The Goddess Test Boxed Set: Goddess Interrupted\The Goddess Inheritance\The Goddess Legacy (51 page)

I pried her hand off of me. “I
know you're upset about Nicholas, but the sooner we find Rhea, the sooner
we'll be able to rescue him. We can't do that if we keep going back to say
goodbye.”

“It isn't that.” Ava swallowed,
but I was already on my way over the hill. “Kate, stop—”

She hurried after me, and I
quickened my stride. Whatever was bothering her could wait until we were on
a plane to wherever James's note specified.

Ava caught up with me a few feet
from the gate, and she grabbed my arm again. “Kate, please, you don't
understand—”

“Hello, Kate.” Calliope stepped
into the dirt road that ran parallel to the gate, a devilish smile twisted
across her lips.

I froze. It couldn't be. Icy
fear washed over me, erasing everything else I'd felt that morning. I was
going to die. Calliope was going to murder me and string my body across the
gates of Eden for Henry to find when he came looking for me.

“You can't,” said Ava
desperately. “Calliope, please, you don't understand—”

“Of course I
understand.”

The gate swung open, and
Calliope crooked her finger toward us. I dug my heels into the ground, but
an invisible force dragged me toward her, past the boundary of Eden Manor.
Ava tugged on my arm, trying in vain to stop me.

“You did well,” said Calliope to
Ava. “Your husband will be proud to know his wife is willing to go to such
lengths to ensure his safety, and you shall reap the rewards of the loyalty
you have shown me.”

My mouth dropped open. Ava's
eyes filled with tears, and she tried to take my hand, but I pulled it back.
“You knew she'd be waiting?”

“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I'm
so, so sorry, Kate. I didn't know.”

“Of course you knew,” said
Calliope with a dismissive wave of her hand, and the gate clanged shut.
“Don't pretend you had nothing to do with this, Ava. Lying is very
unattractive.”

“Why would you do this to me?” I
said to Ava, stunned. “Why would you do this to Henry and the rest of the
council?”

Ava sobbed. “Calliope, you
can't, please. I'll do anything, just— You
can't.
She's pregnant.”

Pregnant. I blinked. Who?
Calliope? Both of them looked at me, Ava's face a mess of guilt and despair
and Calliope's shining with satisfaction, and all the air left my
lungs.

Me. Ava meant me.

I struggled against the force
that held me down. I needed to go back. Back to safety and the Underworld
and Henry, but my feet were rooted to the ground. “Yes, I know,” said
Calliope. “You played your part admirably, Ava.”

I looked back and forth between
them, so dizzy I could hardly see straight. “I don't understand, how could
you possibly— Ava, what did you
do?
”

“Nothing,” she cried. “I swear,
Kate, I didn't do anything. She—she wanted me to make you two sleep
together, but I didn't, I promise.”

My heart pounded. No, Ava hadn't
had anything to do with the day before, I was sure of it. It wasn't like the
aphrodisiac Calliope had given us in Eden. Ava had known though. She'd
known, and she hadn't done a damn thing to stop it.

“I couldn't tell you were
pregnant until you got up here,” said Ava. “I'm so sorry. I would have
never—”

“But I'm not,” I said,
bewildered. “I can't be. We only just—”

“All you had to do was sleep
with Henry,” said Calliope. “I did the rest.”

She twitched her finger, and I
fell to my knees in the snow. The thing she'd done to me, I realized,
horrified. The goddess of marriage and women. And fertility.

This had been her plan all
along.

“I told you that I would take
from you what you loved the most,” said Calliope, and a large black rock
appeared in her hand. It was the same kind of rock that had been in the
cavern, and fog swirled inside it. She giggled. “What, did you think I meant
Henry?”

A wave of nausea swept over me.
“Please,” I whispered. Her eyes narrowed, and I knew it was
hopeless.

“You did this to yourself,” she
said. “And your child. Payback's a bitch, isn't it?”

With that, she cracked the stone
against the back of my head, and my world went black.

* * * * *

Acknowledgments

I'm beyond grateful for all the
help, encouragement and support from the people who were brave enough to
stick around while I wrote this monster. I especially want to thank the
following:

Rosemary Stimola, my magical
agent, for the smiley faces.

Mary-Theresa Hussey, Natashya
Wilson and the entire Harlequin Teen team, for believing in these
books.

The incredible community of YA
book bloggers, for their enthusiasm and love of reading.

Angie, Stacey, Mandy and the rest
of the crew, for being a second family.

Lauren DeStefano, for the ups and
downs and late-night emails.

Carrie Harris, for the laughs and
infectious cheer.

Sarah J. Maas, for the endless
optimism.

Courtney Allison Moulton and Leah
Clifford, for being Angels.

Nick Navarre, for the
music.

Sarah Reck, for never holding
back.

Caitlin Straw, for putting up
with me.

And last but never least, Dad—for
everything.

Guide to the Gods

Zeus
…………… Walter

Hera
…………… Calliope

Poseidon
…………… Phillip

Demeter
…………… Diana

Hades
…………… Henry

Hestia
…………… Sofia

Ares
…………… Dylan

Aphrodite
…………… Ava

Hermes
…………… James

Athena
…………… Irene

Apollo
…………… Theo

Artemis
…………… Ella

Hephaestus
…………… Nicholas

Dionysus
…………… Xander

Immortality or love. You can't have both.

If you loved Goddess Interrupted, don't miss the rest of the
Goddess Test series. Available now!

The Goddess Test
The Goddess Hunt
(novella)
Goddess
Interrupted
The Goddess Legacy
The Goddess Inheritance

“A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to this romantic
fable.”—Cassandra Clare
on
The Goddess Test

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Love or life.

Henry or their child.

The end of her family or The end of the world.

KATE MUST CHOOSE.

During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a
jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the
Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her—until Cronus
offers a deal.

In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the
Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees,
he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of council. And if she refuses,
Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.

With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders,
Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in
existence, even if it costs her everything.

Even if it costs her eternity.

“It seems the games are about to begin.”

“What games?” I knew the answer before I'd asked the question
though. My dream, my vision—it was the autumnal equinox, and finally Henry knew
I was missing.

A sharp pain shot from my back to my abdomen, and I gasped.
Cronus was at my side in an instant, exactly the way Henry would've been if he
were here. I turned away.

“Calliope has decided it will happen today,” he murmured, and
his voice would have been comforting if it hadn't come from him.

“Decided what would happen today?” I struggled to stand and
make it to the bathroom, but my legs gave out. Cronus's cool hands were there to
steady me, but as soon as I was back on the bed, I jerked away from him.

“That your child would be born.”

* * *

Select Praise for Aimée Carter's The Goddess Test series

“The narrative is well executed, and Kate is a heroine better
equipped than most to confront and cope with the inexplicable.”
—
Publishers Weekly
on
The Goddess
Test

“
The Goddess Test
puts a fresh
twist on the YA paranormal genre by infusing it with back-to-the-basics Greek
mythology.”
—Renee C. Fountain,
New York Journal of
Books

“Carter's writing is a delight to read—succinct, clean,
descriptive.
Goddess Interrupted
is definitely a
page-turner, one full of suspense, heartbreak, confusion, frustration and yes,
romance.”
—
YA Reads

Also by Aimée Carter

The Goddess Test Novels

THE GODDESS TEST
“The Goddess Hunt” (ebook)
GODDESS
INTERRUPTED
THE GODDESS LEGACY
THE GODDESS INHERITANCE