The God & The Shadow

Chapter 63

LORE

Hermes opened the door with a wide smile, replaced by a frown later when he looked around and noticed I came alone.

"How did it go?" He asked as he moved away, retreating to where he sat down next to Florens on the couch close to the warm hearth.

I grabbed the bottle of bourbon from the goddess' hand before she could even bring it close to her lips, settling on the single sofa adjacent to them.

"How do you think it went," I replied, staring directly at the fire.

Florens scoffed. "You should've just let me handle it."

"If your idea of handling it is harassing her, then I think you have plans of making yourself an enemy."

"I'm not." Florens raised her voice, startling the dozing witch leaning against Warren on the floor. She immediately looked around with a hooded gaze, rolling her eyes at the goddess before she went back to sleep. "You're being dramatic. All I wanted was her necklace. It looked promising."

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore." I looked back at her. "She's made her choice, and she's leaving."

"Her choice doesn't mean shit if she doesn't know anything. We need to tell her; explain ourselves." Hermes reasoned.

I turned away from them. "She already does. She knows about Veronica."

Everyone jolted up from their seats at the mention of her name. Hermes moved to the edge of his seat, only prevented from falling by the palm pressed against his chest by Florens. Warren turned his head so fast that the girl sleeping on his shoulder fell and hit the carpet with a loud thud.

"She– she what?" The warlock scrambled to help Olivia as he stuttered out his question.

"She knows, somehow. Walked out because of it in the first place." I explained with a swig of the hard liquor.

"What does she know?" Olivia asked, her hair still a bundled mess.

"A few memories from the night before she was taken. Beyond that, I do not know what else." They didn't need to know what exactly it was she remembered.

What sparked my curiosity, though, was how she somehow triggered her mind to remember. There had to be something that happened in the hours after I walked her back to the room, something she discovered or realized.

I made a mental note to check my flooring later.

"So we're giving up. Is this what this is?" Hermes' restrain was visible through the curling of his fists, hard enough to look like it hurt.

Florens' response came out almost mechanically. "Only Veronica can save herself at this point."

If we were right, it was Persephone herself blocking out any hopes of bringing her memories back. I'd only seen a shard of her true power that day in the alley and the mortal man, but that alone already felt as heavy as my own.

The only probable way for us to help her was if the protection she'd built around herself becomes completely undone, but the risk was too high. Even considering it felt wrong.