Chapter 28 Ophelia
Ophelia
Two cultists appear in the doorway: massive men in white robes, their expressions blank and mechanical. They move toward me without a word, and I stumble backwards. Aphrodite is still on the floor, covered in blood, and Zeus is in his cell.
"No." I press myself against the wall. "Please, don't—"
They grab my arms, their grips like iron manacles. I try to pull away, but I'm still too weak to do much against their strength. And honestly, even if I wasn't, without any power, I wouldn't be much of a threat.
"Bathroom," Demeter says, gesturing to a door I hadn't noticed before. "We need to confirm your little claim."
"Wait." Desperation makes my voice crack. "Please, just wait. We don't have to do this. We can find another way."
Demeter's smile is cold. "Can we?"
"Yes." The cultists drag me toward the door, and I dig my heels in uselessly. This is my last chance. I know it. Because once that test turns negative...
"Please, just listen." I break away slightly and grab onto Demeter's robes. My fingers dig into the fabric. "This is our second chance. You and me. Mother and daughter. I'll leave Hades. I barely know him anyway. We could be a family. Isn't that what you wanted? Isn't that why you—"
"Stop." Demeter holds up a hand, and the cultists stop trying to tear me from her. She looks at me with softness, just for a moment, and I feel my heart stutter. Is this really working? "Do you really think I'm that foolish?" She pulls me off of her.
"Please." Raw pleading now, all pretense of strategy abandoned. "Please don't do this."
Demeter takes a step back. "You aren't my daughter." Her words are flat. "Persephone faded many moons ago. You are simply an abomination Hades cooked up with the Fates."
The words hit like a physical blow, and if I weren't being held up, I would have collapsed.
"Move," she orders.
They drag me through the door into a small bathroom. One of them shoves a plastic stick into my hand while the other positions himself by the door.
"I'm sure you know what to do."
My hands shake as I stare at the pregnancy test. This is it. The last desperate gambit, and it's going to fail because I'm not actually pregnant, or rather, even if I am, it's not going to be detectable.
Fuck.
"I can't do this with you two in here," I say, clutching the test in my hands. I'm trying to stall, to buy any semblance of time I can.
"Too bad."
"Can't you just wait outside?" I gesture to the door. "It's not like I can escape."
They say nothing, simply stare at me. I deflate.
They aren't going anywhere.
I look down at my shoes as I pull my pants and underwear down and pee on the stick. When I'm done, I hand it over.
"Give this to The Mother," one of them says.
I feel ill as they lead me out. Demeter holds the test gingerly. "Now, we wait."
The minutes waiting for the result are the longest of my life because I know what this test is going to say. Negative.
When enough time has passed, Demeter turns the test over in her hands, looks at it, and smiles.
"Negative." She holds it up, showing me the single line with something like triumph in her eyes. "Such a clever little liar. Almost had me convinced."
"Please—"
"Enough." She turns to the cultists, not sparing me another glance. "Take her back."
They grab me again, dragging me away. I try to fight, but it's useless. They haul me back into the temple and throw me to the floor near the altar.
I land hard, the impact driving the air from my lungs.
Zeus is still trapped in his circle, watching with those calculating eyes. Aphrodite sits where I left her, blood dried on her face, looking utterly defeated.
"Well." Demeter clasps her hands together. "Now that we've established that Persephone is not carrying Hades's bastard, we can proceed." She turns to Aphrodite. "Stop stalling and do what I've commanded."
Aphrodite doesn't move. I'm honestly not sure if she can.
She lost a lot of blood, which Demeter doesn't do more than lift a brow at.
"Demeter, please. Reconsider. Hades is powerful: more powerful than any of us remember.
If you complete this ritual, he'll find a way to kill you.
You'll be anchored into the child, vulnerable.
You can find another way. We can help you. "
"Do not concern yourself with that, sister." Demeter's expression doesn't change. "Do it now, Aphrodite. Or the blood debt will kill you where you sit." She turns her nose up. "Not that it would be hard. Apparently, you've been telling tales."
Aphrodite swallows thickly and shakily gets to her feet.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, as she reaches towards me.
The second her hand touches my skin, her power hits.
It's instantaneous.
One moment I'm on the floor, terrified and desperate and fighting to think of any way out.
The next, my body is on fire, every nerve ending alight.
The desire is so all-consuming that it's almost painful. Every logical thought is obliterated by an intense want.
My skin feels too tight. My clothes are suffocating. I need—
Zeus.
I need Zeus.
Aphrodite's power wraps around my mind like silk, whispering that this is what I want. What I've always wanted. That Zeus is perfect and powerful and the only thing that can satisfy this burning need between my legs.
His circle dissolves.
Or maybe Demeter drops it.
It doesn't matter because he's moving toward me, and yes, finally, this is what I need—
He pulls me to my feet, and his hands on my skin feel like lightning. His mouth crashes against mine, and I kiss him back with desperate hunger, fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer.
"I need you inside me," I cry, pressing myself against his leg, rubbing myself wantonly against him. "Please," I cry, trying to find some relief.
His hands are on my waist, sliding under my shirt, and I arch into the touch. It's not enough. I want more. Need more. He's ripping at my clothes now, tearing fabric. I don't stop him.
He kisses down my throat, my collarbone. I'm pulling at his shirt, his belt, desperate to feel skin against skin.
"Mine," he growls against my neck. "You're mine."
His hand goes to the pomegranate necklace and yanks.
The chain breaks, pulling hard against the skin of my neck, leaving a small burn. The feeling makes me hiss.
I register the sound of the pendant hitting the floor with a soft clink. The shine of the rubies catches my eye even as Zeus sucks a love bite into my neck.
Something in me fractures as I watch it.
Hades.
The thought cuts through the haze like a knife.
Hades gave me that necklace. Hades, who I—
Love.
I love him.
The realization slams into me with the force of a freight train. Not Zeus. Never Zeus. Hades. Dark and possessive and mine in ways that have nothing to do with Aphrodite's power.
The bond.
I can feel it now, pushing through the lust like light through cracks. That connection between us that's been severed for hours suddenly pulses back to life. Not strong. Not clear. But there.
He's close.
He's coming.
I need to hold on. Wait for him.
"No." The word comes out strangled. "No, stop."
But Zeus doesn't stop. He's mindless. He's as much a prisoner of Aphrodite's power as I am, and his hands keep moving, keep touching, even as I start to push against his chest.
"Stop!" I shove harder, but he's stronger than I am.
His weight pins me to the stone floor. His mouth finds mine again, and I turn my head away.
"Zeus, please, you have to stop. You don't want me."
His hands are on my jeans now, fumbling with the button, and I'm fighting, clawing at his arms, trying to buck him off.
Tears stream down my face, and I feel the lust Aphrodite hit me with fading completely.
The bond with Hades burns brighter.
Love. I feel love, not lust. The difference crystallizes in my mind with perfect clarity.
This is manufactured. False.
"Hades!" His name tears from my throat. "HADES!"
Zeus gets my jeans open, and I feel his hands yanking my thighs apart. "I need to be inside you," he groans.
"No!" I rake my nails across his face, draw blood, but he doesn't seem to feel it. His hands are on my hips now, dragging the denim down, and I'm kicking, thrashing, fighting with everything I have—
The explosion is deafening.
The entire temple shakes.
Dust and debris rain down from the ceiling. The torches flicker and die, plunging us into darkness for a heartbeat before emergency lights, modern, electric, so wrong in this ancient place, click on.
Zeus freezes above me, his head snapping toward the sound.
And through the ringing in my ears, through the chaos and the screaming cultists, I hear it.
The roar of shadows.
The promise of death.
Hades.