“Oh, you're all good boys. Don't be sad. I'm not mad at you.”
Hades still found it hard to believe, but his dread steeds nuzzled her and whickered softly. Like they were tame ponies.
Finally, laughing, she emerged from the nest of horseflesh. She felt his eyes on her again, and smiled up at him. “I love horses, don't you?”
The radiant expression on her face caused his stomach to tighten. Had a goddess ever looked at him like that before? His mouth felt dry. He swallowed hard.
“Yes.”
Lina thought she could get lost in that one simple word spoken in Hades' rich, deep voice. For some ridiculous reason, she felt her cheeks warm with a blush, and she turned hastily back to stroke the stallion's slick neck. What the hell was wrong with her? She seriously needed to get a grip on herself. She was a grown woman. There was no reason for her to get all limp-kneed and goo-goo eyed just because Hades hadn't turned out to be a bore or a troll. She glanced at him. Jeesh, he made her nervous. “Reclusive and somber,”
merda!
Demeter had failed to add gorgeous.
She needed to start thinking of him as nothing more than an upper-level executive. An incredibly powerful upper-level executive. Businessâthis trip was meant to be business. Remember that, she told herself firmly.
“I'm ready now.” She straightened her shoulders, gave the stallion a final pat, started to join Hades and then stopped. She had just been scolding the horses for their bad behavior, and here she was, reacting to the presence of a handsome man like a silly schoolgirl and forgetting all of her own manners.
“Eurydice,” she called, stepping away from the chariot so that she could see the spirit who was standing nervously a little way down the path. “Come on. Hades is going to give us a ride.”
Eurydice's eyes were wide and frightened. “Oh, no, Goddess. I could not go with . . .” The young spirit's words ran out, leaving her silent and helpless.
Lina thought she looked like a pale, frightened little fawn.
“Honey, I wouldn't think of going on without you. You've been a wonderful guide and a good friend.” Lina turned to Hades. “Isn't your palace on the way to the Elysian Fields?”
Hades nodded.
“So it would be fine for Eurydice to ride there with us?” She asked the god.
Instead of answering her, Hades shifted his attention to the little spirit and spoke directly to Eurydice.
“Do not fear, child. You may join your goddess.”
His voice had changed again. Lina thought that now he sounded like a father coaxing a shy child to his side. His expression had softened, too, and gone was the intense look with which he had been studying her. In exchange his face was kind, and he looked suddenly approachable and understandingâand somehow older than he had originally appeared.
“As you wish, my Lord.” Eurydice's sweet voice answered Hades. She even managed the shadow of a smile as she skirted around the four stallions to join Lina. “You don't have to worry about them now,” Lina told her, forcing her eyes from Hades' shifting face and nodding her head at the horses. “They'll behave.”
Eurydice sent the four beasts a nervous glance, and she was careful to keep the goddess between herself and them, even though they gave no sign of striking out at her. They were too busy whickering at Persephone and sending her adoring looks.
The lip of the chariot sat well above the ground, and Lina gratefully accepted Hades' help to climb aboard. His large hand engulfed hers in instant warmth, and Lina was surprised to feel the roughness of well-worn calluses against Persephone's smooth palm. She wondered what work Hades did with his hands, but she didn't have time to ponder the god's habits long because as soon as she pulled Eurydice up next to her, Hades barked a command and the chariot lurched forward, whipped around in a tight circle and plunged back through the jagged opening in the earth. Glancing over her shoulder, Lina caught sight of the crevice closing behind them. She gulped and drew Eurydice in front of her and grasped the smooth ridge that ran along the top of the chariot, effectively locking her within the circle of her arms so that she could be sure the girl didn't tumble off.
Lina's ball of light kept pace with them, hovering just above her right shoulder, but its illumination wasn't needed. Torches blazed from silver wall sconces, lighting the smooth, high sides of the dark tunnel through which they flew.
“It is like the Bat Cave.”
Lina realized she'd spoken her thoughts aloud when Hades' head tilted down in her direction and he gave her a questioning glance.
