The Goddess Inheritance (31 page)

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The glass coffin remained in the throne room for three days, and the image of Ava was never alone. At first only the council members came to see her, each of us wanting to be alone with her. After we’d all had our turn, Walter opened up the portal to Olympus, allowing others to come through without assistance.

As the hours passed and news of her death spread, gods I’d never seen before appeared in Olympus to pay their respects. Some of the names were familiar, but nothing prepared me for the sheer number Ava had touched in her life. The throne room was always full in those three days of mourning, and the veil of sadness only grew heavier with each new face.

A boy with blond curls kept vigil by the coffin, never speaking a word. Both Nicholas and Dylan joined him at different times, and while he sat stiffly at Dylan’s side, the boy seemed to relax in Nicholas’s presence.

“Eros. Eric now,” said Henry as we lingered near the hallway and watched. “Her oldest son.”

My vision blurred, and I had to excuse myself. I knew how deeply Ava had touched the rest of the council, but seeing the paths her long life had forged, the family she’d formed in the millennia she’d lived—it only reopened wounds I was sure would never fully heal.

On the third day, dawn crept across the starry ceiling. Walter called us all together, and we stood in a circle with the other gods, watching as the glass coffin filled with light. At last, as the sunrise blended away the last vestiges of night, the casket disappeared.

While the rest of the earthbound gods left one by one, Eros remained. The thrones returned, circling the spot where Ava’s reflection had stood only moments before, and we each settled into our proper place. I cradled Milo, who slept soundly, and tried to ignore the empty seats on either side of Walter. Nicholas, the worse for wear but healing, set his hand on the armrest of the seashell throne that had been Ava’s. As he brushed the tears from his cheeks, I looked away.

“Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters,” said Walter into the silence. “While we will forever mourn the loss of our own, the time has come to acknowledge that their positions among us must be filled.”

I glanced at my mother. Replacing Calliope made sense—like Henry couldn’t rule the Underworld alone, surely the same was true for Walter and his realm. But Ava?

She patted my hand.
All in due time.

“I will handle the replacement of my queen,” said Walter. “In the meantime, I ask that Diana take the role temporarily and assist me as needed.”

“Of course,” said my mother. “Whatever I can do to help.”

Walter inclined his head. “Thank you. As for Ava’s place, we must once again scour the world to find one who is worthy. It will not be an easy task. Ava was...” He paused. “She was irreplaceable. We cannot pretend otherwise, but we must continue on. Kate.”

“Yeah?” I said, and my mother’s hand tightened around mine.

“I think it appropriate that you take Ava’s place. Temporarily,” he added. “Until we find someone capable of filling her role.”

“What of her duties in the Underworld?” said Henry before I could protest. “I need her by my side, especially now, with the kingdom left unattended for so long.”

“I am not asking for a great commitment on her part,” said Walter. “Only enough to tide us over until we have found a new goddess. She can handle it during her summer months away.”

I shook my head. “I’m staying in the Underworld during the summer now. I don’t want to leave Milo.” Or Henry, but that wasn’t the sort of excuse Walter would understand.

“It would be no great thing for you to focus on helping us with Ava’s duties in the meantime,” said Walter. “Of us all, you are best suited for the role, at least for a short period of time.”

A short period of time to Walter could have easily been a hundred years. “I can’t,” I said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t replace her, and I can’t leave my family.”

“I’ll do it,” said Eros—Eric. Even though his voice was high and boyish, he’d featured prominently in a few of the myths I’d learned, which meant he couldn’t be that young, after all. “It’s what my mother would have wanted.”

“As generous an offer as it is,” said Walter, “you are not a member of the council. You do not have the ability.”

Eric’s face fell, and seeing his disappointment on top of his grief was a punch to the gut. “I’ll help him,” I blurted. “He can report to me, and I’ll make sure everything goes according to plan. Just as long as I don’t have to leave the Underworld for extended periods of time.”

Walter turned to Henry, who nodded once. “That is acceptable to me, so long as Kate is not forced into any position she does not feel she is ready for.”

“Very well,” said Walter. “In addition, I ask that Kate and Eric be in charge of finding a suitable candidate for a more permanent role.”

A goddess. He wanted us to find another goddess. Or a mortal to take the test and earn immortality the way I had. “How?”

He shrugged. “I do not particularly care how you handle it, only that it is done. Henry is familiar with the process. He can help you.”

Henry murmured his agreement, and just like that, it was up to me and Ava’s son to find someone who could take over her role on the council—someone who couldn’t possibly exist.

Then again, Henry must’ve thought the same when he began his search for a new queen. If he could overcome his fears and hesitations, I could do the same. “Okay,” I said softly. “I’ll try.”

“I know you will,” said Walter. “And you will do wonderfully.”

That may have been stretching it, but I would do Ava justice. She deserved that much. Across the circle, James smiled at me, and I managed a small one in return. Even if I wasn’t up to the task, he would be there every step of the way. They would all be.

The council wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. Dylan would probably never like me. They would always give each other knowing looks I would never understand. Walter and I would probably spend most of forever butting heads, and it would be a long time before he saw me as an equal. But despite the fights, despite the lies, despite the frustration and secrets and eons of history I would never catch up on, they were my family now. And I wasn’t letting them go for anything.

* * *

Henry, Milo and I returned to the Underworld the next morning. Despite the gloominess of the caverns, there was nowhere else I would’ve rather been. We were home.

As we entered our red-and-gold bedroom, I stopped in the doorway and gazed around, swallowing the lump in my throat. Ava had decorated it before I’d arrived the year before. How long would it be before everything stopped reminding me of her?

