18. Three truths
THREE TRUTHS
WILLOW
My whole plan was to enter the megaron, wait until my husband wasn’t busy with any of the dead, and ask him about possibly making an exception when it comes to Theseus.
He’s a hero, right? He tried to save his wife.
It’s not his fault that the magic didn’t check the box on him before he got trampled by the minotaur.
Now, do I know that that’s what happened?
Not even a little. I just know that the minotaur is a half-man, half-bull monster from Greek legend, and that he was kept in the middle of the labyrinth.
Theseus was supposed to defeat him, and the princess of Crete, Ariadne, helped him by giving him a length of enchanted string that would aid him in finding his way back out again.
Only, once he did, the original Theseus showed that not all heroes can be trusted. He abandoned her instead of marrying her like he promised, then moved on, doing all sorts of hero things.
I remembered all of that after I ran into Theo and Aria the first time.
Though I still felt like she was too good for him after that brief meeting, I at least understood why he felt like he had to go.
It’s the Other. The magic that entices us to relive our ancient lives and retell the same stories is hard to deny.
Just like how I couldn’t refuse the pomegranate in the end, Theseus probably needed to go on adventure more than both Aria and I understood at the time.
But this Theseus—as Theo—chose to marry her.
He came back to her, and when the minotaur became a part of their story, he sacrificed himself in an attempt to save her.
He must have, too. Unless the cloaked-figure on the boat was Aria as a shade and not a living woman like I thought, she should still be alive.
At least, fingers crossed that she is…
The megaron sits at the end of the narrow corridor exactly where it always has.
Hades’s throne room, it’s the place in the entire palace where Aiden’s hold on Hades is tenuous as best. Hades takes control more often than not here, and I’m okay with that.
I’d rather Hades use his powerful godly magic in the megaron rather than the bedroom I share with Aiden.
Does that mean I like dealing with the god of the Underworld?
Not really. He doesn’t understand why I don’t let Persephone out more, and since my goddess is content to just exist while Willow takes the reins, we’re at odds over that.
Of course, that means we put poor Aiden in the middle, which is another reason why I try my best to keep out of his business.
I’m hoping that, when I enter the megaron, I’m not interrupting anything. I’m even more hopeful that it’s Aiden lounging on his throne—
It’s not.
It takes two seconds for me to enter the megaron and know instantly that Hades is in control if only because of the way he holds himself.
He’s seated upon the black metal throne at the far end of the room, perched beside the empty one meant for me.
One elbow is resting against the arm of his throne, fingers pressed thoughtfully against his mouth.
And if I didn’t already know better, the bright glow in his suddenly pale eyes tells me which half of my husband is listening to the person in front of him.
She stands several feet ahead of the dais with her back to me, the same dark cloak I saw the woman on the ferry wearing draped over narrow shoulders.
Wild curls spill over her shoulders and partly down her back.
There’s no fire today, but when I catch a glimpse of her dark skin and her striking profile, I realize that I know her, too.
“Cassandra?” I ask.
Both the prophetess and the god of the Underworld turn toward me.
Despite the amount of fire in the Underworld, there’s always a chill.
It’s worse when Hades in charge, but as the air becomes more welcoming, I know that Aiden has pushed past his god, returning to the forefront of consciousness.
At the same, shadows fill the corners of the megaron, as though they’re welcoming me back, too.
“Blossom,” my husband calls out. “You know the witch?”
Oh. Did I forget to mention that she was the one who warned me against eating any food from the Underworld?
Whoops.
“We’ve met,” I say, leaving it at that.
He gestures for me to join him. I give my head a short shake.
I don’t know what was going on here, but if he’s doing his duty, I’d rather hang out away from the throne until he’s done with Cassandra.
I mean, I still move closer to him, standing near his side of the dais, though I leave Persephone’s throne empty for now.
Just having me near is enough for Aiden. He relaxes into his seat, turning back to Cassandra.
Only the witch is still looking at me. Then, with a faraway look on her face, as though she’s seeing more than just me and my crown of fire, she says, “I suppose I always knew this is where we’d meet again.”
I look at her in return. “You’re not dead.”
“No. It’s not time for me to say goodbye. Not yet. Not while I must make amends for the wrongs I’ve done.” She shifts slightly, giving Aiden her attention. “As I was explaining to Death here, that’s why I took the ride on Charon’s ferry.”
