sir. My minions immediately followed them. At my order. I followed, also—”
“Never mind. It’s done.” A new low, even for Zeveriah, stooping to false respect. “We move on from here. Plan B. Do you have one?”
Zev’s eyes sparked with anger, his lips a grim line. “My servants await their re-entry. They can’t stay in there forever.”
“Let’s hope not. For your sake.” He eased back in his chair and rocked. “Then what?”
“Lily comes home.”
Hades’ hardness melted. He wished she thought of this as home. She could learn to love it as much as his Persephone.
Zeveriah’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Perhaps I could borrow the Helmet of Darkness?”
“No.” Hades reserved use of the helmet for those who earned the honor. He understood why the archduke coveted it; wearing it, Zeveriah would be invisible. It would give him an unfair advantage over Lily and the angel.
Devious. Something Hades admired. Normally.
Enough sentimental nonsense. He rifled through the papers on his desktop. “Where do we stand on the audit?”
“Nearly completed.”
“Tomorrow’s the deadline.” He’d expected Zeveriah to accomplish his normal duties. Yes, the audit only happened every century, making it a huge undertaking, but all the more reason the archduke should have prepared.
“I understand. The business with Lily delayed me.”
Hades peered at his employee through heavy lidded eyes. “Lily is not a business. And I’ll tolerate no excuses.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Tomorrow. Don’t be late.” He dismissed the archduke with a wave. Whatever else may happen, he wouldn’t lose focus on maintaining his wealth. He wasn’t called the Lord of Riches for nothing. Yes, the power of a good deal held no equal. Or a good scam.
The urge to visually assess his assets propelled him out of his office. He loved his work, but a drive would help clear his head. He strode down the long hallway, tallying each room as he passed. The immense dining room where family gathered, or guests of honor, filled with gilded urns, and an exquisite tapestry. The ballroom, the study, whose ancient texts historians would kill for. He chuckled. Maybe he’d tempt one with an old book, for amusement. It had been too long since he’d played such a prank and he sure as hells needed a diversion.
After the smaller dining room where he and Persephone shared intimate meals, the entertainment room with its variety of gadgets and games most mortals would drool over.
Next door to that, the main parlor. A restful place for reading, talking quietly by the fire. Fires provided an important element to every room, integral to the atmosphere within the castle.
Hades jogged down the front steps that fanned out toward the main driveway arcing toward the palace. At the bottom of the stairs, he turned and scanned the tall spires, their metal gleaming. Stone and metal, strong as his empire.
Two other roads wound toward the castle, and as always, a steady stream of souls traveled them. There, where the three roads met, souls were sentenced to their final fates. Those approaching lined up outside the forecourt of the palace. They shuffled along, awaiting their turn before the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. The blessed passed from there to Elysium. If neither virtuous nor evil, souls returned to the Fields of Asphodel. If laden with guilt, souls traveled the third road to Tartarus, the least welcome of the options. The place most humans referred to as Hell.
Hades pitied none of the approaching souls. Each wrought their own fate. His duty was to see it through, and ensure none ventured beyond the boundaries. Unlike his layabout god and goddess siblings, Hades had a job, and took it seriously.
He continued on to the stables, another magnificent structure. He’d stand for nothing less to house his four beauties, all black, and all immortal as himself. They peered out of their stall doors as he passed, hooves prancing. As eager for a drive as he was.
The stable boys bowed as he instructed them to ready the horses. “The old black chariot.” The golden chariot gleamed in the corner of the stable, polished as a museum piece. It might as well be one. He rarely took it out, only on special occasions. Such as kidnapping Persephone.
The groomsmen rigged up the horses and waited.
Hades leaped onto the chariot and snapped the reins, reveling in the sheer power of the four horses drawing him. Their snorts sent bits of hay flying from the floor, the stable a blur as they charged out the door, thundering hooves rumbling the stable walls.
The chariot careened down the winding road, leaving the palace and all its drama in the distance. Out here, Hades could concentrate on what mattered: wealth. Unlike love and all the nostalgic hogwash others might push upon people, power was the only dependable currency in the universe.
The horses pulled the chariot as if it were a toy behind them. Separately, each horse wielded immense power, long thick legs pounding against the roadway faster than a cheetah. Moving in unison, they became a black blur, a sm
udge in the air. Only Hades could control them. At the tug of a rein, the four turned in unison, responding with clockwork precision. Any soul on the road knew enough to get out of the way, or be trampled by eight thousand pounds of equine muscle.
