Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I will do everything in my power to prove that I’m worthy of Hades’s trust.
23
CHARON
I barely wait for the door to close behind Eurydice before I spin on Hades to demand to know what the fuck he thinks he’s trying to pull. Persephone gets there first. She marches around the desk and gets right in his face. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I think I was rather clear about my intentions.”
“Hades,” I cut in. “She has no training. She’s going to get hurt.”
The look he gives me is calculating. “Ensure that she doesn’t.”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.” Persephone lifts a hand as if she’ll touch him but takes a step back instead. “That’s my baby sister. Charon’s right—she’s going to get hurt.”
He drags his hand over his face. “I wish the two of you would give me a little more credit…and would see things more clearly. She needs a purpose. She’s all but begging to have one. She’ll be safer here than doing this back-and-forth thing she’s had going for the last year. If she decides it’s not what she wants, I’ll release her from my employ. But in the meantime, she’ll stay in the lower city.”
Understanding flares. Again, Persephone speaks before I can. “You sneaky motherfucker, you let her take this job because you knew she wouldn’t agree to stay on this side of the River Styx otherwise.”
“Yes, in part.” He turns to look out the window. “She managed to pull off something that no one else could. If Ariadne really has the information she promised, it may be invaluable.” He sighs. “Or it might already be too late.”
“You can’t think like that.”
“I can’t afford to think any other way.”
My phone chooses that moment to buzz in my pocket. I send an apologetic look to Hades and Persephone, and dig it out. Thankfully, it’s not Minthe or Eurydice, but that doesn’t mean it’s good news. Thanatos’s name appears on the screen. “I have to get this.”
“Take it in here.”
I nod to show I understand and put the call on speaker. “I’m here.”
“We have a problem. I need you to come down to the club.” His voice is rough and raspy as if he just smoked an entire pack of cigarettes. “Hurry.”
I exchange a look with Hades. We both know what that tone means. Trouble in the worst way. Thanatos didn’t tell me to put the house on lockdown though, which means he believes it’s already finished and the danger has passed.
I wish I could believe that too.
Hades turns to Persephone and takes her hands. “I need you to go to our room and lock yourself in until I call you.” She tries to pull her hands from his, but he tightens his grip. “Do this for me, little siren. I need to make sure we’re safe, and I can’t do that if I’m worried about you and the babies. Please.”
Persephone curses softly but presses a quick kiss to his lips. “Be safe.”
“I will. I promise.”
We walk Persephone as far as the curving staircase that leads to the second floor. I don’t comment on the fact that he waits until she disappears from sight before he moves with purpose toward the part of the house the connects with the club. He’s not that much taller than me, but I still have to focus on keeping up with him. “Someone attacked the club.”
“Undoubtedly.” A deep anger comes off him in waves. Even during the most tumultuous time with the past Zeus, his club was always safe. It was a proving ground and a theater, but not a single one of the rest of the Thirteen ever dared threaten it. To do so would mean revoking access to Hades. Though most of them weren’t brave enough to come to the lower city themselves, they had plenty of spies they sent to keep tabs on him. Hades knew about every single one of them and chose to allow it.
That careful balance is sacred.
We reach the black door that leads from the house to the club. I’ve never really understood why Hades invested what he must’ve in that door. It’s abnormally large, and its surface is so glossy it almost looks like liquid. As if you could press your hand against it and slide right through. It’s dramatic as fuck, and no one sees it except Hades and Persephone. I don’t even bring Eurydice through this door on the nights when we visit the club.
I don’t comment on the fact that Hades is blatantly bracing himself before he opens the door and steps through. I follow on his heels, only to stop short in horror. My brain shies away from what I’m seeing. The only word I can come up with is ruin.
The club has only been closed for a couple hours, and the cleaners we employ should just be wrapping up. I’ve been here plenty of times during off hours, when the lights are high and the mystique is nowhere to be found. Even then the luxury and beauty of this place are on full display. Not now.