Page 49 of The Catacomb King
Hades wasn’t there.
I found myself disappointed. I had wanted to yell at him for saddling me with such an impossible job. The sick bastard probablywantedme to fail. He was probably just teasing me with hope before he fed me to his monster-god. It probably made the meat taste better.
The pile of gowns was still on the bed. I smoothed them out and laid them on the floor in a neat stack, on the far side of the bed from the fireplace, next to the bookshelf.
Then I looked down at myself. After a day of digging and yelling and stressing the fuck out, the sleek black clothes were wrinkled, smelly, and badly stained.
I found myself wishing I had taken Hades up on his earlier offer of a bath.
I stripped off his clothes. It seemed a shame to place them on top of the beautiful gowns. I folded them instead into their own neat pile and wiped as much dirt from my hair and face as I could. I looked down at myself again, at my naked body this time.
I thought I couldseemy stomach rumbling.
And I realized I was going to die.
Who was I fucking kidding? I couldn’t make it another whole day without food. Already I felt faint, like I was going to collapse. I steadied myself against the edge of the bed. No, I couldn’t afford to be this vulnerable. I had to get dressed before the Prince arrived. The only set of pajamas was the white negligée, which I had smoothed out on the pillow that morning. It wentover my head easily, slipped over my breasts and thighs like water. But I couldn’t appreciate it.
I sank to the floor, my head cradled in my hands.
Faintly, I heard the door open. “Persephone?” Hades’s voice said, suspiciously. He couldn’t see me. I was on the far side of the bed. I thought about just staying down here, hiding, dying in peace. But no. He should at least have to look at what he’d done. I waved weakly.
Hades’s voice cracked. “Persephone!”
He sounded terrified. Probably because he was about to lose his precious sacrifice to starvation.
“It’s fine,” I rasped. “I’m fine. Just hungry. I just need a minute.”
I didnotjust need a minute. My vision was starbursting. I couldn’t see. I put my head between my legs, breathing hard.
Hades’s footsteps pounded away from me. The fucking bastard, leaving me like this. I lowered myself onto my stomach, pressed my forehead to the cool stone floor. That helped a little. I took a deep breath.
One more day, I tried to tell myself fiercely.You just need one more day. You can make it. You have to.
But I couldn’t. I was too hungry.
Then Hades’s boots sounded again on the floor. I felt the vibrations through my skin. He knelt beside me and placed something on the floor beside my head. An earthenware bowl.
“No,” I said. I tried to turn away.
But he grabbed my neck, keeping me in place. He helped me to a sitting position, leaning me back against the bed. “It’s just water,” he said. “It’s from my father’s spring, which originates even deeper underground than the Gestörbunlund goes. We didn’t cultivate it, and it’s not from the Monarch. It won’t trap you. Drink it.”
Water.
It didn’t seem possible that I had enough liquid in my body for this, but my mouth began to salivate at the very word. The very thought. I looked at the earthenware bowl. It was sweating with condensation. I began to sweat, too.
I knew immediately that I wasn’t going to be able to resist.
The words cracked out of my mouth: “You promise?”
I hated myself for even asking. But Hades only said, “I haven’t lied to you once, goddess, and I’m not lying to you now.”
Relief flooded my body. I fumbled for the bowl.
The water was crisp and clear. There had to be a gallon of it. I drank so fast my stomach spasmed.
I felt Hades’s eyes on me as I drank. My cheeks grew hot, but I couldn’t stop. It was the same crisp, silty water from this morning; I felt like I could never get enough of it. It was all I could do not to lick the inside of the bowl.
Finally I lowered the bowl. The water didn’t make me any less hungry, but it filled my belly and cleared my head.
