Page 244 of The Queen of Nyx

The male, now a mage with death magic andnotthe terrifying king of hell he once was, rose. “I felt it. I felther.She is real. She ismyPersephone.”

“You look pathetic,” Nyx replied, pulling her hood over her face. “And I didn’t allow her rebirth.”

“You might not have,” he said, “but someone did.”

Nyx paused, a chill rolling through her. There were no other Gods left to do such a thing. Other than her and Hades, there should not have been another one walking the realms. And only an Old God had the power to allow rebirth.

“Only those chosen by me have been reborn,” Nyx said slowly, turning to her brother. “My sacrifice and her mates. That is it. Persephone is not here.”

Hades took a threatening step towards her, the tattoos that coiled around his throat shifting. “She is,” he hissed, blue eyes darkening. “And I will prove it. I will find her. If she is not here in your realms, then she is in the human one. My Persephone has returned, and I will find her again.”

Nyx’s brother stalked out of the throne room, a chill settling over the long-forgotten hall as he left. Nyx remained at the foot of the two thrones, her eyes running over the two God-sized chairs like they might reveal the secrets she’d been so determined to find answers to.

Like how a weak little boy with power over the mind couldeverfind her skull.

“You know,” Sable said, leaning back on the stairs, her ghostly form flickering in and out. “You could be nicer to him. He spent a few years trapped in a cell by Dante. That would send anyone mad.”

The Goddess tore her eyes off the twin thrones and looked around the room no longer in use, hidden deep in the trenches of the ocean splitting the Underworld, protected by the monster above.

“If he is not careful, he will spend an eternity trapped with our siblings,” Nyx warned, barely looking at the dead Seer. “Why are you here?”

Sable appeared beside her, slowly taking Nyx’s hand. “You think I’d leave you? Like this?”

Nyx couldn’t help the small smile that crossed her lips. “There is peace beyond death.”

“I promised my boy he could summon me,” Sable replied sadly. “And anyway. Our work isn’t done yet.”

“No, it is not,” Nyx murmured.

There were three new Queens to rise in the wake of her Daughter’s work. A rebirth of greatness to witness.

And an enemy yet to be flushed out.

THE END