“Oh, sweetheart. The idea of a woman choosing who she marries is brand-new. When it comes down to it, Persephone had thousands of years with him, but you know what?
You’ll have now until forever, if that’s what you want.” She paused. “Is it?”
“I want it to be,” I said softly. “Really, really badly.”
“Then give yourself time to let it happen. Being with Henry doesn’t mean you have to give up who you are.
Henry doesn’t def ine you, nor does the Underworld or immortality. You def ine you, and the more you act like yourself, the more Henry will love you, too. I guarantee it.”
I wanted to believe her, and as I closed my eyes again, I decided that for now, I would. Persephone had Adonis to return to, and she wouldn’t be here forever. Maybe seeing her would even be good for Henry; it could give him a chance to remember that she wasn’t the girl in his ref lection who was happy to see him every September.
I could be that girl though. I wanted to be.
I didn’t say anything else as I curled against my mother.
She continued to rub my back, and the tension seeped out of me as the minutes passed. She was still here, and a world where my mother was alive and healthy couldn’t possibly be that bad.
A knock on the door startled me, and I sat up and wiped my puffy eyes. “Yeah?” I said, and the door cracked open.
“Kate?”
Henry. I exchanged a look with my mother, and she smiled encouragingly.
“Come—come in,” I said.
He stepped inside and closed the door. He was clean now, and somehow he’d changed clothes without coming into the bedroom. Was there another closet in the palace if he decided he didn’t want to stay with me? And who had helped him clean the blood off his pale skin like I had done so many weeks before? I didn’t have to think about that too hard to come up with the answer.
“Walter is requesting you,” said Henry, and when my mother stood, he shook his head. “Not you, Diana. Kate.” There was something off about the way he said my name, but I pushed it aside. Whatever it was, it undoubtedly had something to do with Persephone, and the more I thought about her, the more everything hurt. After the journey through the Underworld, I wanted a single afternoon where I didn’t have to feel second-best. I was willing to wait for Henry like he’d waited for me, but that didn’t mean the time in between now and when he was ready to love me would be painless.
Confused, I climbed off the bed and excused myself to the bathroom. My skin was rubbed raw everywhere it’d been exposed to the fog, and now that I’d calmed down, I had to move gingerly if I didn’t want to wince. Under normal circumstances I would have changed out of my pajamas to see the King of the Gods, but today was anything but normal, and this was supposed to be my home now. If I wanted to wander around in pajamas, I would. Besides, anything else would have made the pain worse.
I made an effort not to think about what Walter wanted while I gently washed my face. To reprimand me, I was sure, but there was no use in worrying about it until I was standing in front of him. Henry wouldn’t let him banish me from the Underworld. I hoped. And if he did—well, at least I’d know for sure Henry didn’t want me anymore.
I heard my mother speaking quietly on the other side of the door, but when I stepped out of the bathroom, she immediately fell silent. “What?” I said, and she shook her head.
“Nothing, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a bit.” I would’ve had to be blind to miss the exasperated look she gave Henry, but I said nothing as he led me out of the room and into the hallway.
“Are you feeling all right?” he said, clasping his hands behind his back. Gathering what determination I had left, I slipped my hand into his arm and refused to let go when he tensed. One day he wouldn’t, and until then, he had to get used to me being there.
“I’ve had better months,” I said, a weak attempt at a joke.
He didn’t smile. “Did Theo heal you?”
He nodded. “I fetched the others a short while ago. I will send Theo to our room once Walter has f inished with you.”
That sounded ominous. “Is he mad?”
“No,” said Henry. “He is not.”
Something was still off, and I hugged his arm, pleased when he didn’t move away. “Are you?”
This time his face remained blank. Of course he was angry. If what my mother had said was true, then he’d spent six months f ighting like hell to keep me safe, and on top of failing when it’d mattered the most, I’d run after a Titan less than a day after arriving in the Underworld. Not exactly the smartest thing I’d ever done, but I hadn’t had a choice. Surely Henry understood that.
“I won’t say I’m sorry,” I said. “Not for going after you and my mother. But I am sorry for scaring you, and I’m sorry for not listening to James and staying out of the cavern.”
He unclasped his hands and took mine. He didn’t hold on tightly, but it was more than I expected, and hope f luttered inside of me. “Do not apologize,” he said. “I am aware we left you and the others with no choice. I am the one who should apologize for having put you in that situation to begin with.”
So he was blaming himself. Somehow that didn’t feel much better than him blaming me. “It wasn’t your fault though. You had no idea what Calliope and Cronus were planning, and you did your best with what you had.”
“Yes,” he said softly, “I suppose we did. That makes what Walter and I are about to ask of you even more foolish.” We stopped in front of a nondescript door, and I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Henry let go of my hand to set his on the doorknob, but he didn’t turn it yet. “I will be with you the entire time,” he said. “Nothing will happen to you.”
My heart f luttered, and I racked my brain for what he and Walter might want me to do that would scare Henry like this. Of course nothing would happen to me. Unless Cronus was inside.
As he opened the door, I realized what he meant, and all the tension that had left me earlier f looded back. I stopped cold, and he draped his arm around my shoulders protectively.
With her face bloodied and marked by the chain I’d used against her, Calliope stared at me, her eyes narrowed and unblinking.
She was awake.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IN T ER ROGATION
The burning hatred in Calliope’s eyes made every bone in my body freeze in place, as if she’d turned me to stone. I wasn’t afraid of her, not really, but anyone with an ounce of self-preservation would have stopped short when facing that kind of loathing.