“How did you pay for your fare?” asks Aiden.
The dead pay for their ride on the River Styx with a coin.
Called an obol, it’s usually placed on the dead’s eyes or in their mouth.
In the Other, Charon will look the other way if they don’t have one, but only for the dead.
For the living to hitch a ride, they either need to bring a coin, or pay with—
“A truth,” answers Cassandra.
That’s how Daphne arrived in the Underworld before Aiden gave her the charmed ruby on my behalf.
My stubborn cousin—who was refusing to admit that she was falling for her sun god—was asked one question: Who do you love most in the world?
She said me, which while true at the time, didn’t really make Alex feel that great.
Luckily, Daphne realized how thick-headed and stubborn she was being, Alex learned that there’s a difference between romantic love and familial love, and I got to know that my cousin had arrived to the Other and was going to stay.
What kind of question did Charon ask Cassandra?
I figure it’s too personal to ask the witch, but Aiden… that’s exactly what he does. “What truth was so valuable that my ferryman allowed you to bypass all the shades and come straight to see me?”
The way the curls around her hair begin to swirl as she focus on my husband… yeah. Maybe he shouldn’t have.
And then, in a soft voice, she says two words: “I know.”
What?
Her voice deepens. “I know,” she says again.
“I know why Poseidon is not here to fight on the side of the Twelve. I know why his soul is still waiting to be reborn in the mortal world so that he can finally find his way to Olympus. I know… I know what Aodhán Murphy did to Mickey Soter. Just like I can see how he chased Narcissus to this realm and never, ever left it again.”
I go absolutely still.
So does Aiden.
Cassandra knows about my husband’s past. She knows about what Aiden did when he was working for Teddy Thanos, and how he ended up finding his way through the mirror.
She knows, and I’m supposed to be the only one—apart from Aiden and Zeus, that is—who knows that.
I shouldn’t be surprised. She’s a seer. She foresaw my arrival in the Other. Though Alex has told me that Cassandra arrived in the Other after Aiden did, time works differently here. Maybe her ability to see the future does, too. Maybe she can see the past.
One thing for sure, she’s right.
For a moment, Aiden doesn’t react. I know it hurts him. Eighty years later, he still carries a mortal’s remorse for what he did while he was still mirrorside. But he won’t show that weakness to anyone other than me, and after a moment, he straightens in his seat.
“Very well. I don’t think you’ve come all this way just to prove you’re still a seer. So, tell me, Cassandra… why have you come?”
“I came because I was wrong.”
“Wrong?” echoes Aiden.
“Yes. I thought I was helping.” She pauses.
“No. Now that this Apollo has removed his dreaded curse, I can’t even lie to myself.
I knew what I was doing. I wanted to make the sun god pay…
I wanted to make Zeus pay. For what they did to me while I was still Poppy…
for making me spend so long as Cassandra…
they both needed to pay. But I was wrong.
I didn’t change the magic. I let the magic change me, and I nearly sacrificed the entire Other because of my own failings. ”
Okay. I’m lost.
And then she says, “I thought if Kronos returned—”
Aiden grips the arm of his chair. “Kronos? What about Kronos?”
“He wants to destroy the worlds,” she says, and I want to scream: we know.
Daphne and Alex have been telling us that for weeks now.
“And I thought he might be right. But then I realized… no. We need balance. One day, I might be the Cassandra that everyone believes from the start. I have to know that the worlds will endure, and I tried to stop him. I tried to call Ares off. But he won’t stop until he claims Aphrodite, and Kronos…
he will use the god of war to feed the chaos he needs to upset the balance to the point that none of us will ever be reborn.
“You asked me why I’ve come? To pay my fare, I offered a truth that would catch your attention. Not Hades. Hades wouldn’t understand what I meant if I told him that Kronos… Kronos is not a recent threat.”
“I know that,” Aiden tells her. “Kronos escaped Tartarus centuries ago.”
She nods. “And he’s been plotting for just as long.
Through the years, he’s sown distrust and orchestrated chaos and he manipulated those he could…
and he’s done it all with a deceptively charming air and his ruined eyes.
