Holly felt like she was going to throw up. “That can’t happen,” she whispered.
“If he goes home and finds out that his son took over everything, he won’t see it as a good thing. He’ll think Trevor is challenging his power. No one tries to take my father’s power and live. He’d tell everyone about our brother if it meant taking his power back from Trevor.”
“Does Trevor know your father might be released?”
“No.” Elise shook her head. “He hasn’t had any contact with either of our parents since our father was put away.”
“We have to tell him,” Holly said. “We have to warn him. We have to go back to Golden Oak.”
THE FINAL CHAPTER—PHAEDRA
“Do you know the story of my name?”
Phaedra circled the ice cavern. She loved the way the ice cracked and groaned as if it were a living thing, constantly shifting. She loved how the ice turned everything the most perfect shade of blue.
“I don’t care.”
“Play along, you frigid bitch,” she hissed at the glowering she-vampire.
Phaedra never wanted to get involved with vampires. They always looked down their noses at everything as if they were a gift to the universe when, really, they were just a bunch of walking corpses in nice clothing.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much that could survive in the ice caves for an extended period of time.
“Don’t make me play dirty.”
Phaedra tugged on the thin gold chain around her neck, pulling the hidden stone from between her breasts. If the stone didn’t glow, it could’ve passed for a ruby.
“Do I need to give this a squeeze, or are you going to play along?” she asked.
“Fine,” Celeste snapped. “What is the story of your name?”
“Phaedra was a Greek princess,” she said. “How ridiculous is that? All of those ancient, powerful goddesses to choose from, and my parents pick the name of a common princess.”
“A princess is not nothing,” Celeste offered.
“Aw. You’re trying to be nice. How sweet.” Phaedra tucked the stone into her bodice once more. “True. Some humans were lucky enough to marry a minor god or bear one of their children. Phaedra was not so lucky.”
“Oh?”
“She married a king and fell in love with his son from another woman. The king killed his son out of jealousy. Phaedra then took her own life. How pathetic. It’s as if my parents doomed me for a life of mediocrity.”
“Some might call it a lovely story,” Celeste offered through clenched teeth.
“Careful. You’re going to snap one of your fangs off if you keep talking like that,” Phaedra warned. “I suppose to the weak-minded, it could be interpreted as a story of love. I don’t see it that way.”
Celeste said nothing.
“Now is when you ask me who I should have been named after,” Phaedra prompted.
“Who?”
“Persephone, of course!” Phaedra threw her hands up. “A minor goddess who rose to become the queen of the underworld. I can’t believe you didn’t guess that.”
“I would’ve guessed Adrestia.”
Phaedra raised her brows.
“She who cannot be escaped. Very clever. I won’t even punish you for that one.”
She strode to the wall and stood beside a protruding lever of pure silver and pushed it down. Sheets of ice sank into the floor to form a glittering, spiraling staircase.
“Come along. We have to see how they’re doing.”
“You never heed my warnings, but I will warn you once more,” Celeste said. “Messing with the dark arts is dangerous. It rarely works the way the caster thinks it will, and it always comes at a heavy, heavy price.”
“That’s why you’re the caster, and I’m not. Get down there before I turn your precious stone into dust.”
Celeste descended the stairs slowly, gripping the slick ice wall for purchase though none could be found. “You couldn’t have put in a rail?” she snapped.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Phaedra replied.
Down they went, deep into the ice labyrinths.
Phaedra heard the wailing long before they entered the chamber.
At the bottom of the stairs was another circular ice cavern. Sheets of ice acted as platforms and walkways over the thin floor of the chamber. Too thin to walk across.
Beneath the thin floor was Phaedra’s pride and joy. An ever-swirling whirlpool slowly carrying thousands of lost souls in lazy circles.
“Hades guarded the souls of the river Styx. Did you know that?” Phaedra asked. “He could have raised an army if he wanted to. He could have used the souls in his charge to take Olympus from his idiotic brother. Yet, he never did.”
“Because he understood his place in the balance of it all,” Celeste said.
“What he didn’t understand is that balance can be disrupted and realigned. It doesn’t have to stay the same way for all eternity.”
“What you’re proposing will not lead to a balanced world,” Celeste warned.
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Phaedra shrugged. “But in the end, I will have everything I desire. I will never again be powerless. Should the world be thrown into chaos by my actions, fine. I will be able to survive it, rise above it.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking of the universe,” Celeste said. “Reanimating a corpse is challenging enough, but to resurrect lost souls is something entirely different.”
“I don’t care!” Phaedra shrieked. “You will do my bidding, or I will crush your precious husband’s heartstone before I send you down there to join the souls. They love live bait.”
Phaedra grinned as Celeste looked into the whirlpool with a shudder.
“Don’t forget.” Phaedra closed the distance between her and Celeste and took her cold face in her hands. “You will be greatly rewarded for your help. You and your husband both.”
“We don’t want your rewards,” Celeste spat.
“You say that now, but you might want to wait until I’m finished claiming what is mine before
