The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus)

  Demeter took a deep breath and walked in the door. I followed, pushing aside the beaded curtains to find myself in a stripped-down sanctuary that smelled sickly sweet.

  “Wazzup!” a group of very tan people called to us.

  I looked to Demeter, letting her take the lead. This was still her realm.

  “Quite a bit,” Demeter replied. “We were wondering if we could speak with…” She hesitated like she couldn’t bring herself to say it. “…Mr. Sunshine, please.”

  Really? I thought, unable to suppress a groan. Oh, Apollo was never going to live this down.

  The group of kids exchanged a glance. “He doesn’t usually talk to old folks, man. Sorry.”

  Demeter’s mouth dropped open. “Old…people. Uh…I see.”

  I didn’t. Physically, all the gods stopped aging at the end of maturity, so we didn’t look older than twenty-five unless we wanted to. How were we considered old compared to him? I looked down at the deep maroon carpet flecked with pieces of grass and sighed. Good gods. I missed the Underworld.

  “Why don’t you tell him his Aunt Ceres is here and see what he says,” Demeter suggested.

  “Yo, Mr. Sunshine!” one of the youths called, running down the hall to an office with yet another beaded curtain. “Your Great-Aunt Sarah is here.”

  A vein in Demeter’s forehead twitched, and I smiled despite myself. It was nice to see Demeter knocked off her pedestal. Even by these creatures.

  Apollo tore out of the office so fast he got tangled in the beaded curtain and ripped it down in his haste to get free. My eyes narrowed when I took him in. His matted red hair was cut short, he had a scruff of a beard beginning on his face, and he wore clothes with holes and patches on them.

  “Why does he look homeless?” I murmured.

  Demeter shook her head. “Not homeless, ironic.”

  Oh good gods.

  “Demeter!” Apollo managed to get mostly untangled from the curtain and moved forward in jerky motions while he tried to shake it off his foot.

  “I let you live in my realm after the fall, and this is how you repay me?” Demeter’s eyes blazed. She looked around, like she was considering moving to a more quiet location, then dismissed Apollo’s inebriated followers with a snort. “You started your own cult.”

  “I meant to send tribute, throw your name in services every now and then, I just get so…distracted.”

  As if to underscore his point, a half-naked girl peeked her head out the office door. “Mr. Sunshine? Are you coming back?”

  “Uh…not right now.”

  A chorus of disappointed wails rose from the office, and my eyebrows shot up.

  Apollo’s face turned beet red and he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then cracked one eye open as if hoping we wouldn’t be there.

  “I see.” Demeter’s voice was like ice. “You think you can poach my followers.”

  “There are seven billion people on this planet. You can’t have them all!” Apollo protested. Demeter compressed her lips into a thin white line, and he stammered an apology. When he noticed me, his face drained of color. “Aw shit, Demeter. There was no reason to get him involved. I’ll mention your name every harvest, I promise. I’ve got some girls—erm…priestesses, I mean, I can send your way. Don’t make me go to the Underworld.”

  “Harvest?” Demeter demanded. “What harvest?”

  I held up my hands in a placating gesture. “No, you’re welcome to live forever as far as I’m concerned. No need to come to my realm. Ever.”

  “How many priestesses do you want?” Apollo asked Demeter. “Hey girls?” He called a little louder.

  “Yes, Mr. Sunshine?” The girls emerged from the office in various stages of undress.

  “Oh please, don’t bother.” Demeter had a look on her face like she’d like to remove her eyes and scour them with bleach. “There’s more important things going on right now, and as it just so happens, you owe me.”

  Demeter explained what was going on with Zeus, and Apollo turned even more pale.

  “Uh, yeah, that sucks about your kid and all, but that isn’t really my scene. I’m a lover not a fighter, and uh—”

  Demeter walked up to him until they were standing nose to nose. “Do you like living in my realm?”

  Apollo nodded.

  “Do you want to continue?”

  He nodded again.

