of a lot. “Thank you.” I looked at Hades, who stood near the wall. “Can he hear us?”
She shook her head. “I have prevented that.”
It was for the best. “Have you been waiting for me? Could you not have sought me out?”
She shook her head. “All of this was meant to happen in due time, fated since before you were born. If I had interfered, horrible things could have happened.”
“That’s why I never met you?”
“Precisely. You never met me because my presence would trigger your godly magic to rise, and that would lead Chronos to you.”
“Not Hades,” I said, remembering what Aurelia had told me. “I was hidden to keep me from Chronos, not Hades as I thought.”
She shook her head, her gaze going briefly to him. “Not Hades. You were always meant to meet him. Meeting him would set everything in motion—you finding your powers, releasing Chronos, everything.”
“So Hades and I were fated.”
“Yes. But how fated is up to you. Are you fated to be together for a short time, or eternity?”
My heart thundered. Eternity was a damned long time. Not that it mattered if he stayed on the course he was on. That would drive us apart. “But I can’t change him. I’ve tried.”
“You do not need to change him, but he does need to find his way.”
“He thinks that taking the Crown of Destiny will save me from Tartarus. Is he right?”
Demeter shrugged, but concern shadowed her eyes. “That, I do not know. If I could tell you, I would.”
“Am I really immortal?” The worry tugged at me. I knew I needed to get to the questions about my bound magic, but I had to ask. “I don’t want to be alive forever and watch all my friends die.” I looked at Hades. Immortality had not treated him well. He’d been alone so long that it had really screwed him up.
“You are a goddess. Of course you are immortal.” She raised a placating hand. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does. Yes, immortality can be a curse. But not to a goddess who can visit underworlds. When your friends die, you can visit them wherever they go.”
Surprise flashed through me, but I supposed she was right. “So it’s kind of a…blessing?”
“It could be. As long as you don’t end up in Tartarus.”
“Help me avoid that. Please. How do I do it?”
“I can’t tell you exactly how because I do not know. But the first step will be unbinding your magic. Without it, you don’t stand a chance.”
“You know of that?”
“Of course. I bound it.”
Shock made my stomach drop. “Really?”
She nodded. “You couldn’t be allowed to come into your full power before you met Hades. Before you practiced it. Otherwise, it would have destroyed you. Or Chronos would have found you, drawn by the dark power you wielded.”
“Dark?”
She nodded. “There is darkness inside you, the same way it is inside Hades. You turned away from it, but it was there.”
“And if I’d had all my magic, I might not have.”
“It would have called more strongly to you, and you might not have had the strength to resist. But Hades also helped turn you to the light. The contrast with him—your desire to save him—helped you cling to the light side of your magic.”
I drew in a shuddery breath, remembering all the moments with him when I’d struggled to stay on the right side of magic. He had helped me. He’d given me focus. “Okay then. I chose the light and mastered the magic I have. Does that mean I’m ready for the rest of my magic?”
“I hope so. Because you’re going to need it.”
“I’m ready.”
“Good.” She stepped toward me, and I braced myself.
“What’s going to happen?”
“You’ll see.” She raised a hand and rested her fingertips on my forehead. A shiver raced through me, then the world spun into blackness.
10
Seraphia
I gasped, stumbling back as I blinked frantically, trying to clear my vision. When it returned, all I could see was white. Swirling, endless, blinding white.
And it was so damned cold.
I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself as I squinted into the snowy landscape. Snow pelted my face and gathered around me. The wind howled. There were no mountains or hills—just endless flat land.
“Hello?” I called, turning in a circle to find my mother or Hades.
They were nowhere to be seen.
I was alone in a cold white wilderness. Flat plains of snow stretched into the distance, smooth and perfect and coldly terrifying. I could get lost out