The Passion of Hades - Eliza Raine Page 0,23

hadn't been able to use my hands... I raised them fast, and watched my fingers flex in relief. They were working, and they didn't hurt at all.

'They're fine now. Your vines broke both your wrists, that's all.'

I looked at her incredulously.

'That's all? Are you serious?'

'Yeah I'm serious. You just needed a rest to fix those, the venom in your ankle was a totally different story. That shit nearly killed you.'

'R-really?'

'Yeah. Good job one of the most powerful gods in the world has a soft spot for you,' she said, with a little wink.

'Hades?'

'He healed you. He'll get in some serious shit if anyone finds out, but to be honest I'm not sure what else Zeus can do to him.' She sighed and sat down on the edge of my bed. It was narrow and I looked around as I processed her words. Hades had healed me.

'Where am I?'

'Infirmary.'

I nodded. That explained the metal cabinets lining the walls and the three other single beds.

'Where's Skop?'

'Hades wouldn't let him in here. Doesn't want Dionysus to know he healed you.'

'So... Are the other gods expecting me to die from the snake venom?' I asked. My tummy rumbled loudly. I was freaking ravenous.

'Nah, he'll make up some story about an apothecary having the right antidote. Which will exist somewhere, but we didn't have time to find it.'

'Thanks. Again. For saving me.'

'I did nothing. This one was all up to the boss,' she said, but the smile she gave me was as real as any I'd seen. 'I know you're not gonna like this, but we have to go to Poseidon's party.'

'You're fucking kidding.' My stomach twisted as I stared at her. I needed some time to get over the fact that I apparently almost died. Again.

'I'm not. He told the world publicly that if you survived he would host a feast in your honor. So that's what he's doing, and you have to be there.'

'I got no damned tokens! I failed!'

'But you did survive. So get dressed.'

Hecate gave me a long yellow dress to wear, which was fairly plain except for the white daisies that adorned the skirt. I accepted her offer to magic my make-up and hair into something presentable, and sat still while her eyes glowed milky white opposite me.

This was ludicrous. They would have let me die for this damned competition. And they tricked me with a fucking fake gem. I mean, seriously, who would have noticed that it was a slightly different color? Anyone who took the time to look properly, answered the critical voice inside me that I'd spent years trying to squash. I felt my eyes narrow as I huffed.

'They're a bunch of fuckwits,' I announced, and the white leaked away from Hecate's eyes.

'Yup. You're all done.' There was no mirror to hand, but I trusted her. She'd made me look great before. 'Except Hades,' she added, moving to the door. 'He's less of a fuckwit than most of the others.' A thrill danced across my skin at hearing his name and I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. I needed to get over this. Now.

I followed Hecate through the door into a long corridor lit with torches. They burned a normal orange color, no blue fire, like the Underworld.

'Did you know it was the wrong gem?' I asked Hecate, unable to shift the anger I still felt about being duped.

'Well, it was pretty obvious that you had to get something from the dark room. The other one was too easy.'

'Easy?' I stopped in my tracks, eyebrows raised as high as they would go. 'Easy? That snake nearly killed me!'

'Yeah but the dark room was so bad you couldn't stand it for more than a minute. It was obviously the worse of the two.' I resumed my stride down the corridor, almost stamping after her, my fists clenched.

'This place is bullshit,' I seethed.

'So you keep saying. You know, you might end up offending some of the inhabitants if you carry on like this.'

'Most of the inhabitants are dickheads,' I snapped.

'I'm gonna take it you don't mean me,' Hecate answered slowly, blue light flickering around her dangerously. A trickle of alarm ran through my anger.

'No! Gods no, of course not.'

'Good. Although I can be a total bitch,' she said, with a small shrug as her blue light faded.

I didn't doubt it.

At the end of the corridor was a short flight of stairs leading down, and when we reached the bottom my rage abruptly abated as I took in where