Aimee Carter - The Goddess Inheritance

“Perhaps not,” he countered. “You yourself have said that Cronus has taken a liking to her. Perhaps that will be enough.”

“Perhaps?” said Ava, half-wild with frustration. “You’re risking everything on a maybe, Daddy. You don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, and that poor baby—”

“We must do everything we can to ensure we win this war, no matter what we each must sacrifice.” No matter how many had to die. “Now is not the time for holding back.”

“It’s not the time for unnecessary risks and careless mistakes either.” She stormed toward the door. “I’m telling Henry everything.”

“Ava.”

His voice reverberated through the walls of the palace, shaking the very foundation of Olympus. Any trace of paternal affection was gone. It was the command of a king.

Ava stopped short. She had no choice, not after eons of obedience, and Walter felt a pang of guilt at speaking to her in such a way after all he had put her through. It was necessary, though. The fate of the world depended on it.

“You will not tell,” he said. “Not until Kate gives birth.”

“What’s the difference between telling him now and telling him tomorrow?” said Ava shakily, but she held her ground. From anyone else, talking back would have only angered Walter, but he was simply glad to see she had some fight left.

“He will not stop until he has Kate back,” said Walter. “But when he does, he will return to the Underworld and protect her with all his might, and he will continue not to involve himself in our war.”

Her eyes widened. “Wait—you’re using the baby as bait?”

“I will do what I must to bring Henry into the war,” said Walter. “One life is not worth losing it all.”

Ava stared at him as if she didn’t recognize him. Though Walter rarely experienced fear, it coursed uncomfortably through him, like sludge in his veins instead of immortal blood. “It’s a baby,” she said. “You can’t just— It’s a child.”

“If Henry does not participate in the war, then millions of children will die,” said Walter. She had to understand; this was not a matter of obedience and pride. “I realize how difficult it is for you, my darling—”

“You do?” The venom in her voice made him fall short. He had never heard her speak to anyone that way before, least of all him, her father. Her protector. Her king. “It’s my fault Kate’s there in the first place. That baby might die because of me.”

“I will do everything I can to ensure that does not happen,” said Walter. “Once this is over—”

“You think this is ever going to be over?” hissed Ava. “When the council finds out we’re risking Henry’s child to get him involved, who are they going to blame, Daddy? Me or you?”

“I will inform the council of my role,” said Walter.

“The only role the council’s going to see is the one I played, and I’m going to fix it before that baby dies and I really do lose everyone I love.”

Walter drew himself up to his full height. He may have looked like an old man, but next to the Titans, he was the most powerful being in the world, and he never let anyone forget it. Even his daughter. “I forbid it.”

Ava laughed, but it was not the laugh of someone who found any joy in life; instead it was full of self-loathing and hopelessness. “Too late.”

Before Walter could say a word, a heart-wrenching scream full of agony ripped from deep within the earth and rang throughout Olympus.

“He knows,” said Ava, and without another word, she slipped through the door and closed it behind her.

Chapter 1

Birth

Henry.

I bolted upright in the darkness. My forehead was damp with sweat as the dream faded, but his scream enveloped me, imprinting itself on my memory.

Another vision, one of dozens I’d had since leaving the Underworld an eternity ago. This time, however, I wasn’t watching Henry go about his life as ruler of the dead as he waited for me to return. I wasn’t standing by helplessly as Ava gave Henry false updates about where in Africa we were supposedly searching for Rhea.

Finally Henry knew what had really happened, and in the minutes before dawn broke through the night, I clung to the hope that it wasn’t too late.

“A nightmare, my dear?”

I shivered, and the candles scattered throughout my prison lit up. Cronus sat beside my bed, in the same chair he’d occupied every night since late December, when I’d woken up with a pounding headache and memories I wished were nightmares.

This wasn’t a nightmare, though. Cronus was here, working side by side with the Queen of the Gods, who would stop at nothing to hurt me as much as she possibly could.

The baby stirred inside me, undoubtedly unhappy about its rude awakening. I didn’t dare speculate over whether it was a boy or a girl. If Calliope had her way, I might never know, and that heartache was already more than I could take. I set a hand on my swollen belly, so big that the simplest movements were difficult now, and mentally tried to soothe it. “You didn’t hear that?” I said hoarsely.

“My son? Of course,” said Cronus, reaching for my stomach. I slapped his hand away, and he chuckled. “It seems the games are about to begin.”

“What games?” I knew the answer before I’d asked the question, though. My dream, my vision—it was the autumnal equinox, and finally Henry knew I was missing.

A sharp pain shot from my back to my abdomen, and I gasped. Cronus was at my side in an instant, exactly the way Henry would’ve been if he were here. I turned away.

“Calliope has decided it will happen today,” he murmured, and his voice would have been comforting if it hadn’t come from him.

“Decided what would happen today?” I struggled to stand and make it to the bathroom, but my legs gave out. Cronus’s cool hands were there to steady me, but as soon as I was back on the bed, I jerked away from him.

“That your child would be born.”

All the air left my lungs, and this time it had nothing to do with physical pain. He was bluffing. They were trying to scare me into labor before Henry rescued me, or—or something.

But as I leaned back, my hand found a wet spot on the mattress, and my damp nightgown clung to the back of my thighs. My water had broken sometime in the night. It was really happening.

Nine months of waiting. Nine months of fear. Nine months of time being the only thing standing between Calliope and the baby I was carrying, and now it was over.

I wasn’t ready to be a mother. Never in a million years had I imagined having kids before I turned thirty, let alone twenty. But Calliope hadn’t given me a choice, and with each day that passed, the sick dread inside me grew thicker until it nearly choked me. Calliope would take the baby from me, and there was nothing I could do about it. In a matter of hours, I would lose my child—Henry’s child—to someone who wanted nothing more than to see me suffer.

But now he knew. Now there was a chance, if only I could hold on a little longer until Henry came.

Cronus must have seen the look on my face, because he chuckled and fluffed a pillow for me. “Do not worry, my dear. Calliope cannot kill you unless I allow her, and I assure you I would never hurt you.”

It wasn’t me I was worried about. “You’re not going to hurt me, but you’re going to let Calliope do it,” I spat. “You’re going to let her take the baby the moment it’s born, and I’m never going to see it again.”

Cronus stared at me blankly. These were the moments I remembered that in spite of his human form, he was anything but. He didn’t understand why I loved the baby so much. Or, when I’d given Calliope too much attitude and she’d hit me in the mouth, why I’d instinctively covered my belly. He didn’t get how badly the thought of being separated from the baby hurt me before I’d even met him or her.