Debauched (Hades and Persephone Book 3) Read online

  Debauched

  Bella Klaus

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  21. TEN YEARS LATER

  Also by Bella Klaus

  Copyright © 2021 by Bella Klaus.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.

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  www.BellaKlaus.com

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  Chapter One

  I stood in the middle of my penthouse, trapped between the two most dangerous enemies of my entire existence: Samael and Mother, who had somehow managed to possess Persephone’s empty shell.

  The vines encasing my body tightened, and thorns tore at my skin. Sweat formed on my palms, loosening the grip on Hades’ bident. I swallowed over and over, my gaze darting around the penthouse, my mind whirring for a means of escape.

  Mother stared out at me through Persephone’s eyes, her beautiful features twisted in a rictus of triumph. “Will you come with us and get a new body, or will we have to drag you?”

  Samael stood to my left with his arms folded, his head tilted to the side. In the light of day, his melted features appeared even more gruesome. I tore my gaze away from my new stepfather and focused on Mother.

  My tongue darted out to lick my dry lips. “Are those all my options?”

  Samael chuckled. “You have overindulged this child. Mind that you train our offspring better.”

  A question rolled to the forefront of my awareness. How did Samael think he would get Mother pregnant when he didn’t have a penis?

  I shook off that thought. Hades was somewhere in Hell, being fed upon by some carnivorous plant, Mother and Samael were holding me captive, and whatever was now stinging my skin was making my stomach churn.

  Now was not the time to think of Mother’s sex-life with her new demonic husband.

  “Kora,” Mother snapped. “I await your answer.”

  “You taught me never to go with strangers, didn’t you?” I asked. “Or was that also a lie, along with my corporality sickness?”

  “She’s got you there,” Samael said with a snicker.

  My gaze darted around the penthouse’s vast living space. “I mean, it’s your voice, but not your body. Maybe if you came here personally to get me, I’d follow you to wherever you want me to go.”

  Mother pursed Persephone’s lips.

  I narrowed my eyes. The enchanted mirror was right behind them, so why were they hesitating? They should have gotten sick of my stalling and dragged me through it by now, but they needed my consent. My teeth worried at my bottom lip. Was all this talk because we were going somewhere a person needed to enter willingly?

  “Kora,” Mother said with a sigh.

  “Release the vines if you want me to cooperate with you,” I said.

  “You are becoming an ill-mannered girl,” she growled.

  “I’m Queen Hades of the Fifth Faction of Hell,” I snapped. “Do me the courtesy of treating me like an adult.”

  Mother flinched within Persephone’s body, her mouth falling open. My throat dried. I had never spoken to her with such sharpness—not without getting spanked or my mouth washed out with vegetable soap.

  Her nostrils flared, and the corners of her eyes glistened with the onset of tears. The wretched creature had the nerve to be hurt. “Very well,” she said, her voice thick. “However, a person who considers herself grown up and capable of making her own decisions would never have gotten herself into this mess with Hades.”

  I pursed my lips. Mother could say whatever she liked, through whoever’s lips, but I already had a plan. The ward surrounding the apartment wouldn’t allow me to teleport, but it would let me step through the enchanted mirror and follow them to goodness-knows-where. Since that was true, it might allow me to exit through the apartment’s front door… or through the window.

  “Are you sure about releasing her?” Samael turned to Persephone’s possessed body.

  “Deep down, Kora is a good girl who respects her mother. She’s just been corrupted by negative influences.” With a wave of her hand, the thorns slicing through my skin retreated, followed by the vines.

  I gripped Hades’ bident, mostly out of the need to be connected to him. I would have attacked them, but Mother and Samael had already erected barriers over their bodies that could deflect my lightning.

  Samael swept his arm toward the mirror. “Now, will you please accompany us?”

  “You didn’t say where.” I placed my weight on my right foot.

  The Demon King rolled his eyes and turned to Mother. “Kora is quite impossible.”

  Without waiting for a reply, I bolted toward the window, throwing out enough power to fill the living room with blinding light. The wall-mounted television exploded, as did a number of other appliances that sprayed shards of glass across the room. They sliced at my skin, littered the floor, and created a puddle of liquid that made me skid.

  I pointed the bident at the wall of windows, making them shatter.

  “Kora!” Mother screamed.

  I jumped.

  My stomach lurched, and wind rushed through my ears. I was right about escaping through non-magical means—they had warded the apartment from magical exits, but they hadn’t taken into account my ability to leave through the doors or window.

  The roar of blood rushing through my skull drowned out everything else. I had to focus. Focus on what Captain Caria taught me about teleportation. Focus on escaping this deathly plumet before I crashed to the ground. Focus on getting to Hades.

  I pushed my magic all the way to Hell and willed myself to teleport. My surroundings changed, and I was free-falling through a blood-red sky that hung above a landscape of volcanoes, fire mountains, and barren rock.

