The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus) (6 page)

I removed her hand from my shoulder with a bit more force than necessary. “It wasn’t consensual.”

“Isn’t that your working theory on what happened to me? That I was charmed.” Her gray eyes bored into mine. “You want so badly for me to be a victim. Did you ever stop and wonder if maybe I just don’t love you?”

I ignored her use of the present tense. “At the time it was easier to assume you weren’t an opportunistic bitch,” I replied calmly. “I’m not here about you. I’m trying to find her, and you haven’t answered my question.”

“Do you love her?” Jealousy flamed to life in Hera’s eyes.

“Exclusively. You still haven’t answered me. Where would Zeus keep her?”

She kept her gaze locked with mine as though she were trying to unnerve me with her proximity. “What makes you think I would know?”

I took a measured breath. What I wanted to do was threaten to throw her into Tartarus until she remembered how to answer questions. But Hera fed on anger like most people breathe air. If I snapped, she’d be in control. Hera had controlled enough of my life.

“You were many things, Hera, but oblivious was never one of them.”

Hera’s gaze went hard. “Zeus and I didn’t exactly have pillow talks. If you’ll recall, he sucked the life from me and threw me down a mountain the moment I outlived my usefulness.”

“What I recall is you bringing down the mountain with you and single handedly ending the era of Olympus.”

Hera’s eyebrows rose and her lips pursed into an “O” shape.

“What?” I asked. “You thought it escaped my notice that Olympus’ fall coincided with your demise? I was around when you created this abomination. I remembered some of your…unusual design flaws. You’re the one who did all the marketing, too. When the mortals saw Olympus fall, they thought it meant the gods had died. So the gods did.”

“You’ve always paid entirely too much attention to me.”

“And you always sucked at answering questions. Where would Zeus keep my wife, Hera?”

“To keep her from you?” Hera smiled. “As far out of your reach as possible. Beyond that, I haven’t the faintest idea.”

I clenched my teeth to keep from cursing.

“But I know of someone who’s always kept excellent tabs on him.”

“And who’s that?”

“My firstborn.”

Athena. Demeter would know where to find her. I rose from the couch to go, then paused. As much as I hated to ask Hera any more questions, she was the only god I knew of who would know the answer.

“After you married, were there ever times you couldn’t sense him?”

Hera frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Marriage, it’s unbreakable, right? He couldn’t—”

She laughed. “Come now, Hades, you know the answer to that. Nothing is unbreakable.” I waited through Hera’s dramatic pause. “You can always kill her.”

I rolled my eyes. “I meant from an outside source. Zeus hit her with lightning and it knocked me out. I haven’t heard her since.”

“Knocked
you
out?”

I waved away her surprise. “Yeah, I know. I always thought sympathy bonds were a myth, but apparently they come with equilibrium.”

“Equilibrium?” Hera didn’t seem amused anymore. “With that infant?” She paused as if giving me time to object to her description. I refused to rise to the bait. Fluttering her eyelashes with a dramatic sigh, Hera responded, “Not possible. You’d know right away if you could feel
everything
she was feeling.”

“Maybe we can only feel extremes. He hit her with lightning, Hera.”

She fell silent, digesting this. “She’s still a baby, isn’t she? I suppose it’s possible he could have killed her.”

I shook my head, unwilling to consider the possibility. “He still needs her. Besides, if she were dead she’d be down here.”

“Doesn’t she have Thanatos’ power?” Hera asked, referring to the god of death Persephone had recently charmed to death. “If she swears fealty to Zeus, he could keep hold of her soul. He wants you to waste your time looking for her. What makes you think he doesn’t already have what he wants? Really, Hades, she’s a child. How long do you expect her to stand up to Zeus’ torture? Look on the bright side, this way Zeus can’t use her to kill you.”

“To kill
me
?” I barked an incredulous laugh. “That’s not going to happen.”

Hera’s face turned puzzled then crafty. “You don’t know.”

“Of course I
know
.” As if I would have married Persephone without knowing all the risks.

