I came to on the grass. Prometheus sat beside me, watching me warily. “Want to talk about it?”
I shook my head, my limbs shaky. Revisiting my entombment was the last thing I wanted to do. I curled into myself instead, trickles of anxious sweat beading down my spine. “Why are you doing this?” I blurted.
“Why are you?”
Because Persephone is crazy with rage and wants to take everyone down didn’t seem like an appropriate response.
Whatever Prometheus thought he saw in my expression made him chuckle. “I know you hate Zeus and Hades.” He shrugged. “Fine by me since it suits my purposes.”
He’d nailed my feelings for those two, and I was happy to let him think that was what had set off my hysteria. “I know your agenda,” I said. “You want to save humanity. But why?” Here was Prometheus, willing to talk to me in a way that Theo wouldn’t. Or maybe he just found it too hard after everything he’d been through.
Prometheus’ dark eyes were wistful. “Wouldn’t any parent do whatever they had to do to keep their kids safe? I was there for the birth of mankind. I nurtured them with the gift of fire and watched them achieve beautiful impossible things.” He wrapped his finger around a dandelion stem. “Terrible things, too. But so many of those, as misguided and immoral as they were, came from a place of hope. Of believing in a better tomorrow and fighting to the death to achieve it.”
“You don’t want the gods messing with that,” I said.
His expression hardened. “I don’t want gods killing humans in the name of bloated egos and power plays because they fail to see their worth. I want humanity left alone to succeed or fail on its own. That is their right.” He yanked the weed from the ground and flung it aside.
“But,” I fumbled for a way to say this delicately, “you already paid a price. Being chained to the rock just for giving them fire. Imagine the consequences if we fail this time.”
His smile dazzled me. “Which is why you won’t.”
There it was. The pure faith that connected this Titan and my human friend. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because you are prophesied.”
Huh? I was confused. In this enchantment, Cassie hadn’t dropped her “one above one below” prediction yet. I plucked a wet strand of grass from my leg, searching for a way to have Prometheus clarify without giving away knowledge I shouldn’t even have.
“Why do you think Zeus let you stay here?” Prometheus waved a dismissive hand. “If he’d wanted you out, he would have marshaled all of Olympus to bring you back. He knew it was foretold that one of his children would overthrow him. It was a closely guarded secret.”
My mouth was dry. I couldn’t believe that Theo had never mentioned this. I mean, sure, it made sense, explained why he’d been willing to lose his powers over me. But still. You’d think it might have come up in conversation. “You found out about it.”
Prometheus nodded. “And more. Zeus was never entirely sure which of his children it was going to be. When I learned that you had a way of stopping him and Hades?” His smile turned ruthless. “Let’s just say I called in some favors to verify it was you.”
Still … “Prophesied doesn’t mean guaranteed.” Zeus himself had said as much.
He stretched out his legs. “I know you’re nervous, Persephone. You’re hesitant to let me in on the exact nature of what will take them down.”
It wasn’t nerves. It was secrets. Persephone didn’t want him to know about Kai’s involvement in all this. Or her imminent betrayal of Kai and Demeter.
“But you’ve trusted me with your safety,” Prometheus continued. “My one job is to get you out of here tomorrow night. I’ve secured us passage. Once we’re out and you accept that you’re safe in my hands, you can fill me in on the next stage.”
I thought all this through. If Persephone had needed Prometheus to get her out of the Underworld, then she’d known that her pendent wouldn’t work. She’d might also have known that even Kai wouldn’t be able to help with that.
Theo had said he’d been supposed to meet Demeter on the night Persephone had been killed. I was willing to bet she was the secure passage. Which meant he’d struck the deal to exit to her temple grounds before.
Except, back then, Kai would’ve had to go with Persephone. She’d still needed him to do the love ritual. So she couldn’t have harmed him until afterward. But once she’d killed Kai, there would have been a witness. The very being who had spirited them out.
Prometheus.
