Читать книгу The Goddess Inheritance - Aimee Carter - Страница 9

Chapter 2

Blood and Stone

For nine months, I’d dreamed of this moment. In my visions I’d watched Henry go about his day-to-day duties, oblivious to what was happening as he waited for me to come home, and I’d wished with every fiber of my being for him to realize something was wrong and come storming through the doors of my prison. I’d wanted it so badly that I’d ached with the need to leave the island, to leave Calliope and Cronus and all of my greatest fears behind.

Now I might finally have the chance, and I couldn’t go. No matter what was waiting out there for me—Henry, my mother, a family, a war to win—I couldn’t leave my son.

Henry flew toward the palace, and I searched the skies behind him for the other members of the council. Nothing but that unnatural gold. My chest tightened. He couldn’t be alone. He wasn’t that careless. He didn’t have the power to hold off Cronus in the Underworld, let alone outside his realm.

Where was my mother? Even if the others had no interest in helping me, surely she would have come to protect Henry. Had he insisted she not, that it was too dangerous?

When he was close enough for me to see the rage on his face, it hit me. He was alone.

We were alone.

I expected him to turn the outside wall to rubble, but instead he flew over my room toward another part of the castle, as if he didn’t know I was there. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe Calliope was trying to lure him away and—

The weapon.

Oh, god.

“Henry!” I screamed. “Henry!”

“Kate,” said a voice from the hallway. “Kate, it’s me.”

I hurried to the door, crouching down beside it to peer through the keyhole. “Henry? Is that—”

A blue eye with long lashes stared back at me, and my heart sank. Ava.

“Move away from the door,” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder. What was she so afraid of? Henry storming down the hall and blasting her to pieces? If only I were so lucky.

“Why should I trust you?” I said. “You knew Calliope was going to kill my son, and you did everything you could to make that happen.”

She blinked rapidly, and her eyes turned red and watery. Once upon a time I’d thought Ava had been one of the few who looked pretty when she cried, but now all I could see was the ugliness underneath.

For months I’d learned about the antics of the Greek gods, the history that was the foundation of their mythology. Not all of it was right—so much of it had been twisted and corrupted throughout history as mortals passed the stories down. And because of that, I’d wanted to believe that the gods were basically good. That they really were looking out for humankind, that their lives hadn’t been full of mischief and betrayal and selfishness.

Regardless of what Calliope and Cronus had done, Ava could’ve proven me right. A single word to the council, and this could’ve been over months ago. Instead she’d turned all of those hopes to dust.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You’re my best friend, Kate. Please—I never meant for any of this to happen. I didn’t know.”

“You knew enough.”

She checked over her shoulder again. “Once this is over, you can rip me to shreds as much as you want. But right now I have to get you out of here.”

I scoffed. Now Ava wanted to rescue me, after Calliope had exactly what she wanted? “Like hell I’m going anywhere with you.”

“I can take you to your son.”

My heart pounded. In an instant, my disgust turned to desperation, and it took everything I had not to claw the door open with my fingernails. “You know where he is?”

Ava nodded. “And if you let me, I can help both of you get out of here.”

That was all I needed to hear. Forget the past nine months. Forget her betrayal. Forget the very real possibility that this was just another trap to make sure Henry couldn’t find me. If there was a chance she was telling the truth, if there was a chance I could save my son, I didn’t care.

I stepped back, and a breeze filled the room. The lock clicked, and the door swung open, revealing Ava. Now that it was light outside, I could see her properly. Her blond hair hung in limp curls, and the shadows made the dark circles underneath her eyes look hideous. I’d never seen her like this before, not even the night I’d met Henry by the river in Eden—the same night she’d taken a swan dive into the raging waters and crushed her skull against a rock.

Would I have saved her if I’d known less than a year and a half later, she would steal me away from everyone I love? That she would stand by Calliope as she manipulated me into a pregnancy only so she could hurt me as badly as humanly possible?

Would I have saved her if I’d known Ava had been fully aware of Calliope’s plan to kill my son the whole time?

I didn’t know. I didn’t care. If Ava helped save him, if she helped us escape, the past nine months wouldn’t matter anymore. I would never forget, but in time I might forgive.

I hurried out the door. Ava offered me her arm, but I pulled away. The thought of touching her made my stomach lurch. “Don’t bother. Cronus healed me. Which way?”

Ava wilted and dropped her hand, and a pang of guilt ran through me before I pushed it aside. She didn’t deserve my sympathy. We moved at an agonizingly slow pace, all but tiptoeing down the slate-paved corridor. Was I right? Was she just hiding me away so Henry couldn’t find me?

Didn’t matter. I had to try.

Crack.

The walls around us shook, and Ava flung herself at me, covering my body with hers as the ceiling came crashing down around us. The back of my head slammed against the wall, but even though I expected pain, it never came. I was immortal now. Even if the entire world buried us, we would never die.

