Page 43 of Spring's Descent
My body shivered uncontrollably as I traced the path we were on to the edge of the pit. “I don’t see a path around it.”
Aidoneus hovered nearby, two of his fingers lifting the tip of my chin until I was forced to meet his eyes. Unable to help myself, I pressed further into his touch.
“We’re not going around it, little witch.”
The gentleness of his voice sounded like we were out for a stroll in the woods, as if we were speaking of far more intimate things. My fingers pricked with the urge to reach out and stroke his chest. There was a buzzing in my veins as the electricity stirring between become nearly tangible.
“In order to enter the safety of The Asphodel Plains and reach The Dark Palace, we first must venture beneath Cocytus to connect to the caves.”
“Caves that lead to The Dark Palace?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the tattoo of the upside down torch on Aidoneus’s chest. He was Hades’s general, one that would succeed in his quest to deliver me to The God of The Underworld.
As much as I yearned for a chance to live a life of freedom, I knew I wouldn’t abandon the souls in need. If my life andmagic were needed to save the countless souls above from being rendered into blackened husks, I would die willingly.
The crystal around my neck heated, my fingers grazing the opal stone, seeking guidance. My thoughts sharpened, my pulse quickening as I realized I couldn’t leave Lark to her fate. I couldn’t let my mother terrorize her sister, and the dozens of other sisters or loved ones she held captive.
Last night was a mistake. I had let myself lose sight of who Aidoneus really was. What we’d done clearly hadn’t meant anything to him, seeing as how he still had every intention of delivering me to Hades. And for what? Because I was supposedly the key to saving our realms?
Suddenly, it all seemed so foolish.
If we passed beneath Cocytus and into The Asphodel Plains, I’d be doomed. Now was my only chance to escape. To set things right with Lark before my fate was written.
I let the pad of my finger drag against the ink along his chest, pressing closer to the warmth his body offered. “Are they the same caves we just left? The ones with the hydra?”
Aidoneus searched my face. “Their paths connect. Just as various paths stretch across all kingdoms of The Underworld and to The Realm of the Living and The Aboveworld.”
“I hadn’t realized how vast they were,” I breathed, trying to focus on the small heat at the tips of my fingers—heat generated by my magic. Focusing on stoking the small embers, I willed my power to grow, searching for a connection to the earth that might help me discover a way out of this.
An intricate network of roots answered my call, like a torch put to kindling. Hundreds of pathways illuminated under my magic, each with a different feel. I focused on the one that led up, the vibrations in the air reminiscent of the small tavern at the edge of the forest that I’d frequented with Lark.
“Is this where Orpheus came to rescue Eurydice?” The question left my lips before I thought better of it, but Lark’s tales of a heartbroken musician rose from the back of my mind. The blacks of Hades’s eyes expanded as a whisper of wings showed at his back.
I looked away, studying the gleaming icicles clinging to the branches around us. It would have been beautiful were it not for the endless suffering all around. I couldn’t defeat the hydra, but I could climb out of the same cave Orpheus had.
“It’s only that Cocytus seems like the type of place Orpheus would’ve been, what with saving his wife only to turn around and watch her vanish right before his eyes.”
“He was told not to look back until she was secured in The Realm of The Living. He disobeyed.”
I narrowed my eyes at Aidoneus’s clipped tone. “He was worried.”
“He should have trusted in his wife’s abilities,” Aidoneus bit back. “And yes, the passage he took is among those beneath Cocytus, but don’t get any ideas. We won’t be anywhere near there.”
I schooled a neutral expression on my face, acting as if he hadn’t seen right through me. “I suppose there are just the two passages linking my realm with yours?”
“On the contrary, there are many ways a soul can cross. Most involve death, but if one of the living wished to venture into The Underworld without cutting their life thread, they’d have limited options: The spring in the Mountains of Mourning is now tainted with Hydra venom, as you know.” His lips twitched as he noticed the glare I shot him. “The Cave of Taenarum is the one Orpheus took, and is, indeed, below us. The last is a descending staircase along the banks of the Acheron River. There was another in The Darklands of the North centuries ago.Hypnos claims a rockslide has closed it off for good, but I’m not so sure.”
Great. Each passage sounded more horrible and out of reach than the last. I went to rest my head against his chest, but my necklace flared again, tapping into the embers of life magic I was still connected to in the earth yards below us.
“We didn’t take any of those paths when you kidnapped me,” I breathed, gripping the fire opal.
“No. We didn’t. But if you were to seek a way into The Underworld on your own, you’d have to risk a crossing like any other mortal.”
I swallowed against the sudden dryness in my throat.
“It’s best if you stick by me. We are a few yards away from the edge of the pit where the path zigzags through caves until we reach the floor. If you step off the stone path, you risk falling through feet of snow and winding up in the middle of the network of caves below us.”