The Iron Queen (Daughters of Zeus) by Kaitlin Bevis

uh—”
    Demeter walked up to him until they were standing nose to nose. “Do you like living in my realm?”
    Apollo nodded.
    “Do you want to continue?”
    He nodded again.
    “Then you’d best come with us.” When Apollo nodded again, Demeter wrinkled her nose and touched her fingertips to him, establishing the bare minimum of contact to teleport. She reached behind her to grab my hand, and we disappeared in a flash.
    When I opened my eyes, we were standing in the middle of Demeter’s crowded living room. Two raised voices caught my attention. I turned to see Ares and Athena arguing with one another.
    “Go shower,” Demeter told Apollo. “Then we’ll talk.”
    Apollo took a quick look around at the assembled mass of gods, then stumbled back and bolted up the stairs.
    “Oh sure, Demeter.” Sarcasm laced my voice. “A shower’s going to fix everything.”
    A hint of a smile twitched on Demeter’s face. “I don’t see why you’re so worried Hades. With Mr. Sunshine on our side, how can we lose?”
    I laughed despite myself, and Demeter’s composure broke into snorting giggles. Everyone stopped talking to stare at us, but I didn’t care. Not about them anyway.
    A wave of pain washed through me, cutting my laughter short. Persephone was in pain again.

Chapter XVIII
     
    Persephone
     
    “What a waste,” Hades sneered.
    Whatever. At least he wasn’t making out with Aphrodite anymore.
    Or Melissa.
    Or my mom. That had been disturbing on a whole new level. I think I preferred being struck by lightning.
    “Has anyone ever told you that you are way too interested in Hades’ love life?” I asked, interrupting speech number one thousand nine hundred eighty-one on how useless, worthless, and otherwise awful I was.
    Of course, anything was preferable to watching Zeus rip them apart limb by limb. I think even he realized he’d gone too far with that set of dreams. He’d given me almost a week to recuperate.
    I still saw them writhing with agony when I closed my eyes. Still heard them screaming for me to save them. Cursing me for causing their pain.
    He’d been wearing my face that time.
    “It’s kind of pathetic.” I yawned. “Did you ever even like Hera, or did you just like that he liked her?”
    “You’re nothing compared to Hera.” Hades’ face twisted into a malicious grin. “She was—”
    “Amazing, spectacular, beautiful, perfect.” I ticked off the meaningless attributes on my fingers. “Yeah, I got the memo. She was also crazy to have picked you over him. But whatever. I owe her one. Why do you care so much? Jealous of your big brother, or does this go deeper?”
    He shifted back into Zeus. “I have nothing to be jealous of.”
    “People like him of their own volition,” I pointed out. “Love him even. He doesn’t have to resort to charm. Much less torture.”
    Zeus narrowed his eyes at me. “You think so? Maybe I should tell you about some of the things he’s done. Better yet—” a curved blade appeared in his hand “—how about I just show you?”

Chapter XIX
     
    Aphrodite
     
    Slipping away from Melissa long enough to dreamwalk wasn’t easy. As much as she complained, she took her job as my babysitter seriously, never letting me out of her sight for more than a few seconds.
    But Melissa had been recruited for cleanup duty, so I slipped away and locked myself in the bedroom, lay on the bed, and closed my eyes. Dreamwalking was easy, like taking a deep breath and going under water. It didn’t take me long to find Persephone.
    When I found her mind wide open, I paused, tempted to go get Hades. He and Demeter had been taking shifts, trying to dreamwalk to Persephone for weeks, but she never seemed to be asleep. Either that or she was so far from consciousness, she couldn’t open her mind to visitors.
    No. If I took the time to warn Hades, she might not be here when I came back. Zeus wouldn’t let her stay under for more than a few minutes. I closed my eyes and stepped