“Athena?”
“I believe so.” He glanced back at her again, seeking out her gaze. “The night I first kissed you, something similar happened.”
For a moment their eyes locked, and then he slowly turned his attention back to the labyrinth.
Her voice broke when she spoke next. “What did you see after we, um…?”
“Nothing but a soft rustle and an abandoned golden arrow.”
“Eros,” she whispered.
“Maybe.” He turned the corner. “There’s something here. The labyrinth is opening up.” He breathed a sigh of relief.
A cold blast gusted through the corridor, extinguishing their torches. Alena made a strangled sound deep in her throat.
“There’s a light up ahead,” he said to comfort her.
When they emerged from the passageway, his eyes adjusted to the strange ambient light of the cavernous space. The silver sky had been replaced with a red glow from the ceiling that tinged everything the color of blood. He shivered, accepting that they must move forward but terrified of what challenges the red chamber held in store. The rocky floor of the corridor gradually blended into sand under his feet, and he realized he was standing at the edge of dark water that stretched like glass beyond the edge of a crimson beach. The path they were on led directly to the shore.
“Are we supposed to swim?” Alena asked from behind him.
“I think that would be a very bad idea.” Orpheus pointed across the water.
A dark figure flowed toward them, robes floating eerily in the now windless cavern, skeletal hands rowing the paddle.
“You said that symbol in the labyrinth signified the underworld… I thinkthisis the river Styx.”
Chapter Seven
The deathly figure Alena recognized as Charon steered his boat next to the dark shore, and she suppressed a strong desire to run and hide. She’d read about this creature who rowed travelers along the river Styx for a fee. The way the path ended at the water’s edge, it was clear the only way to keep searching for the grimoire was to travel on his boat.
Bony fingers extended from the tattered sleeves of his obsidian robe and turned upward, flexing imploringly.
“He requires payment.”
Orpheus’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t sing us out of this one. Tell me you have a couple obols in that bag of yours.”
She shook her head. “No, but maybe…”
Scanning the beach, Alena’s eyes landed on a circular shape protruding from the sand. Abandoning her extinguished torch on the beach, she turned her back to Charon and used her toe to dig a sand dollar from the sand. She returned to Orpheus with the disk-shaped creature cupped in her hands between them. “It’s close to the size and shape of a drachma. Here goes nothing.”
“Wait. You should kiss me first.”
She raised her face to his. He was warm and alive, a comfort among their dark and deadly surroundings. “What? Why?”
“For luck.” His eyes flashed. “And because I want you to kiss me again before I die. Do it now before you have time to think yourself out of it.”
They were close, his breath mingling with hers. His dark beauty made her insides tingle. What did she have to lose? There were no whispering women here. No one to see. She couldn’t resist. She rose up on her toes and pressed her lips to his.
His fingers tangled in her hair and he said into her mouth, “You can do this. I believe in you.”
“Metamórfosi,” she whispered, concentrating on the sand dollar. The animal turned cold in her hand. She looked down to find one silver drachma in her palm, more than enough to pay Charon’s fare.
Orpheus ran his thumbs along her jaw. “Brilliant. I knew it. I knew the first moment I met you.”
She pulled back, the muscles around her mouth tightening. What did that mean? Was he only interested in her for her power? He seemed to notice her mood shift and his eyes darkened.
“I knew the moment I met you that you were cunning and talented. Does this upset you?”