  “Then you’d best come with us.” When Apollo nodded again, Demeter wrinkled her nose and touched her fingertips to him, establishing the bare minimum of contact to teleport. She reached behind her to grab my hand, and we disappeared in a flash.

  When I opened my eyes, we were standing in the middle of Demeter’s crowded living room. Two raised voices caught my attention. I turned to see Ares and Athena arguing with one another.

  “Go shower,” Demeter told Apollo. “Then we’ll talk.”

  Apollo took a quick look around at the assembled mass of gods, then stumbled back and bolted up the stairs.

  “Oh sure, Demeter.” Sarcasm laced my voice. “A shower’s going to fix everything.”

  A hint of a smile twitched on Demeter’s face. “I don’t see why you’re so worried Hades. With Mr. Sunshine on our side, how can we lose?”

  I laughed despite myself, and Demeter’s composure broke into snorting giggles. Everyone stopped talking to stare at us, but I didn’t care. Not about them anyway.

  A wave of pain washed through me, cutting my laughter short. Persephone was in pain again.

  Chapter XVIII

  Persephone

  “What a waste,” Hades sneered.

  Whatever. At least he wasn’t making out with Aphrodite anymore.

  Or Melissa.

  Or my mom. That had been disturbing on a whole new level. I think I preferred being struck by lightning.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you are way too interested in Hades’ love life?” I asked, interrupting speech number one thousand nine hundred eighty-one on how useless, worthless, and otherwise awful I was.

  Of course, anything was preferable to watching Zeus rip them apart limb by limb. I think even he realized he’d gone too far with that set of dreams. He’d given me almost a week to recuperate.

  I still saw them writhing with agony when I closed my eyes. Still heard them screaming for me to save them. Cursing me for causing their pain.

  He’d been wearing my face that time.

  “It’s kind of pathetic.” I yawned. “Did you ever even like Hera, or did you just like that he liked her?”

  “You’re nothing compared to Hera.” Hades’ face twisted into a malicious grin. “She was—”

  “Amazing, spectacular, beautiful, perfect.” I ticked off the meaningless attributes on my fingers. “Yeah, I got the memo. She was also crazy to have picked you over him. But whatever. I owe her one. Why do you care so much? Jealous of your big brother, or does this go deeper?”

  He shifted back into Zeus. “I have nothing to be jealous of.”

  “People like him of their own volition,” I pointed out. “Love him even. He doesn’t have to resort to charm. Much less torture.”

  Zeus narrowed his eyes at me. “You think so? Maybe I should tell you about some of the things he’s done. Better yet—” a curved blade appeared in his hand “—how about I just show you?”

  Chapter XIX

  Aphrodite

  Slipping away from Melissa long enough to dreamwalk wasn’t easy. As much as she complained, she took her job as my babysitter seriously, never letting me out of her sight for more than a few seconds.

  But Melissa had been recruited for cleanup duty, so I slipped away and locked myself in the bedroom, lay on the bed, and closed my eyes. Dreamwalking was easy, like taking a deep breath and going under water. It didn’t take me long to find Persephone.

  When I found her mind wide open, I paused, tempted to go get Hades. He and Demeter had been taking shifts, trying to dreamwalk to Persephone for weeks, but she never seemed to be asleep. Either that
or she was so far from consciousness, she couldn’t open her mind to visitors.

  No. If I took the time to warn Hades, she might not be here when I came back. Zeus wouldn’t let her stay under for more than a few minutes. I closed my eyes and stepped into her dream.

  Persephone sat against a transparent wall that looked out over a bright blue sky. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her head ducked down, and her hands clasped over her ears.

  I touched her shoulder, and she jolted forward with a surprised cry. Her tear-streaked face turned to me. She blinked as her green eyes focused.

  “Okay…” she said after a moment. “This is weird even for you.”

  “Are you okay?” Dumb question. She’d been curled up in the fetal position, spending her sleeping hours in tears.

  “What do you care?” She climbed to her feet and swept a tangle of wavy blonde hair off her shoulders. “So what are you going to do next? Annoy me to death?”

