The Goddess Hunt (Goddess Test #1.5)(12)
Author: Aimee Carter

“But he did allow them to try.” I leaned in closer. “We’ll find a way to fix this, okay? I’ll do whatever I have to do, but you can’t give up. Promise me.”

As we stared at each other, his brown eyes seemed to thaw. Finally, a spark of life. “Why do you care so much? This has nothing to do with you.”

“Yes, it does.” I couldn’t even explain it to myself, but the way he was looking at me—he needed some show of kindness. Some small amount of hope that the gods weren’t all as bad as he seemed to think they were. And so, for that matter, did I. “This isn’t just your life. I mean, it is, but—it’s mine, too. And I don’t think I can be with someone who would intentionally hurt you this badly.”

“Hades,” he said, and I nodded.

“I can’t rule like that. I can’t make those decisions. I don’t have to know you to get what you’ve been through, and I just—I don’t understand why the council can’t see that.& C;t t have #8221;

He shrugged. “They see what they want to see. We all do.”

“That’s no excuse for cruelty.”

“They don’t consider it cruel.”

“Well, I do.”

Dead leaves crunched. I glanced up. Ella was moving toward us, bow in hand and a hulking dog following her. Normally I loved animals, but the damn thing was practically drooling over us, and I drew the line at animals who considered me lunch.

“What are you two whispering about?” she said, touching the dog’s jaw, and it whimpered as if it were injured. That must’ve been the one Lux had punched. I still didn’t approve of what he’d done, but at least it hadn’t gotten the chance to eat us alive.

Lux clammed up and glared at his hands. I considered silence as well, but there was still one tactic I hadn’t tried. Ella didn’t seem to have a metaphorical dog in this fight—she was doing it for Walter, not because she had any personal vendetta. Which meant there was still a chance. A small one, but I wasn’t about to give up, even if Lux already had.

“We’re talking about how Lux is going to lose Casey for good,” I said. “Surely you can imagine how that would feel.”

Ella’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. She’d nearly lost her own twin brother in Eden Manor, though her loss would have been temporary at worst given the fact that she and Theo were immortal. She’d never have to suffer through permanently losing him, even if his mortal form died. Lux wasn’t so lucky.

“Why are you doing this, Ella?” I stood, and my knees shook underneath me. I might’ve been impervious to bullets, but apparently not to nerves. “You know how much he’s hurting. What do you have to gain?”

More silence. She shifted so I could see her profile, and she stared straight ahead. I didn’t care if she was ignoring me—she could still hear me, and that was what mattered.

“You know how scared you were in Eden after Theo was injured? You almost lost him for, what, three months? Lux is going through that exact same thing, except he’ll never see Casey again. Not in three months, not in three millennia. Just imagine how you’d feel if the situation were reversed—if Theo had been born mortal, and when he died, you made a deal with Walter to share your immortality with him. But you didn’t find out until it was too late that Walter changed the terms on you, and you would never be together. What would you have done?”

More silence, but at least now she was staring at the ground. That was something.

“I bet you would’ve done the same thing—you love Theo so damn much that you would’ve broken into the Underworld and found him, and you would’ve done anything you could to keep him safe. Even if it meant defying Walter and being on the run for thousands of years. It would’ve been worth it, right? Not because you were sticking it to the council, but because you would’ve taken any risk as long as it meant you two got to be together, consequences be damned.”

Her lips parted as if she were about to say something, but instead she pressed them together and shook h Cr adiv>

“Ella?” called James. Sometime during our conversation, he’d wandered into the woods. He was back now though, with a leaf stuck behind his ear. I didn’t want to know.

Ella looked up. “What?”

“Hello to you too,” said James, eyebrow raised. “Walter wants to speak to us.”

“Then why doesn’t he come here and do it?”

“Because he doesn’t want a certain someone to overhear.”

Ella’s mouth formed a thin line, and she eyed Lux and me as if she were searching for any signs that this was a trick. My heart pounded. Of course it was a trick. It had to be—Walter would show himself if he really wanted to talk to Ella and James. And she had to know that, too.

They stared at each other as if they were having some sort of silent conversation, and after several seconds, Ella sighed. “Fine. Come, Cupcake.”

Ella followed James into the woods, and the slobbering dog trotted after them. I wrinkled my nose. Only Ella would name something with that many teeth Cupcake.

As soon as they disappeared, I flew to Lux’s side and started to unknot the glowing ropes. They held fast, and I swore.

“A little help here?” I muttered, and at last Lux came to life. He squirmed like he was trying to shimmy underneath his bonds, and when they began to saw into the trunk of the tree, my eyes widened.

“What the hell are you—”

“Can’t break the ropes,” he said. “Gotta go through the tree.”

“But you’re going to kill it!” I said. My mother would be furious.

“Shut up and watch,” he muttered, and I bristled. Fine. If he didn’t want my help, then I wouldn’t offer it.

After half a minute of sawing, however, the ropes were about a quarter of the way through the thick trunk, and at last Lux had enough room to slip from his restraints. “There,” he said, flexing his muscles. “That was the easy part.”

“If it was so easy, why couldn’t you have done it thirty minutes ago?”

He said nothing, and I sighed. Figured. Whether he was in a talkative mood or not, we had to get out of there before Ella and James returned from their powwow in the trees. Turning her back was one thing; doing nothing while we ran was another.

I grabbed his hand and led him in the opposite direction. “So how are we going to get down into the Underworld to get Casey?”