“I was just wondering if there were bats in this cave,” Lina said sheepishly.
“Yes, often there are,” Hades said.
Lina watched his cape billow behind him. “I'll bet they're big bats,” she said wryly.
Hades snorted, sounding much like one of his dread steeds. “Do you fear bats, Goddess?”
“I've never thought about it,” she said honestly. “Actually, I don't know much about them.”
“It is normal to fear that which you do not know,” Hades said.
His tone was still fatherly, and, Lina thought, slightly patronizing. She raised an eyebrow at him. If she'd adhered to that belief system, the events of the past day would have paralyzed her.
“I don't think it's normal; I think it's a sign of immaturity,” Lina said.
Hades snorted again, irritating Lina with his condescension. “Thus says a very young goddess.”
“Maturity cannot always be measured by years,” she retorted. He might be Mr. Tall Dark and Batman, but he was certainly going to be in for a surprise if he tried to treat her like she was young and stupid.
Hades' only comment was a piercing look. He shouted another command to his horses and they increased their speed, making further talking impossible. Lina focused on holding onto the chariot and making sure she didn't lose Eurydice's little spirit body during one of their blindingly fast turns.
Just as she was beginning to think that her hands might have formed permanently into claws from clutching the railing so tightly, Hades raised the two-pronged spear to the roof. A flash of light exploded from the spear's points, causing the tunnel to open and the floor to twist upward. With a thunderous roar the chariot shot from the newly exposed exit and, in a rain of impressive sparks from the hooves of the dread steeds, they slid to a halt.
Lina gazed around her in wordless awe. The first thought that struck her was that it wasn't dark anymore. The sky above them was bright and cheerful. Though there was no sun to be seen, it glowed a palette of luscious pastelsâcolors that ranged from the softest of violets to Caribbean turquoise and buttercup yellow. She could hear the lyrical calling of songbirds, and the breeze that caressed her face brought with it a sweet, familiar scent. Lina inhaled deeply. Where had she smelled that wonderful fragrance before? Her eyes moved from the subtle beauty of the sunless sky and her question was answered.
Tall, stately trees Lina thought she recognized as cypress lined the path on either side of them, but instead of growing out of marshy land, the area beneath them was carpeted, not in moss or swamp, but in flowers. Huge, moonlight colored flowers, the likes of which Lina had only seen one other time.
“They're narcissus flowers!” Lina exclaimed in surprise.
Hades glanced down at her. “Yes, the narcissus is the flower of the Underworld.” The god drew in a deep breath. “I never tire of their sweet scent.”
Lina clamped her mouth shut and said no more, but her mind kept circling around the irony of Demeter using the flower of the Underworld to exchange her soul with Persephone's. So, the Goddess of the Harvest had simply answered her invocation? She had just wanted to help out Lina's bakery as if she were performing a divine Good Samaritan act? Demeter had no hidden agenda, like . . . perhaps . . . a send-Lina-to-Hell-in-Persephone's-place plan? She glanced surreptitiously at the god who stood beside her. He didn't seem apt to leap on her and rape her. But he also wasn't the wooden god Demeter had described. In a very short time he had been intense, sexy, intimidating and kind. Definitely
not
a boring, asexual, disinterested god of the dead. What was Demeter really up to? Well, Lina wasn't some foolish young girl who had just fallen off the damn turnip truck. She'd keep her eyes open and her guard up. She had a job to do. She'd do it and then she'd go home.
Hades snapped the reins and the chariot started forward again. This time, Lina was relieved to note, at a more sedate speed. The woods on either side of them were thick and ancient looking. Exotic birds flitted playfully within their boughs and called to one another with melodic voices. The cypress roots were mantled in deep tapestries of the distinctive narcissus flowers, and occasionally Lina would hear the liquid whispering of a stream and catch sight of a crystal pool reflecting the watercolor sky. From time to time Lina thought she saw the flickering shapes of spirits, but when she tried to focus on the elusive images they disappeared, and no other souls traversed the road with them.
