My head spun. I needed to sit down. I needed a glass of water. Gods, I needed a vacation. “What?”
“Yes, he has stood where you are now, and he made the choice very few think to consider. He asked to go back.”
“I didn’t think demigods walked the night road.”
“The rules of their mortal half still apply. They have expiration dates, and when those come, they find themselves under my watchful eye.” She smiled at me, and icy fingers of fear tickled my spine. Now more than ever I wanted to get out of here and not come back until I really was dead.
“He’s a man then?”
“A man?” Hecate seemed confused by my word choice. “A human? A male? You must know the answer to these questions already. I believe you know he’s Seth’s son.”
“Yes, but Seth called him a child. Is he an adult? I need to know who I’m looking for.”
“He is grown, as you are.” She was amused by this question. “Would you like to see him?”
“Uh, yes.”
But I wanted to know more. How had Leo come here? Was that how Manea knew about him and why she was targeting Leo instead of some of Seth’s other children? If I wanted to hurt Seth, going after Sido would have been my choice. If Leo had died, even briefly, that meant Manea had gotten her hands on him once. Maybe finishing the job was what it would take to really stick it to the storm god.
I killed your son twice, and you did nothing.
It was spiteful, but effectively cruel. Exactly the sort of thing a goddess would dream up.
“How did he die?”
Hecate held up her wrists, and lines sliced open along the veins, blood rushing from the illusory wounds and puddling the ground around her feet with red droplets that resembled fresh poppies. The dark spots at the center of each drop grew legs and transformed into beetles, scuttling away from her feet as fast as they could.
“He killed himself.” I didn’t phrase it as a question.
“Yes. And then he changed his mind.”
“I didn’t think that was allowed.”
“As with most things, how do you know unless you ask? Leo asked.”
“And you just let him go?”
“Not just. Do you imagine I am in the business of restoring mortal lives for free? If so, you have very naïve views.”
“I don’t think you do anything for free.”
“Cynical, but slightly more accurate.” The gaping wounds on her arms healed as quickly as they’d formed. One of the blood beetles skittered across my foot in its hurry to get away. I wasn’t sure what had the newborn bugs so scared, but I admired their survival instinct.
Too bad they were living in a place where only the dead could walk.
“What did you make him offer?”
Hecate laughed, and if I could have turned into a beetle and scurried away from the sound, I would have. She clapped me on the shoulder, chuckling like she thought I’d made the funniest joke she’d ever heard. She shook her head, and each turn of the cheek changed how she looked. Young, old, normal. Young, old, normal.
Did I mention I needed a vacation?
“I’m not going to divulge my arrangements with Leo Marquette to you. What is said between me and the dead is not for the ears of others.”
“And what about the things said between you and the living?”
She gave my arm a tender squeeze. “I won’t tell Seth about our arrangement, if that’s what has you worried. But I was not the only one in the room.”
I doubted Mormo would get any benefits from tattling on me, especially not given his devotion to Hecate. Cade…well…his life was no more his own than mine was. He wouldn’t want to rat me out, but if Ardra asked, he couldn’t lie to her.