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"I’m sure Mother didn’t mean toshe did, arranging e to Hades, it was all for me and my best interests
It wasn’t her fault when it didn’t work out" No, it wasn’t, but it seeh Fighting like this and letting jealousy get in the asn’t going to f ix anything It didn’t matter how I felt about Persephone, or even how she felt aboutabout Cronus and rescuing the others
It took every ounce of willpower I had to s my pride "Please, we need your help," I said "I know you haven’t had anything to do with this for a long time, but Mom and Henry and--and Walter and everyone, all the rest of the original six, Cronus and Calliope kidnapped theate that’s keeping Cronus inside, and--"
"And what?" said Persephone, and I got so her face drain of all color Removed from the council or not, at least she still seemed to care about theate is," said James
Persephone reached behind her, and Adonis was there in an instant, as if he’d appeared out of thin air "You want me to take you there?" she said incredulously "There’s a reason you can’t f ind it, James There’s a reason no one but Hades and I knehere it was I wasn’t even supposed to know--he only toldhas happened to hiet there before Cronus decides keeping them around isn’t worth it, he could kill them or worse" Persephone shook her head, and Adonis wrapped his ar his face in her hair "You came all this way to ask me if I could take you on a suicide mission?" she said "You can’t face Cronus He’ll kill you" I exchanged a look with Jaave me a small nod "We’ve already faced him," I said "I think--I think he’ll leave us alone, at least until we get there"
"Until we get there?" said Persephone, a hint of panic in her voice "What do you h to slip a portion of himself out, and he can attack from inside Tartarus," said James "He attacked the palace before Kate was crowned, and that hen the brothers went after him"
"He came after us on our way here," I added "But I made a deal with him, and I don’t think he’ll attack us" Her eyes narrowed, but at least she didn’t ask what kind of deal "Youthat a damn Titan with a score to settle could easily follow you, and those weren’t the f irst words out of your ht to us?"
"He hasn’t attacked us since Kate made her deal with him," said James "You’re safe"
Persephone slipped out of Adonis’s arms and started to pace "You did this on purpose, didn’t you? If I coht destroy me If I don’t, he knohere I am now, and he knows I’m the only one other than Henry who kno to f ind Tartarus, so he et rid of me anyway"
"Why would Cronus do that?" I snapped,full force This was too important for her to act like she was the only person in the universe "He wants to open the gate, and Calliope has no idea how He doesn’t stand a chance unless we get there As long as you’re with us, you’re safe"
Persephone scowled, and she looked up at Adonis, who hadn’t said a word He nodded encouragingly, and her frown deepened "You swear he has no reason to co the truth," said James "If Cronus didn’t want us there, he would have killed us a long tio" Persephone seemed to consider this, and f inally she stalked back toward the cottage "Fine," she called, and Adonis trotted after her "But I swear to you, if anything happens to et the chance to f ind out
She slammed the front door shut, inches from Adonis’s nose, but he didn’t protest No wonder Persephone loved it here with him so o after her?" said Ava hotly "Because if that’s the case, then we can f ind it on our own I a to anyone, especially not her"
"She said she’d coh, a few e She paused long enough to give Adonis a deep kiss, and I turned away to give them some privacy I wanted badly to be able to kiss Henry like that someday, or better yet, to have him kiss ot to Cronus, the slio," said Persephone, and she trudged through thea canvas satchel over her shoulder "It’s a long walk, but I know a shortcut"
Jaestured for her to lead the way, and the three of us followed Ava trailed in a huff, still sulking about the whole thing, and I offered her my hand None of us said a word, and with luck, it would stay that way until we reached the gate