“I think my wife has enough to lose, either way, to keep her from choosing sides.”
Ares nodded. “And the rules?”
“When I throw you from the circle three times, I win.”
Ares shook his head. “You can’t even give fair rules.”
Hades rolled his eyes. “Whichever of us throws the other out of the circle thrice wins. Happy?”
“Yes. And I agree, but when I win, I get Seraphina’s body and her soul, and we get safe passage back to the mortal world.”
Through gritted teeth, Hades muttered, “Fine.”
“Ares, don’t.” Seraphina tugged at his sleeve. “The gods are manipulative and unscrupulous. You have no idea what he’s going to ask of you.”
Hades looked at her. “My child, you wound me.”
She snorted. “You rigged that necklace to bring me here if I was in the slightest perceived danger from another supernatural, which I wasn’t, and then once I get here, you tell me I’m not allowed to leave? You’re not in a position to complain.” She turned to Ares. “Can we talk?”
He nodded and walked back to the shore with her. Charon sat a few yards off, bobbing in his ferry. “I can do this. I can win this battle.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know about that. You don’t even know what his price is going to be. It’s probably not going to be money, Ares. He’s a god. He’s more powerful than you can imagine.”
He frowned. “I have power of my own that you don’t know about, Seraphina. Let me do this for you.”
She stared up at him, the adoration in her eyes charging his will. “You are quite a man, Ares. To be willing to do this for me when we’ve known each other only a few days is…amazing.”
“I have spent my career seeing souls to their end. Until you and Dahlia came into my life, I had never saved anyone. Now I get to do it again, this time for a woman I am crazy about.” He took her hands. “I want you in my life, Seraphina. I hope that doesn’t scare you away.”
She smiled. “We get out of here, and you’re going to have to pry me off with a crowbar.”
He laughed, but his joy faded fast. Wanting her wasn’t all that might scare her away. “You need to know that there is a part of me I’m probably going to have to access to win this fight, a part of me that no one else has ever seen. No one who’s lived, anyway. It’s not…attractive.”
She reached up and caressed his cheek, sending a spark of warmth and desire into his belly. “You should see what I look like in the morning.”
“I’m sure you’re just as beautiful then as you are now.”
Her hand drifted to his chest, and her smile filled him with assurance. “I don’t care what this other part of you looks like. It’s your heart that I want most of all.”
Her words ignited something fierce and loyal within him. “Then let’s get this battle won.”
In the center of Hades’s garden was a dirt arena, outlined with stones and covered in gravel. A few marble benches surrounded the circle, but Seraphina couldn’t bring herself to sit. Instead, she stood at the edge, hands clasped, praying to whatever goddess might hear her to help the man she was desperately falling for.
The fact that Hades was her father held very little sway over her. She’d never known him and, after meeting him here, had no desire to take the relationship any further. No wonder her mother hadn’t wanted to reveal who he was.
Across the arena from her sat the goddess-queen of the Underworld, Persephone. She was as blond and pale as a queen of the Underworld should be. Her robes were the most colorful thing in the realm, shades of blush and azure trimmed in silver cord. She wore a crown of spring flowers and ivy. Her eyes, ice blue and piercing, had yet to alight on Seraphina.
Maybe they wouldn’t. How many times in Persephone and Hades’s relationship had he been unfaithful to her? They had been together since the worlds were formed. Surely Persephone had no desire to live with a reminder of his infidelity. If so, that could work in Ares’s favor.
Both men stripped to the waist. Beneath their robes, they each wore loose breeches that went to the knee. Ares looked like a god himself, and Seraphina’s confidence in his ability to best Hades grew. He was taller than Hades and more heavily muscled, but not by much.
Hades had tied his hair back with a leather thong. “Are you ready for your beating, wraith?”
“Ready to give you one, old man.”
Hades steamed, probably exactly what Ares had intended. The god’s gaze shifted to Seraphina. “If any noncombatant crosses into the ring, the match will be forfeited in favor of the other warrior.”
