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James focused on the spot where he was hidden The question isn’t whether or not I want to help Lux You know that Kate called Walter a heartless bastard?

And an asshole I am quite proud

The corner of James’s mouth twitched Yet you took Casey back to the Underworld

Henry hesitated, and through the leaves, he found Kate She leaned up against a tree a few feet fro with tears He hadn’t seen her so utterlyfor a way to change fate

And once again, it was his fault

I knoe have had our differences, but I need you to trust me

James raised an eyebrow Oh yeah? And why should I do that?

Because you care for Kate, and you care for the twins I have made mistakes, as have you--but they should not suffer because of it

Several seconds passed How do I know this isn’t a trap?

You don’t You simply have to trust er this tilanced at Kate, and heHenry did: that keen sense of loss, as agonizing as it had been for her when she’d faced the inevitable death of her mother The fact that it hurt her so badly when she barely knew the twins ain reaze shifted back to hiony No matter how much a I wanted to believe that eventually Henry would do the right thing, I wavered between hope and despair He had Casey Hell, for all I knew, he’d returned him to his afterlife already Ja like that And if that were the case, then we’d already lost

That left ood That after all he’d gone through with Persephone, he would understand how badly it hurt to be ripped from the person he lovedshot, but I had to take it

Lux was oddly silent once Walter left I expected hile to undo his bonds He just rested against the tree as if he’d accepted his fate

That was the worst part, seeing Lux give up And that hen Ella turned her back to pet one of her s, I closed the distance between us and sat beside him

"I’m sorry," I said softly Lux didn’t look at me "I should’ve done more"

"You stood up for us That’s more than anyone’s done before" His voice was hoarse and his eyes deadened, but at least he hadn’t shut out the world completely Yet If he hurt a fraction as much as he looked like he did, however, it would only be a h" I frowned "Could you petition the council to let you become mortal and join Casey in the Underworld? If they let Persephone do it, then--"

"Their pride would never allow it"

He was right Of course he was right "Then--then once I’ Whatever it takes, I’ll help you find hile him back out or--"

"It’s too late" At last he looked athumanity "Hades has him, and he would rather destroy hiain To hi he stands for Once someone has entered the Underworld, they stay Period The few times he’s allowed the dead to leave, they’ve never made it"

"But he did allow them to try" I leaned in closer "We’ll find a way to fix this, okay? I’ll do whatever I have to do, but you can’t give up Promise me"

As we stared at each other, his brown eyes seemed to thaw Finally, a spark of life "Why do you care soto do with you"

"Yes, it does" I couldn’t even explain it toat me--he needed soods weren’t all as bad as he seemed to think they were And so, for that matter, did I "This isn’t just your life I mean, it is, but--it’s mine, too And I don’t think I can be with someone ould intentionally hurt you this badly"

"Hades," he said, and I nodded

"I can’t rule like that I can’t et what you’ve been through, and I just--I don’t understand why the council can’t see that& C;t t have 8221;

He shrugged "They see what they want to see We all do"

"That’s no excuse for cruelty"

"They don’t consider it cruel"

"Well, I do"

Dead leaves crunched I glanced up Ella washer Nor was practically drooling over us, and I drew the line at ani about?" she said, touching the dog’s jaw, and it whimpered as if it were injured That must’ve been the one Lux had punched I still didn’t approve of what he’d done, but at least it hadn’t gotten the chance to eat us alive

Lux clalared at his hands I considered silence as well, but there was still one tactic I hadn’t tried Ella didn’t see it for Walter, not because she had any personal vendetta Which meant there was still a chance A sive up, even if Lux already had

"We’re talking about how Lux is going to lose Casey for good," I said "Surely you can iine how that would feel"

Ella’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing She’d nearly lost her oin brother in Eden Manor, though her loss would have been teiven the fact that she and Theo were i him, even if histhis, Ella?" I stood, and ht’ve been impervious to bullets, but apparently not to nerves "You kno ain?"

More silence She shifted so I could see her profile, and she stared straight ahead I didn’t care if she was ignoring me--she could still hear me, and that hat mattered

"You kno scared you were in Eden after Theo was injured? You alh that exact saain Not in three ine how you’d feel if the situation were reversed--if Theo had been born mortal, and when he died, you made a deal with Walter to share your immortality with him But you didn’t find out until it was too late that Walter changed the terether What would you have done?"

More silence, but at least now she was staring at the ground That was so--you love Theo so damn much that you would’ve broken into the Underworld and found hi you could to keep hi on the run for thousands of years It would’ve been worth it, right? Not because you were sticking it to the council, but because you would’ve taken any risk as long as it ether, consequences be da, but instead she pressed theether and shook h Cr adiv>

"Ella?" called Ja our conversation, he’d wandered into the woods He was back now though, with a leaf stuck behind his ear I didn’t want to know

Ella looked up "What?"