Little Saint Bride [Death and the Maiden, #1]

Chapter Twenty: Brothers, Grim

Whenever I'd heard people talking about someone going to the pearly gates, I'd never taken it seriously. It had been a nice allegory for death, a sweet euphemism for a difficult passing, a metaphor for their joyous afterlife.

From now on, I'll always imagine the true-to-life, as-predicted, white-as-pearl gates that flanked the large, impenetrable wall around Elysium.

If that was the ruler-- Chronus's-- idea of a joke, then I'll give Hadrian his dues, his brother's a little mad. But already Hadrian's self-satisfied smile is irking me, and I want to prove that I can get out of this steaming mess I'm in, and shove it up his hairy, deathly as--

'You'll need to show them your soul ID,' Hadrian's voice interrupts my cursing thoughts, and I sniff to indicate I understood. The gates stand five times my height and if I were to lie on the floor, probably four Nerissas across. They are flanked by guards who wear highly impractical white uniforms and carry spears, yet another choice that makes me raise an eyebrow. There's a desk with an old man sat at it, waiting for me to show him my placard around my neck. I step up to him, hands holding the rectangular piece of metal in my palms whilst simultaneously searching the man's face for any hint of personality, but there's nothing. His wrinkles hide everything but his upturned mouth, and he nods once to let me pass, scribbling onto an ancient scroll with a white feather quill that's seen better days.

Hadrian speaks only a few words to the man on the desk, and he lets him through with a friendly, toothless smile. I gape at him, having not heard his words but desperate to know them.

Not surprisingly, Hadrian doesn't humour me. No, he sets off through along the path without saying a single word, and I seethe.

The path leads to a set of stone steps, so clean and bright that they might have been added yesterday, if the heavens-- Elysium-- were into decorating. On either side of the steps, a small shrubbery bush is standing tall and proud, growing small and delicate white flowers. Despite the climb, my legs feel airy, and we drift to the top feeling angelic.

And meet the impassable, indomitable pit that is our heaven.

A jagged path is carved into the pit, chiseled away by hands and years upon years of labor. Tiny people of ant-like proportions are moving far below, among narrow, cramped streets of filth and dirt and billowing smoke. Steam engines crank, workers quarry, and a tram trundles around the outer perimeter, dropping off hoards of more dot-sized people. In concentric circles, another wall hems around the squashed houses, and a noticeable improvement in living conditions consists in the second section. Cleaner and greener, the houses are separate, trees begin to exist, and there's a general feeling of more space. Alas, all good things must make way for better things, and another wall cuts the land, and the next part noticeably improves feng shui again. Two more walls exist, leaving a total of five sections, the fifth being the mountainous temple.

My mouth falls open.

There is beauty; it's just segregated from the rest of the city, a clean smudge against a dirty backdrop. Rising like a plinth to focus on the white palace is the centre of a great mountain, covered with beautiful, branching trees and water, cascading from the mist covering the top. The building sits nestled among the white cliffs and waterfalls, calling upon all of the most ingenious architects to combine the world's greatest, most beautiful building. Even from this distance, I can see its iridescence, its noble pillars.

Someone shoves me, and I stumble. Hadrian grips my arm as the soul that pushed me appears, with a smirk to rival my husband's. His eyes are dark and his skin a golden tan to match his unruly hair. He's joined by another with chestnut eyes and hair. The second man's eyes look up and down Hadrian's half-naked body with obvious disbelief. The two are clearly guards, wearing cheesy white button-up uniforms, and little navy hats to match.