The Passion of Hades - Eliza Raine Page 0,58

my reflection, and took a deep breath. The red lipstick that matched the dress was far bolder than I'd ever normally wear but I needed to feel as fierce as possible tonight, and it somehow made me stand taller, and hold my head higher. That's because Minthe was in red last time you saw her, the petty part of my brain pointed out. You want to look better than her.

'Are you ready?' Skop cut through the thoughts.

'As I'll ever be,' I answered him.

Hecate had spent most of the day with me, trying to teach me how to access the part of my power that let me heal. When we were both pretty sure I knew what she was talking about, I'd very hesitantly made a tiny nick on my arm, and willed the skin to close. To my sheer delight, it had worked. And to my relief, she hadn't suggest we cause any bigger wound to test it on, but spent time talking about what it would feel like and how to draw more power to a specific area of my body if I needed to. I felt confident that I'd be able to help myself if I was injured, at least until my all-powerful god ex-husband got to me.

Knowing that Hades was looking out for me was a feeling I wasn't entirely used to, and liked more than I cared to admit. My brother had always been there when I'd needed him, but we didn't live in each others pockets, far from it. Sam would help when I asked, but otherwise he let me stand on my own two feet. Which, to be fair, Hades was kind of being forced to do. He wasn't allowed to interfere in the Trials, but he had broken the rules multiple times already to help me.

If I was actually about to die, would he intervene? Could he intervene? Hecate said that Zeus was stronger than the rest of the gods; I assumed that included Hades.

Hecate flashed into my bedroom and my hands jumped on the dresser.

'Can't you knock!' I exclaimed. 'You frightened the shit out of me.'

'Oh yeah, sorry,' she grinned. 'You look ace.'

'Thanks. Any last minute tips?'

'Yeah. Put up with whatever they put you through, no matter what, and you'll win,' she said with a shrug.

'Right. Easy,' I said, rolling my eyes.

'And don't screw Hades at the party. People will notice.'

I shot her a look and her eyes sparkled with mischief.

'You're as bad as him,' I told her, nodding at Skop.

'No, she's not,' he said. 'Trust me.'

Hecate seemed much more relaxed than before the last Trial, and I eyed her curiously.

'Why aren't you worried about this one?' I asked her.

'It's an endurance test, and you're strong. If they need you to endure something, then it's not likely to actually kill you,' she said, flopping down on my bed.

'That's a good point.'

'Although they might kill someone else,' added Skop.

'Shut up,' Hecate said. 'Look, you'll go around all the gods at the party, and some of them will make you put up with something shitty for a few minutes. Done.'

'That doesn't sound like a good end to Round Two,' I said skeptically. 'I thought they liked more drama than that.'

'Some of them might be a bit nasty, I guess. But probably not as bad as drowning in Underworld sewage.'

'Yeah, not a lot could be worse than that,' I said, a shudder of anger taking me at the memory. I felt my magic simmer under my skin in response. I didn't know if that was comforting or alarming.

'What if whoever left the doll and the mirror gatecrashes again, with something worse than a phoenix?' asked Skop.

'Seriously?' Hecate glared at him. 'You're not helping, Skop. Hades' captain of the guard, a very stern Minotaur called Kerato, is all over it. There's no need to worry.'

The anxiety and nerves were building inside me, Hecate's blasé attitude not really settling me at all. I didn't believe for one second this would be easy. Zeus would want to end the round with a bang, I was sure of it.

Twenty-Six

Persephone

Hecate flashed us to a room that for the briefest of moments, I thought was Hades' breakfast room. But as I looked around, I could see stark differences. It shared the towering vaulted ceiling, and the tall arched windows covered by heavy drapes along one wall. But the platform with the tree in the center, and the table for two that should have been dwarfed by the room but somehow wasn't,