“It is so very beautiful,” Eurydice said in the hushed voice of a child in church.
“It certainly is,” Lina agreed. Then she glanced at the globe of light that hovered above her shoulder. Opening her hand, she held it, palm up, in the direction of the little light. “It doesn't look like we need you now.” Instantly, the light reacted by diving into her palm, and with a popping noise it disappeared back into Lina's skin. Her palm tingled, and she had to force herself not to wipe it against her robe. Instead, she smiled brightly at Eurydice and pretended that it was normal for semi-sentient balls of light to pop into her skin.
“See,” she told the girl, “you were right not to be afraid. There's nothing horrible or scary here.”
The dark god beside them nodded in agreement and smiled kindly at the little spirit. “For such as you, child, death need hold no terrors. You shall spend eternity enjoying the delights of the Elysian Fields, or, if you so choose, you may drink from Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness, and be reborn to live another mortal life.”
Lina tried to hide her surprise. Souls could choose to be reborn? She looked at the girl who stood quietly within the protection of her arms. She'd died so young; surely she would want the chance to be reborn and to live a long, full life.
“That sounds wonderful, Eurydice. You could rest for awhile. Maybe loll about the Fields like you're on a mini-vacationâlike I am!” Lina grinned at her. “Then drink from the forgetful river and have a whole new life to live.”
Lina's grin faded as she watched Eurydice's already pale face blanch to an almost colorless white. Her eyes clearly reflected an inner terror.
“What is it, honey?” Lina asked.
“Why can I not stay with you, Persephone?” Eurydice pleaded desperately. “I don't want to be reborn. I don't want to, even if I forget my past life I might make the same mistakes, might choose the sameâ” Her voice broke off with a sob and she buried her face in her hands.
Lina looked helplessly at Hades as she wrapped the girl in her arms. The god was studying the young spirit with knowing eyes.
“Be at ease, child,” Hades said. “As long as your goddess remains in the Underworld, you will have access to her. Hush now, your tears are not necessary. Elysia is different for each mortal spiritâyour Elysia will simply be found at Persephone's side.”
Lina smiled her thanks to Hades. Eurydice was just young and frightened. If Hades allowed the girl to stay with her, that would give Eurydice six months to become settled. By the time Lina had to leave, the girl would be so used to the Underworld that she wouldn't be bothered by the absence of her goddess. Maybe Lina could even talk her into being reborn once she relaxed and gained some confidence. Lina wondered what had happened in her short life to cause the girl such pain, and made a mental note to talk with her about it when the little spirit was feeling more secure.
Eurydice raised her face. “Truly? I may stay with Persephone?” she asked Hades.
“Truly. You have the word of the God of the Underworld,” Hades replied solemnly.
Eurydice's face blossomed with joy. “Oh, thank you, Hades! I promise to serve my goddess well.”
Lina chucked the girl under her chin. “Friends don't serve one another, Eurydice.”
The girl thought for a moment before speaking. “If you will not allow me to serve you, will you allow me to look after you and be certain that you are well cared for?”
Lina opened her mouth to assure the girl that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but Eurydice's desperate expression stopped her words. The girl obviously needed someone on which to focus her attention. Maybe it would be best, at least for a little while, that she be kept busy.
“I'd be honored to have you look after me, Eurydice,” Lina said, returning the girl's enthusiastic hug of thanks. “My mother has often told me that I need a keeper.” Actually, it was her grandmother who had made the comment on the occasion of the zillionth time she had spilled some kind of food on herselfâand she had made the comment in Italian, but Lina refrained from sharing the rest of the sentiment with Eurydice.
“As you will see, child, my palace has many rooms. You shall have one near your goddess.” With a flourish, Hades swept his arm ahead of them and the two women looked up. “Behold, the Palace of Hades.”
They had come to a place where the road made an abrupt T. The left-handed fork disappeared quickly into the thick forest, but it was the right-handed branch to which Hades drew their attention. It curved gracefully, circling a magnificent castle.