Free Darklight by Jill Myles Page B

understand.
    Then, she turned to her duty, her heart heavy.
    The helmet lay on a dais at the far end of the room, surrounded by runes of power to guard it.
    She stepped forward, biting her lip. She had accepted Hades and he said she would be queen of the underworld. Would the runes of protection work against her? Hesitantly, she reached a hand for the helmet…
    And grasped cool metal. She exhaled in relief. It was hers. He’d been true to his word. He’d trusted her with everything in his kingdom.
    And she would betray him.
    With a glance back at the sleeping god, Rose put the helmet on over her head. She held a hand in front of her face and watched it slowly disappear.
    It wasn’t difficult to find the hidden garden or the flowers. She’d found a secret panel in the wall covered by a magic-enshrouded drapery, but it had ignored her presence. She was the queen, after all. The panel led to a secret garden full of lush, dark blooms. They were exactly like the one that had lured her to the underworld previously. Dark purplish-black, velvety petals and a sinful scent. Rose picked one and closed her eyes, feeling the weight of her decision upon her shoulders.
    She’d come this far. She could not go back now.
    She turned and then paused. The flowers were the essence of the underworld. Taking one would strip him of that much power, would it not?
    She was the goddess of spring, though. Her meager gifts should be good for something. With a brush of her hand over the flowers, she sent a surge of her magic through them. They shivered in response, the magic scent heavy in the air. As she watched, they shuddered and continued to grow until the flowers themselves were the size of dinner plates and she was weak with exhaustion.
    Hopefully he would see her message and understand. She’d used her powers as both augment and apology.
    Turning from the garden, she headed out of the room with one last look at Hades.
    I love you , she thought, but didn’t say it aloud. It was too late for that. She was betraying the god of the underworld in the hopes that she would be able to stay with him.
    And she crossed her fingers again as she left, carrying the requested flower out of the underworld and into the waiting hands of her fairy godmother.

Chapter Seven
    Rose clasped her hands in her lap. If she got any more nervous, she’d be twisting them or biting her nails. She glanced over at Hermes, but he remained stone-faced at her side. Chewing on her lip, she stared at the closed doors where three important players were closeted: Demeter, Zeus, and Hades.
    They’d been in there for an hour, and Demeter had screamed the entire time.
    She’d only been able to catch hints of the conversation, and all of it seemed to be coming from Demeter. She’d caught “six pomegranate seeds is not enough” and “I’ll starve this plane if you don’t give me my assistant” and “I will not be reasonable” and other things along those lines, which just made her stomach tie in knots.
    She couldn’t hear Hades at all. Either his voice was too low to be heard, or he didn’t care enough to protest like Demeter was. And her heart hurt at the thought.
    Rose hadn’t spoken to him since she’d returned to the surface, helmet and flower in hand.
    She’d delivered the flower to Muffin, who had anchored her permanently to this plane. Not to worry, Muffin had told her. The other Persephone was now going by “Stephanie” and studying law. She was quite happy to stay in the other plane.
    That just left Rose, of course. Rose, who’d made a bold decision and wasn’t sure yet if she was going to regret it.
    Hades hadn’t spoken to her when he’d entered Olympus. He’d simply glared at all, arms crossed over his chest. He’d come to retrieve what was stolen, he’d told the others.
    Rose didn’t know if he was referring to his helmet or to her.
    Demeter’s voice rose on the far side of the doors again, and for the jillionth time, Rose wished that the other