Page 76 of Queen of the Underworld

“Leave.”

Persephone shook her head at that stern word and the hard look in Nyx’s eyes that made it a demand, unsure whether she was refusing because she didn’t want to leave the Underworld or because she didn’t know how.

“I cannot,” she said as she struggled to decide which it was. “I do not have my powers. Hades has sealed them. I do not know the way to a gate either. If I leave, I will be vulnerable.”

And part of her felt that vulnerability might stem from her heart and the fact she had left Hades.

Or perhaps it might be that she would be leaving that heart behind, with him.

He wouldn’t understand if he returned to find her gone. He wouldn’t know why she had left him. He would think she had escaped because she didn’t want to be his queen, when her desire to leave was born of feelings that were quite the opposite.

Feelings that hit her hard and had shock rolling through her.

She was falling for him and she wanted to protect him.

She wanted to show him, and maybe Nyx, that she was strong and could be brave, that she was worthy of a place at his side, as his queen. She wanted to show herself that too. She had never fought before, but she would fight to protect Hades and his realm.

“I will help.” Nyx sidled closer, the chilling brush of her power enough to have Persephone edging back until her bottom pressed against the railing that enclosed the balcony.

Persephone warily eyed her, unwilling to trust the goddess, but aware she had little choice. If she wanted to help Hades, then she needed to do something, even when she feared it might hurt him and he might not understand why she had done it.

“Take me to Hades,” Persephone said.

Nyx gave a hard shake of her head. “No. That would not be wise. He is deep in the midst of battle. A place far too dangerous for you to venture. I know the location of the gate to Olympus. I can get you to it.”

Olympus.

Her heart buoyed and then dropped at that word. She had wanted to go home. She glanced around the room and at the realm. Now, she wasn’t so sure.

“If you remain, Hades will fall. He will lose everything.” Nyx’s words chilled her heart, crushing her desire to remain, because she couldn’t be so cruel as to place her own needs above his.

Nyx was right, and this realm was everything to him. She couldn’t let him lose it. She would go, but she was also coming back—with aid for Hades. As soon as she reached Olympus, she would seek an audience with Zeus and tell him what was happening, and Zeus would come to his aid to help him restore order.

Not that she dared to tell Nyx that. The goddess of night was still glaring at her, looking ready to personally throw her through the gate to be rid of her and restore order to the Underworld for her god-king. Persephone wasn’t sure her leaving would help. The realm responded to Hades’s mood, and he would be furious when he discovered she was gone.

So she resolved to be quick.

If she was fast enough, Hades might not even know she was gone. Still, she wavered.

Nyx noticed it and lunged for her arm, and swept her into a teleport that landed them in the middle of a valley that had a forest of gnarled black trees sweeping across the centre of it. The goddess shoved her towards them and released her.

“Go. The gate is in that direction. Keep travelling east along the road.” Nyx backed away from her.

Before Persephone could turn to ask her how far the gate was, or argue that Nyx had said she would take her to the gate, or even mention that east was the direction she had been heading with Hades when that beast had roared, the goddess was gone.

Leaving Persephone alone.

Had she just been tricked?

Chapter 21

Persephone looked around her, trying to spot the blaze so she could figure out which way to head in order to get back to the tower, only she couldn’t see the glow from her position. The mountains around her were too tall, their sharp peaks blocking out the sky. They hemmed her in and she couldn’t spy a path that would take her over them or even around them. There was only the faint track that led east.

Towards the black forest.

For all she knew, she could be leagues from the tower and Hades’s temple. Nyx wanted her gone so it stood to reason the goddess might have dropped her off near the gate to Olympus, keeping her word in a way. Not that Persephone trusted the goddess to keep her word. She was beginning to believe Nyx had been lying to her the entire time.

But what if she hadn’t been and Hades was in danger of losing his realm?

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