As if hearing my silent plea, he reaches over, curling the tips of his fingers around the thin joints near her black lacquered fingernails. “Dahlia.” She tenses in new ways. I can’t tell if she’s flinching from recollections the endearment evokes or insulted by being compared to something so earthy and frail, but her new stiffness is prominent.
“Don’t call me that,” she finally murmurs, fixing her gaze on the grim horizon.
Gio twines more of his hand with hers. “Give me a good reason not to.”
“All right. I’ll give you the most important reason of all. It brings you no closer to what you clearly came for. If you wish to see Kara, your only chance of that is with me.” She casts an impassive stare in my direction. “Unless, of course, you’re feeling so brave and bold you’d rather tromp through all nine districts before you storm the castle and face off with an immortal god with exponentially more power and experience than you.”
She tilts her head in a way that gives me flashbacks of Veronica. The resemblance, never mind the words, is enough of a reality check for me to pause and consider what I’m arguing over. I have no idea if we can trust Kara’s grandmother, but she’s right on one account. Letting her fast-track us to Dis makes sense, even if she’s going to drop us into the middle of an ambush.
“You’ll bring us to her, then?” I ask, even though I can’t count on her to tell me anything close to the truth.
“If she’s still in the capital, you may well see her there…”
My eyes widen in alarm. “If she’s still there? Where else would she be?”
My worst fears take over the dialogue in my head. Kara’s gone. She’s fucking gone.
Why can’t I fathom it? Why won’t my mind accept it? Why hasn’t my soul already confirmed it?
Charlena shrugs. “I have no idea. Once Hades has reached all the depths of her mind, who knows how long she’ll hold his interest. I saw her fight him off before, but he’s not one to give up easily.”
“That’s my ladybug.”
Gio flashes a grin and pumps his free fist. The other one is soon released to join it, courtesy of Charlena breaking away and folding her arms across her leather-clad chest.
“He saw us,” I say. A hiss escapes from my clamped teeth. My eye sockets ache deeper. I can’t hide my tension, nor do I try to.
The confession seems to break Charlena’s chilly exterior.
“Us?”
“Kara and me, together.”
She frowns. “How?”
“A dream. A dream that felt incredibly real.”
“A dream…is the ultimate open space,” she expounds. “The confluence of wishes, desires…vulnerabilities. A place where your protections come all the way down—”
“And assaults can move all the way in.”
Only Gio has the courage to mutter it. I’m physically incapable. The only thing preventing my knees from buckling all the way back down to the ground are my hands’ brutal grips on them.
“So she’s already gone.” Every syllable is drenched in my own misery. “Is that what you’re telling us?”
“No. But if he’s broken into her mind and accessed her thoughts that deeply already, her time with him may soon run its course. Especially now that he’s seen you together, connecting in an even deeper way that he’s powerless to stop… Honestly, I can’t predict how he’ll react or where his interests will trail…if they don’t fade altogether.” She flashes a look at Gio. “And you returning when you should have never left… That’s certainly salt in the wound. Does he know you’re here too?”
“I have no idea, love. I seem to have a familiar face in these parts, so it’s possible word has made it back to him.”
“News travels faster in some circles than others. Kara’s visions had me suspicious that Maximus had broken through to find her. I decided to take up the search myself. When I learned he wasn’t traveling alone, I had to come see for myself. I thought it might be you,” she confesses. “But Hades may not find out so quickly. Needless to say, most of us are invested in our self-preservation here. Not many are especially eager to dispatch an ill-received message to the king of pain and agony, regardless of one’s tenure or status.”
Which could rule out Minos or Charon running to Hades with bad news. Or the beast panting not-so-patiently nearby, seemingly waiting for Charlena’s go-ahead to chew us to bits. While our tenuous circumstances should have me more than ready for her to whisk us to the capital, something still holds me back. But it’s not going to get resolved if I just sit here and brood silently.
“Why are you helping us?”
“What makes you think I’m helping you?”
Her somber emphasis has me regarding her with new concentration.
“You’ve implied as much,” I counter.
“You think so because you’re a victim of your mortal world’s propensity for sentimentality and weakness. Don’t be mistaken. I have neither.”
The new tightness in Gio’s features all but negates the statement. I’m more willing to believe she’s telling the absolute truth. She’s a full-blooded demon, after all.
“But,” she continues with a measure less venom, “Let us say I am not a stranger to his lordship’s hobby of collecting mortal experiences.” While her tone is subdued, it shouts so much—and exposes another element behind her enigma. She’s proud of that captain’s symbol embossed in the leather of her jacket but not necessarily of the leader who bestowed it.
“And Kara, with her hybrid blood, must be like a new dessert for him,” Gio adds.
She straightens her stance. “Of course. And while I have no interest in forcing myself into her mind as he does, I am interested in her gifts, not to mention our shared curse, if you will. She’ll be relegated to the third district when he’s finished with her. I’ve been promised this in exchange for what already feels like an eternity of loyal service.” Her gaze, tracking between us, falters even less than before. “Now we really should be going.”
I release a caustic laugh. “You really think either of us is going to let you have Kara?”
She appraises me for a long moment. “I think, Maximus Kane, that you are very brave and impassioned, and that has you under the illusion that you can somehow change the natural course of things.”
“There’s nothing natural about a demon breeding out a family’s humanity,” I snap. “Being a product of that betrayal is Kara’s only sin. She’s a good person. She doesn’t deserve to have Hades violating her thoughts whenever he pleases, and she sure doesn’t deserve an eternity in your special corner of hell. Don’t you get that?”
She has the audacity to smile. “Taking your anger out on me will do no good. You have to get through Hades first, remember.”
“I plan to.”
She lifts a shoulder. “Then we should be on our way, don’t you think?”
“Dahlia. My darling—”
All Charlena’s humor vanishes when she sets her gaze upon Gio once more. But she doesn’t admonish him for lavishing her with sweet praises I’m unsure she deserves at this point.