Page 1 of A Touch of Chaos

Part I

“There will be killing till the score is paid.”

—HOMER,THEODYSSEY

CHAPTER I

PERSEPHONE

Persephone’s ears rang, and the Underworld trembled violently beneath her feet.

She was reeling from Hecate’s words.

That is the sound of Theseus releasing the Titans.

Theseus, a son of Poseidon, a man she had met in passing only once, had managed to tear her life apart in a matter of hours. It had begun with the abduction of Sybil and Harmonia and spiraled from there. Now Zofie and Demeter were dead, the Helm of Darkness was gone, and Hades was missing.

She wasn’t even sure that was the right word, but the fact was that she had not seen him since she’d left him in her office at Alexandria Tower, bridled by her magic. The look on his face as he’d watched her leave still haunted her, but there had been no other option. He wouldn’t have let her go, and she wasn’t going to let Hades face an eternity of punishment for not granting a favor.

But something was wrong, because Hades had not come for her, and he was not here now as their realm was being torn apart.

Another tremor rocked the Underworld, and Persephone looked at Hecate, who stood opposite her, eyes dark and face drawn.

“We have to go,” Hecate said.

“Go?” Persephone echoed.

“We have to stop the Titans,” Hecate said. “As much as we are able.”

Persephone just stared. The Goddess of Witchcraft was a Titan herself. She might be able to fight the elder gods, but Persephone had only just managed to go up against her Olympian mother.

“Hecate, I can’t—” she began, shaking her head, but Hecate took her face between her hands.

“You can,” she said, her eyes peering straight to her soul. “You must.”

You have no choice.

Persephone heard what Hecate did not say, though she knew the goddess was right. This went beyond protecting her realm.

It was about protecting the world.

She pushed aside her doubt, growing fierce in her determination to prove she was worthy of the crown and title she had been given.

“Oh, my dear,” Hecate said, dropping her hands from her face and twining her fingers with Persephone’s. “It isn’t a question of worth.”

It was all she said before her magic flared in a powerful burst and teleported them to the Asphodel Fields. Despite the destruction Persephone had witnessed whenshe had faced the Olympians outside Thebes, she’d still not managed to imagine what the Titans could do to her realm, but the reality was devastating.

The mountains of Tartarus had once risen and fallen steeply like the waves of an angry sea. Despite their use and the horror they contained, they had been beautiful—a dark and jagged shadow set against the muted horizon.

Now they were nearly leveled, as if crushed beneath the feet of a giant, and the sky was split, an angry wound open to the world above.

Something had already escaped the Underworld.

The ground shook, and a massive hand shot out from the depths of Tartarus, sending an explosion of rocks flying across the land. The head of a Titan emerged from the prison, and he gave a roaring cry. The sound was deafening and just as destructive, shattering nearby peaks as if they were nothing but glass.

Persephone recalled what Hades had said about the Titans. Since they were not dead, only imprisoned, they retained all their powers.

“Iapetus,” Hecate said, her voice almost a hiss. “He is Cronos’s brother and God of Immortality.” Hecate met her gaze. “I’ll take him. You must seal the sky.”

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