Persephone only smiled. “Not exactly. He merely…omitted.”
“I’ll see you rot in hell for going back on your promise.” She spat in the goddess’s face.
Persephone’s wicked grin faded. Slowly, she released one of Isadora’s arms to wipe her eye, and Isadora tensed, waiting for the punishment she knew was coming. You didn’t lash out at a god and live to tell about it.
But instead of the backhand into oblivion she expected, Persephone blinked. And when her eyes resettled on Isadora, they held a note of admiration. “Very good, Princess. There may be hope for you yet. Hades will be pleased to know you have a spine underneath that pasty white skin of yours.”
“Go to hell,” Isadora muttered.
Persephone’s grin widened. “I will. I like it there, you know. If it weren’t for my mother calling me back every few months, I’d happily stay there forever.” Her head came up sharply. “Ah, finally. They’re here.”
As Persephone eased to the side and turned to look behind her, Isadora got her first glimpse at what was coming toward them.
Hades she recognized, that sadistic son of a bitch, but it was the dark-haired woman walking at his side who held Isadora’s full attention.
Acacia. Her half sister.
A strange buzzing lit off in the center of Isadora’s chest, an electrical shock that vibrated every cell in her body and hummed in her ears. She recognized it because it was the same shock she’d felt in that human skin club the first night she’d seen Acacia. Only now it was growing, the humming vibrations intensifying with each step her sister took toward her.
“Stop!” Isadora yelled.
Acacia’s feet paused. Her violet eyes—oh, gods, those eyes that were just like their father’s—never strayed from Isadora’s face. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’ve come to help you.”
Panic welled in Isadora’s chest, but because Persephone still had a death grip on her arm, she couldn’t move. “No, it’s not okay. Don’t come closer. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Yes, I do,” Acacia said. “I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m going to save you and our people.” She started walking again, and that buzz grew so loud, Isadora could barely hear. “It’s what I want.”
“Acacia! No!” From out of nowhere Theron charged the meadow, but before he reached the edge, Hades lifted his hand, flicked his wrist and formed a shield around the entire Stone Circle. Theron hit the invisible barrier with a crack, bounced off and fell back. But an instant later he was on his feet, pounding on the force field and screaming in a muffled voice. Behind him, others came running.
“Damn Argonauts,” Hades muttered under his breath. “Always with the heroics.”
Acacia stopped two feet from Isadora, and the buzzing vibrations were so intense now, Isadora couldn’t move even when Persephone finally released her grip and eased out of the way. All she could do was stare.
Acacia looked once longingly at Theron, then turned to face her sister. One single tear slid down her cheek. “My name’s Casey.”
“Don’t do this,” Isadora whispered.
“I have to.” She reached out and gripped both of Isadora’s hands, and a popping sound lit off in Isadora’s head, followed by an electrical current that rushed through her limbs. In a vortex, she and Casey were lifted off the ground and spun at light speed until a blinding radiance shone from every cell in her body. She jerked and seized, and then the world went black and the only sound was a fading buzz ringing somewhere in the darkness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Casey came awake in a rush. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was sky. Crystal blue and as clear as a mountain lake.
So this is what heaven looks like.
She took a deep breath, then another. And, surprisingly, discovered she felt better. No longer tired or weak, but strong. In both body and mind.
Wow. Okay. So far, heaven’s not so bad.
She turned her head to the side, and that’s when things got weird. Isadora was crawling toward her across the hard ground.
No, no, no. They weren’t both supposed to die. It was just supposed to be her.
“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be back there. You’re—”
“It’s okay, Casey.” Gently, Isadora brushed dirt from her hair. “Can you move?”
“Move?” She pushed up to her elbows. “Um. No. I mean, yeah, I…” Her words trailed off as she took her first look around. And discovered she was still in the center of the Stone Circle. Hades and Persephone were standing off to the side. Beyond Hades’s invisible shield, a group of superbuff men who could only be the famed Argonauts stood in stunned disbelief.
“Whoa.” Casey reached a shaky hand up to her head. “That was a little trippy.”
“Yeah, you can say that again,” Isadora mumbled.
Dazed, Casey searched the group for Theron and had a moment of panic when she didn’t see him. Then her heart lurched when she caught sight of him on his knees at the edge of the group, partially hidden behind Hades, staring in wonder, just like the rest.
Isadora pushed to her feet and whipped toward the gods. “What was that?”
“Dumb luck,” Hades replied with a click of his tongue. “Looks like you were both stronger than I thought.”
That got Casey’s attention. Feeling at a disadvantage still plopped on the ground, she stood and brushed the dirt from her pants. “I don’t understand. That means the prophecy wasn’t fulfilled, right?”
“Wait for it,” Hades said, holding up a finger.
Isadora and Casey exchanged puzzled glances. The Argonauts on the edge of the circle spoke in muffled voices. And then it happened.
A roar blasted up from the bowels of hell and shook the kingdom with such ferocity, it had to have registered at least 9.0 on the Richter scale.
Casey fell into Isadora, and the two sisters clung to each other as the shaking went on. When it finally ended, long seconds later, Hades’s cryptic laughter filled the void left behind.
“What was that?” Casey asked, wide-eyed.
“That,” Hades said with a smug grin, as he wrapped an arm around his wife’s waist, “was one very pissed-off female.”
“Atalanta,” Isadora said.
“Yup,” the god replied. “I’m sure it sucks royally to be mortal again.”
Casey and Isadora looked at each other, and almost as if they could read each other’s thoughts, Casey said, “I thought one of us was supposed to…you know.”
“In order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, that bitch Atalanta had to make sure the perfect Argolean was never created,” Persephone supplied. “One-half human strength. One-half god strength. Doesn’t matter what the bloodline is, or the power, but the purity in the soul. Mortal yet immortal. One-half of each whole occurs in every generation, but because Atalanta’s daemons have been scouring the world for them, they’ve never come together.”
“Until now,” Hades finished. “The prophecy never actually stated one of you would live and one would die. Only that the strongest would survive.”
“Then you did lie to me,” Isadora said. “You convinced me to barter my soul to make sure she was safe, even when you knew she would survive.”
“Lie is such a strong word,” Hades said. “I didn’t actually know she would live. For the record though, little queen, you amused me. I was curious just how far you’d go to save a sister you’d never met.”
Isadora’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. “I’d say pretty fucking far, wouldn’t you?”
Hades barked out a laugh and glanced at his wife. “I think she’ll make a much better queen than either of us expected.”