Page 25 of Love and Death
“What? But he already has a wife. He cannot take a new queen unless Persephone …” I trail off as I realize what she is trying to tell me. “I see, thank you. Now, I really must insist that you tell me where I can find Eros.”
“Is he not still being held in the dungeons?”
“No.”
“Then I am afraid I do not know,” Lilia says with a sad shake of her head. “I have not seen him since the king’s palace.”
Biting back a string of curses, I rake a hand through my hair in exasperation as I try to decide what to do next.
“Do you have any guesses as to where he might be? Some place where he might choose to hide away for a time?”
Again, she shakes her head.
“No. You would have better luck trying to track down a ghost than I would be at hazarding a guess.”
I close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose in an effort to steady myself. Of course, it would be my luck that no one has seen him since the trial.
“Wait,” I say, my eyes snapping open as a thought pops into my head. “You said that you were among the women being kept at the palace. If that is true, then how did you escape?”
“It is a trick,” Theo warns, “do not answer him.”
“Enough, husband. Let us not fool ourselves. If he or the king wished to take me, you would be long dead by now,” Lilia says, placing a gentle hand on his arm before turning her attention back to me. “I did not escape. We were ordered to be released not long after Hazel was found to be in the king’s bedchamber.”
“Ordered, by whom?”
“The queen.”
“Persephone? You are certain of this?”
She nods.
“I only wish I could be of more help to the mortal.”
I mull this surprising new bit of information over in my head for a moment before an idea begins to form in my head.
“Perhaps you can be.”
“How?”
“Hazel needs someone she can trust by her side,” Isay. “Someone who can reassure her. Someone who can tend to her without raising suspicion—”
“No, absolutely not,” Theo interrupts. “My wife will not step foot in that palace again, not as long as I still live and Hades sits upon the throne.”
“Theo, if I can be of help to the girl—”
“No.”
“But—”
“I said, no,” her husband says, his voice firm but gentle. “I must draw the line at this, my love. Please. I cannot knowingly put you and our unborn child at risk of the king’s mercy.”
“Your husband is right, I should not have asked.”
“I will go.”
I freeze at the sound of a new voice, inwardly chiding myself for not noticing the approach of this unseen guest sooner. Turning, I survey the thick wall of foliage, but I see nothing that gives away their position.
“Show yourself,” I order. A few seconds later, an alluring young woman tentatively parts the vines and joins us in the small clearing. “And you are?”
