Hades (The God Chronicles #3) (9 page)

I didn’t know when I finally succumbed to the
begging of my body. I thought I had blinked, wrapped in the only
sheet remaining on the bed, but when I opened my eyes once again
there was a tray of food on the dresser and it seemed the light had
become more like that of the sun instead of candles.

I sat up slowly, pulling the covers around me
tighter as I tried to gather my mind quickly, thrown off by my
restless sleep. There was a soft sound coming from the closet, like
that of humming. Scared of what or who might have entered during my
unconsciousness, I gingerly slid from the bed, trying to remain as
silent as possible. When the girl who’d helped me bathe the night
before appeared in the doorway, fresh dress in hand, I about jumped
out of my skin.

“Highness!” she squeaked in surprise, dropping
the gown to the floor.

Her face turned dark red as she stumbled for
words, horror in her eyes as she scurried to pick up what she’d
lost.

“I-I,” she stuttered, tears brimming and
catching on her eye lashes. “I didn’t mean—”

She balled the dress up in her arms, backing
towards the door to the room as if she intended to flee. In her
distress, she didn’t look where she was stepping, causing her to
trip over the dresser drawer and fall into some of the broken glass
I’d noted the night before.

“Whoa!” I said, all fear leaving me as I
hurried to help her up. “Are you okay?”

I pulled the fabric from her arms, grabbing her
hands and helping her to sit up. She said nothing, looking at me
with wide eyes, fear still present in them as I assessed the cuts
she’d received.

“You should have dropped the dress and caught
yourself,” I scolded her, carefully picking a few tiny shards from
her flesh.

There was still no answer from her.

Blood trickled down one of her arms and I
reached for the fabric I’d tossed aside, ripping it easily and
wrapping the silky strip of garment around her wound.

“Are you okay?” I asked again, looking her in
the eye this time.

She nodded quickly, averting her gaze as soon
as I’d caught it.

“I apologize, Highness,” she said shakily. “I
didn’t mean to wake you. I intended on cleaning your room before
you woke as well.”

“I usually sleep in later?” I asked her,
frustrated that she wouldn’t look at me.

Again, she nodded quickly, obvious skittishness
in her behaviors.

“You didn’t wake me up,” I stated, standing and
helping her to her feet. “And I thought Hades wanted me to clean
this up.”

She stood there awkwardly, staring at the
floor, one hand on the makeshift bandage I’d created for her. It
suddenly occurred to me that I was acting in a very un-Persephone
like manner.

That made me furious.

“Look at me,” I ordered.

She quickly obeyed, wiping away a tear that had
fallen onto her cheek as if it had burned her.

“I don’t care how I’ve acted before,” I fumed.
“You are a person and deserve to be treated as such. I apologize
for any harsh treatment or wrong doing I’ve inflicted on
you.”

Her mouth popped open in surprise, my statement
obviously unexpected.

“I made this mess,” I continued, gesturing to
the room. “I will clean it up. As for breakfast and dressing . .
.”

I looked over at the tray, a heaviness lifting
from me as I discovered I didn’t have to eat every meal with the
Lord of the Dead. I could handle that easily.

“Please keep bringing me my breakfast,” I
chuckled. “And I imagine I can’t get into some of those dresses
alone, so please keep coming to help with that as well. I will be
waking much earlier than before from now on. You don’t need to
worry about waking me up. If I’m still asleep when you get here, I
should wake shortly.”

When I was finished talking she gave me a short
little curtsy and hurried for the door. Before she made it through,
though, I thought of one more thing.

“Wait,” I called.

She turned, still obviously shaken by what had
happened or by what I’d said, I didn’t know.

“What’s your name?” I inquired.

“C-Cassandra,” she stuttered.

“Cassandra,” I repeated with a smile. “Thank
you. Make sure you take care of that cut.”

She nodded again, her eyes wide, and then
exited the room, the door clicking shut softly behind
her.

A deep breath escaped me as I turned to look
around the room again. Acting like myself had been so reliving
after trying to figure out what the heck I was supposed to be doing
the night before. If only it could be like that all the
time.

I caught sight of my foreign reflection in one
of the closet mirrors and smiled to myself. Maybe it could be like
that all the time . . .

The idea took root in my brain and grew like
wild fire, my grin growing wider and wider as I thought it over.
Before I could see if it would work, though, I had chores that
needed to be done. Thankfully, that was something I was used to as
well.

Somewhat hopeful, I went into the closet to
look for pants, not relishing the idea of being stuck in a dress
all the time. Unfortunately, there weren’t any to be found. Biting
my lip in displeasure, I pulled a shorter, lighter dress off one of
the hangers and proceeded to change out of my night clothes.
Thankfully, it appeared that there were still some things I could
get on by myself. Persephone obviously had expensive taste. Or
Hades bought her clothes she couldn’t put on alone just to spite
her.

After I finished changing, I grabbed the broom
and dust pan Cassandra had left in the corner and went to work on
cleaning up the mess in the bedroom, the disaster in the closet
having disappeared already. It didn’t take very long, the glass
being the majority of the work, and before I knew it I’d made the
bed and was examining the broken dresser drawer. If I had a hammer
and a few nails I could probably fix it.

Making a mental note to ask for those things
the next time I saw someone, I set the cracked pieces next to the
dresser where I wouldn’t forget about them. Satisfied I’d cleaned
everything up nicely, I decided to go through the other drawers.
Much to my glee, there was what appeared to be a pair of board
shorts in one of them, along with several pieces of swim ware. I
quickly slid the pants on under my dress, a sigh of relief and
comfort escaping me as I finally felt covered up again.

