The Goddess Inheritance (Goddess Test #3)(45)
Author: Aimee Carter

A flash of white light blinded me, and darkness that crackled with power engulfed us.

“Calliope,” boomed an all-too-familiar voice. “Put the weapon down and give me my son.”

Henry.

It shouldn’t have been possible for me to be any more afraid than I already was, but now, seeing Henry float down the hallway with that black cloud around him, a choke hold of terror grabbed on to me and refused to let go.

I was going to lose both of them.

This time Calliope didn’t try to hide her shock. Her mouth dropped open, but she also lowered the dagger. “Henry,” she said. “What an unexpected surprise. And here Father was telling me you were dead.”

She glared at Cronus, and his arms tightened around me until he was a millimeter away from crushing my bones into dust.

“You lied to me,” he whispered in my ear, and his malevolence thrummed in the air around us. “After everything I did for you, this is how you repay me. With deceit and mockery.”

I gulped. No more secrets now. The cards were on the table, and now all we could do was play.

“Give me my son,” repeated Henry. He was less than a foot away from me now, but he didn’t spare me a glance.

“And what do I get in this deal?” said Calliope, eyeing him hungrily.

“Me,” said Henry quietly. “Give me my son, swear on the River Styx that you will never harm him or allow harm to come to him in any way, shape or form, and you will have me.”

“Henry, no,” I gasped, and Cronus clamped his hand over my mouth. No, no, no. Henry was supposed to stay with Milo and keep him safe. I couldn’t, not the way he could. It had to be me. I had to be the one to stay. I tried to protest, whimpering and screaming and flailing against Cronus, but Henry ignored me completely.

“That will fulfill the terms of our bargain,” said Cronus, and I stopped cold. “The baby will be raised by his family, as Kate has demanded, and I will have her.”

No, that was not our deal. Not even close. Milo was supposed to be safe in Olympus with Henry and my mother and James, not down here with Calliope and Cronus. I couldn’t speak though, and no one was paying attention to me. Henry nodded once, and in that second, my heart shattered.

“Very well,” said Calliope, but despite the fact that she was getting everything she’d ever wanted, there was an edge in her voice, a hardness I didn’t understand. She should’ve been celebrating. I was broken. I had nothing, and she had it all now. “I swear on the River Styx that I will not harm this baby, nor allow harm to come to him, so long as you stay with me.”

“So be it.” There was soft thunder in Henry’s voice, and my vision blurred. There had to be a way out of this—this couldn’t be what Henry had intended. He wouldn’t leave me like that.

But hadn’t I been willing to leave him?

“Perfect,” said Calliope, and without tearing her eyes from Henry, she said to Ava, “Do it.”

“But—” said Ava, her earlier courage failing.

“Do it.”

Do what?

It didn’t take long for me to get an answer. The magenta aura around Ava grew until it touched Henry, and like lightning, it hit Calliope. Instead of crying out, however, her smug smile only expanded.

“There,” said Ava, her voice trembling. “Now let Kate and the baby go.”

“You heard Father,” said Calliope. “The baby stays with Henry. But if you insist, I will give him a choice. Henry, darling.” She stepped toward him, and my heart pounded. “Who do you want to stay with? Me or Kate?”

Was this some kind of joke? Of course Henry wanted to stay with me, especially when we could all be a family. Henry stepped closer to Calliope though, and my eyes widened. He set his hand on her cheek in the familiar way he always touched me, and then—

His eyes fluttered shut, and he leaned down to kiss her.

What had Ava done?

Stupid question. I knew exactly what she’d done. And no matter what her reasons were, no matter what Calliope was holding over her head, no matter how many times she cradled my crying son, I would never, ever forgive her for making Henry fall in love with Calliope.

Cronus moved backward, taking me with him. Panic seized me, leaving no room for rationality, and I clawed at his hands, desperate for him to let go. I couldn’t leave, not now. Not when my husband thought he was in love with someone else.

Pulling away from Henry, Calliope eyed me with distaste. “No, do not leave yet,” she said in a regal voice that would have had Cronus smiting her two minutes earlier.

“And why is that?” said Cronus.

Calliope smiled sweetly. “Because I’m not finished with her yet.”

With no hand to guide it, the dagger rose in the air between us until it lined up with my throat. And in a blur of silver and steel, it flew straight toward me.

Chapter 13

Wicked Games

I didn’t have time to think or breathe or worry about whether or not Milo would remember this moment. All I did was close my eyes. Time was supposed to slow down in the seconds before death—and I would really die now, with no Underworld to catch me and no Henry to save me—but nothing changed.

This was it.

A great crunch of metal against metal echoed throughout the palace, and for one horrible second I thought Henry or even James had been stupid enough to jump in front of it. My eyes flew open, but they both stood several feet away on either side of the door.

And floating in front of me, half an inch from my neck, was the dagger.

“I believe in the midst of forcing the Lord of the Underworld into your alliance, you have forgotten one important fact,” said Cronus in a deadly voice that seemed to be everywhere at once. “Your fate is tied to Kate’s. If she dies, so do you. Surely you are not ready to fade, my dear daughter.”

Calliope’s arms trembled so badly I feared she’d drop Milo. Henry gently took him from her, and for a moment I was sure she’d fight. He could disappear as soon as he touched the baby; all it would take was a blink, and Henry would be gone, safe back in Olympus with our son. But she willingly let him go.

I held my breath, waiting for Henry to leave. He stayed put though, a strange smile on his face as he gazed down at Milo. My heart sank. She had Henry now. She really, truly had him.

But the way he looked at the baby, the way his shoulders relaxed as he held him—Henry loved Milo. Ava hadn’t taken that away from him, which meant a small piece of him, no matter how buried, still loved me, too.