“Hm,” Persephone said, looking down her nose at Isadora. “Time will tell, I suppose.”
Feeling ten yards behind everyone else, Casey held up a hand. “Hold on. I still don’t understand—”
Hades’s eyes flashed, and Casey snapped her mouth closed. She sensed his patience was at a breaking point, and after what she’d just seen, she really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of his wrath. “I really loathe that ‘I don’t understand’ phrase of yours. Let me make it crystal clear so I can get out of this shit hole and back to my realm. Your sister still owes me her soul. There will come a day when she will be mine.” He shot Isadora a wicked glance that traveled up and down her slim body.
That earned him a smack to the back of his head from Persephone. He turned to the goddess with blazing eyes. “Do that one more time, and I swear—”
His wife smiled. “Promises, promises.”
His eyes flickered with an erotic light. “Guaranteed.”
Persephone looked back to Casey and Isadora. “What my husband is trying to tell you is that, assuming neither of you fall off a cliff or get hit by a stupid car, you’ll both live to be very old Argoleans.”
Casey gasped as her knees gave out. “Five hundred years?”
Persephone shrugged. “Or so.”
Thankfully, Isadora was right there to catch her.
“But Isadora—”
“Is fine,” Isadora finished for her quickly. “I’ll be fine. What about Atalanta?”
Persephone grinned. “Atalanta is once again mortal. She and her band of daemons were expelled from the Underworld with that little hissy fit you heard earlier.”
“And that’s it?” Casey asked. It couldn’t be. Not totally. They’d both live, but Isadora was going to be condemned to Tartarus for all eternity? That wasn’t right. It wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.
Hades’s dark eyes grew gravely serious. So much so, a chill slid down Casey’s spine, and she knew better than to ask for anything more. “No, that’s not it, human. Atalanta can’t recruit any new souls to her daemon army, but she’s well stocked. And with her god powers, she’s possibly an even greater threat now than she was as an immortal. Especially now that she can cross the portal again. Once she’s able to regroup, she’ll be gunning for you and every other Argolean she can find…in this realm and the human one. And that’s some entertainment I can’t wait to watch.”
“The Misos still aren’t safe,” Casey whispered, thinking of everyone back at the colony as his words sank in.
“Still as vulnerable as you now are. Cool, isn’t it? Oh, and there’s one more thing.” A ghost of a smile played at the corner of Hades’s mouth as he tipped his head and focused on Isadora. “Now that Atalanta’s daemons aren’t paying me the souls of their kills? And now that they aren’t getting their energy and power from Tartarus? They still have to feed. Humans are fair game. And way more accessible than the Misos.”
Sickness churned in Casey’s stomach. She thought of those beasts and what they could do. The expression on Isadora’s face mirrored her own.
Looking smug, Hades glanced at Persephone. “Well, my love, I think we’ve done about as much damage here as possible, wouldn’t you say?”
“I would.” Persephone put her hand in her husband’s.
“Wait.” Casey said. “Why did you do this? Why did you bring me here? Surely you don’t care if the Argoleans are able to defeat Atalanta.”
Hades tipped his head. “There’s only one immortal ruler of the Underworld, and that’s me. And the payment…” he added, glancing at Isadora again. “Well, the payment was well worth the effort on my end.”
That look, the one of rank hunger and the promise of torture yet to come, sent Casey’s skin prickling, and she reached out to Isadora, closing her fingers in her sister’s hand tight while she kept her eyes locked on Hades.
“There is one other minor element you might want to watch out for,” Persephone added smugly. “You and your sister are joined because you are the Chosen. Don’t get too far away from each other for too long. Bad things will happen.”
Hades looked up and around, obviously bored. “That’s all the time we have for this little drama. The wife and I have some unfinished business before the wicked bitch of the west comes back to claim her.”
“Hades,” Persephone warned.
Hades chuckled and drew her close. “Come, daughter of the bitch.”
Persephone smiled over her shoulder as Hades pulled her in for a kiss. “Don’t forget our deal, little queen. One month.” And with that, both she and Hades disappeared.
“One month for what?” Casey asked, looking toward Isadora when they were alone.
Isadora’s face was pale, and she didn’t meet Casey’s eyes. “Nothing. Look, Hades’s force field is gone.”
Casey glanced up. The Argonauts and one strikingly gorgeous woman were slowly stepping into the circle and walking toward them. All of the guardians were brawny and built, and each one was even more gorgeous than the next. Real-life heroes. Two weeks ago, Casey never would have believed such a man was possible, and here she stood surrounded by an entire group. The woman, she quickly learned as she introduced herself, was the king’s personal doctor. Summoned, Casey suspected, to take care of Isadora in the aftermath.
Isadora introduced each to Casey, but Casey barely caught their names as she shook hands and smiled. Because she was looking for Theron in the group. And he was nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Nice view, isn’t it?”
Casey turned from the window outside her father’s suite and dropped her arms. “Stunning.”
Isadora gestured toward the Aegis Mountains in the distance. “Better view from up there if you ever feel like a hike.”
“I know. Hades showed me.”
Isadora’s smile faded at the mere mention of the god’s name. Today the soon-to-be queen wore a long peach gown with a straight bodice and elbow-length ballet sleeves. Her blonde hair spilled down her back in waves, and she looked regal and grand and very much the princess she was, though Casey wasn’t clear why her sister had to dress the part even in private.
But there was something very sad about her. For a while, Casey had convinced herself it was Hades’s contract on her soul weighing heavily on Isadora’s shoulders. But the more she got to know her sister, the more Casey was convinced there was something more going on. The troubled look in her sister’s eyes had something to do with what had happened when Isadora had been in Tartarus. Casey had asked, of course. But Isadora had never uttered a single word about what had gone on there. And from the looks of it, she never would.
Casey heaved out a sigh. And told herself, In time. She was still learning a lot—and there was always more to learn—about Argolean customs and royal workings and just what place she had here. More often than not she was overwhelmed and a little homesick, but one thing they’d quickly learned was just how tightly she and Isadora were bound. If one got too far away for too long, the same symptoms they’d each experienced before came back. They’d yet to push the boundaries, and each was curious to see how far and how long they could be separated, but they had time for all that. Like five hundred years’ time.
And five hundred years was plenty of time to figure out what had happened to Isadora, and how they were going to break Hades’s bloody contract.
She looked back out the cathedral windows over the parapet to the city below and watched as a woman—a gynaíka—stepped out of a shop door, stopped on the sidewalk, then disappeared into thin air.
Okay, now that was something else Casey was having trouble getting used to. Here in Argolea, cars and other forms of transportation weren’t needed, because the people all had the ability to poof from place to place like Star Trek characters being beamed around. Isadora had explained it was a gift from the gods, a benefit of living here as opposed to on Earth, but that there were still limitations. You had to be outside to flash, and walls and structures created barriers that were impenetrable, but it sure made moving from one end of the city to the other quick and easy. And really, it was pretty cool. Casey, of course, had inquired if this was an ability she’d soon develop and was told it was possible, due to her lineage, but so far, no go.