by Mila Young
“It’s not something the gods do very often, I’m guessing.” Elyse’s voice drew my attention back to her.
Had she noticed how many times I shifted in my seat and fixed my collar?
“No,” I admitted. “I feel lost, in all honesty.”
Elyse laughed, the sound like a caress over my skin. “Well, you’re doing a great job.” She finished her dessert, and I adored the way she licked the spoon, how her tongue flicked out to catch a drop over her lower lip. If we were anywhere else, I would’ve leaned closer and licked it from her mouth. Instead, I drank my whiskey and smiled.
“How are you?” I probed.
She shrugged, pushing a piece of fruit around in her bowl. “I guess I’m coping. I can’t decide if I’m sure she’s dead or if I’m upset we haven’t found her yet.”
I reached across the table and took her hand in mine. Her hand seemed fragile and so soft. The complete opposite of the fierce warrior inside her. I eyed the black tendrils on her skin from where X had bitten her, and she didn’t flinch as if in pain. The mark sure took a while to heal.
“She’s not dead,” I stated. “X wouldn’t take her just to kill her somewhere else. He wants to put on a show.”
Elyse pursed her lips. “Then why can’t we find her? If he’s so set on me coming after him, if this is some kind of trap, we should have been able to find her by now, right? She’s nowhere, Poseidon. Why is X keeping her?”
“Okay.” But I was convinced Catina remained alive. I didn’t know what game X was playing, but it wasn’t over yet. He’d done this for a reaction. And he’d get one. By Zeus, we’d obliterate him for doing this to Elyse, to her friend.
“I don’t know what to make of this,” she continued. “I mean, Persephone told me Hades isn’t in on this. But I don’t get how it happened. How does he know me, how does X know where to hit me?”
“You forget Hades and X both live in a place where the Fates often spend time. They can see a lot more than you think. He probably knew all about you long before any of this happened.”
Elyse sighed, her shoulders curling forward in defeat. “So, what now?”
“We don’t give up,” I said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “And I think Persephone’s right.”
She frowned. “Really? You don’t think Hades has anything to do with this either?”
I shook my head. My brother was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a monster, and the more I thought about all the lives X had taken, the more I knew it couldn’t have been Hades. I hadn’t seen what he did before I’d arrived, but Apollo told me Hades had killed Elyse to save her soul before X could kill her. If Hades meant to do harm, he wouldn’t have done that. Part of me beamed with joy that my brother wasn’t responsible for the atrocities committed by X. After everything we’d gone through, I intended to get my brother back, make good on our relationship.
“I think Hades is lost and confused, and that has serious repercussions, so, yes, I believe Persephone,” I mused. “My brother has been cheated into a life that makes him the bad guy. But if you really get to know him, you’ll realize he’s still a god. Not the devil.”
I couldn’t believe I was advocating for my brother, especially since I knew he cared for her. And I was sure she returned his feelings. But I had already shared her with two other men. What was a third?
And Hades deserved to be happy. After everything done to him, by me as well as others, he deserved some kind of happy ending. Even if that was with the same person bringing me my happy ending.
Even if it meant sharing a little more of Elyse than I thought I’d have to when this all started.
We were all here to save the world. In the meantime, we’d found love. Would that love be forever? With a human? I didn’t know—Elyse was different. But it made sense what Heracles meant when he’d said he wanted no one else after losing his wife.
Could Elyse be the Megara for the rest of us?
Chapter 11
Elyse
I couldn’t sleep. Usually, I had no problem crashing once my head hit the pillow, given how hard I trained, and I looked forward to the relief of relaxing, especially considering how much happened in my life.
Tonight, I couldn’t switch off my brain. My thoughts swirled around Hades. Poseidon was the second deity to tell me Hades wasn’t to blame for X’s actions. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t completely involved when X was meant to be a part of him. What was I missing? Or had my initial suspicions that X had broken free come true? But if that was the case, why wasn’t Hades bringing his rage down on him?
A big part of me wanted him to be a good guy. But now both Poseidon and Persephone had told me Hades had been innocent through it all, I struggled to wrap my mind around everything we’d been through.
I’d hoped he wasn’t the villain here.
