“Is Jason . . . ” I ventured.
“I honestly don’t know.” Persephone glanced down. “I turned him over to Poseidon after the ambush.”
“He’s better off in the Underworld, one way or another.” I met her eyes. “He’s too dangerous, Persephone. You can’t let him leave and become these people’s symbol. Not again.”
“I know,” her voice sounded small.
I glanced down at Persephone’s sun-kissed fingers entwined in my pale ones. My glamour was gone. So why was I surprised every time I saw my own features instead of Elise’s?
Drawing in a deep breath, I focused on adding a glimmer of gold to my skin. Though I couldn’t see the effect, I knew a hint of highlights shimmered in my hair. Flecks of gold ringed my eyes. Tiny touches of the demigoddess I’d pretended to be settled over my features, not enough to change them. Not a disguise by any stretch of the imagination. Just little enhancements. My time as Elise had shaped me. It felt right that some aspect of all those months answering to her name be physically manifested.
“So . . . ,” Persephone said after a long moment, her green eyes trained on the calm waves lapping at the shore. “I don’t even know where to start.”
I shifted sideways so I could bump my shoulder against hers. “Start with the part where we disabled an entire demigod army, and destroyed a ton of weapons and poisons that could hurt our people. We won, Persephone. We survived today.”
“At what cost?” Persephone blonde hair tumbled over her shoulder as she shook her head. “Athena’s right about me—I’m too dangerous. I mean, one moment of weakness, and bam.” She slapped her hands together. “Death everywhere. I broke our realms.”
“Only for a minute,” I cajoled. Hades had warned that it was possible some souls had escaped from Tartarus before we managed to seal the realms. Artemis had already volunteered to hunt down any escapees.
Man, was that a terrifying thought. Persephone’s power had breached the darkest depths of Tartarus. If anyone—anything had escaped from that region, finding and catching their souls wasn’t going to be fun.
And if Artemis failed to round them all up before Samhain—when souls became corporeal in the living realm—humanity was in for one horrifying Halloween. But I kept all that to myself for now. Persephone had enough on her plate.
Persephone did not seem to appreciate my effort to downplay what could have been the complete and total destruction of the living realm. “There’re no checks and balances with this. And it’s just going to get worse.” She sighed. “Poseidon was right. I was scared to trust the Pantheon, but I couldn’t handle this all on my own.”
I hadn’t trusted them either. And I certainly didn’t trust them all now, but craning my neck to look around the newly crafted beach at the assembled members of the Pantheon, I realized Poseidon had been right to push Persephone to listen to them. They weren’t always trustworthy, but they had value.
Athena had once told me that one of the disadvantages to being created rather than born was that all our formative relationships occurred as adults, but I wondered if she was wrong about that being a disadvantage. I wasn’t just some child, unconsciously absorbing influences from my betters. I could choose what strengths of theirs I wanted to mimic, what weaknesses to avoid.
Persephone continued, oblivious to my thoughts. “There are entirely new kinds of gods being born, and they don’t approve of how we’ve run things. We need to be above reproach. I need to be above reproach. I’ve been thinking.” She glanced at me. “What if I just promise not to order you around?”
I tried and failed to follow her string of thought. “What?”
“That’s why you swore fealty, right?” Persephone dragged the word out, infusing it with a bright optimism as she looked at me with earnest green eyes. “Because, thanks to the way Zeus made you, you’d have to obey my every order anyway. You wanted to obey me on your terms, not his. That’s what you said, right? What if I just don’t give you any orders? Then you wouldn’t have to swear fealty again.”
My breath caught with a sudden, surprised hopefulness, but when I considered her offer for a moment, I saw the flaw in it. “You can’t lock yourself into a promise like that.”
“Why not?”
“You’re our queen.” And loss of control or not, she was still the best person for the job. If only because she made offers like that. “You might need to order me around one day.”
“I’m a queen.” Persephone corrected. “Of two realms. I don’t need a third. Take the sky.” She inclined her head upward toward the perfect, cloudless expanse of blue. “We can be equals.”
I’d be her equal. Poseidon’s too. No one treated realm rulers like pawns. I opened my mouth. Closed it. “I think . . .” I glanced back toward where Athena debated with Poseidon heatedly, dark hair whipping in the coastal wind. Her severe bun must have come dislodged during Persephone’s meltdown. “I’m not the best person for the job.”
Persephone followed my gaze to Athena and narrowed her eyes. The goddess of wisdom’s voice was nearly as sharp as the finger she kept jerking toward Poseidon in chastisement.