Never, I hoped. I’d keep my promise to remember her always even if the guilt and pain killed me.

Henry bowed his head until his face was only inches from mine. “It will get easier.”

“Promise?” I said.

“Yes.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I cannot tell you it will ever go away, but that pain is part of you now. It is part of all of us. And because we know it, because we have had to survive it, we will do what we must to make sure we never have to experience it again.”

I exhaled. “I miss her. I don’t know how Walter expects us to just replace her like that.”

“I never thought I would find a replacement for Persephone either,” he said quietly. “And as it happens, I did not. I found something even better. I found you.”

My hand rested over his heart, and I didn’t speak. Words couldn’t have possibly described how much I loved him in that moment. Burying his nose in my hair, Henry held me as we swayed back and forth to a silent rhythm.

“You will never find someone to replace Ava because that person does not exist,” he murmured. “But you will find someone who understands love as Ava did. Who embodies it. Who has, without question, inherited the passion and devotion that defined her. And one day, perhaps in a few years, perhaps many centuries from now, you will stop in the middle of whatever you are doing and look around, and you will realize that things are okay again. Perhaps never completely whole, because nothing can fill that gap of loss. But the parts around it will grow. You will love. You will be happy. You will laugh again. And that day will be better than today. I promise.”

With the baby between us, I hugged him, burying my nose in the crook of his neck. “I love you,” I whispered. “Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for letting me in.”

“I am the one who should be thanking you.” His lips brushed against my hair, and his fingers tangled in the ends as he splayed his hand across my back. “And I will, for the rest of eternity. You saved my life, Kate. You gave me everything. There is nothing I would rather do than be with you forever.”

“You will be,” I mumbled into his chest. “I’m never letting you go again.”

He pulled away enough to touch his lips to mine. “Good.”

I captured him in another kiss, deeper this time and full of everything I couldn’t say. How much I loved him, how thankful I was not just for him, but for the family we had together—all of it. I may have saved his life, but he’d saved mine, as well. Neither of us would ever have to go through that dark loneliness again.

Between us, Milo made a small sound, and I broke the kiss to gaze down at him. He gurgled and waved his tiny fists. “Yes, all right, a kiss for you, too,” I said, grinning, and I dropped one on his forehead. “Such a demanding little boy.”

“The staff put together a nursery for Milo in the room next to ours,” said Henry. “He has everything he needs.”

“Yes, he does.” I looked up at Henry once more. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Of course,” he said. I hesitated, and a moment later I launched into the most difficult question I’d ever asked him.

To Henry’s credit, he didn’t argue. He didn’t like it, but neither did I. That didn’t change anything. And it was the right thing to do. He took my hand, and slowly the bedroom around us faded, replaced by black rock and a monstrous cavern.

The entrance to Tartarus.

“I sealed off the pathway in the wall,” said Henry. “Only we can reach it now.”

I nodded. No need to take any chances. Wordlessly I kissed Milo again and handed him to Henry. My arms felt empty without him, but he’d been in enough danger to last him an eternal lifetime. He would be safe with Henry no matter what happened.

Slowly I made my way to the gate. The bars, once carved out of the black rock itself, now glowed with white light. Rhea. I stood up as straight as I could. “Cronus, I want to talk to you.”

For several seconds, nothing happened. Not that I expected him to come running the moment I called, but he didn’t have to make this difficult.

“Please,” I said, the word sour on my tongue. “I won’t wait forever.”

At last an opaque fog slithered across the ground, but it stopped short of the bars. Unlike before, when he’d had enough of a reach to wreak havoc in the Underworld, Cronus was completely trapped now.

The fog solidified into the silhouette of a man, and Cronus stepped toward the gate, as tall and proud as ever. “Kate, my darling, I knew you’d come back for me.”

“I’m not here to release you,” I said. “I’m here to be with you.”

“Oh?” said Cronus, eyebrow raised. He focused on something behind me, and I scowled. He had no right to look at Henry and Milo after everything he’d done. “In what manner?”

“As your friend. And if not that, then to keep you company.” Even if I would’ve rather burned in a lake of fire. “No one should be alone like this for eternity.”

Cronus’s expression grew thoughtful. “I did not realize you cared.”

“I don’t,” I said coolly. “I hate you for what you did to my family. I hate you for not healing Ava. I hate you for being a megalomaniac who can’t see past your own desires. But you saved my son’s life the day he was born, and I will never forget that.” I paused. “I know what it feels like to stare into a black future with no one left in your life, and no one deserves that. So I’m going to come see you. Not every day, but enough to make sure someone’s watching you. Enough to make sure you’re not alone.”

He narrowed his eyes. “And if I do not wish for you to come?”

“Too damn bad. This is how it’s going to be whether you like it or not, so you might as well get used to it.”

A long moment passed, and at last Cronus nodded. “Very well. Until then.”

He disappeared into the fog, and the tendrils drifted backward until the darkness swallowed them completely. I took a shaky breath, trying to calm my racing heart, and Henry placed his hand on my back.

“I love you,” he murmured. Those three words would never lose their magic. “Even if you are frustratingly good sometimes.”

I brushed my fingers against Milo’s cheek, reassuring myself for the hundredth time that he was still there. “Someone on the council needs to be,” I said, and Henry chuckled.

“Yes, I suppose you are right. Now come.” He took my hand, his touch a reminder of everything about this world that I loved. “Let’s go home.”

The black rock around us faded, leaving only lingering remnants of the war and heartache we’d battled. Henry was right—it would get better in time, as all things did. As much as loss had defined us, so did our capacity for hope.

And from here on out, no matter what the future had in store for us, we would face it together. Always.

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