“She’s a part of you, Hades, and you’re a part of her. You exchanged power to get married.” Hera ran her tongue over her top teeth. “She could kill you, but it doesn’t matter. If you can’t sense her, she’s dead. And if by some miracle she’s not, you should probably transfer enough power her way to put her out of her misery. Otherwise Zeus will have access to your realm and your head on a silver platter.”

Persephone wouldn’t do that. I could see her breaking and swearing fealty to Zeus. All that would take was a second of weakness and the words would be spoken, but for her to physically attack me? Unlikely.

Not that it mattered, if she pulled a Boreas and swore
everything
to Zeus, he’d inherit the ability to kill me.

But he’d still have to face me to do it.

“Do you think I want him to win?” Hera asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “Hades, I have nothing left to gain. And you have a responsibility to this realm to eliminate
any
threat. Even her.”

Out of the question. But I could change the rules, make up, down and black, white. I could strip Zeus of his powers. Hell, I could make him allergic to water if I wanted.

I’d spoken to Hestia. She hadn’t been happy, but she’d agreed so long as I promised it was a last resort.

Hera read the thoughts on my face. “No.”

“I could make your stay here
much
less comfortable,” I reminded her.

Hera looked at me then.
Really
looked at me in that way that felt like she was looking through me and weighing my every thought and intention. Whatever she saw must have terrified her because the blood drained from her face.

“Okay,” she whispered, visibly shaken. “I’ll help reset the rules when you ask me to.”

I nodded and turned to leave, then paused when I remembered the flash of jealousy in her eyes when she’d asked if I loved Persephone. I’d seen that look before. So had Minthe and Laurel, two women I’d once cared for who Hera turned into plants so even their souls would remain out of my reach.

“I assume this goes without saying, but if you or any of yours so much as look in my wife’s direction with ill intent, I will end your existence.”

“Haha,” she said dryly, but I heard the fear in her voice.

“You think I’m kidding? Aren’t you curious why Thanatos didn’t end up here after going after Persephone?” I turned, met her eyes, and let her mull that over.

“I’ll bite. Why?”

“I shattered his soul.”

Chapter XII

Persephone

“You were saying?” If Zeus’ stifled yawn were any indication, he was bored. The metal folding chair he’d summoned looked completely out of place in his misty palace. He straddled it, one arm dangling over the back.

“I—” The words wouldn’t come. I tried again. “I—”

“What did I tell you about stalling?” Zeus raised his hand, electricity flickering between his fingers.

“No!” I screamed as the lightning hit me again. My flesh sizzled and cooked like bacon. A bright light seared my eyes and then pain, immeasurable pain, as my body knit itself back together.

“I—” I tried again, desperate, but the words wouldn’t come. Frustrated tears sizzled on my face. This wasn’t fair. I was ready for this to end! I was willing to give up everything! Why couldn’t I swear fealty to him?

My mind flashed back to when I’d almost charmed Hades into swearing fealty to me. That was when I figured out that Zeus had been controlling me.

“I won’t do it!”
I’d screamed to Aphrodite back when I thought she might be Zeus in disguise. “
I won’t be used against him. Never. I will never charm him! I will never act with the intention of hurting him! You can’t make me!”

Laughter bubbled up in my throat, high pitched and hysterical, bitter with the taste of tears. This was just too good. I’d been tortured for months because of a promise I made to Thanatos, but it was all worth it now because that same stupid divine technicality was going to keep Zeus from winning. Here I’d always thought of the inability to lie as a weakness. Now it was my weapon.

I
couldn’t
swear fealty to Zeus because I couldn’t betray Hades! Relief flowed through me in joyous waves. Giving Zeus access to the Underworld would cause more harm to Hades than anything else I could ever do. No matter what Zeus did to me, I couldn’t swear.

Oh gods, it didn’t matter what Zeus did to me. He’d never stop. Oh gods. This was never going to end. The relief turned to dread and settled in my stomach like a rock. I was never getting out of this. Hades would have come for me by now if he knew where to find me, and as much as I balked at the fact that I
needed
to be rescued, I couldn’t escape on my own. Without the ability to swear fealty, I had no way out.

