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Authors: Bree Despain

The Eternity Key

BOOK: The Eternity Key
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First published by Egmont Publishing, 2015
443 Park Avenue South, Suite 806
New York, NY 10016

Copyright © Bree Despain, 2015
All rights reserved

www.egmontusa.com
www.breedespain.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Despain, Bree, 1979- author.
The eternity key / Bree Despain.
Summary: Haden, Prince of the Underrealm, is determined to defy his fate to protect Daphne, even as they and their small group of friends continue the search for the lost Kronolithe, the key of Hades—but his undeclared love for a mortal girl is a terrible risk, and they must both decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect one another.
ISBN 978-1-60684-468-7 (ebook) — ISBN 978-1-60684-467-0 (hardcover) 1. Gods, Greek—Juvenile fiction. 2. Mythology, Greek—Juvenile fiction. 3. Princes—Juvenile fiction. 4. Fate and fatalism—Juvenile fiction. 5. Self-sacrifice—Juvenile fiction. 6. Love stories. [1. Gods—Fiction. 2. Mythology, Greek—Fiction. 3. Princes—Fiction. 4. Fate and fatalism—Fiction. 5. Love—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.D4518
813.6—dc23
[Fic]
2014038491

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

v3.1

To Michelle Sallay—

Because everyone should have a friend like you
.

Love, Bree

Contents
chapter one
HADEN

Lord Haden,
prince of the Underrealm
, has ceased to exist.

I
have ceased to exist.

Since I was a nursling, I’d been taught that life is nothing but a thin golden string. It’s spun and entwined in a grand tapestry of the gods’ design, then pulled and severed at a predetermined length. Nothing can be done to change this, nothing can be said, and no bargain can be made. Once your thread has been measured—that’s it. No choice. It’s the will of the Fates.

I’d believed this myth every second of my existence, and yet, as I’d learned all too recently, if you clawed at the design hard enough, the tapestry would unravel just enough that you could grab on to another string. Follow another path.

Since that realization, I have burned the connection between myself and my realm, ruined what little standing I had reclaimed as a Champion chosen by the Oracle of Elysium, and destroyed all hope of becoming my father’s heir. I brought this upon myself with a single decision.

And I would do it all over again.

Because this is a fate of
my
own choosing.

I am rewriting my destiny.

Something I didn’t even know was an option until I met
her
.

Daphne Raines—the girl who was supposed to grant me the chance to win back my honor. I had been Chosen for a quest to the mortal realm to convince her to come back with me to the underworld. It quickly became clear that there was something special about her. She wasn’t a mere Boon to fill the harem of the Court.

Daphne is the fated Cypher—the only one who can find and retrieve the lost Kronolithe of my long-dead god: the Key of Hades.

I knew it was up to me to ensure that the Kronolithe was found, and use it to stop the Court of the Underrealm from breaking through the walls of the Pits and freeing the Keres. There would be terrible consequences if they were to take this action: all hell would break loose on the mortal world, spilling out from the schism created between the realms, and war with the Skylords would inevitably follow, not to mention the death toll and havoc the Keres would leave in their wake.

With the fate of the five realms hanging in the balance, I’d chosen to leave the safe haven we’d found in Ellis Fields in order to return to Olympus Hills to search for the Key.

Much to my surprise—and admittedly distress—Daphne and the others had chosen to go with me. “Even if you find it,” she’d said, “you can’t
get
the Kronolithe without me, so suck it.” I’d known she was right, even though I had wanted her to be wrong. Because of our choices, our new destinies were now irrevocably entwined. If the realms can be saved, salvation will happen only if we do it united.

And so we’d escaped into the dark, together.…

Rain pounds on the hood of my car now as I sit outside Daphne’s home in Olympus Hills. I realize I am gripping my steering
wheel tight, as if I were once again silently maneuvering the Tesla Model X down an unlit canyon road in a torrential rainstorm without headlights. It had been a slow, tense, and quiet escape during the darkness of midnight. No one said a word for almost an hour, as if even a whisper might alert the Skylords of our presence or break my concentration on the wet, black road in front of us.

In our favor, Underlords see far better in the dark than Skylords do, and the Tesla, with its silent electric motor, had provided us the stealth we needed to make our exit. The Skylords, who can control rain as well as lightning and thunder, had intended the storm to prevent us from escaping, but instead it had provided the cover we needed to pass through the unlit canyon unseen. However, the mere memory of that storm is enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck. I had never been so terrified in all my life—not even when facing the imminent destruction of my soul at my father’s hands. Because, this time, the lives of Daphne, Joe, Tobin, Lexie, Garrick, and Dax—the only people left in all the realms who still believed in me—were in
my
hands as we crept along the cliffside road.

It may have been two weeks since that harrowing experience, but sitting in the rain now not only served as an unwelcome reminder of that long drive, but it also felt like a warning as to what is still to come.

I will one of my hands to release its death grip on the steering wheel and use it to take a swig from the coffee cup that’s been my only company tonight. I gag, almost choking on the cold swill. I don’t know how Simon could have loved this stuff. I take another sip, not because I want to taste it again, but because I need to stay awake. I’ve barely slept a scant few hours in the days since our
return from Ellis. I may require less sleep than a human, but even I have my limits.

As if Dax can read my thoughts—which I am not entirely sure he
can’t
sometimes—my phone lights up with a text from him.

Dax:
You’re there again, aren’t you? Come home.

I stare at the screen, not sure I am going to reply, when another message comes through.

Dax:
You’ve barely slept in weeks. You can’t keep up this pace of looking for the Key all day and guarding Daphne’s house all night.

I pry my other hand from the steering wheel to answer.

Me:
I’m not at Daphne’s. I am merely getting a bite to eat.

Typing it feels easier than saying it to his face. I’ve never been good at lying to Dax. I drop my phone in an empty compartment in the dash, hoping that will be the last of the conversation, and pinch my nose between my eyes. Sleep pulls at me, but I won’t let my eyelids shut.

BOOK: The Eternity Key
13.41Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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