Chapter 13—Persephone

Music fills my ears when I turn down the corridor.

Moonlight bathes my path in a silver glow.

I follow it, knowing she’s in here somewhere. I just have to get to her.

Floorboards creek beneath my feet with every step I take.

I’m almost there now.

Athena will be in her room with the baby.

I continue down the silver path and go through the door ahead. There I find her, sitting by the window humming a lullaby to the tiny baby in her arms.

Athena is wearing a white dress. It’s a wedding dress—my wedding dress.

She turns to look at me with her bright green eyes and smiles. Our eye color was the only difference between us.

I return the smile and move closer.

“I didn’t think you’d mind me wearing this,” she says in that ghostly voice I’ve gotten used to since she died.

“I don’t.”

“She’s sleeping now.” She lays the baby back in the crib.

I look at Lilah’s little hands balled into tiny fists as she settles into sleep. She looks just like when she was alive, too.

When I return my focus to Athena, she’s already looking at me.

She presses a dainty finger to my chest and traces a line down my scar.

“It’s fragile. Don’t let them break your heart.”

“Yours,” I mumble.

“No, yours now.” I look down at my chest as blood pours from my heart.

Blood, thick and dark, flows from the scar and starts gushing out of my body, covering her and the baby.

“Goodbye, Persephone.”

Her face turns into a skeleton, and maggots cover her body.

I scream.

The terror rips me out of the nightmare, and I’m gasping so hard I can’t catch my breath.

When I manage to, I realize I’m covered in a cold sweat, but my mind is so disorientated I can’t even remember falling asleep, or which is the dream world and what is reality.

Feeling my scar, I quickly confirm the truth. If I’m here, it means she’s not.

Everything that happened really did happen.

Mom died.

Lilah died.

Athena died.

It’s just me and Father left.

It’s hard to believe our happy little family was ripped apart in such a cruel, punishing way.

And by a man we trusted with all our hearts. It was one of the guards who let the enemy in. They planned it, and wanted us all dead.

Chills cascade down my spine when I realize where I am, and my back goes ramrod straight.

I’m in her room again—in Athena’s room. And in my lap is one of Lilah’s little dresses.

I pick it up and look at it and my surroundings.

Once again I have no memory of coming in here, much less falling asleep.

This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. It just hasn’t happened in a while. Until today I would have thought I was cured, but I can’t be because I still have her heart—a piece of her still lives inside me, fueling my borrowed life.

The life I borrowed from her.

When Athena first died, I used to have these strange dreams. Only I’m not sure if they were dreams.

They were always of me either tending to the baby or painting.

When I woke up, I’d find myself in here or in the room that used to be the nursery. On many occasions, Father would find me mindlessly trying to finish off one of Athena’s paintings, or folding baby clothes.

It’s as if more than just my sister’s heart lives on in me.

It’s like I have her memories. Or… maybe it’s more like her regrets.

Regrets of all the things she never got to do, like be a mother to the little girl she loved with all her heart and lost.

I’m not sure which drove her crazy; losing a child, or getting pregnant the way she did.

No… I can’t think about that.

I mustn’t. If I do, I’ll hate myself even more.

I snap my eyes shut as the truth works its way into my mind, and I shake it free.

We don’t talk about the truth enough because it hurts worse than the lies we live by to get from one day to the next.

That’s why the silence worked its way in and opened the door to madness.

We did that to ourselves.

Madness touched me too, because it’s only when I’m stressed out that I have these weird experiences I can’t explain.

It feels like I’m always dancing on the edge of limbo, neither living nor dead but permanently stuck between the world of the living and that of the dead.

I didn’t like the way Father and I left things yesterday.

All our talk confirmed was that I was right about the way he feels toward me.

And there’s nothing I can do about it. No fucking wonder I found myself here.

Now I just have to suck it up and move on. Easier said than done.

The door opens at the same time I stand, making me jump.

It’s Raven.

Judging from the way she’s panting I can tell she must have been running.

“I heard screaming.” She looks me up and down and takes note of the little dress in my hands. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I had a nightmare.”

