believed Lucifer, certainly. She was the third person to confirm it. And her touch allowed me to read something in her soul. To believe her.
“Thanks, then I’ll have some water,” I said. “I’m so thirsty I’m dying.”
“Literally, if you don’t drink.” She strode to the corner where a fountain had been built against the wall and filled a carafe.
There were several tiny, empty glass vials on the low table in front of me. They’d been scattered about as if she were sorting through them, but they were the perfect size for capturing a sample of Hades’ deadly mist. I hoped to get an actual cure, but if I couldn’t, I’d want a sample for Eve as backup.
I picked one up as she returned with the pitcher.
“May I have this?” I asked.
“Sure.” She sat, leaning over a low table, and filled two glasses. I put the vial in my pocket and joined her, gratefully taking one of the glasses and raising it to my mouth. The water was fresh and wonderful. Easily the most delicious thing I’d ever had.
“Better?” she asked.
“Much. Thank you.” I looked up at the herbs in the rafters. There were dozens of different plants. “Where did you get them? I’ve seen only one growing thing in the entire city.”
“The tree.”
I nodded.
“Beware that tree, Persephone.”
“I told you, I’m Seraphia.”
She shrugged, clearly unwilling to argue the point. “The plants came from outside the city walls. I go there to forage in the fields beyond.”
“How do you get out of the city walls?”
She shivered. “I promise, you do not want to. It is a place of deadly terrors.”
She’d turned so pale that I believed her. “Surely this place needs plants. Why is it that there is only a pomegranate tree?”
“Nothing else has his permission to grow here.”
Hades. “Why?”
“Perhaps because of you.”
“Because I could use plants as a weapon if I really were Persephone.”
“That’s what makes the most sense to me, yes.”
“What do you know about Persephone?” The humans had made up myths about her and Hades. Obviously, they weren’t true since he had no interest in me as a wife.
“Not much, other than the fact that Hades has sought you for a long, long time.”
“Are we talking years or centuries?”
“The latter.”
“Yikes.”
“More yikes is the fact that your magic has been bound. I can feel it.”
“Bound?”
“Indeed. There is more to you than you know. Do you have any idea who might have done that to you?”
Bound my magic? I shivered. Did I really have power trapped inside me? “Not a clue.”
She tilted her head to the side, looking at me curiously. “I’ve given you plenty of information. Now give me some. Why are you here?”
“I need help.”
“Well, that’s quite obvious.”
I told her the story of Mac and the curse, trying to impress upon her how terrible and important it was. She grimaced as I tapered off. “That’s not good.”
“No kidding. Can you help her?”
She sighed. “It’s dangerous.”
“Please. She’s dying.”
“Dangerous for both of us. You’ve seen the people in the city square?”
I thought of their mangled bodies, grimacing. But Mac . . .
“I’m begging you.” I gripped her hands. “Please. I’ll take the blame if we are caught.”
She sighed. “Fine. I can make a potion for your friend to drink, but it will also need some of Hades’ blood. Just a little.”
“Well, shit.”
She nodded. “Not easy, I know.”
“But my only option?”
“The only thing I can help you with.”
“Yes, please. Make it.”
“All right, but—” She looked up, eyes widening. “Someone approaches. You need to go.”
“What? No. I need that potion.”
“It will take time to brew. Return tomorrow late, and I will have it for you.” She stood and pulled me up. “Now go. Tell them you came here for a headache.”
I nodded and started toward the door, heart pounding.
“Remember—” her gaze met mine “—you must tell no one your true reason for coming here. I risk my life.”
I couldn't let her end up in the city square. “Of course. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.” I turned to go, then stopped, looking back at her. “I didn’t get your name.”
“You may call me the apothecary.”
Well, that was mysterious. “Thank you.”
She nodded. “Please, go.”
I left, slipping through the door right in time to bump into Lucifer. He gripped my arms, his touch burning.
I stepped back, eyeing the fallen angel. “You.”
“Me.” He grinned cockily. “What are you doing here?”
“Headache. You?”
“Following you.”
“He put you up to this, didn’t he?”
“What?” He shook his head. “That’s crazy. You’re so entertaining I couldn’t help but seek you