I tapped her shoulder, drawing her attention back to me. “You don’t want her to have an equal voice because you don’t trust her. I get it. So, temper it. Split the sky day and night. Artemis and Athena both predate me. Passing over both of them to give me the sky just because we’re friends would cause you no end of turmoil.”
“When has there not been turmoil?” But I could see the wheels turning in her head. “I could split things up a good bit more, couldn’t I? Artemis could be night, Athena day. I could give them all something. Something beyond charm to keep them going.”
“It shouldn’t just come from you.” I glanced toward Poseidon, his face reddening as he shouted at the Goddess of Wisdom. “If we’re really a new Pantheon, then I think maybe it’s time we redistribute. Create some new roles. Resurrect some old ones.”
Persephone laughed. “I don’t think Poseidon will go for that.”
“So.” I lifted a handful of sand in my palm, watching as the sun-warmed grains slid through my fingers. “I’ll call in a favor.”
Persephone raised her eyebrows. “If you’re really willing to do that, then the least I could do is give you first dibs. What would you want? Fill in the blank. Aphrodite, goddess of . . . ?”
Who was I?
Zeus had molded me, carving out my features piece by piece, but I was more than his statue. I had Athena’s voice in my head, helping me to cope when things got too overwhelming. Ares’s love and patience, lifting me out of the depths of despair. Persephone’s fierce kindness, making me feel protected and loved, Hephaestus’s scars imprinted upon my very soul, reminding me that the worst mistakes could be overcome. I admired Artemis’s strength, was alive today because of Hades’s sacrifice, even Poseidon had taught me something. I’d never be able to look at his dreamscapes the same way again. Zeus had created me, but the rest of the gods had filled me with bits and pieces of themselves.
And not just the gods.
I glanced down the other side of the beach where Adonis spoke to the small group of demigods who’d stayed behind. Every person I’d met, every experience I’d had, shaped me. Now I just had to figure out how to put all those pieces together to be the kind of person, the kind of goddess, I wanted to be.
“I’m still figuring that out,” I confessed. “But for the meantime, how about love?”
Back in Athena’s therapy sessions, she’d told me to find something about myself that I could hold onto as a constant. Something about myself that Zeus and all the hell I’d been through hadn’t changed. Persephone had suggested love.
She’d said I loved fiercely. That I gave everything I had to help the people I cared about, and that I always had. It was cheesy as hell, but the more I’d thought about it, the more
proud and flattered I’d felt that she looked at me and saw something so powerful, so strong, so positive.
I could get used to that.
“Love?” Persephone didn’t sound like she was incredulous or even laughing at me, but I still flushed and glanced out at the sea.
On the very edge of the horizon, a bright star rose from the tranquil waves. Not a star. A planet so beautiful on the outside that observers had never guessed at the scars within. But even after its true nature was laid bare, people still looked to its light.
A smile lifted the corners of my lips. “Like you said, it’s kind of my thing.”
Epilogue
Medea
I DON’T REGRET IT. Leaving. But I still think about them sometimes. What happened to the gods? Did anyone make it off that island alive? I don’t regret leaving. But I wish I’d been able to save her.
I wish instead of teleporting us to that horrible hidden wing, I’d just brought us here instead. The three of us could have been happy, I think. But Aphrodite never would have left her family. Even if they did get her killed.
Gods, I can’t believe Aphrodite’s dead. I know I should go back in the dreamscape. Touch base with what’s left of the Pantheon, but I just can’t bring myself to do it.
This is my last entry in this journal. Kind of fitting. I bought a new one. Filled with blank pages for my new life. As soon as I get a chance, I’m torching this book. I like the thought of the pages blackening and curling, the words burning away into smoke and ash like every aspect of my old life.
I’m not an experiment anymore. I’m not a wife anymore. I’m not the hope for our people, the bridge between the semi-divine and the divine. I’m not a piece on the chessboard for Jason to move, or the gods to consider. I’m just me.
Otrera doesn’t blame me for Glauce. She listened when I told my story, and, while she’s by no means over Glauce’s death, she claims she isn’t holding it against me.
She blames Jason for backing me into a corner. Thrusting me into a situation I wasn’t ready for, then forcing me to lash out to save myself. She knows I never meant for Glauce to die. And had it not been for him, she wouldn’t have needed to.
I don’t know if she’s telling the truth when she says that, or if that’s just what she has to tell herself so she doesn’t hate me. And I’m not entirely sure I agree. I might have never meant harm, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t cause it. I need to take responsibility for that. Make up for it.
And I’m going to. There are other demigoddesses like us. Maybe even more like me. Otrera and I are going to find them, protect them from gods, demigods, and humans alike. We might have power, but alone, that power makes us targets. Together, no one can hurt us. We’re not trying to restart DAMNED. We don’t want to start a war. Eventually, we’ll seek out the Pantheon, see if they’ll still make good on the promises they made to Otrera and me. We did help them, after all, but their people were harmed, so for now, we’re taking a wait-and-see approach.
