Vowed to Hades (Romancing the Seas #4)

13. Georgette

GEORGETTE

G eorgette sat against the cold, damp wall of the cave, the remnants of the cell bars twisted and broken around them. The air was thick with dust and the lingering scent of sulfur, the aftermath of whatever had caused the earth to quake and the rocks to fall.

She glanced at Serena, who was pacing the small space with a frustrated energy that made the confined quarters feel even more oppressive.

“I don’t understand,” Georgette muttered, her voice barely above a whisper as she hugged her knees to her chest. “What was all that shaking? Do you think… do you think Hades is dead?”

Serena paused mid-step, her eyes narrowing as she considered the question. “The God of Death? I highly doubt it,” she replied, but there was an edge to her voice that made Georgette wonder if she was trying to convince herself as much as her sister.

“Then what happened? What could have caused this?” Georgette pressed, her mind racing with possibilities. “I thought I heard thunder and lightning.”

Serena stiffened at the mention of thunder, her face hardening into a mask of unreadable emotions.

Georgette frowned. “You made that same expression when you learned about Magni. Who is his uncle?”

Serena pursed her lips, her gaze flickering to the collapsed rocks at the entrance of their cell.

“There’s still so much you do not know,” she said quietly, almost as if she were speaking to herself.

Georgette threw her hands in the air, her frustration bubbling over. “Then tell me! You have a captive audience here—there’s nothing else to do!”

Serena let out a slow breath, her shoulders slumping as if the weight of the world had settled on them. “Magni is the son of Thor—the Norse God of Thunder,” she said, her voice heavy with the weight of the revelation. “Considering Loki killed Poseidon, it’s not a stretch to think Magni might be here to finish what his uncle started.”

Georgette’s heart skipped a beat, her mind reeling.

Thor. Loki. The names were legends, stories told to children, but now they were real, and they were her reality. “But why lock us here? They could have slaughtered us on the boat.”

“I don’t know, Georgette,” Serena snapped, her voice tinged with irritation. “I don’t know everything. ”

For a moment, silence hung between them, heavy and uncomfortable.

Serena turned away, hugging her knees to her chest, and Georgette realized with a pang of guilt that her sister’s bravado was just a front. Behind the sharp words and defiant posture, Serena was hurting. She was mourning their father.

Georgette remembered the day she had found Lord Harrington’s body—the man she had been raised to call father. The memory was still fresh, a wound that hadn’t fully healed.

She swallowed hard and moved closer to Serena, her voice softening. “I’m sorry. You’ve just lost your father. I should be more sensitive.”

Serena didn’t respond at first, but then her shoulders began to shake, and the dampness of tears soaked into Georgette’s shirt.

She wrapped her arms around her sister, holding her tightly as the sobs wracked Serena’s body.

It was a rare moment of vulnerability, one that made Georgette’s heart ache with sympathy.

But after a few moments, Serena sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand, pulling herself together with a determined resolve. “Well,” she said, her voice still shaky but filled with a new resolve, “we’re not going to sit here and die too.”

Georgette shrugged, her own frustration returning. “Unless you know how to make a portal like Ava, I can’t see how we’re going to get out of this mess.”

Serena shot her a glare that could have frozen fire. “Are you going to keep taunting me, or are you going to help?”

“Help you with what?” Georgette asked, genuinely confused.

Serena waved her hand, and out of thin air, a pair of shovels materialized, the metal gleaming dully in the dim light of the cave.

Georgette’s eyes widened.

“Whoa. You can conjure things out of thin air?” she breathed, her amazement cutting through the tension for a brief moment.

“Come on.” Serena ignored the awe in Georgette’s voice. “This is incredibly dangerous. The rocks are unstable, and there’s a high chance we’ll be buried alive.”

Georgette couldn’t help the sarcastic quip that slipped out. “What an uplifting speech. I am imbued with hope.”

Serena shot her a withering look but handed her one of the shovels. “We don’t have time for cynicism, Georgette. If we want to survive, we need to start digging.”

Georgette took the shovel, the weight of it grounding her in the reality of their situation.

“All right,” she said, steeling herself for the task ahead.

They began to dig, the sound of metal scraping against stone filling the cavern as they worked together in tense silence.

The air was thick with dust, each breath heavy and labored, but neither of them stopped .

The rocks shifted ominously above them with every strike, but they pressed on, driven by the desperate need to escape.

Georgette’s arms ached, her muscles burning with the effort, but she refused to give up. The thought of dying in this godforsaken place, buried beneath a mountain of rock, was too horrifying to consider. And so, she dug, the shovel biting into the earth with a grim determination.

But as the minutes ticked by, the fear began to creep in.

What if they couldn’t dig their way out? What if the rocks collapsed on them?

She glanced at Serena, who was working with a ferocity that bordered on desperation. Her sister’s face was set in a mask of concentration, but Georgette could see the fear lurking in her eyes, the same fear that gnawed at her.

“We’re going to make it,” Georgette said, more to herself than to Serena, but the sound of her voice was hollow.

Serena didn’t respond, her focus entirely on the task at hand.

But as they dug deeper, Georgette couldn’t shake the sense that time was running out.

They were trapped, alone in the darkness, with nothing but their own strength and willpower to see them through. And as the rocks continued to shift above them, Georgette wondered if it would be enough, and if she would ever get to see her beloved Captain Stone again .

“No!” Serena cried.

She dropped her shovel with a clang and pressed her palms to the shifting rocks above her head. Then the ground began to rumble.

Georgette abandoned her shovel and joined Serena, holding rocks with all of her strength.

But the buildup of pressure grew too much, even for two sirens.

“Get back,” snapped Serena.

They let go and staggered away as the rocks caved in around them.

Dust flooded the small space, and Georgette tumbled to the ground by the force of heavy rocks.

When the commotion ended, and the air cleared, Georgette coughed.

“Serena… Serena!” she choked.

Silence.

Panic ripped through Georgette as she wriggled under the tremendous weight of the rocks. She was buried but for a small space around her head. She cried out for her sister once more.

Then she reached out for her with her mind. Hoping to hear Serena’s cynical voice. She would even settle for an insult.

But… nothing.

The silence was deafening.

Hot tears leaked out of Georgette’s eyes as she closed them. Her body was numb, and a buildup of pressure in her head made her temples throb.

“Captain Stone… Mannington, my love,” she wh ispered. “Wherever you are, I wish you are safe. I hope you know how much I love you.”

A strange peace washed over Georgette. She was not sure if it was resignation that she wasn’t getting out of this. Or that the rocks had crushed her spinal cord, and she was paralyzed.

But it no longer mattered. None of it did.

Isis's mission. The battle of the gods. Even the war between the sirens and men… It all faded to nothing. Her only regret was that she did not set sail with her love and leave the chaos behind.

So what if she could never bear children. His love was enough.

Another hot tear rolled down her cheek as she choked on the thought. She was going to die, and Captain Stone would never know that his love was enough.

Georgette was not a pious woman. She cared little for the gods, especially knowing the petty games they played using humans and sirens.

But in her final moments, she decided to pray.

“If there is a kind god out there… I know you owe me nothing, but…” Georgette whispered.

Her breaths were stifled as the air grew so thin it was like sucking water through a tiny straw.

She finished the prayer in her mind.

If you grant me just one more day with my Captain Stone, I shall do whatever you wish.

With that final thought, she sucked in her last breath and clung to hope, until she finally exhaled and slipped away into darkness.