  “What?” I drew my eyebrows together in confusion. “Look, we don’t have much time. I don’t know how much longer Zeus is going to let you sleep. Where are you?”

  She snorted and sank back to the ground, drawing her knees up to her chest beneath her long floral patterned skirt. The skirt covered her feet, pooling onto the floor around her. Persephone crossed her arms over her knees and ducked her head, sending her hair cascading down her shoulders and over her arms. I bit my lip, recognizing a shield when I saw one. Not a real shield—she wasn’t using power. Pressed up to the wall behind her, Persephone vanished into herself as a shapeless blob of fabric and hair. “Go away.”

  “Look—” I knelt beside her. “I get you’re mad at me. I didn’t want to help Zeus, but I didn’t have a choice. It’s a long story, and Hades can explain it better than I can anyway. Hades and I…” I trailed off, trying to get my thoughts together. She was acting so weird it was hard to stop babbling and get to a point, but I couldn’t have much time left.

  “Right, she and Hades. He’s never given her a second look, so you can stop that train of thought right there.” Her voice was muffled as she spoke into her skirt. She wouldn’t look at me.

  “Um. No. Hades is like, ancient.” He was also off-the-charts hot, even for a god. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t given it a thought, but he and Persephone seemed to be going for the whole monogamy thing, and I respected her way too much to steal her guy.

  Still, he’d give me way more than a second look if I wanted him to. But she didn’t need to hear that right now.

  Wait a minute! Persephone said “she,” like I wasn’t me. “You think I’m Zeus. I’m not. I’m Aphrodite, no tricks, no deception. Hades and your mom and pretty much every other god on the planet are looking for you. So I’m going to ask one more time. Where are you?”

  She raised her head, green eyes searching my face. “Aphrodite?” She let out a long breath. “Is this real? Sometimes I…I see things that aren’t…” She trailed off, looking small and frail.

  “I’m real,” I assured her.

  “I’m in his realm, in a castle in the sky.” She looked around like she could find something else to help me find her, but all that surrounded her were windows looking out to endless sky. “It was daylight when I passed out. You?”

  I nodded. “Daylight, so you’re in the same hemisphere.”

  “Glad to help narrow it down.” Her voice was bitter.

  “It’s more than we knew ten minutes ago.”

  “What happened to Hades?” She sounded so scared I did a double take. “I can’t hear him. Is he…?”

  “He’s fine. Going nuts trying to find you, but that’s what I’m here about.” I took a deep breath. “He’s hoping to convince one of Zeus’ other kids to kill off Zeus—”

  “But failing that, I need to do it.” She sighed. “Aphrodite, I’m not strong enough. I’ve been fighting back. I just—”

  “I know. And Hades doesn’t want you to get your hands dirty. His plan is stupid, Persephone. And dangerous.”

  She gave me an expectant look, so I continued.

  “He wants to reset the rules. Make it easier to kill gods.”

  “He can do that?”

  I snorted. “Persephone, he helped create the world. As long as he can get enough of the original six on board, he can do anything. But there’s a price. A balance. And if he screws it up, all of creation could be forfeit.”

  “He won’t do it then.”

  “I think you underestimate his devotion to you.”

  She shook her head. “He has a life outside of me with people who matter. He won’t risk them for me anymore than I would risk my people for him. He’s panicked, and worried, but I don’t believe he’ll risk all of creation to find me.”

  “Okay.” She hadn’t seen his face when he said he was going to kill Zeus. “But last resort, Persephone, I need you to promise you won’t let him.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “And I’m supposed to stop him…how exactly?”

  I took a deep breath, wishing I could stand. It was getting uncomfortable crouching down like this. But Persephone was just starting to sound like herself again, and I didn’t want to risk any sudden movements. “If it looks like nothing else will work, and you can’t kill Zeus—”

  “It’s not like I haven’t been fighting back! If I could kill him—”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” I waved a dismissive hand. “If there’s nothing else to try, then you need to take yourself out of the equation.”

