Page 57 of Hades

Persephone shuffled away from him, keeping her distance, unwilling to trust him. Regret flashed across his features and then he turned away and picked up the other man’s sword as she righted her torn nightgown. She tensed as he moved to face her and locked up tight when he held that weapon out to her.

A trick?

If this was Mnemosyne’s latest attempt to tear her down, it might just succeed. The thought that she could have her freedom was like ambrosia, whispering sweet seductive words in her ear that tempted her to take it.

Take the sword.

Fight her way free.

She inched towards the guard, her breath shaky as she reached her hand out towards the weapon, keeping her body as far from him as she could. The moment she was within reach, she lunged for the sword, grabbed it and leaped back. It was heavy in her grip and she struggled to hold it without the weight of it pulling her arm down.

Persephone shifted her feet apart and gripped it with both hands instead, keeping the point up and aimed at the guard.

“I am sorry,” he muttered, the look in his eyes and the regret in his tone reinforcing her desire to believe he was an ally and making it more difficult to resist trusting him. He made it even more difficult when he cast his own sword aside and held his hands up in an act of surrender. “If you must kill me, then I will not stop you. Do whatever you must to be free of this place. I have been tormented by my choices, my heart torn between life and death. I have been weak. I have been unworthy. I have been a coward. I desired wealth and she offered it… A chance for my beloved and I to live a life of luxury. When I realised the cost of the future I wanted, I… Leaving meant death. Mnemosyne has slaughtered all who have mutinied.”

He cast his gaze down at his sandals.

His shoulders heaved.

“If perhaps I can atone by helping you, I am your willing servant, my god-queen.”

He dropped to one knee before her and bowed his dark head.

Giving her a clean strike at his neck if she chose it.

Persephone wavered between taking it and accepting his help. In the end, looking past his error in trusting Mnemosyne and his betrayal of her husband won, because she was deeply aware she couldn’t do this alone. There were likely more guards in the tower, ones she would have to fight through in order to gain her freedom, and then she needed to find a way back to the Underworld. This male could help her with that. He knew the tower well and no doubt also knew the route home.

“Rise.” She held her head high as she lowered her blade, so the point rested against the wooden floor.

The male tensed at the sound of her voice and then his shoulders relaxed, and she could almost feel his relief as well as see it on his face when he lifted his head to look up at her. He pushed onto his feet and retrieved his weapon.

“Your name,” she said.

“Erastus, my god-queen.” He dipped his head and pressed his right hand to the hard moulded plate of his black chest piece.

It wasn’t a name she was familiar with, but the palace had a whole legion guarding it.

“If you betray me, Erastus, it will be the last thing you do.” Persephone kept her tone even and emotionless, mimicking Hades.

Erastus dipped his head again. “I will not.”

“Good.” She hefted her sword and waved it towards the door, acting every bit the queen she was in a vain attempt to feel as if she was in control of the situation and would keep this male loyal to her so she could make it home in one piece. “I am impatient to leave.”

He nodded and took the lead, his voice lowering as he approached the door. “There are around thirty guards stationed on the levels of the tower at all times. In the grounds, there is a small garrison that is home to a further sixty or so guards.”

She swallowed hard. That was ninety guards, give or take. Ninety guards versus just the two of them. How were they going to make it out alive?

If she’d had her powers, she could have imagined succeeding in vanquishing that many foes and escaping. Without them, relying solely on the remains of her physical strength and what little skill she had at swordplay, it was hard to see them overcoming the challenge.

“At the tower entrance, we will head right. It is the shortest distance to the edge of the wards that are cloaking this place and inhibiting your powers. The perimeter is heavily guarded.” He flicked a look over his shoulder at her. “You will run in that direction as soon as we reach the tower entrance.”

She felt herself blanch as she realised what he wasn’t saying. “It is madness. You cannot fight that many alone.”

“I will do all I can to keep them from you.” He calmly turned away from her, acting as if she hadn’t just called his plan suicidal.

Persephone seized his shoulder, tightly gripping the folds of the crimson linen tunic that protected his skin from his armour, and pulled him around to face her before he reached the door. “I order you to remain with me. I do not know the way from this tower. The gate to the Underworld was sealed centuries ago. You must take me to where you exited the realm.”

He frowned. “Impossible. We filtered out one by one, leaving at intervals so as not to rouse suspicion… and we used the gate near Athens.”

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