Soul Cursed, page 2
“I wish I could help you with your parents’ plight,” Hades said quietly. “But I do not have your mother’s powers, boy. Nor do I know where they are.”
Tamuel took a few long, deep breaths, finally managing to push the pain aside as he’d been taught to do – at least enough for him to say steadily, “I know. But that witch-bitch Clodia does. And I know she’s here. I know that you and Zeus tracked her down in the Void and imprisoned her in Tartarus for her hubris in stealing my mother’s Goddess-given powers.”
“I shoved her in a cell myself and set her punishment. But the power you say she stole is no longer in her.”
He’d heard that too. “I want to ask her what happened to it,” he said as Persephone began to shepherd him towards the couch.
“Given the fact she didn’t tell me, no matter how much I tortured her, what makes you think she will tell you?”
“Because I have this.” He pulled on the chain that hung around his neck, lifting it until the HeartsBlood Gem popped out from his shirt to swing in front of him. “Clodia tied her soul to this. With the right spell, I can compel her to answer my questions using the power the gem has over her.”
Persephone lowered him to the couch. “This is the reason you decided to use that spell?”
“The only way to bring it here was if I was in corporeal form. It’s the only thing that will get Clodia to talk. But ... It won’t work for me. I was hoping to speak to Varagustus first – the spell was supposed to take me to his cell.”
“Varagustus?” Persephone shared another look with Hades. “Why Varagustus?”
“His knowledge of magical gems is greater than any before or after him. But I think he held a lot of knowledge back from his writings. I’m certain he will know what I need to do to use the gem.”
Persephone looked up at her husband. “Hades ...”
“No good will come of it.”
“It’s what we’ve been waiting for,” Persephone said, her hand on Hades’ arm as she looked up into his eyes. “She’s only gotten worse. She’s not been anywhere for centuries. I had no idea when I agreed ...”
“Don’t blame yourself for that, my blooming rose.”
Persephone shook her head. “What matters blame if she’s intrigued enough by this? Especially with the HeartsBlood Gem in play. What if this is the true reason my mother sent him down here? She has always felt guilty about what happened. About the choices we all made. Please, honey-bee.”
“But you know how our guest feels. I wouldn’t want to force her, my spring’s delight.”
“It isn’t your choice, bunny-wunny.”
“Her who?” Tamuel asked.
They didn’t answer, just had a staring match.
Finally, Hades threw his hands up, sighing gustily as he turned back to Tamuel. “Fine. Say I do agree to you travelling to Tartarus—”
“You will,” Persephone said, beaming at him. He glared at her but she waved her hand at him as she took a seat next to Tamuel. “If for no other reason than you and your siblings do not wish that power to stay wherever it is. It unbalances things. It should be with the witch it was intended for – Tamuel’s mother.”
“So, you’ll help me?” He couldn’t believe his luck in this turnaround. He had no idea giving up Demeter would lead to this – he’d deal with her anger later. Right now, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not even what could be a Trojan one.
Hades nodded begrudgingly. “I will. But there are three issues. The first being, I will not let you anywhere in my kingdom with that spell etched on your arm for anyone to see. Persephone can heal your wrist, but that sigil will not be left intact. You will need to remember it, only carving its mirror into your other wrist just before you wish to travel back.”
Tamuel swallowed hard. “Not a problem.” He hoped. He just needed a moment to sit down and go into his memory vault and retrieve it.
Hades nodded. “The second is the matter of the ticking clock. If you don’t mirror that spell work and get back through the portal by the time the clock strikes twelve in the Earthly Realm on All Hallows’ Eve, your soul will be cursed to stay trapped down here forever.”
He opened his mouth to say it wouldn’t be a problem, but Persephone raised her hand, her voice echoing strangely as she said, “The veil is thinning and time is constantly changing. This year more than any others. The current alignment of the stars heralds dark portents that place a shadow over all the Realms.” She blinked and swallowed hard. “It is not a good time to travel through the Underworld, especially for a corporeal being.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. Not that it mattered – it was now or never. “Lucky I’m wearing this then.” He gestured to the chronometer. If it worked as it should, it would tell him how the time shifted and warn him of changes in relation to the Earthly Realm – no matter what the stars heralded with their eerie portents. “I should be out of here well in time, even if the weeks I currently have turn to days. As long as I can have a Hells-Key?”
Hades’ brow lowered. Persephone coughed. They glared at each other, making Tamuel wish he could read minds because he was certain there was quite the conversation going on.
Finally, Hades rolled his eyes. “I will give you a Hells-Key to move around the Underworld with more ease. But there is one last sticking point, one I have no say over.”
“And what is that?”
“Varagustus didn’t write those treatises on gems. The woman who did is not one of my prisoners.”
“What? But if I can’t find out how to use the gem, then my trip here is pointless.”
Hades raised his hand. “She is not a prisoner. She is a valued member of my household. And she has refused to see anyone for centuries – aside from us, the servants and those she wants to interview of course.”
“I will do whatever it takes to make her agree to help me.”
