Hades and Persephone: Crown of Souls (Gods of Myth #3)

Chapter 12

Chapter

Twelve

P ersephone

Instead of finding Hades in the bedroom waiting, I’m startled to find Maya. She looks giddy with excitement, but like she’s doing her very best to contain it. Even still, she fails. More, her excitement feels infectious.

I smile back at her, and she lets a little gasp of what can only be described as glee free.

“Persephone.” She flutters closer. “You look—” Her eyes move over every inch of me, and I don’t miss the way they glisten as they once again land on mine. “You look home.”

It’s not what I expected. Not at all. But at the words, something warm builds in my chest.

Unable to help myself, a little laugh precedes my honest, “I feel home.”

Her hands clasp together, and she gives a delighted little bounce on the balls of her feet. “Come, come. Hades is waiting.”

“Waiting where?”

“With Alastor, I presume.” She grabs my hand, tugging me along like I’ve seen the best of friends in high school tug each other along. I’ve never experienced this for myself, being the outsider I was.

It feels nice .

“Who is Alastor?”

“His horse,” Maya tells me. “He has four of them. All black and beautiful, but Alastor is his—” She frowns, like she doesn’t want to call the horse Hades’ favorite. “Well, his number one.”

“I’ve never ridden a horse.”

Her brows rise as her eyes grow wide. “Really?”

“Really.”

“But—” A frown puckers her brow. “Don’t your parents have a farm?”

“They do. Dad’s a wheat farmer, but he’s got tractors for all the hard work. He calls horses expensive crow bait.” I shrug. “So, we never had any.”

Maya’s expression pinches. I almost laugh. She’s very expressive.

“Horses aren’t crow bait.”

Sensing that I’ve offended her, I give another shrug. This one is helpless. “I really wouldn’t know.”

“Well, you’re about to find out. They’re very purposeful. But more, they are loyal and majestic beasts.”

I can’t hide my smile. Her passion is catching. “I’m excited to meet Alastor.”

She peers at me. The lines in her face smooth to offer a gentle kind of affection. It stirs the storm of feeling once again inside my heart. That storm only grows when she says quietly, “Aethon was your favorite—before.”

“Aethon?”

“Another one of Hades’ horses. It means,”

“Bright. Shining. Blazing .”

Surprise snaps her eyes wide. “You remember?”

“I—” I blush, a little stupefied. “I’m not sure where that came from.”

She stops walking to study me in a way that is borderline too much. I suddenly want to hide, to shed my skin. I feel overexposed. “You were very bonded to Aethon. Perhaps your soul simply remembers the bond.”

She begins to walk again, her hand tugging at mine. But I’m struck by the sudden realization that this woman knew me before .

“Maya,” I call, tugging on the hand she holds. When she looks at me again, I ask the question that suddenly burns to break free. “Did you know me—before, I mean?”

Something shutters in her face. “I did. But I’ve been instructed to let you remember in your own time. I can tell you nothing, and for that I am deeply sorry.”

“Will you—” I press. “Will you tell me if we were friends at least?”

Something mists in her eyes. She gives a tiny sniff, straightens her shoulders and nods. “We were very close. I’ve kept every secret you ever entrusted to me snugly locked away in here.” With her free hand she taps her fingertips into her chest. “Let’s get you to Hades, shall we?”