James focused on the spot where he was hidden. The question isn’t whether or not I want to help Lux. You know that Kate called Walter a heartless bastard

And an asshole. I am quite proud.

The corner of James’s mouth twitched. Yet you took Casey back to the Underworld.

Henry hesitated, and through the leaves, he found Kate. She leaned up against a tree a few feet from Pollux, her face crumpled and red and her cheeks glistening with tears. He hadn’t seen her so utterly miserable since the day she’d come to Eden Manor searching for a way to change fate.

And once again, it was his fault.

I know we have had our differences, but I need you to trust me.

James raised an eyebrow. Oh yeah And why should I do that

Because you care for Kate, and you care for the twins. I have made mistakes, as have you—but they should not suffer because of it.

Several seconds passed. How do I know this isn’t a trap

You don’t. You simply have to trust me. Henry paused. You owe me that much.

Silence again, longer this time. James glanced at Kate, and he must have seen the same thing Henry did: that keen sense of loss, as agonizing as it had been for her when she’d faced the inevitable death of her mother. The fact that it hurt her so badly when she barely knew the twins made Henry’s heart ache for her, and he was once again reminded how much he did not deserve her.

All right. James’s gaze shifted back to him. What do you need me to do

Kate

The wait was agony. No matter how much a I wanted to believe that eventually Henry would do the right thing, I wavered between hope and despair. He had Casey. Hell, for all I knew, he’d returned him to his afterlife already. James wouldn’t lie to me about something like that. And if that were the case, then we’d already lost.

That left me with only one choice: to believe Henry was good. That after all he’d gone through with Persephone, he would understand how badly it hurt to be ripped from the person he loved most in the world, and he would relent. It was a long shot, but I had to take it.

Lux was oddly silent once Walter left. I expected him to rage, but he didn’t even struggle to undo his bonds. He just rested against the tree as if he’d accepted his fate.

That was the worst part, seeing Lux give