Page 19 of Left Hand of the Divine
I slapped his hands away. “Will you tell me what you’re looking for?”
Thane looked up at me, and holy fuck, the guy looked good on his knees. The sharp lines of his jaw and throat extended as his neck arched upwards. Golden curls fell away from his forehead,making his blue eyes appear even brighter. They were wide and stared up at me with wonder, and I had the urge to card my fingers through his hair and twist the strands just so I could see him grimace in pain.
“A drachma,” he whispered, the words barely audible.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and his nostrils flared. “What was that?”
Thane licked his lips and swallowed. “A drachma, from Charon.”
“Well done,” I said and gave his cheek a careless pat. Thane groaned softly at my words, and an interesting curl of desire fluttered in my belly. I reached into my inside coat pocket and pulled out a single drachma. It was a small dark silver coin with the ghostly figure of Charon and his boat engraved on one side and the River Styx on the other. There were shimmers on the surface of the coin like scattered stars, and along the rim were carved the words ‘only death opens’.
I usually had one for emergencies, and it was great at—fuck me—opening doors where there weren’t any.
“Where’s your stash?” I asked Thane. Charon was an asshole and it always took me forever to persuade him to give me one of these, and these werenoteasy to come by.
Thane stood up and shrugged. “I never need one; I have the power to create my own doors.”
Show off. “Do you really think this is going to work?”
“Why don’t you just try, kitten?” Atticus said softly. “What have we got to lose?”
Besides this really rare coin? Nothing, I guess.
Here goes then…
I stepped in front of the large door and placed my hand on the stone surface. It was cool beneath my touch, and I could feel the energy of the curse binding the door shut rippling through the stone.
I clasped the drachma in my hand tightly and whispered the incantation that would open any door.
A breeze fluttered past the back of my neck, a whisper of energy flowing around me, but the door remained steadfast. That was disappointing.
I stepped back and pulled my hand away. “Does anyone have any other ideas?”
“Try again,” Thane encouraged.
“But go beyond the power of your Reaper,” Erebus said darkly.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Rafe asked, echoing my own thoughts.
The Primordial was speaking in riddles. Maybe he’d spent so long down here he’d gone mad.
Erebus looked at the guys with an obnoxiously arched brow. “Did you miss her display in the main Vault?”
“My what?” What did I do in the Vault?
Atticus took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. His face pinched with concern, and I could feel an uneasiness through our bond.
Urgh, this couldn’tbe good.
“You sat up and spoke a different language,” he said. “And your eyes went black.”
That was not what I was expecting. “A different language?”
“Yep,” Magnus added. “I didn’t recognise it, but it was really creepy.”
“It was Infernal Tongue,” Erebus declared, his voice a lazy drawl. “You all hail from the Underworld; how can you not recognise it?”
“It’s not really spoken anymore,” Thane said sadly. “You will only hear it in the realms of Tartarus now.”