“I’m not surprised.” She comes in closing the door behind her. “Persephone, what are you doing in here? You shouldn’t be here, and with that.” She points to the little dress.

I bring it to my chest the way Athena used to after Lilah died.

To me the dress still smells of new baby. I can still see her wearing it with her vibrant toothless smile, and feel her in my arms.

“I’m okay.” I dare not tell her what happened. I don’t want to spend my last two days here with people thinking I’m crazy.

“I don’t know why your father doesn’t do something different with this room. It’s not healthy to keep it this way.” She shakes her head with sadness.

I understand perfectly what she means. Athena’s room is the same as it has always been. All her books are on the shelf just the way she left them, her clothes in the wardrobe, and her bed neatly made. It’s as if she’s going to come back any moment.

“He can’t let them go. It’s his way of dealing with the loss.” Although we don’t see eye to eye, I understand my father.

“Come here.” She steps forward and hugs me.

I hug her back harder. “Thanks, I think I needed that.”

When she pulls away, she takes the dress from me. “Persephone, it really isn’t healthy for you to be in here. I know how you feel when it comes to Athena. I don’t want you feeling worse.”

“I know. I guess I just miss her like crazy.” I press my lips together.

“That’s completely understandable. I miss her too. We all do. But, Persephone… you know she did what she did out of love. Right?”

I nod slowly. “Yeah. I know. I do know.” It doesn’t make knowing what she did for me any easier. But I know her sacrifice was for me.

“I, um, hate to be the bearer of bad news,” she begins with a tentative expression. “Especially when you look like you could use a break.”

“What’s happened now?”

“Antonio is here.”

My temper immediately flares. What the hell does he want?

I wasn’t expecting him.

“Why is he here?”

She raises her shoulders. “You know him. He just said he wanted to see you. I actually came by to take you to lunch.”

Lunch? Is it that late?

“What time is it?”

“It’s nearly one in the afternoon.”

Oh my God. I can’t remember when I last slept that late. It’s the exhaustion from the crazy week and the fact that most nights see me either not sleeping at all or having only a few meager hours of broken sleep.

“I really don’t want to deal with him right now.”

“I’m sorry. He’s waiting for you in your living room.”

That asshole. He knows how I feel about him entering my space, but of course, since I’m a thing that must do as she’s told, my opinion doesn’t matter.

Dragging in a breath, I summon courage. “It’s okay. I’ll be okay.”

I just have to grin and bear the shit for today and tomorrow.

Tomorrow night, I’ll be gone from this hell.

“You know how I hate to be kept waiting,” Antonio says when I walk into my living room.

He’s sitting on my little beige sofa, looking out of place next to the painting Athena did of a ballet dancer on the wall behind.

He doesn’t fit anywhere in my life, so everything about him feels out of place.

It’s ironic, seeing him in here feels creepier than when I found Lukiyan in my bedroom.

“I wasn’t expecting you. Do we have a meeting?” Best to be professional. It’s the easiest way to maneuver him.

“Come here.” He stands and glares at me.

Biting down hard on my back teeth, I walk closer to him and stop a good length away so if he comes at me, I can still run through the door.

“Where is your ring?” He glances at my hand that should be wearing my engagement ring.

“It’s in my room. I must have forgotten to but it back on after my shower last night. What do you want, Antonio?” Best to dance around the subject and skip to something else.

“You know what I want.” Dark seduction flashes in his eyes, and bile rises up my throat. “I want to fuck you. Now take off your clothes and get on your hands and knees.”

My heartbeat speeds up, galloping a million miles an hour as I think of all the things I could do to get out of this situation I’ve feared for months.

My grin-and-bear-it tactic only marginally works. Even with that, I’ve been lucky to get away with just giving him a blow job.

“Did you hear me?”

“I heard you, but I’m not doing it,” I snap. Fuck it. I can’t let him fuck me.

I just can’t. I can’t bear the thought of him being inside me, much less it actually happening.

“Are you telling me no?” He steps forward.

I back away, but he grabs my arm, digging his fingers into my skin.

“You’re hurting me. Let me go.”

