Goddess Bound: Goddess Series Book 6 (Young Adult / New Adult)

Goddess Bound

Copyright © June 2013, M.W. Muse

Cover art by JTLW Design © April 2013

Stock Photography from Fotolia

Penning Princess Publishing

Maumelle, AR 72113

www.penningprincess.com

ISBN: 978-0-9882130-7-4

No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and e-mail, without prior written permission from Penning Princess Publishing or M.W. Muse.

Dedication

To my parents. For my dad for fostering the ability to think rationally and my mom for nurturing creativity. No matter where life takes us, you’ve always been there when I needed you. So yeah, thanks for not aborting me when it was the cool thing to do.

Chapter One

It reeked of sewage. With gray sky, tarlike covered hills, and bodily remains scattered about the banks of this godforsaken river, the visual was almost as bad. Legacy couldn’t have dreamed anything worse than the one entity she’d been trying to avoid all along—Hades—being right under her nose this whole time in the form of her classmate Seth. The sight of her current surroundings totally trumped that theory, though. But the smell…oh gods, the smell was horrific. She was going to puke, but she wasn’t the only one. Seth had also taken Kate, who was now viciously fighting her gag reflex and losing that battle.

“Don’t throw up in my boat!” Seth roared as he grabbed Kate by the shirt collar and pushed her toward the edge. She hurled over the side. The visual didn’t help Legacy’s urge to join the vomiting fun, but nothing could make the smell out here any worse.

The river Styx, as Seth had explained after kidnapping Legacy and Kate from the park, was one of four rivers that merged within the underworld. It circled the region and connected with the rivers Acheron, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Cocytus, and was their way to his home where he’d keep Legacy as his queen for eternity. If the smell out here didn’t make her want to vomit, that thought surely would. As for why he’d taken Kate, Legacy could only assume the chick had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then there was Casey. The guy who’d tried to rape Legacy under the bleachers after the basketball game all those months ago was nothing more than a minion. No mind of his own. Whether he had one to start or if Casey was planted at that high school in Pike County as part of Seth’s setup, Legacy didn’t know. Nor did she care at this point. The mindless goon was rowing the boat as he stared blankly into the night. Or day. With the sky this eerie gray color, she had no idea what time it was or if time even mattered where they were. Regardless, she wasn’t much better off than Casey. She was trapped, taken. Her truest nightmare come to life. Her mother’s objective of a new destiny for her crushed. It had all been for nothing.

“Ow!” Kate squeaked and grabbed the back of her head where Seth had her hair gripped in his clutches. He’d yanked her back from the edge after she’d evacuated her lunch. Then he shoved her down onto the bench beside Legacy.

“Shut up,” he spat. “You’re lucky I let you live. If you push me too far, I’ll suck the life from you too, and you can help Casey here.” He flung his hand in Casey’s direction as he plopped on the bench across from the girls.

Kate’s breathing hitched as she looked at Seth, but thankfully, she didn’t open her mouth. Legacy could see by the expression on the girl’s face that she was living in her own kind of hell. She hadn’t known anything about the reality surrounding the Greek myths, and now she found herself right in the middle of living it. Not only that, but she was a victim. And the fun just didn’t stop there for her. Oh no, it was one thing to be taken against her will…another to be betrayed by her boyfriend.

Adin.
Gods, he must be freaking out! His wails and pleas rending the air as Legacy disappeared from him would haunt her. Her lip quivered, but she bit it to keep it still. She could not show any emotion. Not right now. Not until she could think about this predicament and figure out a way to free herself and Kate. If that was even a possibility. But thinking of them evaporating into the air at the park made her wonder, “What happened to our bodies?” She glanced up at Seth, realizing she’d voiced her concern.

His lip quirked into a semblance of a smile. Then he reached across and backhanded her. She gasped at the sudden movement and rubbed her face where the stinging bloomed.

“Feel that?”

Legacy glared at him and suppressed her reaction to hit him back. “Yes.”

“Then you don’t need a body.” He crossed his arms and looked away, scanning the river nonchalantly. “You’re bound by laws of the gods,” he muttered as if talking to an errant child. “You don’t need a body within celestial planes.” Then he looked at her, his eyes cold. “I will, however, retrieve your body. It was my intent to take all evidence of your earthly existence with us, but the plan had to be modified at the end. Your abduction was more important in that moment.”

