The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus)

  “Persephone?” She said it slowly, like she wasn’t following.

  “Yeah. He was totally charming her, like the whole time he was Joel.”

  She was silent for what felt like an eternity. Then just when I was sure the silence was about to become something real, something that could break and shatter, she cleared her throat. “You’re right. That must have been terrible. I wasn’t thinking.” Her hand touched my shoulder, a quick, quiet gesture of comfort, and I sucked in my breath.

  I could count on one hand the number of times someone had touched me with any measure of kindness in my entire life.

  “Not surprising for a nymph,” I muttered, putting the brush down on the dresser. “Anyway”—I kept my voice bright—“don’t ruin it. You had a nice time with a boy you liked. It was exciting and special, and you chose it. Don’t let all the crap that came later ruin that for you.”

  She nodded.

  “Hey, want to do something useful?” I asked.

  “Like what?”

  “We could recruit Poseidon.”

  Melissa considered for a minute then shrugged. “Yeah, sure, why not.”

  Chapter XXXII

  Hades

  It took me a while to calm down enough to sleep, but it didn’t take long to find her once I’d drifted off.

  “You’re wanted at a meeting,” I told Persephone, after giving her a long kiss.

  She gave me an odd look and fiddled with her necklace, a nervous gesture. “Am I in trouble?”

  The vision of a principal’s office flashing through her mind made me laugh. “No.”

  “You sounded pretty serious.”

  “Yeah well, we’ve got everyone together, so it’s time to move on with our plan. Only there’s some disagreement as to what we do next.”

  She weaved her fingers through mine. “Let’s go then.”

  I closed my eyes and the dream shifted. When I opened them we stood in the middle of nothing. Featureless walls closed us in, blending in with the natural oblivion of an unfocused dreamscape. It’s hard to agree on a neutral dreamspace for this many gods.

  When Persephone saw the sheer number of gods that had gathered, she let out a soft exclamation of surprise. Almost every living deity left in creation crowded together in the dreamscape. There were just some things we couldn’t risk Aphrodite knowing.

  “Took you long enough.” Apollo leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

  Demeter ran forward and threw her arms around Persephone. “Gods!” Her voice was choked with emotion. “How I’ve missed you.”

  Persephone clung to her mother with equal fervor, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Mom!”

  The other gods looked down or away, giving them time before we got down to business.

  “So, how do we kill Zeus?” Apollo asked, breaking the moment. “And by we, I mean all of us.” His gesture took in all of Zeus’ children. “Because really, we’re the only ones who can.”

  “And if she’s escaped, how do we find him?” Athena’s cold gray eyes studied Persephone with an intensity that made me nervous.

  “If?” Persephone interrupted.

  “That shouldn’t be a problem.” Artemis tightened her sleek black ponytail before cracking her knuckles. “Zeus is hunting all of us down. We just need bait.”

  “He’s too smart to take any of us as bait,” Ares interjected. “We have to assume he knows we’ve already grouped up.”

  “He does,” Persephone confirmed, her hand returning to her necklace, sliding it back and forth along the chain.

  I offered her my hand before anyone else could notice the nervous gesture. I didn’t want this group knowing all my wife’s tells.

  “Not her.” Hephaestus pointed to Persephone. “He’s looking for her anyway. If he were to find her—”

  “Not an option,” I growled, stepping in front of Persephone.

  Arguments erupted from the other gods.

  “It’s a sound plan!” Athena argued.

  “Her! You’re not serious!” Apollo stepped away from the wall, giving Athena an incredulous look. “She’s just a kid.”

  “She’s Zeus’ blood as much as any of us are,” Thalia pointed out.

  “I said it’s not an option!” I looked to Demeter for support, but she was strangely silent.

  “I’m not swearing my power over to a teenager,” Artemis interjected. “No offense.” She tilted her head toward Persephone. “But we all have much more experience fighting than you do.”

  “Which is why Zeus will see any one of us coming.” Hephaestus’ mouth twitched on one side, wrinkling his mutated flesh. “But he needs her for his plan to work, so we don’t have to find him if we use her. He’ll do all the work for us.”

