Tears slide from my eyes as I try to figure out a way to save everybody. “Follow me into Tartarus.” I turn and step through the doors.
“My offspring will follow,” The Duchess tells me. “Then Lucifer will seal the doors. You must keep him in there whilst this happens. Good luck, Pandora, you have already given so much to this cause. I hope you have a plan.”
I suck in a breath, drawing the trident from my back as I release my immortality and arrive in true Hell.
39
Chapter Thirty Nine
Archan
Do not test my resolve, for darkness is endless and absolute.
My heart pulses in time to Natia’s as I watch her ruse work. Then Zee moves to follow and the world tilts on its axis. Her panic filters through the bond. We didn’t foresee Zee’s connection, but we should have. Her blood altered him on a cellular level. They broke the bond with her death, but spelled blood ignited it again.
I inch forward on my horse. Lucifer’s hand snaps out, gripping my arm. “She told you to trust her, brother.”
Zee and Zeus follow her towards the doors. The Duchess raises her arms and at least half of the most terrifying monsters turn to face her. She says something and they roar at her. She roars back, taking me off guard. Then the monsters turn from us and follow Natia.
“Where the fuck did Nathan go?” Duncan asks. I whip my head around and stare at Nathan’s empty steed. When the God of Time gets involved you can be rest assured things really are fucked.
“What are you planning, Chronos?” I mutter.
40
Chapter Forty
Natia
Taurus: Everyone should listen to me because I am always right.
Being human doesn’t mean you have humanity.
Agony rips me in half as my psyche is torn. Nathan appears to my right with a wink and disappears. Emptiness grips my human shell as all emotions flee with Nathan. I blink at the trident in my hand, and with a roar, summon the water from the lake of souls that surrounds us. Tartarus isn’t a barren place. It’s filled with despair, pain, anger, and a terrifying evil entity that would make gods cower.
Water rushes to my command, creating a cyclone around myself, Zeus, Zee, and the monsters.
“When this wears off, I will tear you limb from limb,” Zeus hollers.
“I’m counting on it,” I mutter, glancing at Zee. He’s the wild card that I didn’t anticipate. But if he has to die to end this, then so be it.
Something lurks in the water barrier, a whale-sized shadow that eyes Zee with hunger. He’s the only being here with a good soul. He will be devoured. Somewhere deep down, I know I should care. Zee is important to me—or he was.
“As soon as the spell drops, get out,” I shout to him.
He shakes his head and grips my hand with his, threading our fingers together. “If you go down, it won’t be alone this time.”
I blink at our hands. “While this is entertaining, your care is misplaced. The woman you call a friend, the woman you walk through the fires of hell for is no longer here.”
He frowns. “What?”
“The Natia you love no longer exists in this realm.”
He grips my hand tighter. “The Natia I love exists within you.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “You deluded fool. I hold no soul, my life force is tied to another. Now leave.”
He shakes his head just as I sense the seals begin to lock into place. Zee hardens his gaze at the monsters and Zeus. The Duchess appears in a blaze of rainbow clothing and mahogany hair on her horse. She thunders past me, grips Zee and flings him across the back of her horse before smirking at me and dragging him back through the doors.
