Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)(103)

Lina was preoccupied with planning her Italian vacation when she noticed that the clomp of horse's hooves had gotten closer and faster. She was moving to the edge of the walkway when a joyous neigh of greeting sliced the air. Lina's heart jumped in recognition. She spun around as a large black shape overtook her. A dark muzzle was shoved in her face. Orion alternated between nickering and snorting while he nuzzled and lipped her hair and shoulders. In shock, Lina could only cling to the horse's tack and hope that in his exuberance he didn't knock her over.

"Who dares touch the dread steed of Hades?"

His words mimicked those he had spoken to her long ago, but his tone was completely altered. His voice was fil ed with love and longing. Lina looked up at Orion's back. He sat in a glossy Western saddle. He had replaced his archaic clothes with a black Western-cut shirt, the sleeves of which were rol ed up to expose his muscular forearms, jeans and Oklahoma cowboy boots. His hair was pulled back and his eyes were bright.

Lina stared at him without speaking. The sight of him tugged at the newly healed wound in her heart. Al those dark winter months he had left her to hurt alone. Al that time. Al that pain. The fierce surge of anger she felt surprised her.

He tried to smile, but his lips only quivered.

"You asked who dares to touch your steed, Hades." Lina's words were clipped. "Al ow me to reintroduce myself to you. I am Carolina Francesca Santoro, a middle-aged mortal woman from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who owns a bakery. And I didn't dare to touch your dread steeds - he stuck his face in my hands. Again."

Hades felt her words like knives. He didn't blame her for her anger. He understood it, but he wouldn't al ow it to make him give up. He kicked his leg over the saddle and dismounted. He wanted to approach her, to take her into his arms, but she was staring at him with a cold, unblinking gaze that was anything but welcoming.

"You left one title from your introduction, Carolina." His voice made her name a prayer.

"I don't think so. I know exactly who I am," she said. He hadn't come any closer to her, but she stil moved a step back from him.

"You are Carolina Francesca Santoro, a middle-aged mortal woman from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who owns a bakery. You are also Queen of the Underworld," Hades said. Lina felt a tremor pass through her and she clutched her anger, afraid if she let it go, her heart would tear into tiny pieces.

"I'm sorry, Lord. You must be confused. The Goddess Persephone is Queen of the Underworld. I was just a temporary stand-in, and I wasn't up to the job."

"Your subjects feel differently, Carolina." He looked pointedly at Orion, who had stretched out his neck so that he could nibble her shoulder while she stroked his muzzle.

"Animals like me," she said. As if to prove her words, Edith Anne butted against her legs, wriggling for attention. Orion snorted and bent to blow at the bulldog.

"He reminds me a little of Cerberus." Hades nodded at the squatty dog, trying again unsuccessful y to smile.

"He is a she. And I hear she has better manners than Cerberus has been exhibiting," Lina said, and then bit her lip. She shouldn't converse with him.

"No doubt Cerberus' manners are lacking because he is feeling the absence of his Queen, as is the rest of the Underworld."

"A dog and a horse aren't anyone's subjects. And I'm not a queen. I'm a mortal woman. I do not have any subjects."

Hades turned back to Orion's saddle and pulled out the rol ed-up canvas he had lodged under the pommel. "I have something for you. Eurydice tried to give it to me, but I reminded her that her work belonged to you. She stil thinks of herself as Personal Artist to the Goddess of Spring, though she misses her mistress very much."

"I'm not... no, I don't want..." Lina stammered, feeling a wave of homesickness at the thought of Eurydice. Then, Hades stepped close to her. In the months they had been apart she had forgotten about his size. He seemed to surround her. Even in modern clothes he was dark and rakishly handsome. Her Batman...

"The little spirit drew this from a dream she had of you. She said that it felt right." Hades was so close to her that she could feel the heat of his body.

Wordlessly, Lina took the canvas from Hades. She unrol ed it and gasped.

"It's me!"

It was her - the mortal woman, Carolina Francesca Santoro - her body, her face, her smile. Not Persephone. As she gazed at the image Eurydice had drawn from a dream, her fingers began to tingle and suddenly a current of emotion traveled through the canvas and into her soul. Within the current she could hear the unnumbered voices of the dead. They were al cal ing to her, begging their queen to return.

Her hands trembled and she felt the knot of anger within her begin to dissolve.

"Your subjects recognize you and cal for you, Carolina," Hades said gently.

"It's too bad that their God did not recognize me," she said without looking up at him.

"There is no God here now, nor any Lord." Hades' voice broke, and he had to pause before he could continue. He took Lina's chin in his hand and brought her face up so that she must look into his eyes. "Tonight I am only a man who is desperately seeking his soul mate. You see, she was separated from me because of my foolishness, and I had to forgive myself before I could find her and ask that she - "

Tears began spil ing from Lina's eyes.