Page 77 of Love and Death
“Florence, did you ever find her?”
“I did not,” he answers, his jaw working for a moment before adding, “but someone else did.”
I hardly dare, but I force myself to ask, “Who?”
“Eris.” I frown, not quite sure who he’s referring to, until he adds,
“She is a spy of the king’s and no friend of ours. She handed Florence over to Deimos.”
I suddenly remember her. She was the one who wouldn’t let me speak to Persephone alone.
No. I clasp a hand to my mouth to stifle a sob, fear knotting my stomach.
“Florence is alive, for the moment, though barely. As I am sure you know, Deimos is not one for kindness.”
“It is my fault, I shouldn’t have—”
Cerberus is quick to cut me off. “It is Deimos who should be blamed. Hades. The Fates. This whole festering pit of rot, not you.”
“I need to help her.”
“You can help her by doing what has been asked of you.” He fixes his eyes on me, smoldering from within, and reaches to cup my cheek in the heat of his hand. “You will help no one by risking her rescue. Not now. Trust me in this.”
I nod again, swallowing my tears. I know he’s right, but it pains me still. He watches me for a second, as if not sure to believe me, and then drops his hand from me and slips silently out into the palace halls.
Turning back, I curl up beside Death, clutching ahandful of his cloak in my hand as I sob into it. For Death, for Florence, Father, Cyprian … for all those whom I have hurt, and may yet hurt.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I never wanted this. I never meant to hurt anyone.”
I wake with a start, not remembering having dozed off, as Cerberus suddenly reappears with a wave of heat, Eros thrown over his shoulder. He is quick to clamp his hand over my mouth, stifling a cry of surprise, just moments before several stone sentinels thunder past where we’re hidden.
We wait in silence for another minute before he drops his hand and eases Eros onto the floor next to Death, the alcove now barely able to contain the four of us.
“The palace no longer sleeps,” Cerberus says in a hushed whisper. “Hades’ body was discovered, and Deimos has called the guards back to search for the perpetrator.”
“What are we going to do?”
“First, we are going to escape this palace, and then this city.”
“How, with all the guards searching for us now?
“Luckily, Deimos was never a match for me,” he says with a half-grin, shifting forward on his toes to grab Death as he pushes on the back wall. “Especially when it comes to knowledge of secret passageways.”
I stare, mouth agape, as the wall gives way beneath his hand to allow us through.
“What’s inside?” I ask uncertainly.
“The in-between.” My eyes widen as they flicker to Death. “No, notthatin-between, just the halls within the halls. You will see.”
With that, he motions me through as he tries to figure out how to carry two gods at once.
Stepping into the wall, I am even more shocked by what I find. Cerberus wasn’t wrong in the way he described it. I can see out from here through the sapphire walls, a path cut through the middle as if I were walking through a parted sea, deep blue waves rising up on either side.
“Quite the invasion of privacy, is it not,” the hellhound says, squeezing in behind me.
“That is one way to put it,” I snort softly, glancing over my shoulder to find him dragging Death in one hand and gripping Eros’ arms around his neck with the other.
“We will find a cart once we are out of the palace,” he says before I can open my mouth to question his methods. “For now, this is the best I can do. Now, turn around, I will guide you.”
