“Thank you,” he said, and he handed the camera back to Diana. “But I’m afraid I have to be somewhere. It was a pleasure meeting you. And happy birthday, Kate. I wish you an infinite number more.”
Kate giggled again and blew him a kiss. As Diana laughed and gathered her up in another embrace, Henry walked away. He hadn’t expected that. He hadn’t expected leaving her to be one of the hardest things he’d ever done. But if he had his way, he would make absolutely certain that he would never have to do so again.
When he returned to the Underworld, a parcel awaited him on his desk. Curious, he unwrapped the shimmering purple paper, wrinkling his nose with distaste. Who would possibly send something like this to him?
The moment he set eyes on what lay beneath, however, all question of the sender flew out of his head. Nestled in lavender tissue paper was a black-and-white picture of Diana and Kate, both holding cupcakes as they laughed together in Central Park. Diana must have been the one to frame the image, and it shimmered in the candlelight, a reflection in the making. All it needed was him.
It’d been a long time since he’d made a reflection—an image that was more a wish than reality. But to him, this was both. In it, he saw his future; a life he might one day have, if he fought hard enough for it. If he protected Kate. If, when the time came, he gave her a reason to choose him.
He tucked the reflection into his pocket and took a breath. Until then, there was something he had to do.
* * *
“Where are we going?” said James warily as Henry led him down the aisle of the throne room. They entered the antechamber together, and though Henry had spent much of the past thousand years avoiding him at all costs, he offered James his hand.
“Trust me.”
James eyed him, and while Henry couldn’t blame him for his uncertainty, he was rapidly growing impatient.
“If I was going to do something terrible to you, I would have done it centuries ago,” said Henry. “Now come on. We don’t have all day.”
At last James took his hand, and the moment he did so, Henry pushed them both through the quicksand space between the antechamber and where he wanted to be. It was never a pleasant journey when he was dragging someone with him across such a large distance, but at least James knew better than to fight it.
When Henry opened his eyes, they stood in the middle of an eleventh-century castle. Henry wouldn’t have known it from any other, but the moment they landed, James’s mouth dropped open.
“Is this…?” he said, and Henry hesitated.
“I realize we have not been as close as we once were, and I fear there is simply far too much history between us to ever allow things to be easy once more. But we are still family, and…” He paused. “It was cruel of me to keep this from you, no matter the past. Everyone deserves happiness, even if it can only be found among the dead. While I cannot promise you I will always be on stable ground, I will take steps to ensure you can visit whenever you wish.”
James gaped at him, speechless, and Henry grimaced. He hated that look. As if it were so shocking that he would ever do something kind.
“Go,” he said. “I will be here when you are finished.”
“I can’t—” James hesitated, and without warning, he lunged forward to capture Henry in a hug. “Thank you.”
It had been a very long time since any member of his family had dared touch him in such a way, and Henry awkwardly gave him a pat on the back. “You are welcome. Now go, before I change my mind.”
Releasing him, James gave him a boyish grin and took off down the corridor, guided by whatever power he had to know exactly where his destination happened to be. Out of curiosity—or perhaps the desire to prove to himself that happiness in the Underworld was possible after all—Henry trailed after him.
James turned into a room filled with sunshine, and though it couldn’t have been natural, a tree grew in the middle of the stone floor. Henry stood in the doorway as James approached a dark-haired girl who sat underneath the low-hanging branches. She munched on an apple and spoke in low tones with a woman who resembled her far too closely to be anyone but her mother, though the instant she noticed James, she lit up.
“James?” said the girl, her bright eyes widening. She flung her arms around him and kissed him soundly on the mouth, not the least bit bashful. “It’s about damn time. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to come get us?”
“Tuck,” he breathed, staring at her as if she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. There was something sad about the way he murmured her name, something that reminded Henry far too much of himself. Sometimes it was hard to remember he wasn’t the only one in pain.
James gathered her up, wrapping his arms so completely around her that she couldn’t have escaped if she tried. They remained intertwined for a long moment, murmuring things Henry couldn’t hear, and he averted his gaze. He would have given anything to have that. Anything.
At last they broke apart, and Tuck looked at him with shining eyes. She clearly adored him. “This is my mother,” she said. “Mother, this is James, the boy I was telling you about.”
James greeted the woman as if they were old friends, pulling her into a hug, as well. “You have a brilliant daughter. Tuck’s the most amazing girl I’ve ever met.”
“Of course she is,” said the woman, laughing. “And from what she’s told me, you’re not too bad yourself.”
The three of them talked for a few moments longer, and at last James pulled something out of his pocket. “I’ve been holding on to this for you,” he said, and he offered a small pendant to Tuck. “Thought you might like to have it.”
She took the necklace with shaking hands. “You held on to it all this time?”
“Of course,” he said, the tips of his ears turning pink. “Anything for you. I’m yours and you know it.”
As she kissed him again, Henry took his leave, stepping back out into the dim corridor. As much as he despised James, to see him find happiness despite his tragedy gave Henry something he hadn’t had since Ingrid. It gave him hope.
