I wanted to spit in his face, to tell him to go screw himself and find another daughter who was willing to love such a manipulative creep, but the truth of what he was saying froze me in place. He was right. This was what Ava would have wanted. Not only because I needed a father, but because Walter needed a daughter who loved him despite his flaws, who understood him and gave him a chance. I’d done my best to show everyone, even Calliope and Cronus, that compassion and understanding. Ava would’ve wanted me to do the same for him. To not fail Walter like I’d failed her.
“You’re asking for more than I know how to give,” I said quietly, and all of the fight drained out of me. I focused on the image of Ava’s face again. “You hurt me. You hurt my mother, and you hurt our family.”
He set a tentative hand on my shoulder. “I know. And I will spend eternity doing what I can to make it up to you. I cannot promise much, but I do promise that you will always have me—you will always have all of us. As it should have been from the beginning.”
Pressing my swollen lips together, I nodded. After all the pain he’d caused, I couldn’t forgive him as we stood there side by side, but someday I would try. For Ava.
* * *
The glass coffin remained in the throne room for three days, and the image of Ava was never alone. At first only the council members came to see her, each of us wanting to be alone with her. After we’d all had our turn, Walter opened up the portal to Olympus, allowing others to come through without assistance.
As the hours passed and news of her death spread, gods I’d never seen before appeared in Olympus to pay their respects. Some of the names were familiar, but nothing prepared me for the sheer number Ava had touched in her life. The throne room was always full in those three days of mourning, and the veil of sadness only grew heavier with each new face.
A boy with blond curls kept vigil by the coffin, never speaking a word. Both Nicholas and Dylan joined him at different times, and while he sat stiffly at Dylan’s side, the boy seemed to relax in Nicholas’s presence.
“Eros. Eric now,” said Henry as we lingered near the hallway and watched. “Her oldest son.”
My vision blurred, and I had to excuse myself. I knew how deeply Ava had touched the rest of the council, but seeing the paths her long life had forged, the family she’d formed in the millennia she’d lived—it only reopened wounds I was sure would never fully heal.
On the third day, dawn crept across the starry ceiling. Walter called us all together, and we stood in a circle with the other gods, watching as the glass coffin filled with light. At last, as the sunrise blended away the last vestiges of night, the casket disappeared.
While the rest of the earthbound gods left one by one, Eros remained. The thrones returned, circling the spot where Ava’s reflection had stood only moments before, and we each settled into our proper place. I cradled Milo, who slept soundly, and tried to ignore the empty seats on either side of Walter. Nicholas, the worse for wear but healing, set his hand on the armrest of the seashell throne that had been Ava’s. As he brushed the tears from his cheeks, I looked away.
“Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters,” said Walter into the silence. “While we will forever mourn the loss of our own, the time has come to acknowledge that their positions among us must be filled.”
I glanced at my mother. Replacing Calliope made sense—like Henry couldn’t rule the Underworld alone, surely the same was true for Walter and his realm. But Ava?
She patted my hand. All in due time.
“I will handle the replacement of my queen,” said Walter. “In the meantime, I ask that Diana take the role temporarily and assist me as needed.”
“Of course,” said my mother. “Whatever I can do to help.”
Walter inclined his head. “Thank you. As for Ava’s place, we must once again scour the world to find one who is worthy. It will not be an easy task. Ava was...” He paused. “She was irreplaceable. We cannot pretend otherwise, but we must continue on. Kate.”
“Yeah?” I said, and my mother’s hand tightened around mine.
“I think it appropriate that you take Ava’s place. Temporarily,” he added. “Until we find someone capable of filling her role.”
“What of her duties in the Underworld?” said Henry before I could protest. “I need her by my side, especially now, with the kingdom left unattended for so long.”
“I am not asking for a great commitment on her part,” said Walter. “Only enough to tide us over until we have found a new goddess. She can handle it during her summer months away.”
I shook my head. “I’m staying in the Underworld during the summer now. I don’t want to leave Milo.” Or Henry, but that wasn’t the sort of excuse Walter would understand.
“It would be no great thing for you to focus on helping us with Ava’s duties in the meantime,” said Walter. “Of us all, you are best suited for the role, at least for a short period of time.”
A short period of time to Walter could have easily been a hundred years. “I can’t,” I said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t replace her, and I can’t leave my family.”
“I’ll do it,” said Eros—Eric. Even though his voice was high and boyish, he’d featured prominently in a few of the myths I’d learned, which meant he couldn’t be that young, after all. “It’s what my mother would have wanted.”
“As generous an offer as it is,” said Walter, “you are not a member of the council. You do not have the ability.”
Eric’s face fell, and seeing his disappointment on top of his grief was a punch to the gut. “I’ll help him,” I blurted. “He can report to me, and I’ll make sure everything goes according to plan. Just as long as I don’t have to leave the Underworld for extended periods of time.”
Walter turned to Henry, who nodded once. “That is acceptable to me, so long as Kate is not forced into any position she does not feel she is ready for.”
“Very well,” said Walter. “In addition, I ask that Kate and Eric be in charge of finding a suitable candidate for a more permanent role.”
A goddess. He wanted us to find another goddess. Or a mortal to take the test and earn immortality the way I had. “How?”
He shrugged. “I do not particularly care how you handle it, only that it is done. Henry is familiar with the process. He can help you.”