“Are you all right?” said Ava, gasping. The air had turned to thick dust, and as I sucked in a breath, the grit choked me.

“Need to keep going,” I said, coughing. Henry wouldn’t ask any questions—the moment he got his hands on me, he would take me back down to the Underworld. We had to find the baby before Henry found me.

I climbed over the rubble, groping my way through the dust as sharp edges tried to cut my impermeable skin. My foot caught on a rock I couldn’t see, and I stumbled, throwing my arms out to catch my fall. But instead a pair of strong hands caught me, and I looked up.

Dark hair, handsome face, broad shoulders. Henry.

I blinked rapidly, my eyes tearing up to flush out the dust, and his face swam into focus.

No, not Henry.

Cronus.

“Come, my dear,” he murmured, pulling me to my feet. His palms were hot coals against my skin, and bile rose in my throat. Where was Henry? Why wasn’t Cronus trying to stop him?

Because he didn’t need to. One god versus the King of the Titans—there was no question. And with Calliope’s weapon, it wouldn’t be a fair fight between siblings either. Henry wouldn’t know what was coming, and then—

I clenched my fists. I had to find the baby before Henry found me, and I had to find Henry before it was too late. No other option was acceptable.

“I want to see my son,” I said, jerking my arm away from Cronus and struggling to keep my voice steady. To my left, a gaping hole in the stone wall opened up to a golden sky and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. “Take me to him.”

“All in good time.” He led me through the wrecked corridor, and the rubble swept aside to make a path for us. For him. Ava trailed after us, dragging her feet and scattering the pebbles as if she were trying to make as much noise as possible. A warning to Calliope that we were coming? A signal to Henry to tell him where we were?

Suddenly the air changed as the dust vanished, and the salt-tinged wind blowing off the sea gave way to the thin wails of a newborn. I blinked. It’d been a long time since I’d slipped into a vision without meaning to.

I was surrounded by walls painted to resemble a sunset, and the room was empty except for a white cradle in the center. A lump formed in my throat, and I peered over the edge, barely daring to hope.

There, wrapped in a knit blanket, was my son.

His sobs paused, and he cracked open his eyes as if he were staring directly at me. But that was impossible—he couldn’t see me. No one could see me in my visions. I was an observer. Less than a ghost; I was nothing.

The lure of his blue eyes was irresistible, and I reached out to touch him. For a split second I imagined the warmth of his smooth skin and tiny fingers, and a smile crept onto my face.

“Hi,” I whispered. “You’re such a handsome little man.”

He stared up into the space I occupied, and I could hardly breathe. He was perfection.

“Milo.” The name left my mouth before I could think about it, but once it was out, it seemed to wrap around the baby, becoming as much a part of him as his dark hair or how much I loved him.

Yes. Milo.

An enraged cry broke the spell between us, and Milo’s sobs returned, even louder than before. I tried to touch him again, to offer whatever small measure of comfort I could if he really could sense I was there, but my hand passed through him. His screams only grew shriller.

“Calliope!”

I froze. Henry.

Torn between leaving Milo or finding Henry, I lingered near the cradle. As much as it killed me to leave the baby, I had to know where Henry was. If he was outside the nursery—if he knew about Milo and was going to save him—

Please, please, please let him know.

I dashed through the open door and into a part of the palace I’d never seen before. The walls were a rich gold, not stone like the ones inside my prison, and the indigo rug matched the silk curtains that hung every ten feet on the outside wall. The hallway stretched nearly the entire length of the palace, and Calliope stood in the middle, only a few feet away from Henry.

He’d saved me from the clutches of death on the banks of the river in Eden. He’d fought for all our lives as Calliope choked me with chains in Tartarus. He was Lord of the Underworld, King of the Dead, and one of the most powerful gods in history.

But never had I seen him look so terrible in his power. It rolled off of him in black waves, shaking the very foundation of the palace, and even though I wasn’t really there, for the first time in my life I was genuinely afraid of him.

Satisfaction mingled with that fear though, and disdain ripped through me as I approached Calliope. Henry would end her. Whatever this weapon was she claimed to have, it couldn’t possibly match up to the pure rage that surrounded him, fueling his power. Only a Titan could kill a god, and Calliope was exactly like me: immortal. Nothing more.

A blast shook the walls, and panic shot through me. Milo. Henry had no idea he was here, that Calliope stood between him and his son. He might not even know he existed. And if he brought down the entire castle—

All it would take was a single thought, and our son would die.

I dashed into the nursery, but before I could spot Milo’s face over the edge of the cradle, the sunset walls disappeared.

It took me several seconds to regain my bearings. Cronus held my arm, his hands still fire against my skin, and Ava lingered on my other side. We stood in a gold-and-indigo corridor, but it was empty.