But maybe that was a good thing. Zeus didn’t know I
couldn’t
swear, so he’d waste time trying to get me to crack. “I will never tell Zeus why.” Whispering the soft oath beneath my breath bound me to it for better or worse. If he learned why I couldn’t swear fealty to him, he’d find another way to gain access to my realms. Maybe I couldn’t fight Zeus, but I could buy time for those who could. Hades…

This was bigger than me, bigger than Hades. This was about everyone who lived in Mom’s realm and the Underworld. Every single being who would ever or had ever lived. Zeus was insane, and it was my responsibility to protect my people, whatever the cost to me.

And it was going to cost a lot. The second of clarity, coupled with the realization I’d just signed myself up for unending torture, fractured my already traumatized mind. Something snapped. My laughter bounced off the walls, eerie and maniacal. Zeus muttered something about taking it too far, and stood up, approaching me with wary eyes.

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Zeus murmured. “I think you’ve had enough for today.” He touched my head, and before I realized what was happening, a current of electricity surged through me.

Goodnight indeed.

Chapter XIII

Aphrodite

“I should be driving,” I insisted for the hundredth time.

Melissa tossed her brown hair over her shoulder and checked the rearview mirror before changing lanes. “I’m the babysitter. I drive.”

Flipping down the visor, I examined my hair in the mirror, but when I locked gazes with myself, I was struck by a thought. Could I charm myself? I had enough control to avoid stupid mistakes. But only because Persephone had found me and trained me. What if she hadn’t? I stared into the mirror and pushed a little charm at it, watching my aquamarine eyes for any reaction. Nothing.

Good. I flipped the visor back up and turned my attention to Melissa. “You get that if we get pulled over in this stolen car, I’m the one who can charm the police officer into looking the other way, right?”

“You can charm him just fine from the passenger seat.”

“You really don’t have an issue with me using charm?” I don’t know why I was surprised. She hadn’t objected to me charming our way aboard the flight to Miami, or the subsequent paperless car rental.

Melissa shot me a condescending look. “I’m her best friend, not her carbon copy.”

I fell silent, considering that.

“You shouldn’t make fun of her, you know,” Melissa added. “If she didn’t have the moral high ground, Hades would have thrown you into Tartarus the moment he first saw you.”

Not technically. I’d be in a sub-realm just outside of Tartarus. But it still wouldn’t be fun.

“And she’d be better off.” I double checked the blue dot that marked our location on Melissa’s phone. It moved at a slow crawl down Ocean Drive.

Finding a model from a photo in a magazine was hard. Even with charm. We’d spent most of yesterday tracking down the information we could glean from the ad. The model’s name was Adonis, and he lived in Miami. So we hopped on a plane at the Atlanta airport and spent the rest of the evening running around random offices in downtown Miami.
Then
Melissa had the brilliant idea to run a search for him on social networks.

Adonis had some serious stalkers.

Lucky for us, Adonis had a photo shoot scheduled bright and early this morning on Miami Beach.

“You can’t really think that.” Melissa’s brown eyes were wide.

I blinked, retracing the conversation to remember what she was talking about. “I’m grateful they helped me. But she would have been better off with me safely out of the way.”

Melissa turned on her blinker and eased into a parking lot. I flashed a smile at the lot attendant, and he waved away Melissa’s money. “Is that why you’re being so helpful? You feel guilty?”

I shook my head. “Don’t be naive. I benefit more from Zeus’ death than anyone.”

Now it was her turn to fall silent. She turned off the car and stretched before she took off her seatbelt and reached into the backseat for her purse. “Well…what’s the plan?”

“I charm Adonis and bring him back to Demeter’s.”

“They aren’t going to be happy with us. My mom will probably kill me when she finds out where we’ve been.”

My fingers fell off the handle of the car door, and I whipped around so fast I felt muscles in my neck give. But Melissa only looked pleased with herself, as if driving her mother to murder were the ultimate teenage goal. I rubbed my neck, scowling. Stupid humans and their exaggerations. She burst into laughter.

“You thought I was serious? She’d have to notice we were gone to kill me.” Melissa shut the car door with more force than required, and I stepped out of the car, shading my eyes in the bright sunlight.