I dropped my head. Felt ill. Persephone had been planning to betray Prometheus, too. My resolve hardened. That hadn’t happened, and it sure as hell wouldn’t happen this time as long as I stayed in control. More reason to have Prometheus get that truth spirit here and break this enchantment. I spoke up. “Prometheus—”
“That’s right,” he said. “You had something you wanted me to do.”
I did, but first I wanted him to know exactly where he stood with me. I took his hand. “I trust you,” I said insistently. “More than anyone.”
He didn’t break contact. Instead, he squeezed my hand tighter. “I will see you through this, keep you safe no matter what.” His eyes were solemn as they stared into mine. “I swear.”
It was a super intense and highly charged moment.
Which was pretty much the worst possible way that Kai could have found us. “What have we here?” His voice was a smooth purr. It caressed my skin like silk, then slid under it like ice.
I’d never heard this voice before. It terrified me. Because after that horrible night two months ago, I knew how mad Kai could get.
This sounded worse. Felt worse.
Prometheus let go of me and pushed to his feet.
Leaving me scrambling, brushing the dead grass from my dress. “Nothing,” I said.
“What are you up to, kardia mou?” Kai’s breath was warm against my ear as he twined around me in a tight circle, like a cat.
I shivered.
His hand caressed my hip for a fleeting second.
I shrugged, bored, and played the same “dislike” card that Prometheus had pulled out when Thanatos had interrupted us on the soccer field. “Nothing. He’s a jerk.”
Kai paused and placed his index finger against his lips. “Hmmmm. Thing is,” he gave me a sweet smile. “I don’t believe you.”
Yeah. I wouldn’t have either. This was bad. Dread to the tips of my toes, bad. I folded my fingers over my sweaty palms and opened my mouth to speak but something cut me off.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Prometheus give an exasperated shake of his head and turn to leave, but Kai shot a blast of black light and totally eviscerated the ground beneath Prometheus’ feet. He stumbled, barely staying upright.
“Another inch and it’s your legs,” Kai said, not taking his eyes off me. He flicked a hand. “Imprison him.” His tone of voice didn’t change. But his eyes flashed with the same fathomless black that I’d seen in the barrier around Nyx.
A dozen Pyrosim showed up to form a fiery guard around Prometheus. They arranged themselves in a tight flaming square, completely blocking him in.
“I’ll take you down with me,” Prometheus swore as he got to his feet. The minions were pressed too close for him to do anything other than stand, if he wanted to remain untoasted. His skin flushed red from the heat. And maybe his anger.
Kai laughed. “Try it. I dare you. I’ll bury you so deep that you’ll be forgotten.” There was absolute promise and sneering certainty in his voice.
It made Kai sound more like his father than I’d ever heard him. That was terrifying.
I whipped my eyes away from Kai, so he couldn’t see my panic.
Prometheus walked backward, facing me through the flames of his prison as the Pyrosim marched him off. “Believe,” he mouthed.
I grabbed Kai’s arm, more than ready to beg. “Don’t take him. Please. It’s not what you think. There’s nothing going on between him and me. I’m not even his type.” I didn’t want to accidentally out Prometheus if Kai didn’t know.
“You think I’m worried about that?” he scoffed. “But there is something going on with you. You’ve been different lately.” He bit down on the edge of his bottom lip, lost in thought. “I figured I was imagining things, but the way you acted yesterday and today? Holding me at arms’ length?”
Annoyance flared hot and hard inside me. “Is this because I wouldn’t sleep with you? Why would I want to with all your passive-aggressive games?”
Kai went poker-faced. “At least I wasn’t manipulating you.”
“Please. That’s your middle name.” I remembered a fraction of a second too late that Kyrillos had never manipulated Persephone. Kai had messed with Sophie. And right now, Sophie failed to exist.
He inclined his head. “If that’s how you feel, then perhaps this is our cue to end all our partnerships.”
I grabbed his wrist. “No. What? This is our chance. We have to help humanity.”
Kai’s face broke into a very cold smile. Almost snake-like. I’d sprung his trap. “That confirms you’re working secretly with Prometheus.” He brushed my hand off, his knuckles grazing my skin. “Because we both know you don’t give a damn about humanity.”
