Page 24 of On a Pale Horse
Part of her would have said Gwyn. That maybe he wanted to amass the power for himself. But no, he wouldn’t do that to Bianca. Cloris didn’t think. No, Bianca wouldn’t let him. The last time he’d manipulated her with magic, she’d lost her shit. Bianca wouldn’t allow it again. And Gwyn wouldn’t risk losing her.
Cloris considered it further. “I think this was Odin’s plan. He’s the only one on the other side right now I could imagine is intelligent enough to pull something like this off. Does he have the scales or does Hel, and he thinks she’s working for him in proxy?”
It was a twisted web sharing her mind and Cloris needed time to consider it before she made any final conclusions. The key facts that Hel was involved, and Odin, definitely didn’t sit well with her no matter how she looked at the situation.
She turned and started a pace. It helped her think to be moving. “If Odin thought Hel would take the scales and then give them to him, then he isn’t as smart as I thought. However, if she convinced him to help her, and he took the scales as payment and now he has them, well … that might not be so bad.”
“Why not?” Katherine asked, as she carefully leaned against the stair rail.
Cloris stopped pacing and met her gaze. “Odin’s vault is uncrackable. No one can get in or out without him present. He’d basically be protecting the seals for us. He’s already made it very clear he is against Ragnarök. We know that. So maybe in exchange for the items that could bring on the apocalypse, he helps her get the Underworld back and takes us out of the equation at the same time.”
“Sounds plausible,” Arwan said. He let out a yawn and stretched, then got to his feet beside Katherine. “I need to go back to bed, my head is beginning to hurt again. I hope these visions are done once we complete the tasks. Did Gwyn say how long they will last?”
Cloris shook her head. “No, he didn’t say much about it, only that it would work. I can ask him though when I see him next. Which is going to be soon if he needs to hunt down an old friend of his.”
The pair headed up to bed, and Cloris went home, materializing straight into her bedroom. Hades and Persephone lay on top of the covers, his arms were wrapped around her waist and his face was lying on her collarbone. It was intimate, but the sight comforted Cloris rather than made her jealous. She liked seeing them both in her home, in her bed, together. It felt natural to have them both here, two halves of an insane whole. The two halves of her heart. But she couldn’t afford to think that way. Persephone made it clear they couldn’t be together long-term ages ago, and Cloris had learned when pushed, Persephone shoved back, and not for fun. She had to be the most stubborn woman she knew, and that included Scarlet.
Instead of heading out to wake up Gwyn, she climbed up on the bed and curled around Persephone’s other side. When she did, Phe shifted and curled around Cloris, Hades followed suit and curled around Persephone.
Gwyn and his special kind of crazy could wait until she got some sleep. She needed time to think about what the sword would mean for Scarlet and Tyr, anyway. Did they even want it?
Something to think about later. Cloris fell asleep in minutes cradled in the arms of the two people most dear to her.
Eleven
Persephone
Persephone didn’t know what to make of Hades. He was a certainly a man on a mission, to seduce her ex-girlfriend, and she hadn’t yet organized how she felt about it yet. She stood outside the club under a streetlight in a long black shimmering ballgown that hugged every curve.
A slit came from the bottom to halfway up her thigh. Even though it wasn’t red, the cut and figure made her feel a little like Jessica Rabbit. Her hair was curled and arranged artfully on her head, and crowning the top was a dahlia. She didn’t bother with a mask, even though some members did. She’d never felt the need for anonymity, it only took away from the attention she enjoyed when coming to The Underworld.
She streamed right through the hostess stand, and she had nothing to lock away, so she didn’t claim one of the gold chains on the boxes. She knew exactly where room number nine was, and she entered without knocking.
Hades sat on the bed, still dressed in a tuxedo. He glanced up when she entered, and his smile sent butterflies winging in her belly. She didn’t think it was the reaction he mentioned, but merely a reaction to a handsome man, and he certainly was that. His hair sat in golden brown curls artfully disarrayed as if he could never be concerned with fixing it, and yet it gave him a roguish quality.
His skin was a dusty golden shade that might be associated with someone of Hispanic heritage. Even the full weight of his lips drew her attention. There was a femininity about him juxtaposed with sheer masculine aura.
She trudged the length of the room, let him look his fill, before stopping next to the bed. “Are you ready?”
He shook his head but got up, anyway.
She stepped forward and took his hands in hers. “You know I won’t hurt you, right? At least not in a way you won’t enjoy immensely.”
He chuckled; the tension tightening his shoulders, easing. “Isn’t that the idea though?”
“No, what we do here will be a pleasure for all of us, even if it involves a little of pain.”
When he didn’t move again, she slid her hands into the top of his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders to land on the floor. Not bothering to pick it up and fold it, she continued with his bowtie.
He stared down at his jacket before meeting her eyes again.
She liked he was only a little taller than her. “And what if I undressed you?”
His brow furrowed, and she halted as she slipped the last knot from his bowtie. “What is it?”
He swallowed so heavily she could hear it. Pain etched around the soft crinkles near his eyes. “I fear I’m being untrue to Cloris.”
Oh. For a moment she thought he wasn’t getting into things because of her. Maybe he didn’t find her attractive enough. She didn’t look like Cloris with her milky white skin and perfect blonde hair. “Have you two talked about being only with each other?”
