SWNOVELS Chapter 29. A Wolf in the Clearing
"I-" she began, not entirely knowing what she wanted to say. She ached for all the lies she had told. She wanted them to spill from her lips. She was daughter to Hades. She was a goddess and that's how she knew Selene. She was a necromancer. But the words all died as Cadmus looked at her.
His eyes were just as full of promise as the kiss, but shone with love. Love.
"We should go," he said smiling, turning away from Eirene. She watched him begin to go deeper into the forest, pressing her fingertips to her swollen lips. She then hurried to be at his side as they walked under a large tree.
"So?" Cadmus asked.
"Yes?"
"The Underworld?" Eirene's heart sank, were they not going to acknowledge the kiss they shared?
"Yes?" Where was he going with this?
"Tell me more, I want to be prepared when we arrive," he said.
"Oh, well, Cerberus will help us. He is fond of me and will let us pass. My friend, the goddess, Makaria, will help us leave. I may need to speak to Hades on his claim to Lidia and visit Selene. We may spend a single night in the Undersold."
Cadmus' face paled at the prospect, but he stood taller and looked at Eirene.
"And I will be there to protect you," he said. Eirene's eyes glinted with laughter.
"From what?"
"Every ghost and Hades if I must," he said. Eirene smiled at his ignorance. It truly was bliss.
"I'll hold you to that," she laughed. She fell into a simple silence. Cadmus, however, felt the letter tucked into his pocket burn against his leg.
He thought over its contents. Lord Eldridge called for their journey to be completed quicker, yet there was nothing Cadmus could do about that, Eirene was the only one who knew the Underworld's entrance in the living world. She wasn't fond of trying to hurry their journey along, and despite the rest of the letter, Cadmus' heart leaped in his chest. Did she want to spend more time with him? He shook his head, these feelings needed to stop. It would only make their return all the more terrible. Could he disobey the Lord and risk being be hunted and killed like the beast Eirene thought he was. Contempt for the greedy Lord grew and he involuntarily growled.
"What?" Eirene snapped, then she blushed. "Sorry, that was harsh."
"Don't mind that, just news from home," he said. Eirene's mind jumped to thought of the Underworld as she replied.
"Oh, bad news? Luckily it will be a few days before our return, perhaps longer," she said, the last words of her sentence spoken more to herself than anything. Cadmus shrugged in response, both too occupied with their own thoughts to speak more.
The Underworld possesses many dangers, but the greatest was Eirene's father. Yet, even with her plan, however loose it was, she felt confidence in facing him. She knew exactly what she wanted, and swore to accomplish it. However when she did so, Makaria's safety was of the upmost importance. She would have been brought back as soon as Eirene left the Underworld, for there was no way in Hell Eirene would let Thanatos put his skeletal hands on her sister.
After a day of walking, the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the hilltop where Eirene and Cadmus stood. Trees grew around them, hiding them from view, but were spaced apart on the hill, creating a clearing.
"The entrance is near, we should rest tonight," Eirene saids setting down her pack. Cadmus looked at her, wanting to continue, wanting to go into the Underworld then. Then the thought of entering the Underworld at night, when monsters and demons were strengthened, came to mind. It would be a foolish risk to take when they could wait.
"Okay," he conceded, dropping his pack and beginning to pick up the rocks scattered on the ground so it wouldn't be painful to sleep on. Once the clearing was free from debris, he and Eirene sat on the grass.
"We will need a full meal before we leave, we cannot eat anything in the Underworld," Eirene said, looking past the trees to where the shadows began to lengthen.
"Why?" Eirene looked to him, her head titled to the side, but still staring over the trees.
"You do not know?" He shook his head, making Eirene roll her eyes and smile. "My moth- the women who helped give my parents their powers, Persephone, ate half a pomegranate from the Underworld, which her husband, Hades used to keep her there for half a year. It was her choice, but yet he could use that logic with us." Cadmus' eyes widened in shock.
"Hades and Persephone live in the Underworld?"
"Yes, of course, where else would they live?" Laughed Eirene, his amazement at her home was amusing. She forgot how truly strange her growing up had been.
"I do not know. I had assumed we would not be facing no other gods besides Selene."
Eirene bit the inside of her cheek , and her eyebrows furrowed, deep in thought.
"No, we will meet gods, hopefully not Hades, but if I must for Makaria," her sentence faded out with a breath.
"Hades? I will not allow-"
"It is not what you will allow, but what I must do. I cannot displease Makaria, and Hades and I have spoken before. I may need assistance on your part."
"How can I help?" He immediately asked, for if a goddess willed her to meet Hades, nothing he could say would change that.
"Your wolf, I think I should meet him," Eirene said, finally tearing her gaze away from the setting sun to look into Cadmus' eyes. They darkened at her words, narrowing into suspicious slits.
"I-that is not wise," he said, hesitance straining on his voice. His wolf, however, and bounding for joy, ready to show his mate his form, what he was capable of.
"I will need the strength of a wolf if anything were to go wrong," Eirene said. Now, her safety was possibly on the line, and Cadmus slowly nodded.
"Very well, come," he said, standing and walking into the trees. Shadows covered his face and physique while Eirene followed him. His eyes glowed in the dark as he inhaled deeply, closing his eyes.
When they opened, they shown yellow and the forest filled with the sound of snapping bones. They tore apart, refigured, grew and morphed. Hair erupted from his skin, while his clothes were torn apart, the grey cloak fluttered around his thickening neck. After several gruesome moments, a wolf stood in front of Eirene.