Ha, and men on earth bragged about their vehicles’ horse power. Hades would love to put them to shame. One race, and none would boast again.
He guided the team past his herd of oxen. Menoetius did a good job tending them. Hades would have to reward him.
Without intending to, Hades found himself heading east. In times of trouble, Minthe Mountain always drew him there. The closer the team brought him, the stronger the scent of mint filled the air. A sweet smell, like the nymph herself.
Poor Minthe. The thought of her pained Hades. How he’d loved her. Too often, apparently. Persephone discovered them, post-coitus, and the next day, Minthe was found trampled to death.
“Ah, Minthe. You should never have raised such a fuss about the wedding.” Still, Hades had never suspected his wife capable of such dastardly deeds. Murdering his concubine. Transforming her into a garden herb, for hell’s sake. He rather admired Persephone for it; on the other hand, it pissed him off that he could no longer enjoy Minthe’s company. She had a particular set of skills he especially enjoyed. To honor her memory, he kept this precinct sacred.
Too bad if it made Persephone fume. A little jealousy, Hades found, inspired a woman to greater efforts in keeping her husband satisfied.
Though the horses’ necks frothed with sweat, Hades urged them faster. He wouldn’t linger here today. Instead, he let the challenge of driving this chariot engage him fully. The rush of wind in his face, the landscape whirling past. Soon he arrived at Avernus, a crater near Cumae. The entrance to the Underworld. One he insisted remain private, by invitation only.
As he steered the chariot away, a warning whispered in his head. Telling him their dear, sweet Lily could bring terrible trouble to the Underworld by breaking the line of the Destined One.
Hades only allowed trouble of his own making. If Lily became a threat, he’d have to decide what to do about her. Granddaughter or not.
Another thought arrested him as surely as mortals froze viewing the Gorgon Medusa with her head full of snakes. His wife might become problematic as well. What if Persephone turned from him to aid Lily? Would she plot against him, as she had against Minthe?
Such an act of treason would ignite total anarchy. His reign would topple, his long history would mean nothing in the face of such disgrace. Much as he loved her, Hades must have Persephone’s support, by her own free will, or by force.
***
The motorcycle picked up speed, and Bodie wove it expertly along the narrow mountain path. Lily tilted her head to catch the rush of wind in her face. An odd sensation told her someone else was enjoying the same experience. Someone she’d rather not think about.
Yet they crept into her mind at the weirdest moments. Persephone had appeared genuinely glad to see her when Lily first arrived at their brownstone. Hades, not so much, but he seemed a hardass. A hazard of his occupation, probably.
Don’t think about them now. With her arms linked around Bodie’s waist, Lily wanted to stay in this moment forever. Remember the ripple of his stomach muscles under her hands, the ridge of his spine against her ribs. It drove her to distraction, wanting to explore the rest of his body. She wanted to experience the explosion of light and colors in her head when she’d kissed him.
He’d make love to her, if she pressed him. She’d imagined it at least a thousand times since coming here… how long ago? No way to tell, and Bodie avoided a direct answer when she inquired. If they stayed here much longer, she wouldn’t be able to resist seducing him.
The bike lurched as he braked, and slowed enough to walk his boots until they stopped.
“There’s a good view from there.” He pointed up the incline beside the road.
‘Good’ to him meant spectacular to most people. She climbed off. “Let’s go see.”
She scrambled up the hill, wondering why she never became short of breath here. At the top, the scene below halted her. Oh yeah. ‘Spectacular’ didn’t even cover it. “Wow.”
Bodie soundlessly appeared beside her. “Nice, huh?”
Seriously? Heaven’s glory must have spoiled him. “Amazing.” She shot him a glance. He might have been anyone, a normal guy standing beside her. Except for his stunning dark looks, of course, heightened by the faint aura of light surrounding him.
His gaze slid to hers, and he asked in a teasing tone, “What?”
She sighed. No matter how stealthy she thought she was, he always caught her. Staring, ogling. “Nothing.” How embarrassing.
“You’re troubled. Tell me.”
Tell him he was the cause of her trouble? That she desperately wanted to make love to him? Hand her virginity to him on a pink platter? “Nothing.” She threw up her hands. “Everything.”
“Now that we’ve cleared that up…”
“Stop being cute.” Literally. It only made her want to seduce him more. “I have to go back.”