Was it over? Had we missed it?

No, impossible. My visions were always in the present. I couldn’t go into the past or see the future. Henry and Calliope were somewhere nearby. They had to be. Above us, below—

“Kate, my dear.” Cronus’s voice cut through me like a dagger made of ice. “Are you mine?”

Never. Not in a million years, not if we were the last two beings in the universe. Not if the only other choice I had was to live out eternity buried under boulders.

But only moments stood between now and the entire castle ripping apart at the seams, and I had to save Milo. If that meant making a promise I couldn’t keep, then I would deal with the consequences later. “Give me my son, and I’m yours.”

My feet left the ground as Cronus floated us upward, leaving Ava behind. Together we passed through the ceiling as if it weren’t even there, rising into the hallway above us, and I held my breath.

We stood only a few feet behind Calliope, and beyond her, surrounded by dark power—

Henry.

He and I stared at each other across the hallway, and my knees nearly buckled with relief. At last, someone who loved me.

He took an involuntary step toward me, but even though it was the first time I’d seen him since the winter solstice, my body pulled me in the direction of Milo’s room. Only a few feet away, two doors behind Calliope, and I’d be able to hold my son. I’d have a chance at saving us all.

Cronus gripped my arm, his fingers a cuff of flesh and bone, and no amount of subtle tugging and twisting loosened them. I was as trapped as I’d been in my prison, but this time both pieces of my heart dangled in front of me, taunting me. Begging me to do something.

I was powerless.

In my mind, hours passed, but in reality it took Calliope only seconds to realize what was going on. She turned and grinned, her eyes sparkling with malice, and something slid from the loose sleeve of her gown into her hand. A dagger.

The blade glowed with the same essence that had infused the chains she’d wrapped around my neck, the same opaque power that had threaded through the rock she’d used to knock me unconscious the day she’d kidnapped me. She hadn’t been lying, after all. Somehow, even though Cronus stood beside me whole and solid, she’d managed to separate a piece of him from the rest. And now she had the power to kill every last one of us until she was free to rule the universe at Cronus’s side.

“Perfect timing,” she said, her voice as girly as ever, but regality saturated each syllable.

“Kate?” Henry’s voice broke, and the waves of dark power around him faltered. No, no, no, he couldn’t stop now. She’d attack the first chance he gave her.

I took a step back. Forget subtlety. Like hell I was letting Cronus keep me from my family. “Don’t let them follow me,” I said to Henry, and without warning, I wrenched my arm from Cronus as hard as I could, pulling against his thumb. The weakest part of his grip—if he had any weak spots at all.

Maybe I managed to take him by surprise, or maybe he was simply amused and wanted to see what I would do, but Cronus didn’t fight me. He let go, and before anyone could say a word, I tore down the hallway and into the nursery.

Milo lay in the cradle, crying softly, and I ached to finally touch him. How was it possible that minutes before, we’d been connected? How had I ever allowed my body to let him go?

“It’s all right,” I whispered, reaching for him. He calmed, and this time when his blue eyes met mine, I knew he saw me. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

The moment my fingers brushed his downy cheek, someone cleared their throat behind me, and I turned. Calliope stood framed in the doorway, and she held the dagger to Henry’s throat.

All of the air escaped my lungs. This was it. He was going to die. I was going to lose my husband, my baby, my entire family to a crazy goddess who didn’t care who she hurt, so long as she got her way. So long as she got to torture me.

“Don’t hurt him—you can’t, please,” I whispered, clutching the edge of the cradle. Henry’s eyes were open, and he stared at me—no, not at me. Beyond me. He stared at Milo. It was a small comfort, knowing that he would die with the knowledge he had a son. That at least he would have this moment.

“Please,” spat Calliope, a mockery of my desperation. “Always please, as if that’s enough. You know it isn’t, Kate. Why bother?”

It didn’t matter if nothing I ever did was enough; I had to try. I couldn’t live with myself if I surrendered and let her have everything that mattered to me. “You love him. If you kill him, you’ll never have him. You’ll lose.”

She scoffed, but a hint of doubt flashed across her face. “I’ll be the queen of the world. I’ll never lose again.”

“Being queen won’t make you happy.” I studied the way she held Henry. He could break her grip if she lowered the knife. All we needed was that split second, and I could distract her long enough for Henry to take the baby and disappear. “You’ll still be alone. You’ll still be miserable.”

Calliope’s eyes narrowed. “Whatever it is you think you’re doing, it won’t work. I don’t need him anymore.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I already have exactly what I want.” Behind her, Cronus loomed, somehow taller than he had been moments before. The power radiating from Henry was gone now. “First I’m going to kill Henry, and then I’m going to kill your mother and every single member of the council. Once I’m done, when the world kneels at my feet, I will hold your son, and he will call me mother and you a traitor. And together, we will watch you die.”

