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 want to believe him, but I don’t think I’ll take a full breath until Charon opens his eyes and tells me with his own words that he’ll be fine. It’s not going to happen right now.
The nurse motions toward the door. “The others, however, need our help immediately. It would be best if you waited in the hallway while we work to save them.”
“Of course.” Orpheus tightens his hold on my waist and steers us toward the door. “We’ll wait outside, but please come get us when he wakes up.”
“I will.”
Part of me wants to argue that I don’t want to leave the room, that I want to ensure Charon doesn’t leave my sight. I can’t shake the feeling that if he does, I’ll never see him again. The only thing that keeps my lips pressed together is the fact that Hades and Persephone have also been exiled to the hallway.
Now, without the distraction of those gurneys, I actually take in my brother-in-law and realize that he looks like shit. He’s limping, and half his face is caked in blood. It doesn’t slow him down even a little. He leads the way to the next door over, which reveals a comfortably appointed waiting room.
Persephone sinks down onto one of the overstuffed chairs. “What happened?”
In answer, Hades curses longer and harder than I’ve ever heard him before. “They played us. They set a trap and we walked right into it, and we couldn’t even salvage it by taking one of them captive, because they fought to the death.”
My sister goes pale. “It was all for nothing?”
“Not for nothing.” He shakes his head slowly. “But at this juncture, I have to make a hard call, little siren. One you’re not going to like.”
Orpheus and I exchange a look, and I feel the same worry I see reflected in his expression. Somehow, I know that the next words out of Hades’s mouth will change everything.
My suspicions are confirmed when he takes my sister’s hands and says, “I can’t allow this to happen again. There’s not a damn thing I can do about the upper city right now, but I can protect the lower city.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m closing passage between the upper city and the lower city. After today, no one crosses the River Styx.”
Shock makes me forget myself. “Can you do that?”
“Yes.” He looks at me, and then past me at Orpheus. “It wasn’t an option under the last Zeus because he would’ve starved us out. It also served my purpose to allow his spies over the river. That ends now. No one comes into the lower city that I have not personally welcomed through the barrier.”
My sister’s mouth works, but no sound comes out. Finally, she clears her throat. “But the barrier is failing.”
“The external barrier.” He holds up two fingers. “That one is keyed to Poseidon and his descendants. The one around the lower city is keyed to me and mine. Right now, that includes me and you…by virtue of the children you carry.”
My sister’s still visibly struggling with what he’s suggesting. “But my family.” She glances at me. “Our family.”
“It’s not forever, little siren. I wouldn’t make this move if we weren’t in desperate times. Our enemies crossed the river to attack us—to attack you. If I don’t do this, there’s nothing to stop them from doing it again. I will not allow it. Even if it causes a rift between me and the rest of the Thirteen, it’s a small price to pay. They will stand against Circe—or fail—on their own.”
“Hades—”
“Until they can come to me as a unified front, I’m done endangering our people for their petty politics.” He turns to me. “I need you to deliver Ariadne to one of the bridges as soon as possible. The barrier goes down at sunset. As for you.” His gaze flicks to Orpheus. “Both Eurydice and Charon value you, and for the sake of my love for them, I will grant you permission to stay here. But you will stay here, Orpheus, until—if—I lower the barrier again. If that’s not what you want, then you need to cross the bridge into the upper city before sunset as well.”
It’s all happening too quickly. I’m afraid to look at Orpheus. It was one thing for him to decide to stay with us when he still had access to his family, but Hades is taking that away. I know Orpheus loves me, and that he can see himself falling for Charon, but what is that compared to his family that he all but worships?
“I understand.” He slips his hand into mine and squeezes. “Let’s go get Ariadne.”
The second we stop in the hallway, I dig my phone out of my pocket. Persephone made promises to Ariadne, but she’s not going to be thinking about those right now. And Hades obviously isn’t thinking clearly either, or he wouldn’t tell me to just drop her at one of the bridges. She won’t be safe. I understand she’s not his priority right now, but it still frustrates me.