I look up at my father, meeting his eyes for the first time since my return. I wonder if I will see that same disdain he usually looks at me with. But instead, I see something very different. A look of fear crosses my father’s eyes. It mars the near-perfect mask of nonexpression on his face that I have always tried to emulate—and I realize why he hadn’t filled me in from the very beginning about Daphne’s true importance. I know why his Oracle had kept the details from me. Because now that I know what he needs Daphne for—to find the Kronolithe of Hades—I know just how much power I have in my hands. I have Daphne. I have everything he wants: the missing link to finding the Key to the underworld, to finding the object that can turn my father into everything he pretends to be—a god.

I have the power here. The leverage.

Daphne isn’t only the key to finding the Kronolithe; she is also the key to getting me everything I had ever wanted, and more.

“That is what you want, isn’t it, my son? One little vow is a small price to pay to have all the honor and the glory of the Underrealm bestowed on your head.”

Vows made on the river Styx are nothing to be taken lightly. An unbreakable vow is just that—unbreakable. I’d already seen how such oaths control Dax and Joe. What little free will I have in the matter would be gone. I would not be able to stop myself from bringing Daphne to him when the time came.

“I should have made you vow before sending you as Champion. That addled Oracle tried to convince me it would backfire, but I see now she was playing games with me. I’m not leaving it up to your impulses anymore. You will bring her to me, no matter what.”

“What will you do with her?” I ask.

“Whatever it takes.”

“The Oracle says you need her heart and soul. Will you sacrifice her?”

“Yes. If needed.”

“Then my answer is no. You can’t have her.”

Because I realize now the price for what Ren is offering is too high. I will not give Daphne to him. I will not let her die. I cannot trade her for what I have always wanted—because she is what I need.

My father tears into me with another bolt of lightning. This one comes so fast and strong that I cannot brace myself. The lightning grips me like a great taloned bird sinking its clutches into my rib cage, and slams me against the altar. I sink to the ground. My body writhes against the marble floor as the bolt ravages through me. I scream. Tears flood my eyes. The pain is too much to stop myself.

The lightning dissipates, and I hear the echo of my father’s laughter. He mocks my agony. Or perhaps it is my tears that set him off. I had never wanted to let him see me cry again, not since the day Mother died. I have tried to suppress and fight my emotions, to keep the human side of me at bay. I have let him push me down. I think about what Daphne said about my father being afraid of me when I stood up to him as a child.

What I might be capable of now if I had not cowered to his will earlier in my life …

Beyond my father’s derisive laughter, I think I hear another sound.

Like Daphne calling my name.

“You would put concern for some human girl over your duty to me?” Ren asks. “To your entire realm?”

Haden, come back! I think I hear Daphne call. I need you here.

I try once again to cast away the talisman, but it is still branded to my hand. I roll onto my side—it takes all my strength to do so—and look at my father. “I love her.”

That’s barely something I want to admit to myself, let alone to him, but at the moment, it feels like the most powerful thing I still have inside of me.

“Love? You would put such a silly notion over having your honor restored?” His derisive laughter starts to sound more desperate and hungry to me. The sounds of a man with few options left.

“You can’t restore my honor. It was never yours to take in the first place.” If it hadn’t been for Daphne and my time in her world, I would have never realized that. There is also one more thing I would not realize, either. The clues finally click together in my head.… “What do you know about honor anyway? You failed your quest, didn’t you? You shouldn’t be king now. That’s why they’re trying to take it away from you.”

“What do you know about anything?”

“Eighteen years ago, the Oracle predicted that the child of Demi Raines would be the Cypher. You were sent to the mortal world as Champion in order to bring her back. The idea was to make her your Boon, your mate, and the Cypher would be the child you created together. But you failed. Someone else got to her first. A musician named Joe Vince swept her off her feet, and before you had any say in the matter, she was pregnant. There was no way you were going to convince her to come with you now. So you struck a deal with Joe. He didn’t know what he was really agreeing to when he traded the soul of his firstborn child for fame and fortune. But you had the proof you needed to claim that you had still secured the child of Demi Raines for the Underrealm. I imagine you carried back the words of Joe’s vow in a vessel of water like that one.” I point at the vase he’d used to pour the water in front of me. “You also brought back a Boon—my mother, Kayla, for good measure. But she wasn’t the prize you needed, and that’s why you scorned her. That’s why you hate me. Because I am more like her than Rowan is. It’s why you treat me like I’m a failure—because I am the reminder of your own.”

“I didn’t fail. I am king here. You best remember that.”

“But you won’t be for long, will you?” I try to grab the side of the altar to use it to push myself up. I am too drained of strength and fall back to my knees. “You succeeded your father and became king because you had technically fulfilled your quest. But there are those in the Court who question your eligibility. And then there’s the matter of your deal with Joe not being enough. That’s where I came into play. Your deal with Joe will give you Daphne’s soul. Is it supposed to come to you immediately when she dies—bypassing Elysium or the Wastelands, where it would get lost forever? But the problem is, you need her heart, too. Which means you need her alive—and no living person can cross through Persephone’s Gate unless she does it willingly. Which meant you needed a Champion to finish this for you. You needed her to be brought back as a Boon. Rowan was your first choice—he’s always been your favorite—but you got nervous. You decided to consult the Oracle and got the shock of your life when she chose me.”