” Just as Cassandra says that, her own eyes turn completely black…
just like the time I saw that happen before she made some sort of premonition for me.
“Think, Aodhán. Do you remember the black shades that hid the fractured gaze of a titan? With power? With certainty? Do you remember… the man who set you on the hunt, telling you who to kill? Do you remember Kronos, known by another name, known by a hundred names, but only one that means anything to you. Do you—”
She chokes. I don’t know exactly what happened. One second, her voice is getting louder, the wind whipping around her face causing her hair to fly all over. The next? She’s gasping, clutching her throat.
“Cassandra?” I ask, moving toward her to see if I can help.
She shakes her head, holding her hands up, warding me off as she gets herself under control. Aiden is frozen to his throne, expression completely shut down while I look from my husband to the witch, unsure of what I should do.
Eventually, Cassandra straightens. “I’m sorry,” she says, and her voice is now raw. “I’ve said too much.”
“You said enough.”
She nods at Aiden. “I know. And I risked a lot to do so. Remember that. When the time comes and my shade stands before you, remember that, in the end, I tried to make amends.” With a rough swallow, she adds, “Remember that I warned you that he… he’s where you would last expect him.
That’s how chaos wins. You never expect it until you’re too wrapped up inside of it to see the forest for the trees. ”
“Do you need a portal home?” Aiden asks, and I’m so confused at the pleasant comment that I just gape at him.
“No. I apprenticed under Hecate herself.” She gestures with her arm beneath her cloak. A portal appears right in front of her. “There isn’t any part of the Other that is closed off to me now.”
I can’t help it. “Then why did you take the ferry over? Why didn’t you just pop in?”
A sad smile tugs on her lips. “Because I needed to make sure that he would believe me. That, in spite of all I’ve done, I can be trusted. I paid with a truth, and I offered another. Here’s one more. He’s already here.”
What?
Aiden surges to his feet. I open my mouth to say something—what the heck, most likely—but, in an instant, Cassandra is walking through the portal she conjured, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
I hurry over to Aiden. At the same time, he strides down from the dais, wrapping me up in his arms as though he has to assure himself that I’m okay.
I cling to him. “Here?” I ask. “What do you think she means, he’s here? Who? Kronos?”
Aiden’s lips move. I swear I hear him say “Thanos” under his breath, but before I can ask him, I hear footsteps… heavy footsteps… heading toward the megaron. Aiden tightens his hold on me, waiting to see who is approaching without his obvious permission.
It can’t be a shade. They don’t make a sound since they don’t actually touch the floor with their ghostly feet.
It can’t be Sir. I left him on the dock with Theseus, and even if it could be our pup, he’s so much quieter as a tiny dog, and so much louder as a three-headed beast.
No. It’s…
It’s…
Huh?
It’s Theseus. The same shade that I left outside of the gate with Sir, only there’s something completely different about him now. He looks completely solid, for one. With the dark curls and the bronzed skin, you’d think he was alive.
He looks alive. Is he alive?
But if he’s alive, then he’s not an Unmentionable.
My gaze darts up, searching for his eyes. If they’re inky black, then it might just be a trick of the firelight in the megaron. If they’re not, then something really weird is going on.
Um. They’re definitely not black.
Oh, no. As I gaze across the throne room at him, I see that Theseus… his eyes are glowing slightly, showing off a black background with white fractures covering them.
What the…
Aiden tightens his hold on me for a moment before he moves quickly, shunting me behind him so that he’s standing between Theseus and me.
And then he calls out to the hero: “What are you doing here, Theseus?”
I’m not surprised that Aiden—or Hades—recognizes the man. If he was dead, they would know him instinctively. That he seems alive… I’m still not surprised. I mean, he’s a famous hero—isn’t he?
But those eyes…
I’ve never seen eyes like that before.
One glance at the hard set to Aiden’s jaw and I’m sure that he has.
In answer to Aiden’s demand, Theseus smiles.
My stomach drops. It’s not a nice smile. Oh, no. It’s a cruel grin, and his eyes land directly on me as he peers over Aiden’s shoulder.
“Doing my part,” he says, those terrifying eyes almost laughing at us. “Following the path laid out for Theseus. What am I doing? What he’s done plenty of times in the old stories. I’m here for your queen.
“I’m here for Persephone.”