Everyone had misunderstood Hades. Everyone thought he was the personification of the devil, the Greek version of the person who presided over hell itself. But they were wrong. Hades was just another god, and the Underworld happened to be his turf.
To some, it was like saying being an executioner was just a job. It didn’t make sense to everyone.
Hades wasn’t the devil in my book. I saw him differently. But I still grappled to understand how he’d turned his back on X and pretended his actions were fine. I fought my entire life to protect the innocent, to not sit back, because it was too hard or whatever his excuse was, so that was where we differed.
How did that make him a good guy?
I climbed out of bed, since it was clear I wouldn’t fall asleep anytime soon, and I sauntered across my dark room to the window. Pulling open the curtain, I stood there and stared out over the sleeping city, shrouded in dark and tried to find more darkness. X threw off an oppressive feeling as if it was a living, breathing thing, not merely the absence of light. And where there was darkness so thick you could barely breathe, there had to be Death.
And this time, Catina would be there, too. Though I couldn’t understand why X was hiding. Why take my friend and vanish? Why not confront me and fight already? The fucking ass probably enjoyed torturing me, and his hatred went beyond just finishing me off. Destroying me was a personal vendetta, or some fucked-up shit only a monster like X could comprehend.
But no matter how hard I reached out with my newfound power, the energy humming down my arms, I couldn’t sense X. So how the hell was I meant to find Catina? It’d been a long time since X had killed, and I should have been happy about that. But I wasn’t. I hated that everything had changed, that yet again, X had the upper hand. And I was completely in the dark about his intentions, leaving me so high-strung I couldn’t function or sleep. Frustration hammered through me, twisting in my chest so tightly, I was ready to explode. My eyes prickled at how helpless I felt, and I curled my fists, my fingers digging into the fleshy part of my palm until it hurt. Anything to stop the guilt gnawing on my insides.
Fighting I could do but sitting around waiting killed me.
Every time I became stronger, X did something else to stay one step ahead.
I wanted this to end. I needed my friend back.
Maybe the best way to deal with this was to talk to Hades myself. I hadn’t spoken with him in a long time, and I hadn’t ever asked him directly what this was all about. It was time I stopped listening to others and confronted him.
When I walked back to the bed and found my phone on the nightstand, it showed two in the morning. It was even later than I had thought, as I’d been up half the night.
The itch to know what was going on intensified. I had to speak to Hades or I’d stir and pace around all night. And I was sure he’d make time to see me even though it was late.
I tried not to think too hard about what it would look like if I arrived at his house at this hour. This wasn’t a booty call, after all. And I wouldn’t let him think it was.
I got dressed in jeans, a tee, and my boots, climbed in my car, and drove to the bad area of town where he was holed up. Two b
urned-out cars lined the street and junk filled a house I passed, while two other homes were boarded up and graffitied. The single overhead streetlight flickered, threatening to go out. Shadows crowded this place, the homes shrouded in darkness. I stretched out my energy to search for X but found nothing.
Hades said he lived out here so people would leave him alone.
But his actions were more than enough to make that happen, anyway. He wasn’t exactly an approachable guy. Yet the irony wasn’t lost on me how I kept finding myself drawn to him, and I somehow suspected Hades received godly visitors anyway—even living out here.
I parked a few houses down from his rundown home, its lawn overgrown, and the trees standing over the property like sentinels. I was cloaked by the night. I got out of the car and quietly closed the door, feeling like I was an intruder.
Before I reached his house, the front door opened and I froze, stepping to the side out of instinct. I stood hidden against thick shrubs, my form melting into the shadows, and I watched.
Persephone emerged from Hades’s house. He followed her. His face was grim, and she didn’t turn to kiss him. But my heart beat in my throat, and my skin grew hot underneath the layers of clothes I’d put on.
Jealous. I was jealous Persephone had been with Hades at this time of night. And pissed off. Who knew what they’d been doing in there? They had so much history, and he loved her once, he’d said. Maybe he still did?
I squeezed my eyes shut and ground my teeth. She was here because the Underworld was falling apart. And she was the Queen of Darkness, wasn’t she? She had a right to talk to him, anyway. It wasn’t as if I had some kind of claim on him. Not only were we not together in any way, but I wasn’t exclusive with any of the men in my life. I could hardly expect them to be exclusive to me.