  She blinked, processing that. Her eyebrows drew together like she was turning my words over in her mind to make sense of them. Understanding dawned in her expression. Her mouth dropped open. “That’s your plan? You want me to die?”

  “No! Like I said, last resort.”

  “Absolutely not!” She sprang to her feet, glowering at me. “Are you sure you’re not Zeus?”

  “I’m not Zeus.” I stood, slow, holding my hands up in a placating gesture.

  “Then are you working for him? Because seriously, Aphrodite, this is screwed up even for you.”

  I tossed my hair back and rolled my eyes. “Look, there is no threat if you don’t exist. I don’t know why you’re so offended. I said last resort, and self-sacrifice is kind of your MO.”

  “What are you talking about?” The sun sparkled in through the window, bathing Persephone in bright light. It glistened off her skin and hair, making her look like some kind of avenging angel.

  “Boreas, Thanatos, Zeus. You shouldn’t have gone up against any of them because you had no hope of winning. Just because I thought of it first doesn’t make it any less noble or whatever. Bonus, you’d be saving all the realms, not just your annoying friend.”

  “Get out.” Her fists, clenched to her side, didn’t hide the fact she was shaking with indignation.

  “Persephone—”

  “Get out, Aphrodite!”

  I sighed. “Are you aware that I have to obey direct commands from you or anyone else in Zeus’ bloodline who outranks me?”

  She blinked. “No, I thought it was just Zeus. Fine.” She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. “Please get the hell out!”

  “I’ll leave. But take this.” I shoved a small pearl at her. “If you change your mind just break it, and I’ll put you out of your misery. Don’t worry,” I said, cutting off her objections. “It won’t break unless you want it to. I’ll know.”

  She ignored my outstretched hand, and I let out an impatient huff. “Look, sometimes death can be a mercy. I don’t want you to die. And I really hope you’re right about Hades, but he’s not thinking clearly—”

  “And you think me committing suicide will make him more rational?” She rolled her eyes to show how little she thought of that idea.

  “No, it will drive him nuts. But he’s not going to risk the world if there’s no saving you. Plus—” I fell silent long enough to make sure I had her full attention “—if Hades makes it easier to kill gods, who do you think the rest of the gods are going to c
ome for first?”

  I let her chew on that for a minute, then grabbed her hand and pressed the pearl into it. “Don’t let it come to this.”

  “Aphrodite…” Persephone didn’t look angry anymore, she looked small and frightened. “If I take that, I’ll use it.”

  “No.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “You’ll wait until there’s absolutely no other chance left. You’re strong. You never stop fighting.”

  Her green eyes locked with mine, and I was startled at the glint of iron in them. She might believe she was broken, but Persephone was far stronger than she knew.

  “Aphrodite, I won’t stop you from swearing over to me and throwing all your power my way, putting an end to this miserable existence. But I sure as hell don’t have to help you justify it. Don’t come here asking me to be all strong and noble when in reality you’re just too weak to make the decision yourself. I’ve made enough hard choices.”

  “Persephone—”

  “No! I’m telling you that if you give me that thing I. Will. Use. It. When he’s hurting me, all I can think of is making the pain stop. I’m in no position to judge when we’ve reached the ‘last resort,’” she put the words in air quotes, “so don’t delude yourself into thinking you’re washing your hands of this by making me pull the trigger. If you give me that, you’re the one killing me.”

  Shame filled me when I realized she was right. Knowing what I needed to do should it come to it was one thing, but I didn’t want to be the one to do it. All this time I’d been so furious all my choices had been taken from me, and here I was trying to force a kill order out of Persephone so I didn’t have to make the decision. Still, I was glad I’d told her. She didn’t think Hades was going to take the risk, but she hadn’t expressly forbade me from pulling her plug either. I knew what she wanted should Hades go completely off the rails. Maybe that would make it easier.

  Somehow I doubted it. “I’m sorry. Persephone, I’m so sorry you’re here right now, and for my part in all this, and—”

  She hugged me. “You didn’t have a choice. I’m sorry I ever suspected you were Zeus.”