Page 102 of The Catacomb King
“It’s dangerous. I won’t allow it.”
“Won’tallowit?” I repeated, unable to believe my ears. “Like you think it’s up to you?”
Hades took a deep breath. He closed his eyes. “I am angry with you for not telling me that your blond human, who shot at me, is invading the underworld,” he bit out. “But I am still in love with you and I will not permit you to put yourself in danger. For Monarch’s sake wait here, Persephone. Please.”
My bran short-circuited. I didn’t even process his last sentence.
Because Hades had said —
He was —
He was what?
His eyes widened as he realized what words had come out of his mouth. But he scowled, too. He wasn’t about to take it back.
And… I discovered that I didn’t want him to.
But before I could tell him that, Elke broke in, “I’m sorry, Your Lordship, but she has to come with us. The problem is at the Lake.”
The Lake
I’m in love with you. I’m in love with you.
No time for that now.
I ran, Hades and Elke both hot on my heels. My heart was racing. The Lake. My mother…
What if the Monarch had accepted my sacrifice after all? What if earlier, when my mother had failed to wake up, the Monarch had just been… I didn’t know, toying with me? He was, after all, Chaos Himself. Probably He liked to play games. But now the game was over. Now, when I reached the Lake, my mother would be waiting for me. Smiling at me with eyes full of pride. She would recognize me. She’d be wringing the water from her hair.
The first thing I saw when I skidded into the cavern was her body floating face-down.
My heart turned to stone.
She was far out in the middle of the Lake, her hair spread and floating like insect legs. Her dead flesh was becoming waterlogged. The eerie candlelight flickered over her.
It was only when Hades and Elke came up behind me a few seconds later that I realized we were not alone in the cavern.
The King was here, too.
He was in the corner, monstrous, nearly outside of my peripheral vision. I hadn’t even noticed him, too devastated by my mother. But of course Hades locked in on him instantly. I sensed as Hades’s breath caught and his muscles stiffened.
The King was enormous. Almost bubbling with impatience. And… surely not, but did he have more legs than before?
The Vizeking was here, too, looking like a shining red pebble next to the boulder of the King. He was waving his arms at the King, trying desperately to hold him at bay. From what? The King kept feinting, trying to get around the Vizeking and into the Lake. His myriad eyes were fixed on my mother.
Oh, gods. He wanted to eat her.
I searched around for Calix. He’d been with the Vizeking before — where was he now? But he was nowhere to be found. No, wait. There, a flash of yellow in the Lake. “Calix!” I shouted.
“What’s the human boy doing?” Elke asked, frightened and suspicious.
I knew what he was doing. Despite everything, I felt a pang of affection for Calix. He had always liked my mother. “He’s getting my mom,” I said.
Hades rolled his eyes. “Well, tell him to hurry up,” he said through his teeth. But he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, agitated, all of his attention focused on his father. He kept touching his bruised shoulders. I didn’t think he realized he was doing it. The three of us hovered at the entrance to the Lake cavern, far from the King and the Vizeking and Calix and my mom, pulled like violin strings, unsure which way to go or what to do. Hades said, “My father —”
Then the King boomed, “ENOUGH!”
The King broke away from the Vizeking and plunged toward the Lake. Hades lunged for him, but the King was moving far toofast for Hades to catch up, speeding toward Calix and my mom. His jaws were slavering.