“That’s not true!”
“I wonder,” he murmured.
My eyes closed against this onslaught of emotion—the feel of his lips humming against my skin; the seductiveness of his misguided words. I was losing myself. My brain couldn’t process everything that Persephone and I felt toward Kai. Anger, attraction, revenge, desire.
My eye twitched. If only I could smack myself upside the head and reboot. Or end this enchantment, get out of here, and start dealing with the regular teen variety of angst and hormone fueled attraction.
“Were we really going to rule together? Or did you have a very different agenda?” Kai asked. He lifted his face to bore into me with his eyes.
Harder to say whose jaw was tighter at this point. His, given the way it looked, or mine, given the way it felt.
He cocked his head to the side. “Why did you get my father to throw a party? A masked ball. Why would you want to avoid being seen as we head into the equinox?”
I pushed against his arms, sending him back a couple of steps. “Are you kidding me? I was defending you, idiot. Trying to get your horrible father to treat you properly. Which, of course, he twisted into this stupid idea of a—”
“Stop lying to me.”
I jumped at the fury in his voice, shrinking back at the flat blackness in his eyes. I kept a careful watch on him as I spoke. “I’m not lying!”
“I want the truth. You owe me that much.”
“Truth: I love you. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
He searched my face carefully. “Who are you?”
That was the jackpot question, wasn’t it?
My mind boggled. I realized we were having the same conversation we’d had after Kai’s kiss released my Persephone self last Halloween.
Ironic.
And unfortunate that he couldn’t do the same thing for my Sophie self here and now.
I brushed my palm across his cheek. “You know who I am. Better than anyone.”
He leaned into my touch. We stayed like that, connected, skin to skin, for only a moment. I let my hand drop as I felt him pull away. “Are you going to imprison me, too?” I dreaded his answer.
Kai bowed his head. “I can’t hurt you.” He raised his eyes to look at me and I saw that truth reflected in them. And the pain of it. “But I want you gone. After we do the ritual, take down Zeus and Hades,” he waved a hand between us, “this ends.”
Good luck with that. “Like you could stay away from me.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t trust you anymore, Persephone. If I didn’t know how badly you wanted to knock Zeus down, you’d be in cuffs until I could drag you to the ritual site.”
“Which you’d need me to lead you to. Seeing as you don’t know it.”
Kai bristled. “Add that to everything else you’re not sharing these days.”
I was going to shoot my mouth off again, but I remembered that it didn’t matter. This was an enchantment. Kai and I could return to our regularly scheduled issues once this was over. I raised my hands, as if in surrender. “Fine. We play nice ‘til the equinox, then go our separate ways.”
“I expect you to keep up appearances until then.”
“And if I don’t?”
“We find out how much you’d miss Prometheus.”
“Right,” I scoffed. ”You can’t kill a Titan without anyone noticing. Or consequences.”
Can’t I? Kai’s look dared me.
I crossed my arms, and held his stare.
Kai smiled, thinly.
What was it with everyone trying to separate Theo and me? I glared at Kai but he simply stared back, totally unflappable. “Fine. You do your part, I’ll do mine. We done?” I may have sounded flippant at the supposed end of my big love affair, but it wasn’t real, so whatever.
He gave me a final “who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?” look, and shrugged. “We’re done.” He may have seemed indifferent, but his voice was cold. As was his last look at me as he walked away.
Idiot.
I slowly paced along the shore of the lake, not really seeing anything. It was all so muddled. I wanted out of this rabbit hole where I felt sorry for Hades. Where I’d found out that all Demeter had was her woman-scorned bit. Where Kai wasn’t my Kai, and Prometheus didn’t really know me, and I’d lost them both.
I wasn’t upset. Not even angry. More incredulous that I’d managed to screw things up so badly. I had a billion more mistakes to undo before I could get the truth of this matter out in the open.
The clock was ticking.
I rubbed my hands roughly over my face and straightened up. Get yourself together. There was only one thing I could do now.
And it had nothing to do with Oizys tackling me and punching me with a hard right to the gut.