***
She was floating. At her side she heard Hades’s voice, but when she turned her head she saw nothing but fog as thick as soup surrounding her. “It’s really too bad for your crappy genetics. It’s you who should be queen.”
“What do you mean?” His hand wrapped firmly around hers, almost as if it were holding her together from disintegrating into a thousand microscopic pieces across time and space.
“Your sister is weak. She’ll make a terrible queen, but fortunately for her, she was born Argolean and you were not.”
“She had to have some courage to come to you. That’s the mark of a leader, isn’t it?”
He chuckled next to her. “Desperate. That’s what we call her reckless actions. She’s the one who should be burning thyme. Not you. Don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise, human.”
Nothing he said made sense, and she was distracted by the fact she didn’t have a clue where he was taking her.
“To see an army,” he said. “And believe me, you will soon understand all.”
“Stop reading my mind,” Casey snapped. “It’s rude.”
His hand tightened around hers, and for a frightening moment she feared he’d let go and she really would burst apart into a thousand pieces. Right then she realized the foolishness of her short temper. But then he laughed, a low and menacing sound that seemed to come from nowhere. “Oh, you really would be the better queen. Pity the daemon who tried to mess with you. I’ve been watching you, you know. Wondering how this would all play out. The others in past generations, they’ve been so disappointing. But you…you might just do yet.”
It was on her tongue to tell him to stop playing games with her when suddenly the fog lifted and they flashed onto the edge of a cliff. Casey gasped, and her arms flew out to steady herself as she teetered on the ledge. Pebbles at her feet skidded and pinged down the three-hundred-foot sheer drop to the burned valley below.
Hades pulled her back from the ledge. “Not yet. And not here. There are other plans for you.” He pointed with his long finger. “Look down, Acacia. And see the army Atalanta is preparing.”
Her breath left her in a rush as she saw the thousands upon thousands of daemons in the valley below. Looking closer, she realized their black skin was what was making the ground seem burnt. She took three quick steps back until she slammed into Hades’s chest.
“They can’t see you, human. So take a good look.” She shivered as her blood ran cold. There were so many. Sparring hand-to-hand, with swords and weapons she’d never seen before. In training. For a war.
In the center stood a woman in crimson robes, with flowing black hair, doling out directions and barking orders. When one daemon was outmaneuvered by another in a duel with bare hands, the woman lifted the whip in her hand and brought it down sharply across his back until blood the color of her robes stained the ground.
Action near her stopped. But not a single daemon stepped to the rescue of the punished one. The whip came down over and over until the one lying on the ground was bathed in blood and motionless.
Casey put a hand over her mouth as she watched the beaten daemon being dragged to the side of the training area. He was left there to suffer while the rest went back to their maneuvers.
“Do you know how a daemon comes to be?” Hades asked in her ear.
Casey swallowed hard and shook her head.
“Daemons are nothing more than the soul of a human, trapped in the Fields of Asphodel.”
“Purgatory,” Casey whispered.
“Something like that,” Hades said, sounding amused. “Atalanta loves to prey on the unfortunates, and as you can see, she’s convinced many that servitude to her is a thousand times better than what they will experience with me. Some are genuinely evil and know they’ll be sent for punishment. Some are just plain stupid. With her, they’re reborn in the image of what she’s made them. Strong fighters. Without conscience. Monsters. But there’s a catch.”
The smile in Hades’s voice put Casey on instant alert.
“If they’re killed a second time, they’re mine forever. To spend eternity suffering at my hand in Tartarus, whether they were truly evil or not.”
“You made her immortal.”
“I did. I’m a god who’s always looking for a deal. Balance in the universe. And her request? Centered on revenge? Oh, you can’t get better than that.”
Casey’s back tingled. “What did she offer you in exchange?”
“The soul of every Argolean she kills.” Casey’s blood went cold. “Every half-breed as well.”
Sickness swelled in Casey’s stomach. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Because I want you to see. And believe.” He leaned down to her ear. “What do you think she’s planning to do with that army, Acacia? It’s not just for looks.” When she didn’t answer, he moved closer, until she felt the long lines of his body against her back. Her stomach pitched. “They’re going to devour the half-breeds. Decimate the Argonauts. When those warriors aren’t guarding the portal anymore, Argoleans will seep into the human world and be destroyed in droves. And the daemons will spread like fire across Argolea.”
