and realized each bead was carved into a tiny skull. A single skeleton key swung from her neck, and tiny orbs like moonbeams created a halo around her head.
“Hecate,” she whispered.
The goddess of witchcraft. Another terrifying figure that the mortals would worship. She’d seen them sacrifice puppies to this woman, and it always made her cry when they did.
Hecate jabbed her elbow into Thanatos’s side, through his wing. “See? I told you the mortals talked about me.”
“I’m not a mortal,” Kore corrected.
“Oh we know, darling. But you might as well have been raised as one. We’ve been watching you for a very long time, you see.” Hecate pointed at Thanatos. “He’s rather obsessed with spying on the other gods, and you were quite the spectacle. Your mother really locked you up for a while there.”
These were the terrifying gods? These were the two figures of death who frightened both mortal and god alike?
Kore frowned. “I thought you two were supposed to be more...”
“Scary?” Hecate asked.
Thanatos bared his pointed teeth in a grin. “Monstrous?”
She screwed her face up, furrowing her brows and pursing her lips. “Yes, both. But you don’t seem like that at all.”
Hecate jabbed her elbow into Thanatos’s side again. “See? I told you she was smarter than she looked.”
“I never said she’d be simple,” he grumbled.
“No, you said she would be a country bumpkin after growing up with Demeter. Now pay up.” Hecate held out her hand for a couple coins that Thanatos laid in her palm.
Kore suddenly realized why she’d felt so uncomfortable here while she languished in her room. The spirits they’d passed, the ones waiting without a single person to help them. Those were the people who were still bothering her.
She wanted to help them. She didn’t want them to stay on the banks of the river Styx for all eternity just because their family couldn’t afford a burial. And those coins looked very familiar.
“What are those?” she asked, sitting up and criss-crossing her legs.
She held her hands gracefully over her knees and waited while the two gods looked at each other. It was almost as though silently they asked each other the same question. Are we allowed to tell her?
Now that she wasn’t so afraid of the two strange gods, Kore wasn’t about to let them dismiss her. She snapped her fingers. “Come on now, there isn’t anything wrong with telling me what coins you have.”
Hecate held them up. “The mortals can’t pass into the Underworld without them, but these are everywhere because of it. We use them to make bets with each other.”
“Bets I usually win,” Thanatos snarled. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked like a child who had been duped.
“Sure you do,” the goddess replied. She palmed the coins and put them into a small bag at her waist. “Either way, I have an entire room filled with them. So does Thanatos. It’s hard to keep track of who’s winning and who’s losing.”
“I’m winning!” he snapped.
Kore didn’t care who was winning or losing. All she cared about was getting her hands on a few of those coins.
Pushing herself up, she stood and dusted off her hands on her himation. “If I made a bet with you, could I win a couple coins?”
Both of the gods before her snapped to attention. They stood up straighter and eyed her with suspicion. As they should. Kore was up to something, and it was a plan Hades wouldn’t like. But she wanted a couple of those coins, and she wanted them now.
Thanatos looked her up and down. “What do you have to bet?”
“I’m the new Queen of the Underworld. Surely I have something you’d want.” Kore crossed her arms over her chest. “Or do you think I can’t convince Hades to pay up if I lose?”
Hecate laughed. “Oh, not a country bumpkin at all. My queen, if you wish to make a bet with us, neither Thanatos nor I will deny you. What would you like to bet?”
She hadn’t expected them to bow to her so easily. Now, she had to think up a bet she knew she would win.
Tapping a finger to her lips, she plotted for a few moments. She took her time, ensuring she had all the chances to win those coins. Finally, Kore replied, “I bet you I can beat Thanatos in a fight.”
The sudden silence was deafening. It was Hecate who responded with a stammered, “Excuse me?”
“Not a fight to the death, of course. And not with weapons.