“You deserve to be hurt, you little whore. Don’t think I haven’t seen the way you look at the new guard. Are you fucking him?”

“Fuck you, you fucking asshole.”

I always knew I was going to snap at some point. I just didn’t know when.

I also knew that when I did, I should expect him to unleash.

So when the back of his hand lands across my face, I preempted it.

Although I saw it coming and landed myself right in the heart of the shit, it doesn’t make the pain hurt any less.

He hits me so hard I scream and fall to the floor. Blood runs down my mouth from my nose, and my face feels like it’s going to explode.

My face, however, is the least of my worries as he rips my little camisole top right off my body, exposing my breasts.

“I’ll show you who I truly am. When I’m driving into your pussy, then you’ll know me.” He gets on top of me and holds me down.

“Please don’t. Stop, Antonio.” I’m screaming the words and trying to fight him off, but he’s not listening. “Please don’t do this!”

He slaps me again and my stomach lurches.

My panties are ripped off me and he swoops down to crush his lips to mine, kissing me hard.

Tears pour out of my eyes, and I barely register that this is our first kiss.

When he’s done plunging his tongue into my mouth, he covers it with his large, calloused hand and starts undoing his belt buckle.

I beat my fists on the floor, screaming into his hand, but it’s fruitless.

He doesn’t stop.

Antonio is just about to shove his pants down his legs when he’s suddenly yanked backwards, right off me.

A ferocious growl fills the room, and Lukiyan comes into my view as he throws a fist in Antonio’s face.

I grab my clothes so I can cover myself, but I’m shaking so much I can barely get my hands to work.

“Motherfucker, how dare you touch her!” Lukiyan shouts, throwing more punches in Antonio’s face.

“She’s mine. How fucking dare you come in here and interrupt us?”

Even when he’s being battered, Antonio is still trying to have the upper hand. But Lukiyan takes him down several notches with his continued jabs.

Antonio manages to get a punch in when Lukiyan moves, but it’s only momentarily.

Lukiyan grabs his neck, and I don’t know how he’s able to get him off the ground and shove him into the wall, but he does.

He pulls a knife from his back pocket, and I see the disaster that’s about to happen.

Lukiyan is going to kill Antonio.

Lukiyan slices Antonio’s cheek and hoists the knife to stab him in his neck, but Frankie stops it from happening when he rushes in from nowhere and grabs his arm.

“Stop. Fucking stop it!” Frankie shouts. It looks like he’s using all his strength to hold Lukiyan back.

“You think beating women makes you a man?” Lukiyan wails. Although he’s restrained, he still knees Antonio in his balls.

He doubles over, but Lukiyan still has a grip on him with his other hand.

“Lukiyan, fucking cut it out now and let him go.” Frankie pulls Lukiyan away from Antonio and only releases him when he seems sure he won’t retaliate.

Antonio is coughing up blood and his face is a mess.

Good.

He got a taste of his own medicine.

“She’s not yours. Fucking asshole, look at her face.” Lukiyan points at me. “If you fucking touch her again, I’ll kill you.”

He switches his gaze to me.

I’m still shaking and crying, but I can see that murderous look in his eyes quite clearly. The look is accompanied with those words he said to me.

I am your Hades.

He doesn’t have to say them; I can hear them. I never stopped hearing them.

Now they have meaning.

I am your Hades.

I feel like his Persephone as he scans my face, looking at what I know are bad bruises.

“Take a walk, Lukiyan, and calm the fuck down,” Frankie orders.

He gives Frankie a narrowed look then walks away.

I stare after him until he walks through the door and I can’t see him anymore.

He saved me. He saved me again in a way I can’t describe.

I’m snapped back out of my daze when Frankie rushes toward Antonio and throws a fist in his face just as he was straightening up.

“Get the fuck out of here. Get out.” Frankie grabs Antonio’s shoulder and shoves him forward.

When he staggers out the door, Frankie moves toward me.

“Persephone, are you okay?”

I shake my head and hold my clothes closer to my naked form.

He grabs one of my throws from the sofa and wraps it around me, then he holds me as I break down, crying from deep, deep, deep within.

For everything.