My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Trust Issues (Part 1)

I came to on the grass. Prometheus sat beside me, watching me warily. "Want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, my limbs shaky. Revisiting my entombment was the last thing I wanted to do. I curled into myself instead, trickles of anxious sweat beading down my spine. "Why are you doing this?" I blurted.

"Why are you?"

Because Persephone is crazy with rage and wants to take everyone down didn't seem like an appropriate response.

Whatever Prometheus thought he saw in my expression made him chuckle. "I know you hate Zeus and Hades." He shrugged. "Fine by me since it suits my purposes."

He'd nailed my feelings for those two, and I was happy to let him think that was what had set off my hysteria. "I know your agenda," I said. "You want to save humanity. But why?"

Here was Prometheus, willing to talk to me in a way that Theo wouldn't. Or maybe he just found it too hard after everything he'd been through.

Prometheus' dark eyes were wistful. "Wouldn't any parent do whatever they had to do to keep their kids safe? I was there for the birth of mankind. I nurtured them with the gift of fire and watched them achieve beautiful impossible things." He wrapped his finger around a dandelion stem. "Terrible things, too. But so many of those, as misguided and immoral as they were, came from a place of hope. Of believing in a better tomorrow and fighting to the death to achieve it."

"You don't want the gods messing with that," I said.

His expression hardened. "I don't want gods killing humans in the name of bloated egos and power plays because they fail to see their worth. I want humanity left alone to succeed or fail on its own. That is their right." He yanked the weed from the ground and flung it aside.

"But," I fumbled for a way to say this delicately, "you already paid a price. Being chained to the rock just for giving them fire. Imagine the consequences if we fail this time."

His smile dazzled me. "Which is why you won't."

There it was. The pure faith that connected this Titan and my human friend. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because you are prophesied."

Huh? I was confused. In this enchantment, Cassie hadn't dropped her "one above one below" prediction yet. I plucked a wet strand of grass from my leg, searching for a way to have Prometheus clarify without giving away knowledge I shouldn't even have.

"Why do you think Zeus let you stay here?" Prometheus waved a dismissive hand. "If he'd wanted you out, he would have marshaled all of Olympus to bring you back. He knew it was foretold that one of his children would overthrow him. It was a closely guarded secret."

My mouth was dry. I couldn't believe that Theo had never mentioned this. I mean, sure, it made sense, explained why he'd been willing to lose his powers over me. But still. You'd think it might have come up in conversation. "You found out about it."

Prometheus nodded. "And more. Zeus was never entirely sure which of his children it was going to be. When I learned that you had a way of stopping him and Hades?" His smile turned ruthless. "Let's just say I called in some favors to verify it was you."

Still ... "Prophesied doesn't mean guaranteed." Zeus himself had said as much.

He stretched out his legs. "I know you're nervous, Persephone. You're hesitant to let me in on the exact nature of what will take them down."

It wasn't nerves. It was secrets. Persephone didn't want him to know about Kai's involvement in all this. Or her imminent betrayal of Kai and Demeter.

"But you've trusted me with your safety," Prometheus continued. "My one job is to get you out of here tomorrow night. I've secured us passage. Once we're out and you accept that you're safe in my hands, you can fill me in on the next stage."

I thought all this through. If Persephone had needed Prometheus to get her out of the Underworld, then she'd known that her pendent wouldn't work. She'd might also have known that even Kai wouldn't be able to help with that.

Theo had said he'd been supposed to meet Demeter on the night Persephone had been killed. I was willing to bet she was the secure passage. Which meant he'd struck the deal to exit to her temple grounds before.

Except, back then, Kai would've had to go with Persephone. She'd still needed him to do the love ritual. So she couldn't have harmed him until afterward. But once she'd killed Kai, there would have been a witness. The very being who had spirited them out.

Prometheus.