The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus) - By Kaitlin Bevis Page 0,69

against her white nightgown. My mind flashed back to my nightmare and my throat constricted.

“Hades?” Her green eyes searched my face, wide with confusion. “What’s wrong?”

What wasn’t?

Chapter L

Persephone

Triton’s face was completely blank. He sat on the bed, not seeming to notice when I came in. I took a deep breath. “I am so sorry for what happened to you.”

He didn’t blink. Didn’t move.

I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, releasing the bond of fealty he’d sworn to Zeus that I’d inherited and giving him back his memories, his thoughts, and his soul. There were parts of him I kept. I didn’t have a choice in the matter; his powers wouldn’t return to him now that he was dead. I’d give them to Poseidon next time I saw him.

The life returned to Triton’s eyes, and I moved away from him and sat on a chair next to his bed.

“I know you,” he said after a moment. He paused as if he were sorting through his memories. “Kind of.”

“Kind of.” I still didn’t fully understand how Triton had been in my dreamscape after his death. Hades had tried to explain that Zeus essentially just held on to Triton’s soul and tossed him into a dreamscape of Poseidon’s realm in case Zeus needed information from Triton later. When I stepped out of my dreamscape, Zeus saw the opportunity to throw me into Triton’s, manipulating me into thinking I was waking up there, when in reality all I was doing was hopping from dreamscape to dreamscape.

Hades thought Zeus had a prophet telling him his plans, or at the very least a mole. He hadn’t realized until the very end it was him. I’d surrendered my mind to Zeus, and Hades kept me informed of every step of the god’s plans through our link. The only time I’d been out of Zeus’ “earshot” was when I was in Hades’ dreamscape, but that privacy only lasted until I was back in Triton’s dreamscape, allowing Zeus to sit in on all our meetings right after they happened.

I’d stopped trying to wrap my head around the whole thing about ten minutes into Hades’ lengthy explanation. All I needed to know was that Triton was down here without a part of his soul. That I could fix.

He glanced around the room. “So this is the Underworld?”

I nodded, not sure how he was going to take the news.

He raised his eyebrows. “Weird. I would have thought it was all underground and cave-like. Hey, can I meet Hades? Is he blue? You know, like that movie? Is his hair on fire? Can I meet Cerberus? Dad said he was the best dog. Oh, are there nymphs here…?”

I smiled despite myself as Triton continued chattering. Yeah. He was going to be fine.

Later, in the living realm, I swung by my mom’s flower shop to make sure Laurel, one of Mom’s higher-ranking priestesses, had everything she needed.

“Are you sure you want me to run it?” she asked for what felt like the thousandth time.

“For now.” Looking around the shop, I could almost see my mom at every corner. A smudge of dirt on her cheek from working on the nursery out back, talking on the phone with that unflappable patience. My eyes filled as I realized we’d never get back to that. Everything had been so normal before Pirithous had walked through these doors. I hadn’t known what I had.

And now it was gone.

“You’re going to be every bit as amazing as she was, I know it.” Laurel smiled at me through a sheen of tears.

“She’s going to be better.” Melissa came down the stairs from where she’d been packing up the last of Aphrodite’s things. “Hey, this came today.” She picked up a stack of mail from the counter top. “I figured I’d bring it, and then we could go celebrate.”

“Celebrate?” What could I possibly have to celebrate?

“Um, yeah, it’s our birthday. Yay eighteen.”

I blinked. I’d forgotten.

“And you sort of saved the day. And of course—” Melissa took one of the letters and handed it to me. It was from UGA. Confetti decorated the envelope, and written in the corner in big red letters was “Your official acceptance letter.”

“Kind of takes all the mystery out of opening it.” I took the letter from her, and she held up another envelope, its twin.

“I know, right? But good news. Apparently we both got in.”

The phone rang and Laurel answered it, disappearing into the back of the shop.

“What happened to Iowa?” I looked at Melissa. I knew she’d been accepted into the creative writing program there.

She waved a dismissive hand. “After everything you went through, please. My place is here. You need me now more than ever.”

I looked at the envelope. It wasn’t addressed to me, it was addressed to Kora. I’d gone by Kora my whole life, especially after Orpheus told the whole planet that Persephone was a goddess. This letter, the apartment above the shop, Melissa and I going to college together—it was all I’d wanted for so long. A return to normal life.

I dropped the envelope in the shredder.

Melissa yelped in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not Kora anymore.” There was no going back to normal, and for the first time, I was okay with that. I wasn’t human, but that didn’t mean I had to be some evil, crazy goddess either. There was blood on my hands, but I hadn’t enjoyed it. If after everything I’d gone through I was still connected enough to give a damn, then I was going to be just fine. “And you’re not giving up your dreams for my sake.”

“Don’t you need me here?”

I shook my head. “Not as a priestess. You’re my best friend. I can teleport, remember? I’ll swing by to hang out, maybe cry on your shoulder a bit.”

She gave me a hug. “Anytime.” She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. “Are you okay?”

“No.” I shook my head, thinking of Hades, how he was willing to break the world for me. The way he’d held me together when my whole life seemed to shatter. The strength he saw in me I hadn’t even known was there. I’d survived Pirithous. I’d survived Boreas. And I destroyed Zeus. I could handle grief. “But I will be.”

About the Author

Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. She’s always wanted to be a writer and spent high school and college learning everything she could so that one day she could achieve that goal. She graduated college with a BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and has a masters from the University of Georgia in English: Secondary Education. Follow her on twitter @kaitlinbevis or check out her website at www.kaitlinbevis.com.

Other books by Kaitlin Bevis…

Persephone

Daughter of the Earth and Sky

Siren Song