The cavern was huge. Stalagmites hunched like figures in the dark. A wide river cut through the middle, its current slow and hypnotic. Smooth pebbles under her bare feet crunched, the sound eerie in the beautiful and ominous cave. She focused on the sound of the water rushing past.
Overwhelming exhaustion slammed into her.
A trick. Like Hypnos’ power. The cave itself was drenched with sleep magic. It wasn’t just a cave, but an extension of Hypnos himself. The place between his domain and the rest of the Underworld.
She shook her head hard, clearing her thoughts and the false drowsiness, pushing the sound of the river to the back of her mind. She concentrated instead on the sound of her breathing, her heartbeats. Thanatos had mentioned once that entrances to the Underworld were disorienting, changing or disappearing based on rules she didn’t fully understand. She should’ve pressed him for more information about that.
Her eyes followed the river toward the mouth of the cave. Adventure and danger waited for her beyond the dark beauty around her.
She stopped moving.
What was she thinking? She was in the Underworld. She didn’t doubt that there were things she’d see beyond this cave that would fascinate her and satisfy the curiosity hounding her. But so were dangers and creatures she’d never considered real before meeting the gods.Her plans to hunt out another god or some other being to help her reach those men now seemed like a foolish idea. The instinct to go back inside was almost as overwhelming as the sound of the river had been.
She reached for the door—
Stone. Cold and rough. Not wood.
Panic slammed into her. “No, no, no.”
She scraped her hands along the wall, searching for the doorjamb, the handle—anything.
Nothing. Just solid rock where the door had been seconds before.
It was gone.
Her legs gave way. Iliana sank to the ground, pressing her back to the wall as panic and self-loathing threatened to make her fall to pieces.
Hermes told you to stay, and you just had to leave, didn’t you?
A hysterical laugh almost burst from her as she dragged her knees to her chest. She’d wanted to prove she could fight. That she wasn’t just a fragile mortal clinging to gods for protection.
Now she was alone. Exposed. And it was her own damned fault.
No.
She forced herself to breathe. To think.The door hadn’t vanished. It had moved. Thanatos had warned her. The Underworld—and its inhabitants—messed with thresholds. With minds.
If the entrance moved or hid itself, she could find it again.
She pushed herself to her feet and scanned the rock—an edge, a seam, a shadow that didn’t belong. Anything—
A sound near the river snapped her attention away, and her muscles locked. The cave had been silent. Other than the running water she was attempting to ignore, there hadn’t been another sound. There had been no noises of wind or scurrying animals. Nothing.
Until now.
Her hand went to the dagger on her hip as she turned, scanning the shadows. She strained her eyes, looking for the source, for any sign of a threat.
Then she saw them—Hypnos and Thanatos—standing near the banks of the river. Relief crashed through her, momentarily making her lightheaded.
She ran toward them, scanning Hypnos’ body for wounds, but there wasn’t even a scratch.
Wait.
She slowed her steps, her relief quickly morphing into unease. She’d seen the worm drag him away, his face half-dissolved by acid, his chest torn open. Even gods couldn’t heal that fast.
Or could they?
It wasn’t just the lack of wounds that jarred her senses. Hypnos would never gaze at her with that peaceful expression. He should’ve looked at her with chiding or annoyance.