“Oh, God,” Casey whispered.
He chuckled in her ear, his hot and wanton breath sliding under her garments to send a shudder through her body. “Your human god can’t do anything for them. I think it’s time you see what it is she hates so much.”
He placed his large hands on her upper arms, and they flashed through fog again until she was once more standing on a rise, but this time the view beneath her was one out of a fantasy. A lush green valley, surrounded by woods and meadows and majestic snow-capped mountains. In the center sat a sparkling city made of what seemed to be all marble, with a centralized marketplace, bustling people and a castle that looked like it had been plunked there straight out of Cinderella’s fairy tale.
It was the same city she’d glimpsed from Theron’s house, only closer and more real.
“Oh…my.” Something warmed in the center of Casey’s chest. A feeling like she’d finally come home.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Hades said at her side. “Tiyrns. The city of white. Created for a hero, wouldn’t you say?” Casey could only nod. “Be a pity to see it and all of Argolea disappear.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your sister, Isadora, is the only heir. By Argolean law, no one but a member of the royal family may rule the land. Your father, the king, is dying from old age. And she’s as sick as you are. If she passes without producing an heir, the rule of Argolea will fall to the Council of Elders, who believe the Argonauts do nothing but instill fear. Imagine, Acacia, what will happen when your sister is gone.”
Dread welled in Casey’s chest, and suddenly she understood why Hades had taken her to the Underworld. “They’ll be wiped out by Atalanta’s army.”
“Yes.”
She looked back over the valley, and what was left of her heart broke.
“There’s only one way to prevent that from happening,” Hades said beside her.
“How?”
“Search your soul and you’ll find your answer.”
She did. And knew.
The only way was for her sister to live. As if she’d heard it a thousand times, the prophecy Hades had spoken of earlier ran through her mind.
And as it did, she thought of Theron and why he’d been sent to find her. All of his gruff actions suddenly made sense. Except…when she remembered the way he’d looked at her when she was beneath him only hours ago… Something didn’t add up.
He’d brought her here yesterday, and still he hadn’t turned her over. And when he’d come home last night he’d seemed angry, but not at her. He’d been angry with her father.
It hit her then.
He’d changed his mind. Even before they’d made love. Even knowing his actions were possibly going to destroy his world, he wasn’t willing to let her die to save her sister. His fiancée.
“Answer me one thing,
” she said softly, staring at the castle, knowing Hades was reading her thoughts but needing to put this one question into words. “Am I his soul mate?”
“Yes.”
She drew in a breath.
“Nasty gift from my brother’s vindictive wife. Hera knew if Theron ever found you, he wouldn’t let you fulfill your destiny.”
Her destiny. Casey nearly laughed at the irony. Either way she looked at it, she was destined to die. And that truly sucked, especially when she realized she’d finally found the one place she belonged, and the one person she belonged to. But life for her had never been easy. It made sense that death wouldn’t be either.
The only question left was how it would happen. On her terms or not.
She slanted a sideways look at the god beside her. “Am I to be tortured in Tartarus as well?”
His smile was actually warm, so at odds with everything else she sensed about him. “No. You’ll sail to the Isles of the Blessed.”
She looked back at the castle. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It’s not. It’s actually quite nice.”
“And if I go to her? My sister?”
“She will rule until her time is at an end.”
That didn’t sound so bad either.
“And what about Theron? What will happen to him?”
Hades shrugged. “The Argonaut’s fate is none of my concern.”
“Surely you know, though.”
A bored look crossed his face. “If you go to Isadora? Nothing. Things will be for him as they were before. If you decide to go back to the half-breed colony…” He lifted one shoulder, dropped it. “He may be punished for not following orders and bringing you back.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “May be?”
His mischievous smile returned. “I’m not an oracle, Acacia.”
“You’re a god, though.”
“Yes, but even the greatest of gods cannot tell the future. Free will and all that crap, you know.”
Free will.
Casey looked out over the valley. Closed her eyes and tuned in to her senses. When not even a tingle ran over her back, she had her answer.
She opened her eyes and looked up at Hades. “Take me home.”
Chapter Twenty-five