Seraphina held her hands out. “I haven’t moved.”
Persephone lifted her hand. “At my mark.” Hades and Ares nodded. She dropped her hand. “Go!”
They circled each other, each looking for a weakness, some kind of opening, but with men like this, that wasn’t such an easy proposition.
Hades grinned. “It’s good to stretch the muscles, eh, boy?”
If that was supposed to insult Ares, Seraphina doubted it worked.
Ares responded, “I stretch my muscles every day. This won’t even make me break a sweat.”
Hades lunged, but Ares was astonishingly fast, and he was gone a good half second before Hades landed, sending a spray of gravel into the air.
Ares rolled his shoulders and walked around to the other side of the ring. The hourglass on his chest glowed brightly. He shot a quick glance at Seraphina and gave her a tiny nod of reassurance.
Hades charged again. This time, Ares bent his knees, caught Hades by the shoulders, lifted him like a child and tossed him cleanly over the boundary of the circle. Hades landed with a thud and a roar of displeasure that caused a section of the hedge wall closest to them to lose its leaves.
Persephone frowned. “One point to the wraith.”
Hades got up and stomped back into the ring. “You cheated. How dare you—”
Ares punched him across the jaw, drawing blood and laying the god out on the gravel again. “I do not cheat.”
Flames danced in Hades’s eyes as he got to his feet. With a growl, he leaped into the air and came down fist-first across Ares’s cheek. Ares staggered back, spitting out a mouthful of blood, but stayed on his feet and, somehow, in the circle.
Back and forth, they pummeled each other, until Persephone stood. “Husband.”
Hades drew back, one eye nearly swelled closed. He danced a safe distance away from Ares before answering her. “Yes, my love?”
“End this. I’m weary of this display.”
“I’m working on that, my pet.”
Her gaze slid over Ares before returning to Hades. “Perhaps the use of weapons should be permitted.”
Seraphina tensed, every fiber of her being alive at the sudden injustice. “No. That wasn’t in the rules. You can’t change things now.”
Persephone raised her hand. “A break is called.”
Hades nodded, ignoring Seraphina to walk to his wife’s side of the ring. “Very good, Persephone. Bring me my helm, my sweet?”
As Persephone went to get the requested item, Seraphina ran to the edge nearest Ares. “Do you have any weapons?”
He nodded. “Yes, but it requires me to take on my full reaper form.”
“Whatever that is, you’d better do it. His helm of darkness will make him invisible. You’re going to be fighting blind.”
“Invisible? Thanks for letting me know.” Ares took a deep breath and stared at Hades. “I’ll have to use my reaper form then. I can see auras in that form. Assuming he has one, it should help.”
“Is there any chance you can take his soul? You took mine.”
“He’s a god. I don’t think my powers extend that far. Especially since it was only because of that amulet I was able to reap yours.”
“Then do whatever you have to in order to win. I don’t care. I cannot stay here. Without you.”
“I will. I promise. Make sure you’re at a safe distance. I don’t
want you hurt by one of us.”
Persephone returned, a golden helmet in her hands. She turned it over to Hades, then took her seat. “Go.”
Hades held the helm in his hands. “Would you like to borrow a weapon, wraith?”
“I’ve got some.” A shimmer of energy surrounded Ares and before Seraphina’s eyes, he morphed into his reaper form. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Enormous gray wings sprouted from his back. His eyes glowed red as embers in sockets too deep and dark to be anything but skull-like, reminding her of the very first time she’d seen him.
In both hands, he held glimmering, sharp scythes. He twirled them, cutting their wickedly curved blades through the air like they were extensions of his arms and making the air sing with a deadly song.
Seraphina sat on one of the benches, staring in disbelief at the scene before her eyes. Hades might be the lord of the Underworld, but Ares had just become death personified.
“Your little knives are rather delicate, aren’t they, wraith?” Hades grinned.