But we don’t need the gods to get by.
We’ve got each other.
If I can’t find a place to belong in this world, I’ll make my own.
The End
(Please continue reading for more information)
Please visit these websites for more information about
Kaitlin Bevis
Author’s Webpage
Author’s Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Please rate/review Venus Rising on Amazon.com
Experience Katlin’s other titles from ImaJinn Books
Persephone
Book 1 of The Daughters of Zeus
Kindle
Daughter Of Earth And Sky
Book 2 of The Daughters of Zeus
Kindle
The Iron Queen
Book 3 of The Daughters of Zeus
Kindle
Aphrodite
Book 4 of The Daughters of Zeus
Kindle
Love & War
Book 5 of The Daughters of Zeus
Kindle
Sign up for email updates about
Kaitlin Bevis
(Please continue reading for more information about the author)
Acknowledgements
I have been working on this series since 2009, and while there is more to come, there’s something about ending a trilogy that makes the entire series feel more solid. There’s a weight there. Six books worth of character development, plot points, and non-stop research in Greek mythology. I have loved every minute of it, but I would have never gotten this far without a ton of help along the way.
As always, a huge thank you to my family. Bella, thank you for being so good. The hours you have spent playing quietly in your room while I finish just one more scene have not gone unnoticed. I’m still not going to promise you a pony, but I bet Santa has something special planned for you this year.
Brandon, you are the best husband ever. Not only do you listen to all my books out loud while I hunt for errors or dialogue flow, but you work non-stop to support our family while I stay home and write. Thank you for an amazing anniversary trip, for giving up every other Saturday while I go to writers’ group, for keeping Bella entertained for just one more scene, for your support, for your love, for everything. I love you so much.
Mom, thank you for always believing in me and for all your support. Tyler Bithell, thank you for your encouragement, your excitement for my books, and your help on all things audio and website related. It’s not many big brothers that could stomach listening to their little sister read a romance book out loud. Thanks for that.
A big thanks to Brenda Chin for her amazing editing skills and patience with my frequent questions. I’m sorry I’m so obsessed with the word “like.” To Debra Dixon for her amazing cover art and her willingness to always answer my emails, no matter how strange the topic. To Niki Flowers for her marketing savvy and willingness to create pretty pictures in all sizes for whatever social network I’m exploring that week. To my copy editor for dealing with my insane love of commas and made up words. And to everyone else at BelleBooks. There are so many moving parts to creating a book, and you guys make them all flow seamlessly. Thank you all for taking a chance on me.
My thanks to the amazing people behind Theoi.com. You’ve provided me endless rabbit holes of well-sourced information. Thank you readers for the emails and messages. Thank you to the amazing ladies behind Myth 101 and to all my Facebook writing groups. You are all amazing.
I wanted to start and end this book with a big thank you to the Athens Writers Group. Thank you for answering crazy legal and medical questions. Thank you for countless write-ins with coffee at Panera, pizzas at my place, and for that 5k every two-week deadline.
Angela Powell, Stephen Morgan, Michael Rupured, Ed Wyrick, Len Block, Misty Hawkins, Amy Severson, and Dallas Bono, after all these years, you are still the voices I hear in my head while writing.
Letitia Carelock, Phyl Campell, Jara Lane, Kim Shupenia, Christopher Cooke, Linda Gochenouer, and Jessica Jones: careers, family, and geography might have shortened your stay but it did not mitigate your impact. I miss you all.
Tom Haugh, Beth Sadler, and Jeanne Sanderson, you are all the best newbies ever! Thank you for pointing out all the places where people new to my series would give up.
And last, but never least, Kathryn Pegan, Tonnye Conner-White, and Alexia Roney: thank you for critiquing countless drafts with unflinching honesty. Thank you for responding to freak-out emails when I wrote myself into a corner. Lexi, thank you for spending the bulk of our eight-hour bus drive coming home from the Women’s March helping me figure out what the hell was wrong with my ending.
Every one of your fingerprints is all over the way I write. I wouldn’t trade you for anything.
Thank you all.
(Please continue reading for more information about the author)
About the Author
Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. Because she’s always wanted to be a writer, she spent high school and college learning everything she could to achieve that goal. After graduating college with a Masters in English, Kaitlin went on to write The Daughters of Zeus series. Visit her at: KaitlinBevis.com
Kaitlin Bevis, Venus Rising: Book 3 Aphrodite Trilogy (The Daughters of Zeus 6)
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends