Captured (Shadow Guild Hades & Persephone #3) - Linsey Hall Page 0,5

I had ever been. Darkness still fought the light within me, but the rock that had anchored me had disappeared.

If I looked deep enough, the stars still spun through the heavens, but the voice and the presence had abandoned this place. Abandoned me.

Good.

All along, it had been Chronos. For Millennia, the voice had been there. My creator, my teacher. Almost my god. There was little more powerful than I in the entire universe, but that presence had felt like it could be.

And now it was gone, out into the world.

Rage heated my blood, and I clenched my fists, my mind buzzing. I’d been created to spread the underworld to Earth. It was my purpose. My destiny.

And Chronos had stolen it from me. Whatever he planned would not be what I’d intended, that was certain.

The betrayal of it sang through me, focusing my wrath. I would find him and defeat him. And once I had, I would take the throne that was meant to be mine. The underworld and Earth. For myself. And for Seraphia, whom he’d nearly killed.

Pain twisted in my chest at the thought of her, and I clenched my fists. I’d asked her to join me. To be my queen.

And she’d walked away.

I am alone.

I’d always been alone, but this was something different. Even the darkness had deserted me, and without Seraphia, the world had grown colder than ever. That brief glimpse of warmth had faded, and the cold that had once seemed normal was now uncomfortable.

No.

I was not so weak. I spun away from the abyss and stalked across the cavern. I could not stay here and stare forlornly into the abyss like a lovesick swain. It was unheard of.

But I also couldn’t live without her.

I knew it like I knew my own name. I needed her at my side, my queen, fit to rule the darkness alongside me. She didn’t want that now, but she would.

No matter what it took, I would win her.

As I neared the stairs, magic crackled on the air. I stopped, senses heightened.

“Who is there?” I demanded.

In front of me, golden magic swirled in the air. It coalesced into a woman garbed in fine white robes. Power radiated from her, and terrible wisdom gleamed in the dark gaze she settled on me.

She was one of the three Moirai, but the ancient fate had never visited me here before. I hadn’t realized she had the ability. Her arrival was welcome, however.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

She raised a brow. “You don’t think you need my counsel?”

“Actually, that is precisely what I need.”

She nodded. “As I thought.”

“But it is highly unusual for you to come here.”

“It is also highly unusual for you to release an ancient evil onto Earth.” She shrugged. “Shall we call it extenuating circumstances?”

“How do I defeat him?” A second question pushed at my mind, demanding to be asked. “How do I win her back?”

Lachesis heaved a sigh. “Those are two very difficult tasks.”

“I am the god of Hell. Nothing is impossible for me.”

“Winning her might be.”

Fear iced me, but I ignored it. The fates were never wrong, but she had said might. It wasn’t impossible. “How?”

“I can’t tell you how to win her. It isn’t a series of instructions. But I can advise you how to defeat Chronos. The way that you do that may determine if you get what you desire.”

“I do not understand.”

“You will. And if you do not, then you will fail.”

Frustration seethed through me. “Explain yourself.”

Her brow lowered, and an angry energy radiated from her. “I will explain only what I wish.”

I clenched my jaw, holding back the desire to demand more. One could not make demands of the Moirai, or they would disappear, taking their knowledge with them.

“Chronos will seek the Crown of Destiny,” she said.

“I suspected as much.” I, too, sought the crown. The holy relic was kept in a secret location, hidden by magic. The one who wore it would have an iron grip on the Earth, their magic amplified until they ruled absolute.

Finding that crown was the second part of my plan to spread my dominion to Earth, though I had not told Seraphia yet.

The first phase of my plan had been to convince her to walk at my side and take life from Earth. She had done it, and the act had broken the curse that kept me tethered to the underworld. Now that I could walk upon the Earth, I would seek the crown.

As Chronos did.

“You must stop him from