His brows furrowed. “I’ll stay close by. Whenever you need me—”
“Just call your name. I know.” She faced him. “You still can’t follow where I need to go.”
Understanding blanked his face. “You can’t go back to them.”
“I have to. They’re my family.” She glanced away. And Zeveriah had suggested innocents will suffer if I don’t. She’d never forgive herself if anything happened to Keb or Bryn.
“You’re very noble, but it’s too dangerous, Lily.”
Much as she hated to hear it, she knew he was right. Still, it didn’t matter. She couldn’t live with herself knowing innocents suffered because of her. “Like I said, they’re family. I have to get to know them or I’ll never understand who I am. Where I came from.”
“I can’t help you once you pass the border.”
“I’ll handle them. If I don’t learn how, they’ll always be catching me off guard.” Once in the Underworld, she’d find a way to break their little family tradition of forcing girls to marry demons, archdukes or not. She had to.
“Lily, please.”
“I don’t want to leave you, Bodie. We both know it’s best. For your sake.”
“This isn’t about me.”
“Oh, you’re in it, babe. Deep in it.”
“I want to be. Stay with me.”
She grasped her belt loops so she wouldn’t reach for him. Too many images flashed through her mind of her twirling around him, using him like a pole at the club, dancing her body along his. “I’m no good for you.”
“That’s absurd.”
And that wasn’t a denial. “I want you, Bodie. If I stay much longer…” She shook her head, hoping to come to her senses. “It’s not that I’m so keen on returning to the craziness of real life. Or surreal life, as the case may be.” She allowed herself a chuckle, though the joke was on her. “If I don’t find out who they are, I’ll never truly know myself. And how can anyone love anyone else if they don’t even know themselves?” A thin excuse; hopefully, he’d buy it.
His nostrils flared. He hung his head. “Right. And when most people say they need to face down their demons, they don’t mean it literally.”
That was the Bodie she’d come to love. “And especially not referring to relatives.”
God, his smile threw more light than the sun. Maybe that’s how this place stayed so bright. Bodie’s presence. Even when he looked perturbed. Like now.
***
Oaths and integrity had a way of diminishing to nothing around Lily. Bodie gritted his teeth. He wanted her so badly, it bordered on insanity. Maybe that was the demon in her, tempting him to abandon all he held dear.
Oh, he’d much rather hold her instead.
Fulfill your duty. He steeled himself. He’d never talk her out of going, not if she believed others would suffer needlessly. “If you’re determined to go, I’ll help you prepa
re.”
“You will?”
“Of course. I can’t be there to protect you, but I can at least provide you with some guidance.”
“Oh. Right.”
What had she thought he meant? Holy of holies, she sent him to the brink of madness. “Be sure not to eat any fruit.”
“Fruit?” She winced.
“That’s how Hades ensnared Persephone. Despite eating as little as possible for nine days, after she ate the seeds of a pomegranate, she was bound to him. Don’t even drink anything resembling fruit juice.”
“I promise. I’m not much for fruit anyway.”
There was more, so much more, and not enough time to cover it all. “Beware of flowers also.”
“Flowers?” She giggled. “Which are more dangerous than others? Or are they all fiendish?”
“Narcissus in particular. Hades used it to tempt Persephone away from her friends. Once she was alone, Persephone plucked the flower from the earth. On that very spot, Gaia split open, engulfing Persephone so fast, she couldn’t avoid falling below.”
“Who’s Gaia?”
Did modern schools not cover any mythology? “Gaia is Mother Earth. Unfortunately, also the Great Mother Goddess, related to Hades.”
“So, no fruit or flowers. What about chocolate?”
“It’s best to avoid any sort of temptation while you are there.” Especially in the form of a certain archduke. Lily’s virginity was a highly sought prize in the Underworld.
From her tender expression, he knew she understood what he meant. Other temptations might present a greater challenge. One he’d have to trust her to overcome.
He ran his hands up her arms. The way she yielded to his touch ignited a fiery passion. He quenched it with thoughts of banishment. If his superiors stripped him of his assignment, and his position as Ruling Angel of the Sixth Heaven, Bodie would be powerless to help her in any capacity. He had to stay strong.
“Lily. I will do everything I can to ensure your safety.”
“My safety,” she repeated dully, staring at the ground, then met his gaze to ask, “What if I need more from you?”
