Page 68 of Curse the Flame

It can’t be a shade. They don’t make a sound since they don’t actually touch the floor with their ghostly feet.

It can’t be Sir. I left him on the dock with Theseus, and even if it could be our pup, he’s so much quieter as a tiny dog, and so much louder as a three-headed beast.

No. It’s…

It’s…

Huh?

It’s Theseus. The same shade that I left outside of the gate with Sir, only there’s something completely different about him now. He looks completely solid, for one. With the dark curls and the bronzed skin, you’d think he was alive.

He looks alive. Is he alive?

But if he’s alive, then he’s not an Unmentionable.

My gaze darts up, searching for his eyes. If they’re inky black, then it might just be a trick of the firelight in the megaron. If they’re not, then something really weird is going on.

Um. They’re definitely not black.

Oh, no. As I gaze across the throne room at him, I see that Theseus… his eyes are glowing slightly, showing off a black background with white fractures covering them.

What the…

Aiden tightens his hold on me for a moment before he moves quickly, shunting me behind him so that he’s standing between Theseus and me.

And then he calls out to the hero: “What are you doing here, Theseus?”

I’m not surprised that Aiden—or Hades—recognizes the man. If he was dead, they would know him instinctively. That he seems alive… I’m still not surprised. I mean, he’s a famous hero—isn’t he?

But those eyes…

I’ve never seen eyes like that before.

One glance at the hard set to Aiden’s jaw and I’m sure that he has.

In answer to Aiden’s demand, Theseus smiles.

My stomach drops. It’s not a nice smile. Oh, no. It’s a cruel grin, and his eyes land directly on me as he peers over Aiden’s shoulder.

“Doing my part,” he says, those terrifying eyes almost laughing at us. “Following the path laid out for Theseus. What am I doing? What he’s done plenty of times in the old stories. I’m here for your queen.

“I’m here for Persephone.”

CHAPTER 19

REVEAL YOURSELF

AIDEN

I’m here for Persephone.

I know this story.

After eighty years with Hades in my head, I know every story involving his wife. Every myth. Every song. Every legend.

This one belongs to Theseus, Pirithous, and the two chairs Hades used when the fools came into the Underworld intending to steal Persephone away from her husband because Pirithous wanted her as his bride.

Pirithous never was able to escape. Theseus did. And Hades… he’s regretted that mercy ever since.