“So our bodies are still there?”

“Living and breathing,” he mocked. “Just comatose, for lack of a better word. And if that freak you fucked violates the body that now belongs to me, I will skin him alive.”

Eww.
Legacy frowned at Seth. That was disgusting. Adin would never do that, but the fact that Seth had thought of something as vile as having sex with an unconscious person totally grossed her out. Mentioning that her body belonged to him was too ludicrous to even feel revulsion about.

“W-what’s that?” Kate mumbled. Legacy looked to the side. A tropical-looking oasis sat in the middle of this dank area. How could something so beautiful exist in this dreadful place?

“The Elysian Fields. It’s where those who are worthy enjoy an easy afterlife.”

“So it’s heaven in Hell?” Legacy asked, deadpan. How ridiculous was that?

Seth’s gaze cut to her. “Essentially.”

“Does that mean there’s a more hellish place than where we are now?” Kate asked as she scooted closer to Legacy.

Seth smiled at her, a face of pure adoration when he looked at Kate. She groaned softly next to Legacy. “You don’t have to worry about that, love.” He seemed so sincere when talking to Kate just now. But then he glared at Legacy. “Neither do you,” he barked.

“Seth, please,” Kate started.

“No! Don’t speak to me.”

“Shh. Don’t, Kate. Let’s just keep quiet.” Though Legacy could only imagine what Kate was going through. Every now and then Seth would look at his former girlfriend with longing. She wasn’t sure if he was screwing around with her or if he actually had feelings for her.

She looked back at Seth. He was mumbling and shaking his head. She had no idea what he was doing, but she wanted to distract him. “Why don’t we have to worry about the real hellish area?”

Seth took a deep breath. “Because you are not dead. But stay off Phlegethon. It’s the river that leads to Tartarus, the area you speak of.”

Legacy immediately decided she needed to learn everything she could about this area. If she and Kate were going to find a way out of here, they needed all the information they could get. Kate was in this mess because of her and she needed to free her friend. Not that she was being completely heroic with the gesture. She wanted to get the heck out of Dodge herself. She cleared her throat and shifted a little to squeeze Kate in a comforting embrace before continuing. “Can people go back and forth between the different areas?”

Seth rubbed his face before leaning back and staring at her. They sat in silence for several minutes. Legacy felt as if she were being sized up as the stare down continued. Then his shoulders relaxed. “Okay, Legacy. Since you’re going to be my queen, I guess you
do
need to learn about our home. No, people can’t go back and forth. Gods can under certain circumstances. Acheron is the river of pain, which is the path ferrymen take when bringing the dead to our realm. Lethe is the river of oblivion, and Cocytus of wailing. Technically, Tartarus isn’t part of Hades; rather, it’s far below and ruled by the god of the same name. However, the Fields of Punishment are a part of our domain and is where tortured souls and those who committed crimes against gods go. Souls that are indifferent or did not engage in evil against our gods are cast to Asphodel Meadows. Souls with distinction are placed within the Elysian Fields that we passed by earlier. Isles of the Blessed is the eternal paradise. They are islands for those who have achieved Elysium three times.”

Oh gods, that was a lot to take in. She didn’t dare look at Kate to see how she was faring with the onslaught of information overload. “Um, so how could someone achieve Elysium three times? What does that even mean?”

“When a soul is designated to the Elysian Fields, it can choose to stay or be reborn. If reborn three times, and each of those three times the soul lived a life of distinction and is placed within the Elysian Fields—achieving Elysium—then they are given the honor of residing within the Isles of the Blessed for all of their afterlife.”

So if there were gods, or godly souls, around that lived a life of good, maybe she could find a way to get to them and get their help. It was a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. She needed to think of several alternatives to get away, but she had no idea how long she had to get out. Did being here limit her chances of breaking free by every second she spent in this literal hellhole? “So what is your plan?” she asked without blinking.

Seth smirked. “Don’t tell me you’re eager to rule the realm with me, cupcake. If I’d believed that, I would’ve saved all the bullshit and just confronted you months ago.”

Legacy licked her lips and tried not to breathe through her nose. “Of course not. But it’s not crazy for me to wonder what’s in store for me.” She glanced at Kate and amended, “For us.”

