Page 87 of Spring's Descent
Demeter shook her head, her face warping into a manic grin as she took the last step forward. My shadows swirled around her, trying to hold her back, but she cut through them with a flick of her wrist. Blood dripped from her palm where she gripped a piece of sharp metal—a shard of Lark’s shattered blade.
“If only Hades were here to complete the vows.”
A scream tore from my throat as the tip of the blade sliced between my ribs.
57
HADES
“I accept Persephone as my wife.”
The words were little more than a growl as I tore through earth and stone to reach her, following the tugging within that would lead me to her side. Power hummed in the air the moment midnight struck, the cloud of magic only growing stronger as I hoisted myself through the last of the rubble.
“I pledge my life to her. I vow to be her King. Her god. To weave my magic and immortal soul with hers until the end of time.”
The magic between our realms shifted as I climbed onto the cold floor of a dungeon. The metallic scent of blood was heavy in the air, mixed with damp earth and the unmistakable feel of magic. But Persephone’s awakening was complete. She would be safe?—
Every last drop of warmth in the room froze as her screams echoed through my bones, the agony of her cries shattering something in my chest. I locked eyes with her through the torrent of shadows, my gaze dropping to the splash of red across her lips. A matching stain coated her chest, growing wider in the heartbeat it took for me to comprehend what had happened.
I started toward her, but Demeter’s arm jerked forward before I could reach them, shoving the blade deeper between Persephone’s ribs. Her body shook, blood dribbling from the corners of her mouth, but the pain that had been swirling in her gaze moments before was dissipating.
A subtle shifting of the wind indicated Thanatos had manifested behind me, shaking out debris from his wings, but my gaze was fixed on Persephone. And the small twitch of her lips as her eyes met mine.
She grasped the hilt of the dagger, stumbling forward as Demeter took a step back. Her red curls fell like a curtain around her face, her shoulders bowed, but she remained standing. Slowly, she lifted her head, those fierce green eyes locked on Demeter as she withdrew the dagger from her chest. Blood oozed from the wound for only a moment as I flitted to Persephone’s side, before shadows and light blended over the gash and sealed it shut.
“No,” Demeter muttered, more breath than voice as she took another step back. “It can’t be.”
“Is that how you killed all the others?” Persephone’s head tilted her head to the side as if amused at the horror permitting the air. “By sliding a dagger between their ribs?”
Demeter swallowed, taking another step back. Her breath fanned out in front of her with each panicked gasp as she shook her head in disbelief.
“Sometimes,” Thanatos answered.
Demeter’s head snapped toward us, her blue eyes wide and ringed with light. She had been siphoning off my little witch, consuming Persephone’s life magic—as if she had the right to it. As if she were destined for anything other than eternal suffering.
The white feathers of Thanatos’s wings brushed my shoulder as he stepped to the other side of Persephone, the three of us forming a line with my little witch at the center. Thanatos’s fistsclenched with the need to claim Demeter’s soul. Her death was near, hovering in the atmosphere.
“Mostly, it was a blade across their throats,” I finished.
“Everything I did was for the coven,” Demeter stammered as she scrambled away from the three of us, tripping over Cyrus’s cold body. His blood smeared across her gown, her palms streaked and muddied with it as she crawled back. “Korae, please. I’m your mother. Everything I’ve ever done was for your own good.”
Shadows stretched under my command, binding Demeter’s arms to her sides and holding her in place. She thrashed under my dark magic, but she was helpless against the cold anger fueling them. Weak and useless to do anything but watch as my little witch raised the dagger to her throat.
“My name is Persephone.”
The sharp edge of the blade dragged across Demeter’s neck, a sheet of red coating her chest as blood flowed. Persephone watched, her golden crown shimmering atop her fiery curls. Grime coated her body, the thin scraps of her robe hardly concealing the torment that had befallen her… but she stood proud, watching, until the High Matriarch slumped forward and was still.
Persephone
It feltlike Hades’s darkness was blending with my light, like our souls had melded into one. Hot and cold. Life and death. I felt his emotions—the twisting guilt churning with his simmering rage as his shadows let Demeter’s body fall. He’d wanted to save me, to protect me from everything that had happened, but as I looked down into Demeter’s vacant gaze, I realized I needed to be the one to end this.
After years of mental torment, of bruises and broken bones, of believing her every time she told me I wasn’t good enough… it had finally ended. And not because I’d waited for another to slay the monster for me. I’d had the strength within myself the entire time. Even before my awakening, I had the power to change my life. To break free from the lies and misery that had been forced upon me and forge my own future.
“Hypnos helped her ward the realms.” Hades’s voice was soft, gentle even, as if he were afraid I’d turn the blade on him.
Not taking my eyes off Demeter, I asked, “Where is he?”
“Gone,” Thanatos answered. “We have reason to believe The Night Children were working with him and Demeter. A witch named Ruby was with him, the same witch who was sitting on his lap at the ball. I followed her through his kingdom, thinking she would lead me back to him and reveal their plans. Instead, I was led into an ambush.”