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Prologue
Zerina twisted on the bed, trying to loosen her wrists that were tied to the headboard
“You really shouldn’t do that You’re only hurting yourself”
Startled at the sound of a voice she recognized when she believed the roo the rooed on the bottom of the bed
“Untie me! Hurry!” her voice screamed in her mind
Hades had taped her reet an expected visitor
Jinx winced “Please lower your voice Your screa my head”
“You can hear me?”
“Of course” She rolled her eyes at her
No one knew all of Jinx’s different powers She guarded her secrets as closely as the Moirai Zerina thought the woman herself didn’t know all she was capable of
“Don’t just sit there Untie ain, Zerina forced herself to calm down
Jinx shook her head “I can’t I’e fro to find a way in, other than actually dying, which I really don’t want to do”
Zerina fell back onto the pillow “If you can’t help, then go away Tell my mother and father where I am so they can help me”
“Don’t be mad at me You knoould help if I could Do you really want me to tell Fate and Valentine where you are? Hades is protected by Mother It could start a war”
Zerina lifted her head again to stare at her cousin Jinx was right; if Fate and her father found out she was in Hades’ do to help her
When Mother gifted Hades with the Underworld, she proods She would not break her word, nor would she let anyone else If she allowed Jinx to go for help, it would start a war that could not be won by the Moirai They would be destroyed If the Moirai were destroyed, time itself would stop and the world would cease to exist
“Promise me you won’t tell them,” Zerina requested vehemently
“I promise I’m not stupid I’m well aware of ould happen,” Jinx rery with me”
If Zerina could grind her teeth in aggravation, she would Jinx always et on her nerves To look at the woman, you would never believe the power she held Jinx didn’t look a day over eighteen, perpetually youthful Her looks were plain, unassu She wasn’t beautiful or even pretty She would pass unnoticed in a roooddesses Her diminutive size at barely five feet had oftenMany had underestihed at her anyhtened
She was the daughter of Merlin and a fairy, ore he had seduced her Neither had wanted Jinx, and she had been tossed back and forth between theh to survive on her own
“I’ry I just don’t want you to be here when Hades returns I don’t want hiry with you”
The hurt disappeared from Jinx’s chocolate-colored eyes “Oh” She adjusted herself, lying down sideways on the bed “He can’t see me; only you can”
“If you can’t help, why are you here?”
“So you won’t feel so lonely and scared Is it working?”
“No,” Zerina said drily
Jinx’s tinkling laughter filled the rooh You’re my favorite cousin”
“Only because I was the one who didn’t leave when you appeared Things tend to go wrong whenever you’re in a room”
Jinx tilted her head to the side in question “Why didn’t you leave when others would? It’s notdown that flight of steps, doesn’t she?”
“Maybe a little You did bump into her”
“Even your father doesn’t like me, and he’s supposed to be a saint”
Zerina glared “Supposed to be?”
Jinx shrugged “Can a saint be an adulterer?”
“He made a mistake He said he had never been tempted by a woman until you convinced him to try to teach you potions”
“He blamed me? For that? I only wanted him to teach me how to make a love potion When he refused, I attempted it on my own Is it my fault he drank it before I could throw it away?”
“Yes, you could have told hi instead of lying and telling hi to Jinx through her mind
“How did I knoould see Juno? That was an accident, pure and simple”
“I don’t know about that,” Zerina said doubtfully “How about Achilles?”
“That definitely wasn’t my fault! I told his mother how to protect hiot to dip his ankle?”
“Hercules …”
“How is that—”
“You convinced Deianeira to use a love potion on Hercules, which poisoned him”
“I offered her ued back
“Did or did Mother not warn you to stay away from earth? Despite that, you went to earth, to New York, and when there, confided to one of the humans that money was useless It took years for the earth to recover?
?
“Okay, that one ht have beenaround me, then why did you always stay and talk to me?”
Zerina’s face flushed in eift”
Jinx laughed harder “You stayed because you were afraid of where you would end up?”
“Yes,” Zerina confessed
“And I thought you stayed because you liked hter died “I don’t kno I feel about that”
Zerina sighed She couldn’t understand hoo such devastation could be so sensitive
“Are you still trying to find a way in to help me?” Zerina prodded when Jinx remained silent
“No, I’ to decide if I still want to help”
Zerina began kicking out at the ie at the bottom of the bed
“What are you doing?” Jinx asked
“Trying to kick your ass!” she screamed inside her head
The sound of the door handleat the doorway
“Leave,” Zerina warned, the tape across herat the woman when she saw her jued on the bed again
The door opened wider, showing Hades