“She may want the HeartsBlood Gem in payment,” Persephone said.
He glanced down at the gem hanging around his neck. It wasn’t his to give but … “Fine. I cannot go home empty-handed.”
Hades and Persephone shared a look again before she said, “Then I will take you to her. But first, I will heal your arm – Korinna doesn’t like the sight of blood.”
“Korinna?” His mouth dried. “You don’t mean Korinna Soteira?”
“The very one.” Persephone shot him a brief, sad smile as she began the healing.
Korinna Soteira. The name rang in his head, his thoughts too lost to the past to truly feel the pain of the healing as it burned through his skin and bones.
Korinna had not only broken his heart but had crushed it under her dainty foot almost two thousand years ago. The rejection had left him bleeding and wishing for death.
But none of that mattered now. All that mattered was his vow. “Take me to her. I’m sure she will speak to me.”
She owed him that at least.
Chapter
Two
Korinna stared at the screen before her, the words hazing. She pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. Tired. She was just tired. If her Aunty Seph was here rather than on earth celebrating spring with her mother and sisters, she’d insist that she eat and rest.
But how could she when she still hadn’t saved those who had been under her care – even if the only way to save them now was to find their lost souls and send them to Elysium?
All those people. Their screams. Their cries for help as the volcano dust choked them, encasing them where they stood, still rang in her mind. Men, women, children. The entire beautiful city of Pompeii. All dead.
Her fault. All her fault.
If anyone needed to pay for their sins, it was her.
She only wished Seph would stop trying to make her feel better. How was a person supposed to get over something like that? Hades was far more understanding of the need driving her. She couldn’t feel better. Wouldn’t feel better. She deserved to live in darkness for eternity.
Countless centuries of research and study and she’d come up with nothing ... until now.
The Eleusinian Mysteries. She was certain the key she needed was held in the ancient grimoire. It was thought destroyed, but she knew differently. The last lost soul she’d interviewed in their Underworld cell had told her what Demeter had done. Now she just had to figure out some way of asking Demeter to give the grimoire to her without Seph or Hades finding out. Not so easy when Demeter never came down here, hating Hades as she did. And it wasn’t like she could go to Demeter – she was bound to this place by her vow; an unfortunate wording issue making her unable to travel. And of course, she couldn’t use her magic to help send a message. And she couldn’t send a message via one of the other Soteira – they might be her friends and sisters, but their loyalties lay with Seph.
She rubbed her eyes again. The problem was, she wasn’t devious enough. A dreadful fault for someone who lived among the Gods, whose deviousness was legend. The only time in her life that she’d ever got away with anything was with Tam—
She brutally cut the thought off before it could truly form and concentrated on the screen in front of her again.
She didn’t need him or anyone else to help her figure out how to do this. Seph was forever saying Korinna was one of the smartest people she’d ever known. Those smarts had led her to discovering how to save the souls she’d sent spiralling into the Void and convey them to Elysium where they would live in peace and happiness forever more; to knowledge of the spell that would allow her to do it.
All that was standing between her and it was her ability to contact Demeter and get the Goddess to give her the grimoire without tipping off Hades or Seph. They’d destroy the ancient book of spells before she could use it if they so much as got whisper of its existence. She couldn’t allow that to happen.
She rubbed her temples, eyes closed, but nothing came to her.
Perhaps she should take a walk, clear her head.
She stood, made it half-way across the room before dizziness hit. The room swayed around her. She staggered to the couch Seph had placed in front of the fireplace when she’d last decorated Korinna’s room and fell into it. How long had she been staring at the computer screen?
Her stomach chose that moment to growl.
Oh. When was the last time she’d eaten?
She couldn’t remember. Food was brought for her and placed at her elbow every day, morning, noon and night, but if she was deep in her work, she often forgot it was there. They would take away her untouched tray and replace it with another, so it was impossible to tell when she’d last eaten by looking at the tray currently on her desk – a plate of her favourite lasagne, now cold, the cheese congealed on top with no obvious signs she’d touched it.
Way too long, going by how dizzy and weak she was. Damn it. How stupid could she be? It would do no one any good if she passed out. She sniffed, catching a whiff of herself for the first time. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d showered and changed either. She raked her hand through her hair, fingers getting caught in the knots she’d ignored when she’d piled the mass of greasy curls on top of her head this morning. Or was it yesterday morning?
Damn it. Hades would give her a lecture if he found her in this condition. And then tell Seph. And Seph would worry.
She wasn’t sure why he hadn’t come in already. He wasn’t as much of a worry-wart as Aunty Seph – only checking on her a few times a week – but he would normally have been in by now. She glanced at the large chronometer – her own design – on her wall. Its hands showed her the shifting of time due to the thinning of the veil. All Hallows’ Eve. Of course.
Seph’s Halloween party. It explained why he’d been such a grump the last time he’d come in to check on her. She’d thought it was because it was the time of year designated for Seph to be in the Upper Realms. Hades was always a grump for the months – years down here – that his wife was away from him thanks to the bargain between him and his mother-in-law that Seph would be with her in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Springs. It was why Seph had always made such a thing out of celebrating Halloween – it allowed them to see each other in this time of separation with the veil thinning as it did. Although Hades had never liked having to dress up in whatever couples-inspired outfit Seph decided upon in any given year.
