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Persephone shook her head. “We are the same soul, reincarnated. I did not know what would happen when I put that in motion, but I had faith our soul would find its way back to him. But you and I, we are not the same. My demons were different. Yet our enemy… sheremains.”
Up until then, Persephone had appeared the picture of serenity.
With one word, I understood why everyone had begun to back away when I got angry.
Her eyes flared neon green, replacing everything from the pupil to the sclera. Green lightning flashed along her skin like chain mail, whilevines flared to life, covered in thorns.
“You must defeat her, Avery. But it’s not for revenge.”
“Why, then?” I asked, refusing to fear my own soul. Even if she looked like a demon at that moment.
But the magic ebbed away. Both the frozen ghost, and the phantom faded until they were barely visible.
“You know why. For the same reason you will take the mantle…”
Her voice grew softer and softer until it faded into silence. The previous Queen of Hell disappeared.
Immediately the lava began to heat again, threatening to dissolve my body.
Shit.
You know why.
“Wait!” I called out to the mantle. “Let me change my answer!”
I half-expected the mantle to dismiss me and continue with the destroying-the-unworthy-pretender shtick.
The lake paused. It didn’t cool the lava, just left it a shade below the temperature of boiling water. My magic sheltered me, but barely.
A bead of sweat dripped down my back.
I thought back to my previous answer. I’d told myself I wanted to live for revenge. To have the power to hurt those who had hurt me.
Yet there was more to it than that.
Phaidros had threatened Daphne. All I’d ever wanted was to protect her. I loved her. I wanted the power to make sure no one could hurt her like that again.
I wanted the power to rescue Cole. And even if Cole was lost, I wouldn’t abandon his people.
There was a bigger threat out there. I’d spent so longwishing I’d had someone to protect me.
I’d wanted the power to intervene when Sabine had found a new victim and I’d had to walk away.
I wanted the power to be that person for the entire realm. For the imps who had to steal bread, for undead dragons that had been malformed through magic.
“What is your answer, then?”the mantle asked, impatient, like it really had somewhere to be.
“I’ve wanted power ever since my pack turned on me. Wished for it. Cursed the fact I didn’t have it. But then, I wanted it to protect myself. I thought I wanted it to fix the fact I hadn’t had it, to fix what I thought had caused all my problems.” I drew a breath, hoping the lake wouldn’t smother me with lava if it didn’t like my new answer. “I don’t want the mantle for the power, but the responsibility. Both realms have been too long without guidance. Where the strong pick on the weak. With the mantle, I’ll change that.”
“Both realms?”
“I’m only asking for power for this one. But I’m not going to abandon my old pack either. I’m going to take on Jett. And I’m going to set things right there, too. For all shifters.”
Maybe it was hubris that made me think I could do that.
But when I thought of Daphne in the cell… when I thought of the little shifter Sabine tormented, the latest in a never-ending cycle of victims, I realized I couldn’t turn my back on them.
I held my breath, waiting.
