“I figured Henry might smite me if I went through your underwear.”

“And I wasn’t going to give up just because they insisted there was no point in trying. Even if it meant marching straight up to Cronus and giving him everything, I would really do it if it meant Henry might live.”

“You don’t need to spend every waking moment protecting me now. I’m supposed to be your partner, not your burden, and if that’s all I’m ever going to be toyou, then I don’t want to be here anymore. I want you to love me. I want to look forward to coming here every fall. I want winter to be my favorite season becauseI get to spend it with you. So tell me that’s going to happen, Henry. Tell me things are going to be better, that you’re not going to think of Persephone every timeyou touch me. Tell me that you’re going to love me as much as you love her, and that I won’t spend the rest of eternity paling in comparison to your memories ofmy sister.”

“If it's healed, then why does it still hurt?" I said, panicked.What if the pain never went away? How was I supposed to live with that? Had Henry experienced the same thing in his chest? How could he have possibly fought of that thing again if he had?"Because there is no power in the world that can take away the pain until it is ready to leave." said Theo”

“He’s only with me because I’m your sister,” I said hotly.“Diana—Demeter, she’s my mother. She decided to have me in a last-ditch effort to save Henry because she felt so damn guilty for what you did to him, and she didn’t want to be responsible for him fading. He married me because he couldn’t have you, and I was the next best thing. Thanks for rubbing my nose in it.”

“Another pair of hands joined us, but I was so completely submerged into myself that I might as well have closed my eyes and disappeared in the dark. In here, nothing could touch me. In here, Henry was everywhere. In here, it was winter again, and we curled up together underneath the down comforter in the Underworld as the hours passed by. His chest was warm under my palm, and his heart beat against my fingers, steady and eternal. In here, no one died.”

“What are you and Henry going to do tonight anyway?""My secret," I said, and when I walked around to see the look on her face, I rolled my eyes. "Not that. What are you and Xander going to do?""That." She gave me an impish look, and I scowled. "What? I'm dead. It's not like it matters anymore.”