Page 73 of The Queen & the King

I nod. “I love you too.”

Be safe and come back to me, my queen.

Forty-Five

Persephone

MY PHONE PINGS WITH A MESSAGE, AND I GLANCE AT THE SCREEN,seeing an adorable photo of Cerberus wearing a different hat on each of his heads. He is wearing a baseball cap on the left, a cowboy hat on the middle, and a deerstalker on the right.

My lips twitch, and I reach for my phone but shake my head. I need to stay focused. My powers are strengthening, but they’re nowhere near as strong as when I was in the Underworld. Plus, I’m still feeling a little mentally fatigued from the memory release. I remember everything now, but I still find myself getting flashes of smaller moments that most people wouldn’t even think of again.

The feeling of the leather of my seat at Plutus Industries. A flash of walking past Hades’ office and glancing at him through the glass walls.

My mother took everything, even things from the very back of my mind. Some of it’s coming back in pieces, and it’s tiring.

I look through my closet for something to wear that I can move in easily. I curse under my breath as I sift through pastel dress after pastel dress. Finally, I find one dark item in mywardrobe. My mother permitted me to buy one pair of old pants to garden in, then she’d never allowed me to wear them, but I kept them. I pull them on, and they fit snuggly. They’re not the most comfortable things I’ve ever worn, but I can move in them easier than a dress. I find a deep blue long-sleeved t-shirt and pull the jeweled brooch off.

The only shoes that aren’t shiny and loud are black leather boots I got for Christmas one year. Again, I was never allowed to wear them, but my mother loved to gift me the dream and then rip it away. The heels on the boots are high, and they’re relatively silent when I walk, the leather going to just under my knee.

I decide to leave my hair free. It is a decision I will probably regret when I’m elbow -deep in Titan guts, but I can’t bring myself to tie it up or braid it. I want it free.

Like I will be.

The house is completely silent as I sneak out of my room and down the servant’s stairs, slipping out the back door without seeing a single soul. I run through the garden and jump over the fence before taking off into the woods to regroup.

I unlock the phone and find the handy app that Helios downloaded to help me locate Titan energy. It won’t necessarily lead me to a Titan, but to a place they’ve been recently. The app opens to a map of Olympus, and four orbs of light immediately flash, one only around a mile away.

I stow the phone away and hold my hands up, practicing with my vines for a moment. My magic is so new to me, and because of my mother, I was forced to push it down just as I was learning to embrace it. I worry it will feel weird to use my vines again after weeks of repressing them. I was wrong. The darkness curls around the lightness within me, but I can feel something missing. It is probably my tie to the Underworld. The loss of it still aches, and I’m still so acutely aware of it. Even after mymemory was stolen, I felt it. Some of my power must still be within the Underworld.

The now obsidian black vines protrude from the earth as if they’re stretching and then move as I want them to. The golden leaves sway gently in the light breeze, the gilded thorns glinting dangerously.

I exhale and feel for my power. I realize it is weaker, but it still comforts me. Even at reduced power, I’m still more powerful than a few errant Titans. I lower my hands, and the vines recede. They brush gently against my arm, caressing me and welcoming me back.

It doesn’t take me long to get to the first location. The phone vibrates in my pocket when I near the last corner, and I press my back against the brick, tilting my head slightly, listening for any signs of life.

The clatter of a loose cobblestone is loud in the darkness. The following curse has me peering around the building, but the streetlights barely permeate the shadows in the alleyway.

I see a flicker of movement and a pair of red eyes as the being moves into the light. I turn, pressing my front against the bricks to get a better look before raising my hand, sending a vine out to wrap around his ankle. He falls hard, cursing again, louder this time.

“What the fuck was that?” he growls, shifting to see what tripped him up.

I smirk and push off the wall, slipping around the corner as he struggles to sit up and release his ankle.

“You’re a long way from home, Titan,” I say, sticking to the shadows.

He whips his head around, narrowing his eyes, trying to see me better in the darkness. “Who goes there?”

My smirk deepens. “Oh, come on. You know who I am.” I step into the light. “Are you pleased to see me?”

He hisses, trying to lunge at me, but his foot is still trapped. He snarls and increases his efforts to get free. Knowing how dangerous Titans can be, I decide it’s best not to play with him any longer. I lift my hand, pushing one of my long, sharp spikes from my palm, severing his head from his body.

I pull my phone from my pocket and open my conversation with Hades.

Persephone

Incoming.

I shovemy phone back into my pocket and watch as the being disappears in front of me. It looks like he’s melting, his head the last to go. I grimace a little at the gory sight.

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