"What's your report?" my father demands. He rises from his ebony throne.

Report?

What's going on?

How am I even here?

Where is Daphne? And Dax and the others?

A few short months ago, all I wanted to do is return to my home in the Underrealm-to leave the chaos and discomfort of the mortal world behind. I dreamed of my return. Longed for it. Now I am desperate to figure out why I am here-and how to get back to where I was only seconds ago.

"Have you found Haden yet?" my father says. He must think he's speaking to someone else. My head is lowered, so he must not recognize me-or perhaps it's because he never looks directly at a subordinate if it isn't necessary.

How did I get here? And how do I get back?

I look at the amulet in my hand and the answer dawns on me. A communications talisman. I've heard the Heirs speak of them and how they work, but I have never actually seen one before. I try to cast it away, but it seems to be seared into my hand. I can't let it go.

"The Court grows restless over the boy's insolence. Lord Lex has proposed a vote of no confidence in my rule. They're going to depose me if I can't rea.s.sure them that Haden is still following the plan.

Tell me you've got good news." I hear him move closer, the sword at his hip slapping against his thigh as he walks. He must think I am Simon. "Answer me or I'll blast you!" I raise my head. "It won't do you much good, seeing as how Simon is already dead." My father startles at the sound of my voice. "What is the meaning of this?" he says, drawing his sword. "Where is my emissary? How did you get this talisman?" He must be fl.u.s.tered to spare so many words for me.

"Simon's dead," I say, rising to my feet. "I killed him." Brim had done the deed, but technically I had finished it.

"You?" He narrows his eyes at me. "I don't believe it. Simon was one of my best, and you're nothing but a weak, simpering nursling."

"And yet I still scare you enough to cause you to draw your sword." Ren glances at the blade he brandishes in his hand. He lowers it ever so slightly. I glance around the throne room and see that we are completely alone. It's unlike Ren to be without his royal guard, attendants, and advisors. He must be sorely agitated or in dire need of privacy. Is the Court truly turning against him?

"Besides, Simon may have been a fierce opponent, but he was hardlyyour best. He'd betrayed you," I say, hitting on what I suppose to be a sore spot for Ren. "He'd turned on you. Your loyal servant was planning on selling the Cypher-the Key along with it-to the highest bidder. The Skylords."

"You know about the Key?"

"Yes."

"Where is the Cypher? What have you done with her?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Are you planning on betraying me, too, then?" Ren shoves the tip of his sword so it's only inches from my face.

"Can you even hurt me with that here?" I say, referring to my astral state. I am outside of my body, so how can he cut me?

"No," my father says. "But your soul is made of energy, which means I can still hurt you with this." Streaks of blue lightning crackle up his sword, swirling around the blade. I can feel the heat and the rhythm of electricity and I know he's not bluffing about its being able to hurt me. "Do you know what happens if I cut you off from your body while you are here?" Ren says loudly enough that I can hear him over the pulse in my ears. "You'll never find your way back to it. You'll become just another one of those nameless, faceless nothings that roam the Wastelands. Banished to being a hungry, desperate shade for the rest of eternity."

"You won't do it. You need me."

Ren responds by slashing his electrified sword in the air, sending the swirl of lightning sailing at my chest. I grit my teeth, absorbing the blow and letting it flow back out of me the best I can. I've taken worse hits in training, but the pain is still enough to force me to my knees.

"That was just a warning blow, boy," Ren says. "Just to show you that I can touch you here. The next one won't be so pleasant." He walks back to his throne and picks up a small vessel made of pottery from under the ebony seat. I take a few deep breaths while his back is turned to regain my strength.

He returns with the vessel and holds it out in front of me. "This is water from the river Styx, the River of Unbreakable Vows. On the Oracle's behest, I made a vow with this water during the Choosing Ceremony, in which I covenanted that whoever brought the Cypher to me would become my heir. My successor. That is what you want isn't it, boy? You want to belong. You want to sit at my right hand.

