Hecate's Spell (Monsters and Gargoyles #7) - Lacey Carter Andersen Page 0,3

I sag against the wall. I might be in the Underworld, but I’m experiencing a kind of hell I never imagined. The woman I love is imprisoned. I’m charged with keeping her there. I have to sit by and watch while that bastard Hades treats her like garbage.

My princess.

My angel.

The woman I adore. The woman I’d gladly give my soul for.

My entire body shakes. I press my knuckles to my face, then slam my forehead. I hate myself. I hate that the thing I look forward to most in this world is touching the woman I love. In her arms, I experience heaven. I imagine for one moment that there’s something good in this world still. But every time I leave her arms, it’s harder. It’s harder to go back to the darkness and the pain of the Underworld. It’s harder to come up with a reason to keep going, even though I don’t really have a choice.

I’m ready to break. I know that deep in my soul. I can’t hold on much longer, but I have to. Hecate has experienced the worst things imaginable, and she still holds her head high. She’s all strength and beauty, and I’m nothing but a weakness. If I could’ve signed on for a lifetime of torture to gain her freedom, I would.

But Hades will never allow that. Why only have one of us to hurt when he can have both?

Wiping at my face, I realize that it’s wet. I shove off of the wall, hating myself even more. As I walk past cell after cell, I hear the faint sound of moans of pain. I can feel the suffering that drips from the very walls of this cursed place. I hesitate outside of one of the cells and instantly the shade’s face appears on the other side. All I know about this shade is that Hades calls her an abomination...and there was something in his voice the couple of times he’d mentioned her that made me think he might fear her.

“Please,” she whispers, her purple eyes glowing brighter.

If I had any food on me, I’d give it to her. But right now, I have nothing I can offer her except my guilt, so I turn away.

I hear her shake the bars of her cage, curses raining from her lips. Strangely, it’s a relief when prisoners are angry. It gets scary when they grow quiet. When they lie on the floor and say nothing. So I’m glad she’s angry. Maybe she’ll just survive long enough to be free of this place.

Not that I think any of us can ever truly be free.

“I’m going to get out!” she shouts.

I freeze in place and look back at her. I almost say she won’t, that even I can’t escape this place, but as the purple glow vanishes from her eyes, then turns gold, I can’t bring myself to say anything to discourage her. All I can do is nod.

Her eyes widen in surprise.

And then I turn back and continue walking. A strange thought tickles the back of my mind that I’ve never seen a shade with golden eyes. Is that why she’s an abomination? Is she not a pure shade?

I shake the thought away. Shades are born into this world from violence, not a mother and father. The gold in her eyes must have been a trick of my mind.

Besides, I have bigger things to worry about.

A skeleton guard stands at the end of the hall. Flesh hangs from his body, meaning he probably hasn’t been one of Hades’s minions for long, and his bones have been sharpened to find points, better than any swords. As I approach the door, he moves and unlocks it, then opens it wide. My hands curl into fists, and I continue weaving through the halls of cells as door after door opens in front of me. At last, the final door opens, and I walk out into the main part of the Underworld.

Two paths stand before me, one to the shores of the river of the dead, the mighty Styx herself, and one up to the top of the wall and the gate that separate the shore from the Underworld. I choose the path going onto the wall because it doesn’t matter. Both roads lead to hell here. The scents of brimstone and a copper that can only be blood always hang heavy in the air. Down here, no wind sweeps through. There are no trees. No grass. No sun. It’s