  “Hey!” Persephone yelled over everyone else. “Don’t I get any say in this?”

  “No.” I turned to her. “You don’t understand what they’re asking.”

  “Then someone better start explaining,” she snapped. Everyone was still yelling back and forth to each other, so she pitched her voice louder. “If I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t help. If I can’t help, I’m not wasting my time listening to this. I still need sleep, you know.”

  “They want you to kill Zeus.” Athena’s voice was patient.

  Persephone’s eyes widened. “Kill him?” She laughed. “Me? How?”

  “We’d all swear fealty to you. You’ll have enough power if we all pitch in.” Ares looked Persephone up and down and shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. He at least had the grace to look uncomfortable with what he was suggesting.

  “I haven’t even come into my powers yet!” she objected.

  “How are you not dead?” Artemis asked. “You’ve been away from Hades for weeks now, and you’re…really powerful. I can feel it. If you haven’t come into your powers, then how?”

  I’d been wondering the same thing.

  “I’ve been using them up.” Persephone shrugged, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears. “Easy enough when you’re at death’s door every five minutes. That doesn’t mean I can channel all of yours.”

  “Not for long,” Hephaestus pointed out. “But maybe long enough to defeat Zeus.”

  “I’d die.”

  Hephaestus shrugged. “If that’s what it takes to eliminate Zeus, it’s worth it.”

  I crossed the room in a flash and slammed Hephaestus into a wall. Black veins crisscrossed over his face, expanding into a spider web as they burst. He gasped, pulling at my arm.

  “Hades!” Ares tried to pull me back.

  I dropped Hephaestus with a thud. “Anyone else want to suggest my wife commit suicide?”

  No one spoke.

  “I’ll kill Zeus,” Ares volunteered.

  “He’ll be expecting you,” Athena pointed out.

  “If we find Persephone first—” Demeter clasped her hands in front of her and waited until she had everyone’s attention “—then we could ambush him. This doesn’t have to be a solo mission. We may not be able to kill Zeus, but we’re more than capable of holding him down while one of you does the job.”

  “Where’s Poseidon?” Persephone looked around like she just noticed he wasn’t there.

  “He won’t help,” Demeter said.

  “We’ll see about that,” Persephone muttered.

  I felt her willing Poseidon to come here. She put a ton of power behind it. The hair raised on the back of my neck. The other gods exchanged alarmed glances. Persephone really was too strong. Between the power she was born to, half of both mine and Thanatos’ powers, and all the worship she’d garnered thanks to Orpheus and his wife Eurydice, she was a force to be reckoned with. If she could actually control it all without endangering herself, she’d have a shot against Zeus.

  Not happening.

  “Gods! Can’t you people take a hint? I’m staying out of this!” Poseidon appeared next to Persephone, for once, wearing a shirt.

  “Nice pajamas.” I smirked at his teal silk get-up,
half surprised he wasn’t wearing a nightcap.

  “Don’t you have some cradles to rob?” Poseidon snapped.

  “Enough. We have to defeat Zeus,” Persephone said, cutting to the chase as usual. “Your generation let him get this far out of control. You owe it to us to help.”

  That raised more than a few eyebrows. I just grinned. Persephone was a political nightmare, but she had a way of getting things done.

  I loved my wife.

  “No,” Poseidon growled. “I’m not bringing my realm into this.”

  “You owe me.” Persephone’s green eyes flashed.

  “I owe her.” Poseidon pointed to Demeter. “Last I heard, you’d rather die than accept my help.”

  Persephone shrugged. “This is bigger than I am.”

  “Tough. I’m still not dragging my realm into this.”

  Too late I saw her thoughts.

  “I have your son.”

  Poseidon’s face went dark with rage. “Excuse me?”

  Stepping between them, I kept my eyes level with his. I had to hand it to her, I was impressed. But this didn’t sound like the Persephone I knew.

