Page 139 of This Divine Revelry

I groan. ‘You know, if they fail us again, we’ll go plummeting straight back into the Phlegethon.’

He grabs my hand. ‘You’ve done it before so I can just use you as a raft. Come on, let’s go break a few dozen laws.’

We make it perhaps a mile on, past the Phlegethon, back towards the Acheron, where asphodel flowers spill from across the banks, when out of their dark mass shadows rise and solidify.

A figure steps forward, still wreathed in shadow. He is tall, broad-shouldered, his cloaks finely crafted and so dark they melt into the shadows. Fear spikes with blistering cold and I step back, like it might protect me from the sceptre he lifts: gold, tipped with a sharp-beaked bird.

And, of course, the crown – twisting shadows of its own, smelted into being.

Hades. King of the Underworld.

His gaze catches on Dionysus – and then his displeasure shifts to rage.

‘An Olympian trespassing in the Underworld? I had no idea you so readily courted war.’

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

‘NO, NO, NOT AN OLYMPIAN.’ Dionysus raises his hands in surrender but steps forward to cover me. ‘Well, I suppose kind of, but I definitely do not have the authority to take the whole court to war.’

Hades doesn’t lower that staff. ‘So the news that reached us only this morning of your newfound position on the council is a lie?’

Dionysus swallows, his eyes darting about like he might find an appropriate answer. And I realize that there is something he has not yet told me.

‘It’s … pending.’

‘Meaning?’

Dionysus winces. ‘It was a conditional acceptance. And that condition is … this.’

Hades arches a brow. ‘So the Olympians know you’re here. Is that what my realm is now? Some test for your heroes and your council positions?’

‘No!’ Dionysus protests. He takes a breath, his eyes fluttering closed. ‘Zeus wanted me on the council and I refused. I have as little interest in joining them on Olympus as you do.’ At Hades’ pointed look he hurriedly corrects, ‘Alright, almost as little interest. Come on, Hades, put the weapon down. We can discuss this civilly – remember that unlimited wine cellar I had set up for you –’

‘Keep talking,’ Hades growls.

‘I told the Olympians I’d join them if they made my wife immortal too.’

‘What?’ I turn to him, which drags the attention of the King of the Underworld right to me.

‘This is her?’ he spits, levelling me with as much fury as he just fired at Dionysus. ‘The woman who broke free of the Acheron, swam across the Phlegethon and doused my prisoners in Lethe water?’ He steps closer, lowering his sceptre but only so he can narrow his eyes at me. ‘Do you have any idea how much paperwork you have caused me?’

‘I … sort of imagined that had all gone unnoticed.’

‘Unnoticed?’ he repeats, lip curling with disgust. ‘You think my realm so lax that anything here goes unnoticed? The gods of each one of those rivers reported you. Tartarus saw you near his territory. And Styx witnessed this little reunion. Though the less said about her account, the better, given she appears to be rooting for whatever it is going on here.’

‘I’m sorry, Lord Hades, this is all my fault. I just couldn’t bear eternity on those shores. Please don’t blame my husband, he –’

Dionysus grabs my hand and yanks me back behind him.

‘It was a trick!’ Dionysus says quickly. ‘One of Father’s specialities – yes, you can make her immortal but I won’t tell you how to get her back. The Olympians definitely don’t intend war because no one thought we would get this far.’

‘So someone told you the way.’ His eyes drop to the wings fluttering on Dionysus’s sandals.

‘I stole the shoes,’ Dionysus says quickly. ‘I swear on the Styx, Hermes knows nothing of this.’

‘Then who –’

‘You know I can’t tell you. It would put them in danger for disobeying Zeus. Please just –’ he is clinging on to me tightly, like if he just holds on well enough this might work out – ‘let us go. If it’s within my power, it’s yours. If it’s not within my power, I’ll find a way. I’m not trying to mock the court of the Underworld – I’m just … desperate.’