Kronos’s laughter died down, though a tear of mirth remained in the corner of his eye. “Oh, girl. How young you must be. How fortunate, to be so naive. You wear Hades’ favor and yet you know her so little?”

Persephone’s hand went briefly to her neck. “I’d had no chance to know her. I wasn’t exactly courted.”

“In my days, the chase was the courtship. You saw a girl you wanted, you kept her in your bed until she was round with child and no longer had the strength to flee.”

That practice was alive and well. It was a hard tradition to break, seeing as the gods were unwilling to change their ways. But she’d thought—hoped—that Hades could be different.

It was stupid. She ought to have run whilst she still could.

“Nothing has changed,” Persephone said.

“Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.”

“That’s not true!”

“Oh?” Kronos leered at her. “And who would you be without Hades’ favor, Demeter’s daughter? Nobody. All you have to offer is what lies between your legs.”

Persephone bit her tongue, grateful for the bars and for the distance between them. She would not ever have dreamed of striking an unarmed old man before today.

“Hades will never let you go, not after what she did to have you. But don’t despair, girl. If it’s freedom you want, then you shall have it,” Kronos said.

“What did she do?” Persephone asked.

“Help me and I’ll tell you.”

“How?”

Kronos dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Free me and free yourself. We shall crush this prison and its jailers along with it.”

Persephone paused as though considering his offer. He really thought she was so selfish, so naive as to betray all of Olympus just to fulfill her wish? Nothing justified treason, not even her freedom. “I must go,” she said. “Goodbye, Grandfather.”

He strained to raise himself partially off the rack. “Foolish girl! Without me, you are nothing! Hades will never let you leave. Never!”

Persephone turned her back on him and kept moving, her heart racing as she ascended via the long walkways. It wasn’t true. Hades would tire of her, in time. Poseidon spent his seed as though it were endless as sea foam; Zeus had bastards in all the lands surrounding the Aegean. A century from now, maybe two, Hades would find some nymph or other to divert her attention.

Persephone wasn’t sure she could wait that long.

12

INTERROGATION

The ascension from Kronos’s cell level was hard on Persephone’s muscles, and her thighs ached by the time she’d reached the platform. The giant guarding this area was not amused to see her.

“You are not authorized to access the depths of Tartarus,” he said whilst tapping the fingers of half his hands in irritation. “Hades will be displeased.”

“I won’t tell her if you won’t.”