The Promise of Hades (The Hades Trials #3) - Eliza Raine Page 0,26

was not what I had hoped for. It was massive fatigue. Within a few minutes I felt the need to lay down, my eyelids leaden, and almost as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out, my sleep completely dreamless.

I woke with a start the next morning when Skop picked up my hand in his wet mouth and shook it.

'What happened?' I shouted, sitting up quickly.

'You slept like the freaking dead and I had to stay up all night to check you were breathing,' he answered me, my hand still in his mouth. I tugged it back gently.

'Well, thanks,' I mumbled, blinking.

'How do you feel?'

'Good,' I said, swinging my legs out of bed. And it was true. My mind felt clearer and my nerves, though still present, weren't as overwhelming as before. Maybe being knocked out like that was exactly what I had needed. I'd had no chance to freak myself out. 'How long until the Trial?'

'An hour.'

'OK. I'm going for a shower,' I said, and made my way to my washroom.

Whilst I washed up and got ready, I did what I had meant to do the night before, practicing blocking out the smell of the soap by thinking about the smell of plants instead. Lavender definitely worked the best, which made sense as it was such a potent smell. I whipped out my vines a few times, checking the color and testing how they felt. Other than a keener sense of alertness, everything felt the same.

Dressed in my fighting gear, Faesforos strapped to my thigh, Poseidon's pearl in my pocket and my hair tightly braided out of my face, I felt more ready than I ever had before a Trial. I could kill demons. I was a goddess, dammit.

And I had one hell of a god to fight for.

When it wasn't Hecate who came to get me I felt a pang of nerves though. Athena returned instead, her white toga pristine. I hadn't realized how much confidence the fierce goddess of ghosts instilled in me until she wasn't there, and I missed her.

'You are different,' Athena said, tilting her head at me as soon as she appeared in my room. I bowed low as I answered her. I didn't want to piss her off again.

'I ate another seed.'

'That was probably wise.'

'Coming from you, I'll take that reassuringly,' I muttered as I straightened and she gave me a small smile.

'Are you ready?'

I nodded.

She flashed us to a cavern that glowed the same dim red that the Empusa's lair had, but it was much bigger. I turned slowly, looking around. It was completely empty, just bare rock everywhere.

'Good luck,' Athena said quietly, then vanished with a flash. The commentator's voice rang out immediately, and I felt a shot of adrenaline rush through me, my stomach lurching. This was it.

'Good day, Olympus! As you can see, Persephone is ready to start her next Trial, in the lair of Eurynomos!' I moved my hand to my side, nearer to my dagger. This didn't look like a lair. Where were the corpses and stuff? 'But let us not forget, good citizens, this is the penultimate Trial. We need some drama!'

My jaw clenched. Was me fighting a horrendous demon not enough for these fucking people?

'Persephone will be offered a choice. A test of her moral character.' I froze as the new voice boomed around me.

It was Zeus speaking.

'There is no catch or hidden agenda, and it is a rare opportunity indeed.' His seductive voice bounced off the bare cave walls and adrenaline surged through me. Get on with it!

Purple light began to crackle above me and I stared up at the ceiling of the cavern as something began to melt through it, entering the space.

Not something. Someone.

A woman's form began to take shape, emerging from the rock, facing down towards the ground as though she were laying on her front. She was wearing a red dress which hung from her suspended body, and she looked to be bound by ropes. Her hair also hung down, obscuring her face from view.

But I knew who it was without seeing her face.

'Get me the fuck out of here!' screeched Minthe.

'Persephone,' Zeus's voice boomed. 'We would like you to meet Eurynomos, demon of rotting flesh.' The walls rippled with red light, and shadows began forming on the flat walls where there shouldn't be any. I gripped my dagger instinctively, my vines itching at my palms. A whimper drew my attention back to Minthe, held against the ceiling