Pulling the reflection out of his pocket, he gazed down at Kate’s face, memorizing every feature. He would be hers as well, and despite whatever trickery the council had planned, he’d be there to watch over her. No matter her fate, she would have a fair shot at the life she wanted, even if that life didn’t include him. He would make sure of it.
He’d lost everything that had ever mattered to him, but as he listened to the sounds of James and Tuck’s laughter, an odd certainty settled over him. If Kate somehow succeeded where the others had failed—if she chose to give him a second chance—then this was only the beginning. His existence felt like an eternity, and in many ways it had been. But perhaps she would finally allow him to close the book on the worst chapter of his life. And perhaps she would be the start of the best.
Tracing her features, at once so like Persephone’s and yet so very different, he allowed himself a smile. In her, he saw possibility. In her, he saw his future.
And when she was ready for it, he would be, too.
* * * * *
Kate’s journey has been fraught with betrayal and peril.
There is still much to overcome…
Love or life. Henry or their child. The end of her family or the end of the world.
Kate must choose.
Read on for an excerpt from the final full-length novel in the Goddess Test series,
THE GODDESS INHERITANCE
Only
from Aimée Carter and Harlequin TEEN!
Excerpt from THE GODDESS INHERITANCE copyright © 2013 by Aimée Carter.
CHAPTER ONE
BIRTH
Henry.
I bolted upright in the darkness. My face was drenched with sweat as my dream faded, but his scream clung to me, imprinting itself in my memory.
Another vision, one of dozens I’d had since leaving the Underworld an eternity ago. This time, however, I wasn’t watching Henry go about his life as ruler of the dead as he waited for me to return. I wasn’t standing by helplessly as Ava gave Henry false updates about where in Africa we were supposedly searching for Rhea.
Finally Henry knew what had really happened, and in the minutes before dawn broke through the night, I clung to the hope that it wasn’t too late.
“A nightmare, my dear?”
A shiver ran through me, and the candles scattered throughout my prison lit up. Cronus sat beside my bed, in the same chair he’d occupied every night since late December, when I’d woken up with a pounding headache and memories I wished were nightmares.
This wasn’t a nightmare though. Cronus was here, working side by side with the Queen of the Gods, who would stop at nothing to hurt me as much as she possibly could.
The baby stirred inside of me, undoubtedly unhappy about its rude awakening. I didn’t dare speculate over whether it was a boy or a girl. If Calliope had her way, I might never know, and that heartache was already more than I could take. I set a hand on my swollen belly, so big that the simplest movements were difficult now, and mentally tried to soothe it. “You didn’t hear that?” I said hoarsely.
“My son? Of course,” said Cronus, reaching for my stomach. I slapped his hand away, and he chuckled. “It seems the games are about to begin.”
“What games?” I knew the answer before I’d asked the question though. My dream, my vision—it was the autumnal equinox, and finally Henry knew I was missing.
A sharp pain shot from my back to my abdomen, and I gasped. Cronus was at my side in an instant, exactly the way Henry would’ve been if he were here. I turned away.
“Calliope has decided it will happen today instead,” he murmured, and his voice would have been comforting if it hadn’t come from him.
“Decided what would happen today?” I struggled to stand and make it to the bathroom, but my legs gave out. Cronus’s cool hands were there to steady me, but as soon as I was back on the bed, I jerked away from him.
“That your child would be born.”
All the air left my lungs, and this time it had nothing to do with physical pain. He was bluffing. They were trying to scare me into labor before Henry found out and rescued me, or—or something. Anything other than the truth.
But as I leaned back, my hand found a wet spot on the mattress, and my damp nightgown clung to the back of my thighs. My water had broken sometime in the night. It was really happening.
Nine months of waiting. Nine months of fear. Nine months of time being the only thing standing between Calliope and the baby I was carrying, and now it was over.
I wasn’t ready to be a mother. Never in a million years had I imagined having kids before I turned thirty, let alone twenty. But Calliope hadn’t given me a choice, and with each day that passed, the sick dread inside of me grew thicker until it nearly choked me. Calliope would take the baby from me, and there was nothing I could do about it. In a matter of hours, I would lose my child—Henry’s child—to someone who wanted nothing more than to see me suffer.
But now he knew. Now there was a chance, if only I could hold on a little longer until Henry came.
Cronus must have seen the look on my face, because he chuckled and fluffed a pillow for me. “Do not worry, my dear. Calliope cannot kill you unless I allow her, and I assure you I would never hurt you.”
It wasn’t me I was worried about though. “You’re not going to hurt me, but you’re going to let Calliope do it,” I snarled. “You’re going to let her take the baby the moment it’s born, and I’m never going to see it again.”
Cronus stared at me blankly. These were the moments I remembered that in spite of his human form, he was anything but. He didn’t understand why I loved the baby so much. Or, when I’d given Calliope too much attitude and she’d hit me in the mouth, why I’d instinctively covered my belly. He didn’t get how badly the thought of being separated from the baby hurt me before I’d even met him or her.