“Come closer and find out.” Ares slide the scythes across one another, sending a shower of sparks into the air. As much as he wanted a glimpse of Seraphina’s face, he was afraid of the fear he might see registered there. He knew his reaper form was something most people only saw in their nightmares.
“I’m about to come very close indeed.” With a laugh, Hades slipped the helm over his head and disappeared.
A low curse left Ares’s lips. Hades had no aura. At best, Ares could make out a subtle shift in the air, but that wasn’t going to be enough.
The invisible god collided with his right side. Ares twisted, swinging his scythes with the best accuracy he could hope for. Back and forth, back and forth, he cut through the air with as much speed as he could manage. On the third pass, his left blade came back red. Hades cried out, and drops of blood colored the gravel a few feet over.
Sensing his advantage, Ares tucked the blades against his wrists and charged. He hit muscle and bone. Hades dug in, but Ares had the momentum. They shot toward the edge of the circle with too much speed. Ares let go, but Hades had him around the neck.
Together, they tumbled out of the ring.
Hades’s helm popped off, and he reappeared. The cut was over his rib cage. He breathed heavily and glared daggers at Ares. “How did you cut me?”
“You’re lucky that’s all I did. These blades are built to reap souls.”
Persephone stood. “A point for each. The wraith leads.” With an exaggerated breath, she sat back down and frowned at Hades. “You’re bleeding. You know I don’t like blood.”
He jumped to his feet. “I know, my flower.” He glanced down at it. “It’s not healing. What have you done to me, wraith?”
Ares swung the scythes in slow circles. “A lot less than I’d like to.”
“Hades.” Persephone made a face and pointed to his wound. “The blood is making me ill.”
“Would you like me to bandage it?”
She sniffed and looked away. “Well, I’m not doing it.”
While Hades and Persephone figured out who was doing what, Ares dusted himself off and strode back to Seraphina. He stayed well within the ring and just stared at the ground in front of her, unwilling to force her to look at him straight on. “That didn’t go quite as planned.”
“It went great.” She bent to see his face. Her eyes held a kindness this form had never before witnessed. “I think you might have scared him a little, too.”
“Just him?” She didn’t look frightened, but he had to be sure.
She smiled. “The only thing I’m scared of is how hot those wings are. You look like a very naughty angel.”
He laughed. “You’re a strange woman, you know that?” He came closer. Within contact range.
“Which makes me perfect for you, because you’re a very odd guy.” She sneaked a glance at Hades, then leaned in and kissed Ares softly. “One more and you win. Be careful now. He’s not going to fight fair.”
“Like he has been?”
“I know. I told you the gods can be tricky.”
“What I need is some kind of advantage. What do you know about Hades that could help me? Anything?”
“He has one weakness.”
“Which is?”
She shifted her gaze over his shoulder. “His wife.”
Ares turned to see what she was looking at. Across from them, Persephone raised a fan to her face, her chin lifted as though the scene before her were too plebian for her to take in. Hades was pleading with her about something. The man obviously wanted to impress his wife.
“Seraphina, you’re brilliant.” Persephone was the key. “Why does she have so much power over him?”
“Eons ago, he kidnapped her and tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds so now she has to spend a month with him here in the Underworld for each seed. She loathed him for what he did to her, but her mother made her marry him. Persephone tries to make the best of her time here. I think she’s even come to…maybe not enjoy, but she’s become comfortable here. She’s queen here. As for Hades, he loves her and still believes he can win her over completely.”
“He’s got a thing for keeping people against their will, huh?” Ares’s mind was spinning with possibilities. “He wants to look good in her eyes.”
“Yes. And she’s already bored with this fight. Not to mention, I’m sure she doesn’t want me here. She can’t even look at me. But she also knows how impossible Hades will be to live with if he loses.”
Ares smiled at Seraphina. “Maybe you can help me win this thing after all.”