You want your honor restored. I am prepared to give you all of that, but you must do one thing for me." He dumps the water from the vessel onto the ground in front of where I kneel. It splashes and pools around my knees. "You make an unbreakable vow that you will bring the Cypher to me. The words will be written in the water, and I can use that to show the Court that you haven't forgotten your quest, that you haven't gone off the path. To prove to them that you are worthy of being called my son."

I look up at my father, meeting his eyes for the first time since my return. I wonder if I will see that same disdain he usually looks at me with. But instead, I see something very different. A look of fear crosses my father's eyes-marring the near-perfect mask of nonexpression on his face that I have always tried to emulate-and I realize why he hadn't filled me in from the very beginning about Daphne's true importance. I know why his Oracle had kept the details from me. Because now that I know what he needs Daphne for-to find the Kronolithe of Hades-I know just how much power I have in my hands. I have Daphne. I have everything he wants: the missing link to finding the Key to the underworld, to finding the object that can turn my father into everything he pretends to be-a G.o.d.

I have the power here. The leverage.

Daphne isn't only the key to finding the Kronolithe; she is also the key to getting me everything I had ever wanted, and more.

"That is what you want, isn't it, my son? One little vow is a small price to pay to have all the honor and the glory of the Underrealm bestowed on your head."

Vows made on the river Styx are nothing to be taken lightly. An unbreakable vow is just that- unbreakable. I'd already seen how such oaths control Dax and Joe. What little free will I have in the matter would be gone. I would not be able to stop myself from bringing Daphne to him when the time came.

"I should have made you vow before sending you as Champion. That addled Oracle tried to convince me it would backfire, but I see now she was playing games with me. I'm not leaving it up to your impulses anymore. You will bring her to me, no matter what."

"What will you do with her?" I ask.

"Whatever it takes."

"The Oracle says you need her heart and soul. Will you sacrifice her?"

"Yes. If needed."

"Then my answer is no. You can't have her."

Because I realize now the price for what Ren is offering is too high. I will not give Daphne to him. I will not let her die. I cannot trade her for what I have always wanted-because she is what I need.

My father tears into me with another bolt of lightning. This one comes so fast and strong that I cannot brace myself. The lightning grips me like a great taloned bird sinking its clutches into my rib cage, and slams me against the altar. I sink to the ground. My body writhes against the marble floor as the bolt ravages through me. I scream. Tears flood my eyes. The pain is too much to stop myself.

The lightning dissipates and I hear the echo of my father's laughter. He mocks my agony. Or perhaps it is my tears that set him off. I had never wanted to let him see me cry again, not since the day Mother died. I have tried to suppress and fight my emotions, to keep the human side of me at bay. I have let him push me down. I think about what Daphne said about my father being afraid of me when I stood up to him as a child.

What I might be capable of now if I had not cowered to his will earlier in my life . . .

Beyond my father's derisive laughter, I think I hear another sound.

Like Daphne calling my name.

"You would put concern for some human girl over your duty to me?" Ren asks. "To your entire realm?"

Haden, come back! I think I hear Daphne call. I need you here.

I try once again to cast away the talisman, but it is still branded to my hand. I roll onto my side-it takes all my strength to do so- and look at my father. "I love her." That's barely something I want to admit to myself, let alone to him, but at the moment, it feels like the most powerful thing I still have inside of me.

"Love? You would put such a silly notion over having your honor restored?" His derisive laughter starts to sound more desperate and hungry to me. The sounds of a man with few options left.

"You can't restore my honor. It was never yours to take in the first place." If it hadn't been for Daphne and my time in her world, I would have never realized that. There is also one more thing I would not realize, either. The clues finally click together in my head. . . . "What do you know about honor anyway? You failed your quest, didn't you? You shouldn't be king now. That's why they're trying to take it away from you."

"What do you know about anything?"

