“Your friends and your mother like it here, Harmonia,” he pointed out needlessly.
“Yes,” I snapped. “Because you’ve made it so. You can’t just steal them away and keep them. They have lives in the mortal world.”
I found it odd that none of the three were asking any questions about their surroundings or the supernatural element that was around them. They had been abruptly thrust into it, yet they acted as if everything was normal, as though they had forgotten their mortal upbringings. They weren’t even curious about my appearance- I was wearing clothing from my home on Olympus and I was covered in my husband’s blood. I hadn’t yet had time to wash it off. And none of them found that odd?
“Harmonia,” Hades began smoothly, his voice like melted butter. “You must do what I wish or these three lovely ladies will no longer be welcome here with me. I’ll have to send them away to Tartara. Do you want that?”
They immediately began protesting and crying at the thought of being separated from Hades, not at the thought of being sent to Tartara. I shook my head in wonderment. This was absolutely insane. Yet, on one level, I understood it. If his magnetism was hard for me to resist, it must be impossible for them. And they probably had no idea what Tartara even was. But I did.
“What do you want?” I growled.
“Oh, it’s a decision you’ve had to make before, Chosen One. And you made it then. Let us see if you will choose the same now. You for them.”
A rush of déjà vu washed over me. Yes, I had certainly been faced with this before, when the Fates had forced me to choose between my own life and those of everyone that I loved, including Cadmus. I had stood on the lip of a massive fire pit and had eventually decided to sacrifice myself. I exhaled a ragged sigh. I had even more to lose now. I had a daughter.
“You won’t lose her,” Hades replied to my thought. “She can stay with you. I don’t ask for your life, I simply ask for you to stay here in the Underworld with me.”
The darkness seemed to swirl around me as I weighed his demand. It was so much to think about that I could scarcely process it.
“And if I don’t?” I murmured.
“Then Tartara will have three new prisoners,” Hades answered smoothly and strangely without malice. “I don’t wish to torture you, Harmonia. I simply know no other way to gain your cooperation.
“I need you to wake up now. Sneak outside of the palace and you will find someone waiting to bring you to me. Come alone. Do not wake Cadmus or anyone else. If you do, the consequences will be dire. I will not only send your mother and friends to Tartara, but I will be forced to take your daughter, as well. Don’t force me to do that.”
He studied me for a silent moment, his handsome face impassive as he waited. I struggled internally for a moment, but quickly came to the realization that I had no choice.
I nodded. “Fine. I will come to you and we will discuss this.”
“Oh, I doubt there will be much discussion. But come to me. And these three women will be saved.”
I opened my eyes. I was safely in bed with Cadmus and Raquel. But I wasn’t truly safe, I knew that. And at the moment, neither were Jess, Jenn or my mother. I sighed and brushed a kiss across Raquel’s brow. She was sleeping quietly, her face angelic in her slumber. I watched her for a moment, memorizing every plane of her face. I had no idea when I would see her again. I leaned over her and kissed Cadmus lightly on the cheek without waking him. In his sleep, he tightened his arm around us and a knot tightened in my throat. Quietly, I slipped from under his arm and out of bed.
“Mama?” A small voice called. “Where are you going?”
I startled and turned back. “Raquel, I thought you were asleep,” I whispered, leaning back over the bed.
She shook her head. “I’m too excited to sleep.” I brushed her hair away from her face.
“I’ll be back in just a while, sweetpea,” I murmured. “You stay here with daddy and keep him company, alright?”
She nodded trustingly and I swallowed hard as I bent to kiss her one more time before I turned and walked into the hall, working my way stealthily to the main floor of the palace.
Peeking out the back windows, I found everyone still dancing and laughing outside in the courtyard. I crept past the windows lining the terrace and out onto a side porch. I stopped abruptly when I found Eris sitting on the top step. Her dark hair was piled on her head and her white gown was spread around her.
She looked at me for a moment, but her gaze was not vindictive. It was just… matter-of-fact.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she murmured.
I returned her gaze and lifted my chin. It had seemed that treachery had found me once again. Would it never end?
Chapter Thirteen
“I should have expected this from you,” I hissed as I stepped down the wide stone steps after Eris. “What was I thinking in trusting you?”
Eris glanced over her shoulder at me as we quickly walked away from the palace. “Normally, you would be correct and entirely valid in your opinion of me. This time, however, I have had no choice. Hades has Alexi’s soul now. He said that he will return it to us if I do this one thing.”
“It’s always ‘one thing’ with you, isn’t it?” I asked wearily. “The Fates asked ‘one thing’ of you before- to bewitch Cadmus and kidnap him to the Spiritlands. You happily did that, didn’t you?”
“Are we back to that?” she snapped. “They promised to return my immortality. Surely you can understand why I took that deal!”
I tried to block the unwanted images of Cadmus and Eris locked in an embrace. She had bewitched him and given him a love potion to make him think that he was in love with her. She had taken him back to her home in the Spiritlands in order to lure Aphrodite and me there. It had worked and Eris had taken quite a lot of enjoyment in taunting me with that situation. It was hard to forget, but I shook the memories away now. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the past.
“No. I probably will never forgive you for that. But I suppose that I can somewhat understand your actions today,” I admitted gruffly. “I, too, would do anything for those that I love. I find that I cannot hold it against you.”
Eris looked strangely vulnerable for a moment and I wondered, just briefly, if she did possess a conscience after all. But she quickly masked it and continued walking briskly. I followed behind her and we fell into silence, but it wasn’t long until we came to a Lotus tree.