Henry roared and struggled against her, coming to life at last, but whatever chained him held strong. She pressed the blade to his throat. This wasn’t about winning anymore—she knew she had me, and I knew this was the end. Now it was about causing me as much pain as possible.

The joke was on her, though. Without Henry, without my mother, without my son, I would welcome death.

Focus. This couldn’t be it. There had to be something I could do—some magical combination of words I could say to get her to lower that dagger. Anything.

Behind me, Milo’s cries grew louder, and I groped around until I touched his hand. This was it. These were the only few moments I would have with him. Despite the dagger to Henry’s throat, I would have given anything to make them last forever.

“Then kill me,” I blurted. “Right now, in front of Henry, in front of the baby—just do it. Because I promise if you hurt either of them, I will make sure you spend eternity burning in Tartarus.”

Calliope tilted her head, and I held my breath. She had to agree. Anything to get her to lower that knife, to give Henry that split-second advantage—anything.

But before she could say a word, Cronus exhaled, and fog crept across the floor of the nursery. “No.” The word was barely a whisper, but it burrowed inside me, refusing to be ignored. “You will not harm Kate, my daughter. If she dies, so will you.”

Behind the flush of her excitement, Calliope paled. “You can either keep Kate or her spawn alive. Not both. Choose.”

“I have already told you what you will do,” said Cronus. “You will obey me, or you will be the one to die. That is your choice to make, not mine.”

Clenching her jaw, she dug the blade deeper into Henry’s skin, and he winced. Forget me. His voice echoed through my mind as clearly as if he’d spoken. Do whatever you must to escape before it’s too late.

“No,” I whispered, and Henry narrowed his eyes. He could glare at me all he wanted. I wasn’t leaving, not without him. Not without the baby.

Though she was still pale, Calliope’s lips twisted into a smirk. “How cute. You can try all you want, but she isn’t getting out of here ali—” She stopped. “What’s that?”

Cronus’s expression went blank, and I twisted around, searching for whatever it was that had caught her attention. What was what?

Calliope’s gaze unfocused, and her smirk faltered. “Father, do something,” she hissed, and at last I heard it.

The distant rumble of thunder, growing louder with each passing second.

The crack of lightning that lit up the sky beyond the indigo curtains in the hallway.

A burst of wind so strong that it howled through the corridors.

And a dozen war cries blending together, forming a fearsome harmony.

The council had arrived.

Calliope’s face went from pale to ashen, and her grip on Henry slipped. I didn’t think. In that moment, I memorized the feel of my son’s tiny hand in mine, and I let go.

As fast as I could, I hurtled toward Henry and Calliope, knocking him out of the way. Grabbing her fist, I smashed her knuckles against the wall to make her let go of the dagger. She wasn’t human though, and just like me, she couldn’t feel pain. No matter how much force I used, it was pointless.

But I had to buy Henry enough time to grab Milo and leave. Together we struggled, goddess against goddess, and I let out an enraged cry. Something inside me took over, something primal. As Calliope fought, so did I, with everything I had.

“Cronus!” shrieked Calliope, but he vanished into an eerie fog. His true form. With a dozen screaming gods surrounding the castle, no matter how powerful he was, he had no choice but to fight. He wouldn’t be any help to her now.

Calliope must have realized the same thing, because with a surge of power, she shoved me, and we toppled to the ground. She twisted my neck, and I scratched her face, attempting to gouge out her eyes, but neither of us could hurt the other.

“You bitch,” she snarled. “You conniving, useless bitch.”

“Can’t kill me.” I worked my fingers around the handle of the dagger and struggled to pull it from her grip. “I die, you die, remember?”

“Father won’t touch a hair on my head.”

“Are you willing to bet your entire existence on that?”

She screeched and wrenched the dagger from me. I had no chance against her immense strength, and I watched in horror as my grip slipped and the tip of the infused blade plunged into my arm.

White-hot pain ripped through me, burning everything in its path, infinitely worse than the brush of fog against my leg during my botched coronation ceremony nearly a year before. This was inside me, fusing together with my very being, choking it until only a few pitiful gasps remained.

I was dying. Two more seconds, and I’d be—

A black blur slammed into her. As the weight of Calliope’s body disappeared, the choke hold vanished. Agony burned inside me, leaving me breathless, and fire replaced the ice of the blade as I bled freely. What was happening?

I opened my eyes, half expecting to see wherever gods went when they died, but instead all I saw was Calliope’s maniacal grin as she lay on the floor beside me.

No, that wasn’t all. Henry hovered above her, pressed oddly against her body at an angle I didn’t understand. His eyes widened, his mouth dropped open, and his hands clutched something against his ribs.

“I win,” whispered Calliope. And as she pulled the bloody dagger from Henry’s chest, I finally understood.