If the tingling at Acacia’s back hadn’t already been going at warp speed, it would be now. She looked toward Theron, slowly easing himself into a seated position against the wall. “What didn’t he tell me?”
Hades actually smiled, and in the pit of her stomach, Casey knew he was enjoying all of this. “Should I tell her, Argonaut? Or would you like to?”
“Go back to hell,” Theron snarled.
He jerked and seized as Hades blasted him again.
“Stop it!” Casey tried in vain to keep the sheet wrapped around her as she held out a hand to stop the vicious god. “Please, just…stop. You tell me the reason he brought me here.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Theron whispered.
“To fulfill the prophecy,” Hades said plainly. “Established thousands of years ago, when Atalanta sold her soul to me in exchange for immortality. You are half of that prophecy, Acacia Simopolous. The marking on your back is proof. Your half sister, Isadora, the princess and future queen of Argolea, has the same marking. Like you, she’s sick and dying, but in her case, she’s losing her Argolean side, whereas you are losing your humanity. Alone, you’ll both die. Joined, the strongest of the two will survive to render Atalanta mortal once more and bring the beginning of the end of her war against the Argoleans.”
Hades inclined his head toward Theron. “Your Argonaut was sent by your father, the king, to bring you back to meet your sister. To save her life and end yours.”
Casey’s eyes slowly slid to Theron, slumped against the wall, eyes closed, with his arm across his abdomen. She waited for him to deny Hades’s words, to tell her they were nothing but lies, but he didn’t open his mouth. He didn’t even look at her.
“No,” she whispered. “That…can’t be true.”
“The truth is never a lie. Your sister even recognized how wrong these heroes were to try to mold your destinies. It’s why she came to me and bartered for your soul. And she did so against her father and her fiancé’s wills.”
“Fiancé?” Casey asked, having trouble following he god’s words.
“Oh, darn.” Hades snapped his fingers. “I guess your Argonaut forgot to tell you that as well.” His obsidian eyes sparked. “The good hero Theron here is scheduled to marry Isadora as soon as the prophecy is fulfilled.”
Casey’s heart slammed into her ribs as she looked toward Theron. He didn’t deny it. And he didn’t open his eyes, even now. The guilt-ridden expression across his face confirmed Hades’s claim.
Her heart shattered right there. Broke into a million pieces at her feet. The pain of betrayal in the center of her chest was as real as if she’d been stabbed with a blade.
Hades held out his hand. “Come with me and I will show you the truth, Acacia Simopolous. You will see, and you will believe.”
Theron shot to his feet. “No. Acacia!”
Electricity flashed out of Hades’s hand. Theron was rammed into the wall once more. He groaned and fell to the floor, this time surrounded by a pile of plaster.
“You will be safe while you are with me, human. No harm will come to you, I promise.”
Tears burned the backs of Casey’s eyes as she looked at the hand extended to her. Everything Theron had told her, everything she’d started to believe, was nothing more than a lie. Indecision warred within her. But one thing Hades said got through.
She had a sister. One who didn’t know her but who’d gone to hell to barter for her soul. There was still one person who needed her.
“I don’t have any clothes.”
Hades’s smile was laced with victory. “Taken care of.”
Instantly, she was dressed in a white billowing blouse and matching loose-fitting pants.
Casey dropped the sheet. And lifted her hand to slide her fingers into the palm of a god.
“No! Acacia!” Theron screamed.
She was floating. At her side she heard Hades’s voice, but when she turned her head she saw nothing but fog as thick as soup surrounding her. “It’s really too bad for your crappy genetics. It’s you who should be queen.”
“What do you mean?” His hand wrapped firmly around hers, almost as if it were holding her together from disintegrating into a thousand microscopic pieces across time and space.
“Your sister is weak. She’ll make a terrible queen, but fortunately for her, she was born Argolean and you were not.”
“She had to have some courage to come to you. That’s the mark of a leader, isn’t it?”
He chuckled next to her. “Desperate. That’s what we call her reckless actions. She’s the one who should be burning thyme. Not you. Don’t fool yourself into thinking otherwise, human.”
Nothing he said made sense, and she was distracted by the fact she didn’t have a clue where he was taking her.
“To see an army,” he said. “And believe me, you will soon understand all.”