  “I’m not threatening him!” Persephone sounded offended. “But he’s with me. Zeus is looking for me. What do you think is going to happen if Zeus finds me?”

  “You tell him to come home now!” Poseidon was shaking with rage.

  “I’ve told him to. A couple of times. He won’t leave.” Persephone’s face colored, making it obvious to everyone in the room why the prepubescent brat wouldn’t leave the gorgeous goddess.

  Poseidon swore. He seemed to age before my eyes. “If he is harmed in any way—”

  “I will do everything in my power to protect him.”

  I winced. Poseidon studied her for a moment, neck craned to see her around me.

  “I’ll find you and deliver you safely to shore—”

  “To me.” I clarified. “Don’t you dare just abandon her on the shore.”

  “Fine,” Poseidon growled. “I’ll deliver you to Hades—”

  “The god, not the place,” I added.

  He rolled his eyes. “The god, not the place, unharmed by my hand.”

  “Hands, feet, weapon, or any other extension of self, including divine powers.”

  “Oh for Chaos’ sake, Hades, I’m not going to hurt her!”

  “Nor will any of your agents.” I kept my eyes locked with his. There was no way in hell I was leaving a loophole.

  Poseidon rolled his eyes, but repeated addendum after addendum after me for the next several minutes. “Satisfied?”

  “Not yet,” Persephone said.

  “What?” Poseidon narrowed his eyes at her.

  “I don’t have to be easy to find,” Persephone pointed out. “The longer it takes to find me, the longer it takes to find him.”

  Poseidon glared at her with such intensity that I reached behind me to push her backward. She refused to move.

  “Fine,” he spat. “I’ll throw in my support against Zeus. I suppose you want fealty?”

  “At some point,” she replied.

  I turned to look at her, impressed and incredulous. You’re you? I asked, just to clarify.

  I’m Persephone, no tricks. For better or worse. Her heart pounded, and her stomach churned.

  You’re not evil, I assured her, knowing where her thoughts lay. We need as much power behind us as possible. What you’re doing is—

  I know. That doesn’t make it right.

  “Fine.” Poseidon raked his hands through his spiky blond hair. “I’ll swear to you if you promise to break the bond as soon as Zeus is dead and return all my power to me.”

  “I promise.”

  Poseidon looked between the two of us. “There’s a rumor you two have hit equilibrium.”

  “That’s not your business,” I said.

  Poseidon grinned. “That sympathetic bond’s a bitch, huh?” Before I could blink, a trident appeared in his hand, and he shoved it through my gut in a swift motion.

  Persephone cried out behind me. I grunted and grabbed his hand, forcing his flesh and bone to wither at my touch. Grimacing, Poseidon pulled the trident free. Persephone gasped, crumbling to the ground, clutching at her stomach.

  “Threaten my son again,” he said, “and I’ll find a way to put you down for good.”

  He vanished.

  Chapter XXXIII

  Persephone

  A hand clapped over my mouth, and my eyes flew open. My throat felt raw from screaming, and my stomach blazed with pain.

  Triton’s worried face hovered above mine. He searched my eyes for a minute then removed his hand from my mouth. “What happened?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what happened but stopped. What would I accomplish by telling Triton his dad was a jerk who went around stabbing people with tridents? Plus, he was under the impression Poseidon trusted me. What if he left me in the circle? There was no way I could navigate this place on my own.

  My stomach twisted with guilt. I was using him. He was just a cute, friendly kid, and I was using him to get through the circle and to get Poseidon’s help. Triton seemed to relish the adventure, but putting him in danger made me sick. We’d only been in the circle for a few days, and I’d already met more frightening creatures than I ever cared to encounter again.

  Guess I really am a goddess now, I thought. Manipulating people like pawns.

  And what other choice did you have? Hades asked.

  Shaking my head, I refused to even consider that line of logic. I couldn’t think like that. If I put enough thought into it, I could justify anything, but that wouldn’t make it right. Triton didn’t deserve this.

  A woman’s scream echoed in the distance, and Triton winced. “Get ready to move.”