Then again, Cronus was also the monster who’d tried to destroy his own children, so I suspected empathy was a little too much to hope for.
“If you would like to keep the child, all you need to do is say the word,” he said, as if it were that simple. Maybe to him it was. “I will ensure that Calliope does not get in the way. In return, all I ask is that you rule by my side.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d made that offer, and it wasn’t the first time that, for a single moment, I entertained the possibility. As the baby’s birth loomed, saying no grew more and more difficult.
Cronus had made no secret of the fact that he wanted me as his queen while he ruled over the entire world, destroying everyone who dared to get in his way. I had no idea why—the small bit of compassion I’d showed him in the Underworld, maybe, or because I hadn’t fought him in the first war—but it didn’t matter. I would be safe from the destruction, and so would the baby. Henry, however, would be the first person Cronus ripped apart, and the entire world would follow.
As much as I loved this baby, as much as I would have done anything to keep it safe, I couldn’t stand by Cronus’s side as he wiped out humanity. I couldn’t do nothing as he killed every last person I loved, and if I agreed, he would keep me alive until the end of all things. I wouldn’t have the choice to die like Persephone had, and I couldn’t live with that guilt no matter how happy and safe my baby was.
But time was running out. The game had changed now that the council knew I was gone, and if I could keep Cronus guessing long enough not to hurt anyone, then maybe that would give the council a chance to find Rhea. So I lied.
“Promise not to kill anyone and I’ll think about it.”
He grinned, showing off a full set of pearly teeth. Cronus had the smile of an airbrushed movie star, and it only made him more unnerving. “Is that so? Very well. Agree and I will leave humanity alone. My qualms are not with them, and one must have subjects when one rules.”
“I said anyone,” I countered. “Not just humanity. You can’t kill the council either.”
Cronus eyed me, as if he were weighing the pros and the cons. I held my breath, hoping against hope that I was worth this to him. I had to buy the council more time. “Surely you understand why my children must be contained, but I would be willing to…consider it, depending on the nature of our relationship. On how much you are willing to give.” He ran his fingers through my hair, and I suppressed a shudder. “You and me, together for all eternity. Imagine, my dear, the beauty we would create. And of course your child will know your love, and you will never have to say goodbye.”
I closed my eyes and pictured the moment I finally got to hold him or her. The baby would have dark hair, I was sure of it, and light eyes like me and Henry—pink cheeks, ten fingers, ten toes, and I would love it instantly. I already did.
“You would be a mother,” he murmured, his voice like a siren’s call. I hated myself for wanting to follow it down its twisted path. “Forever there to love it, to nurture it, to raise it in your image. And I would be a father.”
The spell he had over me shattered, and my eyes flew open. “You are not this baby’s father,” I said as another wave of pain washed over me. This was too fast. Contractions were supposed to come on slow and last for hours—my mother had been in labor for over a day when I was born.
Cronus leaned in until his lips were an inch from mine. I wrinkled my nose even though his breath smelled like a cool autumn breeze. “No, I am not. I am so much more.”
The door burst open, and Calliope stormed insid
e. She had aged progressively over the past nine months until the angles on her face had become sharper, and she’d grown several inches to tower over me. As Cronus looked like Henry, with his long dark hair and gray eyes that crackled with lightning and fog, Calliope now looked like my mother. Like an older version of me. And I hated her even more for it.
“What’s going on?” she said, and I managed a faint smirk. Apparently she’d overheard something she didn’t like.
“Nothing for you to worry yourself about,” said Cronus as he straightened, though his eyes didn’t leave mine.
“Cronus was making me an interesting offer,” I said, sounding braver than I felt. “Turns out he isn’t going to feed me to the fishes like you want.”
Her lips twisted into a snarl, but before she could say a word, Ava hurried past her carrying a large basket full of blankets, linens and other things I couldn’t make out in the candlelight. “I’m sorry,” she said, her face flushed.
“It’s about time,” snapped Calliope, and she focused on me again. “I’d be careful if I were you, Kate. I’ve got a new toy, and I’ve been itching to try it out on you.”
“What new toy?” I said through gritted teeth.
Calliope glided to the side of my bed, and her eyes narrowed. “Haven’t I told you? Nicholas generously donated his time and expertise to forge a weapon that will let me kill a god. His timing couldn’t be better.”
My blood ran cold. Nicholas, Ava’s husband, had been kidnapped on the winter solstice during battle. Up until now, no one had said a word to me about him.
“That’s impossible,” I blurted. Nothing but Cronus could kill an immortal.
“Is it?” said Calliope with a wicked smile. “Are you willing to bet your sweet little darling’s life on that?”
My baby. She was going to kill my baby. “Ava?” I said, my tongue heavy in my mouth. “Tell me she’s lying.”
Biting her lip, Ava set her basket down on the foot of my bed. “I’m sorry.”
The room spun around me. This was just another game. Calliope was trying to scare me by using the people I loved most against me, and this time my supposed best friend was playing along.