Thank the Gods Seph had given up requesting Korinna’s presence at those events many centuries ago. It was one guilt trip she certainly hadn’t needed.
So, shower or food first? The room still swayed around her when she stood, giving her the answer. She pushed away from the couch, heading to her desk and the cold lasagne. Dizziness surged. She staggered, tripped over the rug, hurtling across the floor, arms wheeling.
“Rinna,” a voice called out. Then hands caught her, steadying her. She looked up into achingly familiar indigo eyes.
“Tam.”
He smiled at her. Actually smiled at her. “I’m here. Are you okay?”
She tore herself from his grasp, all signs of dizziness gone as fury overwhelmed her. With a growl, she punched him square in the mouth.
Tamuel staggered back, touched his bleeding lip, eyes wide. “What the Hella, Rinna? What was that for?”
“As if you don’t know.”
“I don’t.”
She hit him again.
The look on his face was comical as he staggered again. She would have laughed except she was too mad.
Mad? No, that didn’t express what she was. She was furious. Betrayed. Hurt.
He’d promised to stay by her side and help her with her first assignment – to keep Vesuvius asleep and ensure the people of Pompeii remained safe. He had known how nervous she’d been; how much she’d doubted her ability to take on her dead mother’s post and do it justice.
Then he’d left without a word the day before she was due to leave.
After all they’d shared, he’d treated her as if she was nothing.
And she’d never forgiven him.
She’d spent months looking for him, waiting to hear something, anything, every day of silence increasing her anger, her despair, her hurt. Enough that she missed the signs a true Guardian wouldn’t have missed. Enough that she had acted erroneously and made everything so much worse.
His fault for leaving. His fault for not being there to help her see what she missed. And worse, his fault for not being there in the weeks and months after to help her, with the balancing warmth of his powers and his friendship, to help her cope with what had happened. She’d failed as Guardian of Pompeii. She’d needed her best friend, had cried out for him. After promising her he would always come when she needed him, there had only been silence and grief and an endless loneliness that had never abated.
If not for him – for his lies, for his leaving, for all his betrayals – she would never have tried the impossible; would never have been forced into making a vow that, one way or another, would bring her death.
She’d long wanted to make him pay, but he was beyond her reach, in Eros’ service. Sharing his love around like a typical cupid no doubt – why she’d ever thought he’d be any different she didn’t know. Their friendship – it had all been in her head. He’d obviously never felt the same, no matter that he’d made her think he did, because he’d left without a word, hadn’t replied to any of her letters, had ignored her entirely. Everything they’d shared was a lie.
She punched him again, not caring how much her knuckles hurt now.
“Oh dear,” Hades drawled as he caught Tamuel and set him back on his feet. “I don’t think she’s going to help you like you thought she would.”
“Korinna dear. Are you okay?”
Hades had a shit-eating grin on his face, Seph a frown of concern on hers. “I’m fine,” she snapped, wanting them all to just go away and take the betraying arsehole with them.
“Is she okay?” Tam asked, touching his split lip. “What about me? I’m the one whose been sucker-punched for no good reason.”
She glared at him. “No good reason?” She lifted her fist, ignoring the throb in her knuckles – it had been a long time since she’d sparred and her body wasn’t used to the pain.
He raised his hand in self-defence. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry.”
“Whatever you did? Whatever you did!” Hells, she sounded like a shrieking banshee. Nobody had ever made her lose her cool like he could. How was it that he could still do it all these centuries later? “You left. Without a word. After you promised to stay. When you knew I needed you the most!”
“Hang on. That wasn’t my fault. Eros just came and took me. Besides, you never really needed me. I got that message loud and clear when you ignored the letters I sent to you. I might not have been able to come with you like I promised, but you were the one who abandoned our friendship.”
She jerked. “I never abandoned ... I never got any …” She snapped her mouth closed, blew out a loud breath then, pointing her finger at him, said, “Don’t turn this around on me. I never got any letters from you, liar. And you ignored my letters!”
“What?” He looked insulted – and hurt. “But that’s not possible. I wrote every day, then when you didn’t reply, once a week. I thought maybe you were just busy with your duties. I begged Eros to let me go to you – but it took months of bargaining every privilege I had to make him agree. As soon as he did, I went looking for you but Pompeii was gone. I went to the training camp but you weren’t there and nobody would tell me what had happened or where you had gone. It was like you’d disappeared off the face of the earth. I thought maybe you’d died.” He glanced around him, his face paling. “You’re not dead, are you?”
She snorted, not believing a word of what he’d just said. “No. Did my fist in your face feel incorporeal to you?”
He rubbed his chin. “Then why are you here? How are you here?”
“I’m a Soteira. Hades allows us to reside here with Persephone as her handmaidens.”
“Right. But that doesn’t answer why I couldn’t find you or why you abandoned your post.”