“If it means you’re going to smile more, I’m in. What’s your idea?” Her eyes rounded. “Behind you!”
He turned in time to catch Hades as the god barreled into him. Only sheer force of will kept Ares from being pushed out of the ring. He grappled with Hades, both of them gaining and losing ground in equal measures. At least Hades didn’t have the helm of darkness on anymore. Movement caught Ares’s eye, but he dared not turn his head and lose focus.
Then he heard Seraphina’s voice.
“What should I call you, Hades? Daddy? Papa? Pops?” Seraphina stood on one of the stone benches and projected for all she was worth. “Maybe we can get Cleo to come visit if I have to stay here. Little family reunion. You must miss her terribly.”
Hades jerked around to look at her. His feet slipped, and Ares twisted, buying himself a few more feet inside the perimeter of the ring.
Seraphina’s distraction was working. She put her hands on her hips. “Maybe you two can rekindle your love. Of course, I don’t how if my mother will be all that interested in visiting with Persephone here.”
Persephone put her fan down.
Hades stumbled. He tore loose from Ares and came toward her. “No living soul may enter my realm without—”
Ares knocked him to the ground.
Persephone sat back down. Her frown was becoming a permanent thing.
Ares was pounding Hades. His gorgeous reaper wings were spread skyward. He really did look like an avenging angel. It wasn’t lost on her that he was, literally, saving her soul. A little sigh escaped her lips. She was falling for him. Hard.
Before she could think about that anymore, Hades got out from under Ares, and the two men were back on their feet, circling each other. Hades’s face was a bloody, swollen mess, but healing as she watched. The cut from the scythe across his ribs, however, showed no signs of mending. Whatever magic Ares’s scythes held, it was serious stuff. Hades swung and landed a blow squarely to Ares’s face.
He spat out blood as Hades came after him again.
Seraphina cringed. She’d had enough. She wanted to go home. Or at least to Ares’s home. She jumped off the bench and ran around the ring toward Persephone, planting herself in front of the goddess. “I know you don’t want me here.”
Persephone’s tired gaze rose to look at her. Finally. But she said nothing and went back to fanning herself and watching the two
men beating the daylights out of each other.
Seraphina wasn’t so easily swayed. “If I have to stay here, I will be a constant reminder of Hades’s infidelity.”
Persephone’s nostrils flared.
“He said he loved my mother. He must have if he didn’t trick her into eating pomegranate seeds.”
Persephone jumped up and slapped Seraphina across the face. “Don’t you dare talk to me, you ill-born little—”
That was all the opening Seraphina needed. She shoved Persephone into the ring, then stood back with one hand up and the other pointing at the fallen goddess. “Forfeit!”
Persephone sat in the dirt, sputtering and furious. “Hades, she laid hands on me.”
The fight between Hades and Ares came to a grinding halt. Ares shifted back to his human form and looked very much like he was trying not to laugh. Goddess, she wished he would. She wanted to hear that sound more than anything.
Hades ran to Persephone’s side. “My sweet, are you all right?”
Seraphina pointed at her. “She crossed the line and she’s on your side, so you forfeit. Ares and I win.”
Hades snarled. “You cheated.”
She canted her head at him. “So did you. Weapons were never a part of the rules.”
He helped Persephone to her feet. The goddess brushed dirt off her gown and glared daggers at Seraphina. “I want her gone.”
“But, my love—”
“Now,” Persephone raged. She pointed back toward the gate. “And I never want to see her again, do you understand? I don’t want to hear her name. I don’t even want you to use the word amused around me, is that clear?”
Hades seethed for a moment, stuck as he was between the woman he loved and the daughter he wanted to control. He turned slowly toward Ares. His voice came out like distant thunder, quiet but threatening. “Take Seraphina and get out. If you ever need to bring a soul to me again, get someone else to do it.”
“Understood.” Ares glanced at Seraphina and winked.
She raced to his side. He took her hand, an expression of joy washing over him. “Ready to go home?”
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