  The scent of brimstone permeated the air, and the wind howled in my ears. With all the energy I could muster, I concentrated my lightning and unfurled my wings. When I stopped tumbling through the air and glided through the warm currents, I squeezed my eyes shut, exhaling my relief.

  “Bloody hell,” I muttered. “That was harrowing.”

  “Hades?” I asked into the bond.

  “Kora,” he croaked.

  I flapped my wings, banked to the side, and flew in a circle, examining my surroundings. On the left was a coast of low-level rocks that bordered an expanse of lava that stretched to the horizon. This had to be the sea that separated the Factions of Hell.

  Flying toward a configuration of boulders that resembled giants encased in stone, I asked, “Where are you?”

  He didn’t answer for several moments, making my heart clench. Was he dying? Had whatever Mother had done to him rendered him so powerless he could no longer communicate? An image of Minthe rose to the forefront of my mind. We had last seen her atop Persephone’s monstrous vine, standing in the center of a lotus flower, transformed into part of the plant.

  “Hades,” I shouted through our link. “Concentrate. Show me where I can find you.”

  I turned around, looking across the landscape for a giganti
c vine, an oversized tree—anything plant-like that might give me a clue to his location. All I could see were rocks upon barren rocks, within a landscape surrounded by fire mountains.

  The river of lava flowed in the distance, and I tried to remember what I had seen in the inner sanctum’s pool. Six women had apprehended Persephone, and Hades had known exactly where to rush to her rescue. Maybe it could direct me to a landmark?

  I teleported to the circular stone room and rushed to the pool. The water showed me Hades lying on rocky ground outside a village overrun with plants, his body encased in thick leaves. Beneath him lay his wings, which had turned green and spread out beneath his body like dandelion leaves.

  My heart somersaulted, and I clutched at my chest. How on earth could Mother do something so cruel?

  Kneeling at his side was Aello, the grey-skinned demoness we had met at the war room, two other harpies, the trio of furies I’d seen attacking Persephone’s body, and Captain Caria.

  “Captain Caria?” I asked into the bond. “Where are you?”

  Her head snapped up, and her eyes narrowed.

  “I’m in the inner sanctum, but I don’t know how to reach Hades,” I said. “Could you bring me over?”

  Without a word, she appeared at my side, grabbed my arm, and teleported us to the crowd of winged women.

  My stomach flip-flopped, and I had to splay my arms for balance. Shoving aside the unsettling sensation of being transported, I pushed through the onlookers and knelt at Hades’ side, careful not to disrupt his wings.

  His eyes were closed, and his lips tightened in the grimace people made when they were holding back a torrent of pain. Anguish burned through my chest like acid. Mother was twisted. What would possess her to use his love for Persephone to lure him into a trap?

  “Hades?” I placed a hand on his cheek. It was cool to the touch and slightly clammy, like the way leaves trapped moisture on a humid day. “Hades, open your eyes.”

  He sucked in a rattling breath through his nostrils. “Kora?”

  “It’s me.” My voice was thick with emotion, and the edges of my vision clouded with the onset of tears.

  “I’m sorry,” he rasped.

  “For rushing to save your wife of over thirty thousand years?” I asked, my voice breaking. “It’s natural to want to protect the ones we love.”

  “I told you once that the road to hell was paved with hope,” he said between shallow breaths. “Unfortunately, I was not immune to such frivolities.”

  Emotion surged, thickening my throat, and I swallowed hard, trying to push back a surge of anguish. Mother would never have gotten so close to Hades if she hadn’t used Persephone as a lure. It spoke of both her deviousness and her inhumanity. She must have known the extent of his love for Persephone, which was why this attack of hers was unforgivable.

  “Let’s free you from this plant,” I murmured.

  “How?” Captain Caria said from behind. “We can’t pull him out, and we can’t cut him loose.”

  “Based on the shape of the leaves, the plant feeding off him is something like a dandelion.” I swayed on my feet, trying to focus, but my surroundings wouldn’t stop spinning. “Think of their roots like a long carrot that splits in places and then stretches out like tendrils across the land. It’s probably burrowed deep into the rock, and any attempts to pull him out will hurt.”

  “How do you know this, Your Majesty?” asked Aello.

  “A lifetime of weeding dandelions out of growing beds,” I said, my voice bitter.

  Hades moaned. “I should have listened to my own advice.”

  “We’ll get you out of this.” I reached down and squeezed his hand. “There has to be a way.”

  He inhaled a wheezing breath before expelling it out in a dry cough. I winced. This plant was feeding on him, and I wasn’t sure how to begin to extract his body from it.

  “Can anyone tell me what happened?” I brushed a green leaf off his face.