"Eighteen years ago, the Oracle predicted that the child of Demi Raines would be the Cypher. You were sent to the mortal world as Champion in order to bring her back. The idea was to make her your Boon, your mate, and the Cypher would be the child you created together. But you failed. Someone else got to her first. A musician named Joe Vince swept her off her feet, and before you had any say in the matter, she was pregnant. There was no way you were going to convince her to come with you now. So you struck a deal with Joe. He didn't know what he was really agreeing to when he traded the soul of his firstborn child for fame and fortune. But you had the proof you needed to claim that you had still secured the child of Demi Raines for the Underrealm. I imagine you carried back the words of Joe's vow in a vessel of water like that one." I point at the vase he'd used to pour the water in front of me. "You also brought back a Boon-my mother, Kayla, for good measure. But she wasn't the prize you needed, and that's why you scorned her. That's why you hate me. Because I am more like her than Rowan. It's why you treat me like I'm a failure-because I am the reminder of your own."

"I didn't fail. I am king here. You best remember that."

"But you won't be for long, will you?" I try to grab the side of the altar to use it to push myself up. I am too drained of strength and fall back to my knees. "You succeeded your father and became king because you had technically fulfilled your quest. But there are those in the Court who question your eligibility. And then there's the matter of your deal with Joe not being enough. That's where I came into play. Your deal with Joe will give you Daphne's soul. Is it supposed to come to you immediately when she dies-bypa.s.sing Elysium or the Wastelands, where it would get lost forever? But the problem is, you need her heart, too. Which means you need her alive-and no living person can cross through Persephone's Gate unless she does it willingly. Which meant you needed a Champion to finish this for you. You needed her to be brought back as a Boon. Rowan was your first choice-he's always been your favorite-but you got nervous. You decided to consult the Oracle and got the shock of your life when she chose me."

"You're proving right now you weren't up to the task like I thought."

"I'm proving I'm not your little puppet. You think I care if you remain king? Call in the Court right now. I'll tell them to their faces that you should be overthrown."

"You think you know some things, but you don't know the half of it, nursling. I'm the one holding this realm together. I'm the only one who has any reason around here. Yes, there are Heirs who want me ousted, and, yes, your fulfilling your quest is the only thing stopping them from taking over. But my remaining as king is the only thing that is stopping your precious human realm and all those humans you love from being destroyed!"

"What do you mean?"

"As you should know, the Pits fill the s.p.a.ce between our realm and the Overrealm. But what you aren't privy to is the knowledge that the locks on Pandora's Pithos are starting to fail, and my authority is the only thing keeping some of the Heirs from ripping through the walls of the Pits in order to use it as a bridge out of the Underrealm-setting all the Keres loose on both our realm and the mortal world in the process. There are Heirs who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the Kronolithe in order to reignite the war with the Skylords. They're sick of being locked away. They think the Underlords should rule everything. I'm the one who believes in the order of the realms. I'm the one who wants to keep the stalemate in place-and if I need to sacrifice one little Cypher to find the Kronolithe in order to remain in control, then so be it!"

"You're lying," I say.

Garrick had told me the locks on the Pit are failing. I know it is a possibility the Keres can get out on their own-but the possibility that the Court would let them out on purpose is something I can't believe.

Haden. Daphne's voice echoes in my mind, giving me the strength to keep talking back to Ren. "You want the Kronolithe so you can become a G.o.d. You want to be Hades, not just use his t.i.tle." The idea of my father as an all-powerful, immortal deity makes me quake where I kneel.

"It's an added perk, yes. But believe me, I as your G.o.d is a much better option than the alternative." Ren forms a new bolt of lightning in his hand. It rumbles and cracks as it surges with power. "What is that human saying? 'Third time's a charm'? Or, no, maybe I'm looking for 'Three strikes, you're out.'

I am guessing your soul can't take a third blast without breaking the link to your body. So this is it, boy. You make the vow to bring her to me and I will make you my son once more, my eldest son-my heir-or refuse and it's good night, sweet prince for you." Sarah's words about my destiny come to me then. You have two paths before you now, young Haden.

