“If she does not, who will?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Do not tell me you are allowing her to make you soft.”
“Soft has nothing to do with it. We have sworn to protect humanity.”
“My son is not mortal.”
“No,” said Henry with patience he hadn’t thought he possessed. “But his brother is, and we will be causing him more pain than he deserves.”
“So you are saying I ought to allow Pollux to go free simply because he is not the only one who will suffer, despite the crime also being Castor’s?”
“That is exactly what I am saying.”
Silence. Walter’s nose twitched, and satisfaction burrowed deep within Henry. His brother had been counting on his allegiance, but this was the one time he would not have it. Not when Henry was now certain it would destroy his relationship with Kate. His desire to reclaim Castor as a citizen of the Underworld was built on nothing but pride and laws he himself had created; the same which had ruined his marriage to Persephone and put him through the pain of separation that the twins were now experiencing. He knew that ache all too well, and it was cruel to purposely put another being through it.
Though it wounded an elemental part of him to break the laws of the Underworld and allow Castor to go free, at least this would be his choice. And when he had to choose between making an exception and losing the only person who had made him happy in the past thousand years, there was no question.
“I do not understand why you have changed your mind so suddenly,” said Walter, and even Henry could hear the effort it took for his brother to keep himself under control. But though Walter would never admit defeat, he must have known he was outnumbered, and after the loss the council had experienced that winter, they couldn’t afford any more dissidence.
“You may not value your marriage, brother, but I value mine.” Henry fixed him with a steely gaze. “I respect and honor my queen’s opinion. You and I both know we cannot begrudge her when she is still too green to know why we make the decisions we do.”
Walter stared back. “The more she learns, the whalearns,more responsible she will be for her actions. We cannot excuse her on the grounds of immaturity forever.”
“No, we cannot,” said Henry. “But no one can argue that Kate brings a fresh perspective at a time when we are in desperate need of one.”
“I am afraid, brother, that you are not the only person basking in her lack of wisdom.”
Henry swallowed. His brother could not have possibly found anything more painful to imply. “What she does with James during her six months away is her decision.”
“And what you do now is yours.”
“Yes,” he said quietly, “it is. If you will excuse me.”
He waited until he’d exited the cottage before once again closing his eyes. When he opened them, he stood twenty feet from Kate and the others, well concealed by the brush around him. He sent out a probing thought, not expecting an answer in return. James?
Silence.
If you want to help Pollux, you will not ignore me.
James focused on the spot where he was hidden. The question isn’t whether or not I want to help Lux. You know that Kate called Walter a heartless bastard?
And an ass**le. I am quite proud.
The corner of James’s mouth twitched. Yet you took Casey back to the Underworld.
Henry hesitated, and through the leaves, he found Kate. She leaned up against a tree a few feet from Pollux, her face crumpled and red and her cheeks glistening with tears. He hadn’t seen her so utterly miserable since the day she’d come to Eden Manor searching for a way to change fate.
And once again, it was his fault.
I know we have had our differences, but I need you to trust me.
James raised an eyebrow. Oh yeah? And why should I do that?
Because you care for Kate, and you care for the twins. I have made mistakes, as have you—but they should not suffer because of it.
Several seconds passed. How do I know this isn’t a trap?
You don’t. You simply have to trust me. Henry paused. You owe me that much.
Silence again, longer this time. James glanced at Kate, and he must have seen the same thing Henry did: that keen sense of loss, as agonizing as it had been for her when she’d faced the inevitable death of her mother. The fact that it hurt her so badly when she barely knew the twins made Henry’s heart ache for her, and he was once again reminded how much he did not deserve her.
All right. James’s gaze shifted back to him. What do you need me to do?
Kate
The wait was agony. No matter how much a I wanted to believe that eventually Henry would do the right thing, I wavered between hope and despair. He had Casey. Hell, for all I knew, he’d returned him to his afterlife already. James wouldn’t lie to me about something like that. And if that were the case, then we’d already lost.
That left me with only one choice: to believe Henry was good. That after all he’d gone through with Persephone, he would understand how badly it hurt to be ripped from the person he loved most in the world, and he would relent. It was a long shot, but I had to take it.
Lux was oddly silent once Walter left. I expected him to rage, but he didn’t even struggle to undo his bonds. He just rested against the tree as if he’d accepted his fate.
That was the worst part, seeing Lux give up. And that was why, when Ella turned her back to pet one of her massive slobbering dogs, I closed the distance between us and sat beside him.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. Lux didn’t look at me. “I should’ve done more.”
“You stood up for us. That’s more than anyone’s done before.” His voice was hoarse and his eyes deadened, but at least he hadn’t shut out the world completely. Yet. If he hurt a fraction as much as he looked like he did, however, it would only be a matter of time.
“It wasn’t enough though.” I frowned. “Could you petition the council to let you become mortal and join Casey in the Underworld? If they let Persephone do it, then—”
“Their pride would never allow it.”
He was right. Of course he was right. “Then—then once I’m queen, I’ll do something. Whatever it takes, I’ll help you find him, and you can either stay there or I’ll help you smuggle him back out or—”
“It’s too late.” At last he looked at me, his expression void of anything resembling humanity. “Hades has him, and he would rather destroy himself than allow my brother to leave again. To him, this is a matter of everything he stands for. Once someone has entered the Underworld, they stay. Period. The few times he’s allowed the dead to leave, they’ve never made it.”