  Captain Caria cleared her throat. “According to the official reports, the two teams cornered Persephone and were about to make a capture when His Majesty intervened. She seemed coherent yet distressed. When he offered comfort, she plunged her hand into his midsection and teleported.”

  “That wasn’t Persephone.” I turned my gaze from Hades and looked up at the captain. Spots appeared before my vision, making me blink to focus on her stern features.

  She nodded. “It was hard to believe Persephone would hurt His Majesty like this, but I saw the replay in the inner sanctum. Her brain must have been damaged, or she could have been under some kind of influence.”

  “My mother was operating her empty shell,” I said. “Do you remember when Samael came to the Fifth and released a bunch of flying objects?”

  “Yes?” She frowned.

  “One of them could have been carrying seeds or have been a seed that traveled to Persephone’s coffin.”

  Hades let out a pained moan, making me turn back to where he lay. The jagged leaves encasing his body seemed to have grown a few inches. My heart sank. The only reason he hadn’t turned into the same kind of husk we’d found at the top of the beanstalk was his immense reserves of power. But if we didn’t save him, the plant would consume his magic.

  When Captain Caria remained silent, I turned to meet her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “We should never have allowed outsiders through our wards,” she said through clenched teeth.

  I shook my head, but the movement made it spin. “There are hundreds of ways to transport seeds from one location to the other, including planting them on one of us, so we brought them into the Fifth. Our enemies would have gotten to us anyway.”

  “How are we going to save His Majesty?” Aello asked.

  “Get me large quantities of salt.” The words tumbled from my lips.

  She tilted her head to the side and stared at me like a curious owl. “Salt, Your Majesty? Whatever for?”

  “It’s going to suck the moisture out of the plant, causing it to wither.” I rubbed my chin and frowned. “Enough salt will make his body and magic too toxic to support the plants. Once the plant has shrunk, we can extract him from the ground.”

  “But won’t that damage his body?” one of the winged women asked.

  “Salt won’t kill a god,” said Captain Caria. “Do as Her Majesty says and get as much of the stuff as you can muster.”

  “Good.” I leaned over Hades to press a kiss on his cheek and let him know we were helping him, but I overbalanced and fell on his chest.

  Plant matter squelched beneath my body, filling my nostrils with the scent of sap. Hades’ agonized groan made my stomach lurch. Had I hurt him or his parasite?

  “Kora.” Captain Caria wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me back. “What’s wrong?”

  “They got to me, too,” I said, my words slurring. “Mother and Samael tried to capture me with the thorns that have been running rampant through the Fifth Faction. Some of the venom got into my bloodstream.”

  “Shit,” she hissed.

  I shook my head. “If you can get me some panacea, it will counteract the plant’s poison.”

  Captain Caria laid me beside Hades, so I lay atop his spread wings. I reached for his hand and intertwined our fingers. My head spun, and the edges of my vision darkened. This was worse than the time I had drunk too much at the housewarming and worse than the first time the plants had attacked.

  “Healer Iaso is on her way.” The captain stared down at me and frowned.

  “Thanks,” I said with a long sigh. “Once the salt shrinks the roots, he’ll be easier to extract from the ground.”

  She swallowed. “And the roots? Do we cut them off his body, or are they now a part of him?”

  “I’m no expert on parasitic plants, but the dryads should know.” My eyes became heavy, but I struggled to keep them open. At least until I’d communicated a plan for helping Hades based on how I dealt with invasive weeds. “Try immersing the plant and Hades in th
e salt or something just as harmful—”

  “Like Hellfire?”

  “Would that burn him?” I asked.

  “Not black flames.”

  “Try that.” My eyes drifted shut, and the poison dragged me into a slumber. The last thing I thought as I lost consciousness was that there was no cure for Persephone’s plants except for panacea.

  I woke up within crisp white sheets and in the same long nightgown I had worn on my first day in Hell. The only difference in this situation was that nobody had kissed me awake.

  A yawn pushed its way out of my lungs, and I placed a hand over my mouth. Light streamed in through my eyelids, indicating that at least a day had passed since I last teleported to Hell.

  “Your majesty?” said a voice.

  I opened my eyes and stared into the elderly features of the healer who had tended to the dryads. “How’s Hades?”

  “He’s stable,” she said. “But I’m more concerned about you.”

  My brows drew together. “Why? Do I have something growing inside me?”

  She shook her head. “Your body is wearing thin.”

  I gulped. Mother had said something similar. As had Pirithous, but I hadn’t fully trusted either of them. “What does that mean?”

  She bustled to the bedside table and picked up a tall glass of semi-opaque green liquid. “Please drink this.”

  “What is it?”

  “Aloe-panacea.” She pressed the glass into my hand.

  “Why not regular panacea?” I asked.

  “The dryads inform me that panacea grew in one place within all the realms, and all the plants are now destroyed.”

  “You’re talking about Persephone’s garden?” I asked.