Hades’s eyes flashed. “It was deserved.”

Parvani pressed her lips together, beginning to shake in the chill. Hades noticed and sighed, unfastening her cloak to settle it on Parvani’s shoulders.

“If you want,” the god said, eyes fixed on the cloak’s clasp as she snapped it closed, “I can show you something better than the rivers.”

This intrigued Parvani, so she agreed. They began to walk through the Netherworld, Parvani holding the cloak to her. It smelled like midnight and jasmine.

“Who are those women I see lurking about?” Parvani asked. “The ones with gold on their skin?”

Hades smiled a little, without mirth. “The Furies. They have a duty here as well. They punish those on earth who have committed grievous wrong and often drag them down here, to the lowest reaches of the Netherworld.”

As they walked, Parvani began to grow warmer, until she realized they were passing a rivulet of smoldering lava. She followed the trail with her eyes to a crag where the lava spilled over in imitation of a waterfall. Farther on, a geyser of fire shot out of the earth, limning the edges of a monstrous pit.

“That is where they go,” Hades said.

Parvani shuddered. “But they haven’t taken Hajan. Surely he’s evil enough. Why haven’t the Furies done anything?”

“Who can say? They have their own way of doing things. Perhaps he hasn’t done enough wrong yet.”

She scowled, thinking of the wars being fought in Hajan’s name, Ranya’s body on the gibbet. “Who are they to judge such a thing?”

Hades’s eyes cut to hers. “Who are you to judge the same?”

Parvani shrank into the cloak, keeping silent as they walked. Eventually they arrived at an open valley, the glowing algae high above their heads mirroring the light of dusk. Veins of glowing lapis spiderwebbed across the rocky valley, and twinkling specks of dust—perhaps fireflies, or drifting algae—floated through the air.

A large stone archway stood in the middle of the valley.

Hades walked toward it, and Parvani followed. The closer they came, the more Parvani realized the archway was emitting a strange, soothing hum, a lullaby she felt in her chest. She hid a yawn behind a hand, and Hades smiled.

“This is the Dreamers’ Gate,” the god said once they stood a few paces before it. The archway was lovingly crafted from an ivory-like material, etched with vines and elegant corbels at either end of the scalloped roof. “This is where I send dreams to the living. It’s . . . a comfort, compared to what else I’m expected to do.”

Parvani’s lips parted. “The stories didn’t mention this.”

“Your people do not pray to me. I doubt you’ve heard every story.” Again, another quirk of her eyebrow. “Otherwise you would have known about the rivers.”