Page 75 of Spring's Descent
My breath puffed in the air as I reached for the first of the mangled trunks. A rush of magic poured from my fingertips as the bark beneath my touch brightened, the dull gray transitioning into a rich brown. Brittle branches gave way to lush green leaves and red-orange blossoms. Plump, red fruitswelled as my power swept into the grove, the scent of fresh pomegranates filling the air.
My lungs heaved with the energy it took to revive them. My brow was damp and coated with sweat despite the frost. I wanted to return to bed, to curl up in Hades’s arms, but I was compelled forward, spurred on by a whispered command urging me to hurry.
Newly strengthened branches clawed at my shoulders and legs as I moved, as if they too wanted me to turn back. Gusts of wind shook the leaves, hollowing in icy bursts as I pushed into the small clearing at the center of the grove, stumbling before a monstrous tree.
The trunk was easily as wide as I was tall with the center hollowed out and humming with power. The gnarled branches stretched high into the sky, its leaves a rich shade of green with a shimmering golden hue along the edges.
Whatever my magic had done for the rest of the grove, it was helpless here. This was an ancient site, a place that stood outside the scope of time and space. One that was here long before the power humming in my veins was even created.
Plump pomegranates rocked along the tree’s lower branches as the wind raged. Shadows and ice knocking a few of the largest ones down. The fruit split open to coat thick, gnarled roots with scarlet juice and seeds.
My hair whirled around me as I clung to the edges of my robe and the fire opal around my neck, closing my eyes against the torrent of wind. When I blinked them open, my toes were positioned just before the hollowed trunk.
I fought for breath as my stomach twisted, my body teetering forward despite the cold dread sliding down my spine. My heart thundered in my ears, my legs trembling as I fought against the urge to step forward. Whatever waited on the other side feltdesperate. A frenzied type of hunger that suggested it wanted to slice me open just to see what was on the inside.
An echo of my name carried on the wind, the deep cadence of the voice cutting through some of the fog clouding my mind. Breathing deeply, I concentrated all my will on my legs and took a step back.
“I told Cyrus the compulsion wouldn’t be enough. Even with Demeter’s power amplifying the spell on your little charm.”
The crystal around my neck burned, clouding my consciousness in a thick haze. It felt like time had slowed, like I was running through sand. I fought against the need to step through the tree’s hollow, but then my world tilted.
Hands shoved against my side, sending me careening toward the vast darkness at the center of the hollowed tree buzzing with primal power.
A scream built in my chest as I caught a glimpse of the dark-haired woman who’d pushed me, and the tear-dropped diamond dangling from her wrist. She was the same woman who’d been seated across Hypnos’s lap yesterday… and that bracelet. It was identical to the one adoring the wrist of the witch who’d been plotting my death with Cyrus.
I should have recognized the voice sooner. But it wasn’t possible. Even if she were still alive, she’d never hurt me. We were friends—more like sisters.
Dark strands of her hair whirled around her as her blood-red lips tilted into a grin. “Time’s up, Korae.”
Her name was whispered in disbelief as I fell into the awaiting abyss. “Ruby?”
48
HADES
I woke to darkness,my heart hammering in my ears. The sheets were damp with sweat, every muscle in my body tensed and poised for a fight. All notions of sleep vanished as I rolled to the side, instinctively looking for Persephone only to find the bed cold. And Persephone gone.
A heavy weight settled in my stomach as my pulse spiked from a fear that was not my own.
Something was wrong. There may have been a time when she would have fled, but I knew to my very core that Persephone would never leave on her own. Not after all that we’d just shared. Persephone was my queen—my wife—and I intended to get her back.
In a wash of shadows and frost, I snatched my discarded pants and tunic from the floor, inhaling the traces of Persephone still clinging to the fabric. I followed her scent of vanilla and wildflowers now mixed with frost, like a forest on the verge of spring, and paused only as I reached a small corridor where Hecate was waiting.
“Persephone, she’s?—”
“Gone,” Hecate answered, her face set in a grim frown. “I wasn’t sure, but I think a witch is compelling her, possiblythrough her necklace. I was on my way to your rooms when I caught a whiff of magic.”
“Life magic?” I asked, leading the way down the narrow passage as I followed traces of my wife’s scent.
“No,” Hecate answered from behind me, her voice wavering with uncertainty. “It feels similar to The Night Children’s compulsion but mixed with magic from The Realm of the Living.”
“How is that possible,” I seethed, the temperature around me cooling as Persephone’s fear rattled through our loosely woven threads. If she were fully awakened, I’d be able to find her in a moment. Instead, I was forced to follow her trail, the next piece of the path only shimmering into view once I was near. “No one is allowed to cross into The Underworld if their threads have yet to be cut. I should have felt it.”
“There is much that shouldn’t be happening at the moment,” Hecate said, keeping pace with me as I turned down a worn stone path that angled downward. We must be beneath The Dark Palace, having somehow found a connection to the lost tunnels. “If I were to guess, I’d say Demeter was behind this.”
With a curse, I flitted through the darkness, stopping only when I came to an old wooden door. It squeaked on its hinges, the metal rusted and worn as it swayed in the wind. Soft light from the approaching dawn filtered in through the small opening. Persephone must have gone this way.
I burst through the door, the chipped wood splintering in my haste to catch her. I glanced around, searching for my queen. The Dark Palace was in the distance, its golden walls shimmering as the last of the stars faded overhead. Fresh grass sprang beneath my feet, the swath of green so at odds with the withered life surrounding it, evidence of Persephone’s life magic, but my attention was snagged by the dark figure standing just to my left.