For a moment, I paused to wonder what had
happened to my clothes. They had been masked to look like a
queen’s, but what happened once I took them off and they weren’t
under the ring’s protection anymore? They hadn’t changed
immediately once I removed them in the bathroom. Perhaps they were
still hidden?

I made another note to snoop around and see if
I could find some answers about that and went back into the closet,
remembering the vanity that took up the whole back wall. There were
all sorts of beauty and hair care products spread across it, making
it look more like a rack at a store than something I would actually
use. All I needed was a brush and hair tie, though.

Sitting down on the fancy, poufy stool, I
quickly combed through the dark locks that framed my disguised face
and pulled them back into a high ponytail. A quick perusal of the
drawers next to me revealed more makeup than I could possibly hope
to learn to apply. Personally, I wasn’t one to wear a whole lot of
stuff on my face, but I figured Persephone probably was. Even if I
had a plan to try and change things up, it was probably wise to
keep up some appearances.

A few minutes more passed and I looked at
myself in the mirror, satisfied with the way I looked. There was
nothing else for me to do here except eat, which I’d almost
completely forgotten about, despite the delicious smell wafting in
and beckoning to me.

I headed back out into the room, eying the tray
that sat waiting for me. It looked like I’d been brought a pretty
traditional breakfast of oatmeal, fresh fruit, and juice. Oddly
enough, I missed seeing the bacon that Daddy always made with our
breakfast. It seemed like everything made for Persephone was on the
healthy side, which was great, it was just a little different from
what I was used to.

Since there was no table to eat at, I took the
tray over to the bed and sat down on the edge, content to eat from
my lap. I took my time, enjoying it thoroughly as some of the fruit
were kinds I’d never had before. Also, unlike dinner the night
before, there was just the right amount of food and I happily
finished it all without feeling the guilt of having to throw so
much away.

Finally, satisfied that I’d taken care of
everything I needed to in my room, I walked right out of the door
and into the hall before the bravery I was feeling could wear off.
It was one thing to be myself in my room, where no one could see
me. It was completely different to go out and wander around the
castle looking for someone who could destroy me with one
movement.

I held my head high as I walked down the hall
and descended the stairs I’d been lead up the night before. It was
supremely daunting, thinking about how I was going to learn where
everything was without someone getting suspicious of me, but I
pushed that thought from my mind.

I wandered around for a while, discovering some
more hallways and empty rooms, before I finally ran into
someone.

“Excuse me?” I called to the man who
immediately turned around and started all but running for the
nearest door when he saw me.

At the sound of my voice, he froze and turned
to face me again, his eyes on the ground as he bowed
slightly.

“Highness?”

There was nervousness in his voice, much like
Cassandra’s. Annoyance at the way Persephone must have treated
everyone bit at me again.

“Where is Hades, uh, I mean, my
husband?”

“In the War Room, Highness,” he said, eyes
still boring into the floor just in front of his feet.

“Right,” I said. “And where is
that?”

“Down the stairs at the end of the hall, the
room at the very end of the corridor there.”

“Awesome.”

I walked towards him and saw him visibly flinch
as I passed by. It didn’t feel right to have someone be so afraid
of me.

Bending down once I reached him, I lowered
myself until I could look into his eyes. As soon as I caught his
glance, I smiled the warmest, most encouraging, and kind smile I
could.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely.

He remained silent, shock in his glance before
he looked away to the ground again.

With a sigh, I straightened and moved in the
direction he’d said, wondering how many other people were going to
cower in front of me today.

Since the distance I needed to travel was so
short, I soon found myself in front of a pair of huge doors,
located at the end of what felt more like a great hall than a
corridor. They were ornately decorated, metal twisted and shaped to
tell the story of some battle. If the picture was anything like the
real thing, I didn’t want to be anywhere near gods when they
disagreed.

It took another couple of deep breaths before I
felt ready to be in Hades’s presence again. All I had to do was
remember I had a plan and hopefully everything would work
out.

Hopefully.

On one more breath, I grabbed the handles on
both doors and pushed them open, entering into the room as bravely
and quickly as I could manage.

Chapter Nine

I didn’t know exactly what I’d been expecting
to see, but the huge room I entered into was not it. It was big
enough to host hundreds of people it seemed, the same dark theme as
the rest of the castle following through it. Unlike everywhere else
I’d been though, there were bright red tapestries hanging every few
feet, a black flame and helmet embroidered onto the center of each.
Between each of them was an impressive display of weapons, almost
like a museum of items used in wartime through the ages of all
existence. Some of them I recognized, others obviously being from
this world I’d just discovered. Above, magnificent chandeliers with
bright candles burned, lighting the room so efficiently that it was
as if the sun itself shone down on us. A large round table sat in
the middle, barely blocking the fireplace I could see on the far
wall. Along with the furnace, the space also hosted what appeared
to be several screens, reminding me of the back wall of an
electronics department in a superstore. Some of them were blank,
their blackness melting into the rest of the room, while others
were lit up with images and lists that didn’t make sense to
me.

Hades stood next to the blaze, staring at me
quizzically, his lips pursed in a way that made him look
annoyed.

“Persephone?” he said tightly, the question of
what I was doing there hanging in the air.

With a start, I suddenly realized that there
were several guards sitting around the large table, their eyes on
me as well. Apparently, I’d interrupted some big meeting.
Butterflies filled my stomach and I swallowed hard, holding on to
my courage tightly.