Beneath the beautiful lit-up version of Rose, her body began to wither and dry up, curling into a husk of dust that scattered with an biting breeze. “Forgive my body, child. Forgive us all.”
“Where do you go now?”
“Where I always should have gone.”
“The riddles need to stop!” I needed answers and fast before she disappeared. “How do I kill Hemlock?”
“You can’t kill a god, my dear.”
“Then where are all the other gods? If they aren’t dead, where the hell—”
“Trapped, Raine. Only another immortal being can imprison the gods to Tartarus. No one can escape from there.”
“Is that what happened? Did Hemlock trap all the other gods there? How is that possible? He’s such a stupid asshole, how could he get it all to work?”
“Some he tricked into becoming mortal for just a few moments.”
“And what happened?”
“In a few moments death can come swiftly.”
I needed to find Mathias. If we could find out how to trap Hemlock in this Tartarus—Tartus—wait—isn’t that the ship from Doctor Who?Or to get him to be a mortal again—oh, there were so many ways I wanted to see him die. “Where’s Mathias? What is Hemlock going to do to us?”
But she was fading, her glowing face dispersing into millions of beads of light and dimming into the darkness. “Save them, Raine, you’re their only hope.”
I stood alone in the dark room, breathing heavily. I kicked at the pile of rubble that Rose had melted into and screamed in anger.
Out in the hallway footsteps echoed closer.
Slipping the small charm over my head, I tucked it into the top of my corset and spun around to face the door. “One dead piece of shit down, let’s see who’s going to be next.”
Chapter 14
“Where is Rose?” Hemlock asked. His voice carried through the throne room like echoes down a long empty cavern.
I shrugged my shoulders. “She split. Don’t know what happened.” I smiled. “She seemed to have somewhere else she had to be.”
I glared at the dais where the dead king sat on his throne, regarding me with his cold milky-white eyes. “Approach me, child.”
This calling mechildnonsense was getting on my last nerve. I hesitated and took a long deep breath and squeezed my hands into tight fists. I needed to let go of the anger before I stood in front him or I would be too emotional and full of rage to think straight. I had to keep my wits about me. Which was hard considering all the confusing things that were happening and going on around me.
“Come, child,” he said, softly.
Okay, I was just going to walk up there, kneel, pretend I was under his loyalty, find Mathias, and then murder the hell out of his father.
Should be easy.
Another deep breath and I nodded, taking a step forward.
That’s when I saw something that caught my attention in the corner of the dais, in the dark shadows behind the throne that had me stumbling over my own feet.
It was Mathias, standing between two of those creepy skeletal guards that stood by the doors to the castle. White alabaster bones protruded from their sleeves, four bony hands holding Mathias in place as rusted chains hung off his waist and legs, and slung tight around his neck and wrists.
His clothes were torn to ribbons, and his bare skin was the color of bronze without a speck of hair or flaw. His light eyes searched mine, darting back and forth as if trying to warn me, begging me to run.
But I couldn’t. There was nowhere for me to run to, was there?
I quickened my pace and climbed up onto the dais without help from the guards who were at my back, most likely waiting to have to push me forward. With one more quick glance to Mathias, I dropped to my knees in front of Hemlock’s throne and bowed my head as far as I could before I vomited or cried or both.