. . . One will lead to the honor you have craved since you were a child, while the other will lead to the end of Lord Haden, prince of the Underrealm.

I don't know why destiny chose me for this. I don't know why I would be given more than one path.

But the Oracle had said that I would decide which path is which by the choices I make-and that the first choice would be upon me soon.

"What is it going to be?" Ren asks, a great sphere of lightning encircling his hand-aimed at me.

I can feel my soul wavering. It can't survive that kind of blast.

"You realize that if the Heirs get their way," Ren says, "she'll die, along with all your precious friends. You give her to me, and maybe I'll let you have whatever is left of her after I get the Key." Haden! I hear my name again. This time, it sounds like Daphne and Dax together.

Thoughts of Daphne fill my mind. The sound of her voice when she sings. The touch of her skin as I held her hand as she slept. The way she didn't mock me when I cried. The way she makes me feel human. That mean right hook of hers . . .

"I'll make the vow," I say.

"Wise decision." Ren snuffs out the bolt in his hand and walks closer to me, his feet making tracks in the puddle of water from the River of Unbreakable Vows. He stands over me, towering so high that it reminds me of what it felt like to be a child trapped under his shadow. "Do it now." I place my hand that has the talisman branded to it in the puddle. The water edges over my fingertips.

It feels cool and calming compared to the pain that I have endured today. I look up at Ren as he glowers down at me, and can't help wondering how that expression will change when I make the vow. How will he look at me then? "I vow, on the water of the river Styx, the River of Unbreakable Vows, that I will . . . never bring Daphne to you."

Before Ren can react, I send a surge of lightning into my hand. It hits the water and explodes, electrifying the wet ground all around us. The blast sends Ren flying through the air toward his throne and me sailing backward.

I hit the altar with a soul-shattering crack, and darkness surrounds me.

chapter fifty-eight.

daphne

Haden's body convulses in my arms, like he's having a seizure. He twists and writhes in silent agony.

And then he goes limp and still. So still and breathless that I think the worst.

No. No, he can't be dead.

"Haden, come back!" I say, smacking his face.

Nothing.

I try a softer approach and press my lips to his forehead. "Please, Haden," I say, brushing my hands through his hair and then pressing my fingers against his neck. No pulse. No nothing. "Daphne," Dax says. "I think he's gone . . ." Haden lets out a great, gasping groan and sits bolt upright, like waking from a horrific nightmare, clutching at his chest.

"Haden!" I throw my arms around him, holding him to me. "I thought you were dead." Haden's vision seems to focus and he takes in the surroundings of the Sunny Ridge common room.

The carnage of the events with Brim and Simon surrounds us. I can hear his heart pounding out a frantic melody.

"For a moment, I thought I was, too," he says, his voice sounding more like a croak.

He flexes his fingers and a charred object that vaguely resembles the talisman falls from his hand, leaving a raised, blistering welt of its size and shape in his palm. "That actually worked," he says, like he'd caused that kind of damage on purpose. "Scrambled the connection to the Underrealm . . .

Sent me back here." He pinches his leg like he's making sure he's truly back inside his body. "Half expected to wake up a shade in the Wastelands instead."

"What happened?" I ask, searching his jade green eyes.

"He tried to force me to make an unbreakable vow that I would bring you to him. He said the only reason he hadn't done it before making me Champion was because the Oracle tried to tell him it would backfire. . . . So I thought of the way you tricked Simon, and I . . . made it backfire. Quite literally."

"How?" I ask.

"I vowed I would never let him have you, and electrified the water-scrambling the connection in the talisman. Almost killed myself in the process, though." He raises his singed hand like he wants to brush his fingers against my cheek-but doesn't quite have the strength to do it.

"Harpies. Talk about burning bridges. I knew you had it in you!" Dax slaps Haden on the shoulder.