“Mother, you promised Father never again.”
“Mother?” the woman said, frowning at Zotera before looking at her phone again.
“She thinks I’m Persephone,” I said, hurrying toward the woman. “So does Hades.”
The god in question abruptly appeared in front of me, blocking the path to my immediate rescue. Dread and denial shot though me as I remembered too late that saying his name summoned him.
I’d been so close. No, I was still so close. My gaze darted from him to the woman behind him.
He turned to see what had my attention, and his questioning look changed to one of rage.
I couldn’t lose the chance. Desperate, I tried to bolt around him.
He moved fast, his arms snaking around my middle as his outraged yell echoed in the room.
“I give you everything you desire,” he yelled, picking me off my feet.
I watched the woman’s eyes go wide, and she retreated a step as he pulled me farther away from her.
“Why is it never enough?” he asked harshly in my ear. “Why can’t I be enough?”
He lifted his head and looked at the woman.
“Leave now, daughter, while you still have your wings.”
With a flick of his wrist, she disappeared. Just gone.
I stilled in Hades’ arms, not realizing until that moment that I’d been struggling to get to her.
My feet touched the ground, and Hades spun me to face him.
“They are mine. You have this world. You have your playthings. I will not warn you again. Leave my daughters alone.”
The last word was growled in my face before he turned on his heel and left.
I stared after him, my thoughts whirling.
The furies would never be able to help me. With a gesture, he could send them away. Even mid-rescue.
Shaking, I stood there, understanding how deeply I’d been lying to myself about several things. I had been secretly clinging to the hope that Megan would return and take me away from here.
Slowly, I sank to the ground.
Now that I’d acknowledged there was no Plan B, I couldn’t stop my spiral of thoughts regarding finding my uncle. Hades had asked if I wanted to talk to the soul, which had led me to believe Uncle Trammer would be able to speak back to me. Yet, none of the souls in any of the rooms I’d explored had ever said anything. Most had drifted away in fear. As a soul, would my uncle remember me? If he did, would he even be able to speak?
“Talk to,” wasn’t the same as “speak with.”
My hand went to my chest where the key was still hidden between my boobs. Before Hades’ freed me to speak, the key had been my answer to communicating with my uncle. But that had been under the assumption he would be able to answer me.
What if finding my uncle wasn’t enough?
“I’m sorry he ruined your fun, Mother,” Zotera said, kneeling beside me. “I didn’t think that was a contract you would ever be willing to break.”
Those words instantly drew me from my spiraling thoughts. “What do you mean? What contract?”
“The one you made with Father about hurting his favored daughters.”
“You think I was going to hurt her?”
