Ten sets of eyes watched her with rapt attention. The nymphs blinked simultaneously. “Kore, are you awake?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Eyes are open. Heart has now stopped thanks to you.”
“We’ll go get Artemis.”
Well, that was the last person she wanted to see. Artemis must have been so angry to find all those dead mortals and not a single deer left.
Damn it. She couldn’t hide what had happened. Not from Artemis.
What was she going to say? Hades had made it very clear that she shouldn’t tell people what had happened. Her stomach churned in fear. What if they realized she had hidden so much of her powers from them? From herself?
Kore’s palms started to sweat. She wiped them on her silk peplos as the nymphs raced to the door. It burst open before they even got close. Clearly, Artemis had been waiting for her to awaken.
Was she going to ask her what had happened? Kore didn’t know how many mortals she’d killed. But she knew there were at least ten of them. And then all the bodies of the deer and those bears... They would all be gone. She feared it would look like she’d turned all the deer into men, and then what would Artemis think?
Her friend raced through the room and fell to her knees beside the bed. Artemis caught Kore’s hands in her own and pressed them against her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Kore. I didn’t know Dolus was planning on tricking us like that, or I never would have left you alone. Are you okay? Did he touch you?”
Dolus? What did the god of trickery have to do with any of this?
She opened her mouth, closed it, and then realized she had no idea what to say. Artemis obviously had a different story than what she knew was the truth. And if she talked about anything, she might ruin the story Artemis had been told.
What would Hades do?
Kore pulled one of her hands free and touched it to her forehead. “I’m sorry, Artemis. Everything’s just a little fuzzy.”
“Of course, you poor thing.” Artemis breathed out a slow breath, like she was preparing herself to help Kore paw through her memories. “Do you remember the temple?”
“Yes, I remember the men there. They had placed dead deer and bears on the marble floors—” Kore let her words trail off.
“Oh good, you remember a little, at least. I went to go find Apollo so we could hunt them all down, but when I came back you were gone and Dolus’s illusion fell. There weren’t any men or deer there, Kore. I’m so sorry to get you so upset seeing those bodies. You must have been so afraid.”
“Dolus?” she repeated. “But I remember the smell of the blood...”
“I do too, but he assured me it was all an elaborate trick. You know how he is.”
Actually, she didn’t. Kore had never met Dolus. She’d only heard of him from her mother, and no god ever had a good history when Demeter was the one telling the tale.
She cleared her throat and scooted up in the bed. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she tried to still the shaking of her hands. “Dolus said he was the one who created the illusion?”
“Yes!” Artemis leaned against the side of the bed and stared up at her with wide, questioning eyes. “What happened after I left?”
Kore was still worried about the illusion. If Dolus had agreed it was all his doing, had he actually been there? She didn’t think it was possible. She remembered the smell of blood, the sound of necks cracking as she twisted the vines through their bodies.
All that death. All that heartbreak and the souls that were ripped from their shells like she had been shucking clams. And the deer. She couldn’t have seen that in some illusion created by another god. She had breathed her power into their bodies and they had stood.
Hades wouldn’t have tricked her. He couldn’t have feigned the wonder in his gaze when he stared at her. Not when he said she had the powers of the grave in her fingertips. Just like him.
Had he convinced Dolus to lie for him?
Brow furrowed in confusion, she shook her head. “I don’t remember what happened after you left.”
“He didn’t...” Artemis reached for her hand again, then let it drop onto the bed. “He didn’t touch you, did he?”
Ah yes, of course. The one thing virgin goddesses feared the most.