Zotera immediately looked down.
“I’m sorry, Mother. I shouldn’t presume to know your mind.”
I wanted to pull out my own hair in frustration.
“I wasn’t scolding you, Zotera. Tell me more about the contract. What would happen if I hurt one of his daughters?”
“You’d forfeit your right to return to earth for one hundred turns of the seasons.”
All the air left my lungs. One hundred years? I knew very little about the actual Persephone, other than how much she’d hated this place. That she’d made a deal with that kind of consequence worried me.
“Are there more contracts like that?” I asked in a strangled tone. “Where I would lose my ability to return home?”
“I only know what you’ve told me, Mother. I swear I didn’t read the contracts when I was with Father.”
“What do you mean? Where are the contracts?”
Zotera gave me a slight, “are you crazy” look. “On his skin, where they always are.”
Of course. Silly me. Why would they be anywhere else? Like in a drawer where normal people might put a contract?
I dropped my head into my hands and tried to rub away my growing headache. Why couldn’t anything be simple or easy to understand here?
“Would you like me to change another carving for you, Mother?”
No, what I wanted was a guaranteed way home.
I lifted my head, not really seeing the bleak and barren room around me. Instead, my mind went to the one sure way to get sent home. The way Hades had brought up again and again. The one that wasn’t a real option because it would probably end with my death the moment he realized I wasn’t who he thought I was. Unioning with Hades was a non-option.
No, I would come up with something else if I had to. Meanwhile, I’d just keep holding onto the hope that everything would be fine once Hades found my uncle.
“Mother?” Zotera said again.
I gave her a small smile. “Which carving should we have you change?”
Despite her hesitation, I had Zotera change one of my likenesses into a likeness of the fury we saw. Only we gave her fiery wings and a whole lot of angry attitude on her face. It took a long while making minor adjustments, but she was beautiful when Zotera finished.
“You truly are an artist,” I said, stepping back and looking at the carving.
Zotera flushed and smiled. “Should we burn her?”
I shook my head at the excitement in Zotera’s voice.
“No. We’re going to leave her just as she is. Unmarred perfection.”
“So I will remember what she looked like before you break her?” Hades asked, his voice echoing in the vastness of the room as he entered.
“Break her? Zotera spent hours on this. The mermaid is just as beautiful.” I gestured to that carving at the other end of the room, near the throne.
His face remained hard and angry, and despite knowing how dangerous it would be, I wanted to kick him in the shin. My pent-up frustration at my almost escape aside, Zotera had worked so hard on both the sculptures. Would a simple thank you kill him? I’d thought furies were his favorites.
“Why are you here?” I asked, feeling a little too short on patience.
“Goddess help me, I cannot stay away.”
His gaze swept from the statue and locked with mine.
“Tell me what you need of me.”