  I got up, dusting the dirt off my dingy gray skirt. The skirt was in tatters, not exactly ideal for running through the forest.

  Another scream. This one closer.

  “Who is that? Is someone in trouble?”

  Triton shushed me and stared up at the sky, finger to his lips. A black shadow burst through the canopy of leaves above us with a shriek. I caught a glimpse of wings, claws, and a flash of red hair before Triton grabbed my hand. We ran, tripping over branches.

  “Harpies!” Triton yelled. “They eat—”

  “People?” I guessed. Most things in the circle seemed to. “Your realm sucks!”

  “My realm?” He grinned at me. “You have bears, lions, and dinosaurs, and my realm sucks?”

  I started to explain that dinosaurs weren’t really a thing anymore, but the harpy dove again. Oh gods, instead of the claws of a bird it had hands with razor sharp nails. Catching hold of my hair, it yanked me toward the tree line. Quick as a thought, Triton grabbed a branch and swung it at the harpy. It shrieked and flew backward, and I was running again.

  “This wa— WHOA!” Triton yelped, dropping out of sight.

  Suddenly the ground dropped from below my feet. The harpy shrieked. I slid over Triton, and together we tumbled to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

  For a second neither one of us moved, just lay there catching our breath, then Triton lifted his head, looking down at me with an impish grin on his face.

  “That’s one way to lose a harpy.”

  I laughed despite myself and swatted at him. “Get off!”

  Triton looked down, realized he was sprawled out on top of me, and turned bright red. “Sorry!”

  He looked at me for a moment, gaze dropping to my mouth.

  “Triton—” I shifted underneath him and tried to wriggle free. “Move.”

  “Right, right, sorry!” He got up and looked up the hill. “Looks like we lost her.”

  Nodding, I climbed to my feet with a mental groan. I’d seen that look before.

  He liked me. That made this whole thing even more complicated. Not only was I using him, but in his mind I was probably stringing him along. I needed a nice way to say, “not happening, kid.” Even without Ha
des in the picture, Triton was way too young.

  Oh, I don’t know, Hades teased. I keep hearing age isn’t that important.

  Shut up. I glanced at Triton, and he looked away. The tips of his ears turned red.

  Feels awkward, huh?

  This isn’t funny, Hades.

  Not to you, he agreed.

  I ignored him. “You okay?” I asked Triton.

  He nodded. “Just trying to get my bearings. I think if we walk west we should hit the end of the circle soon.”

  “Let’s find a place to sleep and get back to walking tomorrow,” I suggested. Poseidon would find us soon, and then this whole ordeal would be over, but Triton didn’t have to know his dad was looking for us yet. Backup, just in case Poseidon found a way to weasel out of the deal.

  I closed my eyes against the wave of guilt that washed over me. I was just as bad as the rest of the gods.

  Chapter XXXIV

  Aphrodite

  “That could have gone better.” I squeezed the ocean water, slimy with seaweed, out of my hair, letting it puddle onto the wooden floor in Persephone’s room.

  “How were we supposed to know Persephone already got him on board,” Melissa grumbled. She kicked off her shoes and poured water out of them. “I need a shower.”

  “We’re lucky he didn’t do worse than drench us. I heard she really pissed him off.” I stepped in front of the mirror, closed my eyes, and concentrated. When I opened them, I was in a new outfit with perfect hair. “Much better.”

  “That’s so unfair.”

  I tapped her shoulder. When she turned around she wore a designer outfit and makeup. “Better,” I decided. “But not your color.” I tapped her again, changing her shirt to a deep purple.

  “Thanks,” she said grudgingly.

  “Knock, knock,” Adonis called, rapping on the door as it opened.

  “What is wrong with you? We could have been changing!” Melissa snapped. Her cheeks pinked when she saw Adonis though, and she didn’t sound all that angry.

  “Sorry.” He started to close the door, but Ares caught it.

  “Hey ladies.”

  Hephaestus and Apollo came in on Ares’ heels.