“Ahoy!” a man called out, startling her. They all looked to the side as the boat neared a dock.

“Idiot,” Seth mumbled as he stood.

“We’ll make landfall in approximately thirty-two seconds, Master,” Casey said. He pulled the oars out of the water and allowed the boat to coast toward the dock. The other man grabbed the side and started tying it to the wooden pier.

“Good afternoon, your majesty,” the man said, and bowed before stepping aside.

“Charon,” Seth acknowledged just before exiting the boat and turning around to extend his hand to Legacy. She had no other choice but to take the offer of help and get out of the boat.

Casey grabbed Kate from behind her, eliciting a startled cry. Legacy jumped and stepped toward the boat, not sure what Casey was going to do. He wasn’t going to throw her overboard, was he? She couldn’t allow that to happen. She had no idea if creatures lived within these waters.

Seth roared, and in an instant he was back in the boat and had punched Casey. Casey’s head snapped to the side and Legacy winced and awaited the sound of snapping bones, but then he looked at Seth like nothing had happened. “Stupid puppet!” He grabbed Kate by the upper arm, not too gently from what Legacy could see, and hoisted her out of the boat.

“I apologize if I have offended you, master.”

Seth growled. “Stay your ass in the boat.” Then he grabbed Legacy’s arm also and started to walk away.

“Er, not that I care about him, but you hit him so hard that it should’ve broken his neck, and he just stared at you. Why?” Legacy asked as she stumbled the first few steps.

“He isn’t bound to our laws like we are, precious,” Seth sneered. He was powerful and all, but his attitude was really making her mad.

“You mean he’s not of a godly status.”

“Very good.” Oh yeah, his patronizing tone was going to make her fly into a rage any second now. When they topped a hill, a large castle came into view. “Home sweet home,” he said as they walked up to a gate with some dogs. Legacy reeled. Check that. Those weren’t three dogs. It was one dog with three heads. Kate’s whimper clued Legacy in on the fact that she’d noticed the deformed mutt too.

“My liege,” one of the dog heads said. Dogs! Speaking! If she wasn’t so freaked out, she could record this and post it on YouTube. She could just image the number of hits she’d get. The vid would go viral! Though that’d probably be frowned upon by her father, the king of all gods. She started to laugh. Oh gods, she was losing her mind!

“Cerberus.” Hades nodded at the dog-thing as they walked up. Then the freak of nature looked at her…well, one of the heads did anyway.

“Your highness.”

What did she say to that? “Um, hi there, boy. Did your master here teach you to speak? I’m usually only familiar with asking dogs things like, ‘What’s on top of a house?’ and ‘How are you feeling?’ but I think you might get offended if I did that.”

Seth gripped her arm, and she braced herself for a tongue lashing, but then he guffawed. His whole body shook as he laughed. “Oh hell,” he said as he chuckled. “It might be fun having you around after all.”

The doggy growled. “Ruh-roh, Shaggy,” Legacy muttered to Kate as she stepped back.

“Knock it off, Cerberus.” Seth started to walk again and jolted both of the girls to follow behind. Legacy’s arm hurt, and Kate gasped at the sudden movement. Legacy’s scalp prickled and she cocked her head to the side, wondering why she had a sense of something not being quite right…not that anything about this situation could be construed as
right
.

“I apologize, my liege.” Then the doggy looked at Legacy. “Welcome home, madam.” Then he looked at Kate. “Enjoy your stay, Hecate.”

Legacy’s head whipped around and she stared at Seth in shock. “What did he say to Kate?” The tingling sensation was back and she glared at him now. “And why does she feel you hurting her? You practically yanked her hair out when she puked, but when Casey stood as your punching bag, he did so without flinching in pain?”

Seth’s jaw ticked. Kate glanced back and forth between the two of them frantically. “I would think that’s obvious, cupcake.” When she just stared, he sighed. “She’s bound by the same laws we are.”

“Kate’s a goddess?” What the crap?

“Not of our caliber, darling, but yes. She is as bound as we are. Now be a good mate and get your ass in our home.” Seth shoved her through the door and she glared at him over her shoulder.

Oh Legacy was bound all right. She was bound to kick his ass sooner rather than later.