God, what was I even saying? I was talking about exclusivity when I didn’t even know if what happened between Hades and me had ever been more than just sex.
As I watched Persephone, she disappeared. The gods tended to do that. It wasn’t as weird as it used to be. Hades took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling with the sigh, and he started to walk back into the house when he froze mid-stride.
He swung toward me, his eyes searching the darkness.
“Elyse,” he said, even though there was no way he could see me. It made me feel like an idiot, like I was a stalker hiding in the bushes. Like a teenage girl spying on a guy I’d crushed on, and my cheeks fired up with heat. I considered running away, but that would be worse. He knew I was here; plus, my car was a couple of houses down and he’d eventually see it.
When I stepped out, his face softened. “I can feel your power.” His voice was low, and something was different about him. He wasn’t as closed off or aggressive, as usual. Something about him was almost forthcoming. “You’ve become so strong.”
I walked toward him, my chin up, refusing to look as silly as I felt. “I need to talk to you.” My palms started to sweat, so I tucked them into my pockets.
Hades nodded. “And I have to chat with you too. I’m glad you came.”
Really? At this time of night? His words shouldn’t have made me feel as warm as they did, but I was searing like a goddamn sun on the inside. He stood back and let me walk into the house first, and my skin sizzled as I passed him. We hadn’t even touched, and I’d already reacted to him. He followed me, closing the door behind us.
“Coffee?” he asked.
Look at him, hosting me as if he were a regular human. It was endearing. But I shook my head. “Just water, please.”
I didn’t feel like anything, but now I was in Hades’s presence, my throat grew dry. Something about him got to me. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but butterflies swarmed in my stomach, and I kept studying the way he stood so tall, how well he filled out his black shirt. Hell, I’d missed his company. But I had to remind myself I was here to find a way to help Catina as Hades might know something.
He poured water from the tap, not the fridge, so I assumed he didn’t have filtered water. And I was fine with that. The glass he handed me was crystal, the kitchen countertops marble, and I was sure the embellishments were pure gold. This place only looked like a dump from the outside.
On the inside, it truly was the residence of a god. Everything was pristine and could easily be at home on Mount Olympus.
“I’m curious. Why’d you come over now?” he questioned after I took a few sips of my water, and I leaned against the counter.
I stared at the glass in my hand. “I want to know the truth.”
“About what?”
This new side of him surprised me. He was raw and vulnerable. I’d never seen him like this. What was happening between us? Or was this something that had taken place between him and Persephone? I expected him to flip his switch at any moment, to be angry, to shout at me.
Or to fuck me.
With him, it could go either way, though the latter thought only fueled the flames engulfing me, and I cursed myself for placing that image in my mind. Who was I kidding? It was there already because anything to do with Hades left me powerless, no matter how much I fought him.
“About X,” I finally responded, meeting his bright eyes missed nothing. And they were so filled with emotion, they always showed exactly what he thought.
But tonight, he was difficult to read, as if he’d mastered hiding his emotions, or was he just playing aloof around me? And yet here I was thinking about sex with him—while he was the calm one for a change.
“Let’s sit down,” Hades said, heading out of the kitchen, expecting me to follow. This brusqueness was a little closer to what I knew about him.
I followed him to the living room. He sat on the edge of a chaise lounge, then shifted several times as if unable to find a comfortable spot. I took the couch opposite him, still clutching my water. It was crazy how much distance was between us now, after everything we’d done together. I half-preferred it when he was demanding, taking what he wanted. I understood it better.
This careful version of Hades was a stranger to me, and in a weird way, I craved the way he used to be for more than familiarity. Hell, this distance shit made me crave him because I was like that spying schoolgirl outside hiding in the bush. And my cheeks heated once more.
“I just heard about Catina,” he murmured softly. “Your friend.”
So that was what Persephone had been doing here…but no one else had told Hades about the kidnapping? Well, I’d been so lost in my own sorrow, it hadn’t occurred to me to contact him, either. Maybe if I had, he might have been able to help Catina more somehow, but in all honesty, part of me figured if he was going to do something about X, he’d have done it already. Yet knowing he and Persephone had talked about something important made me feel better. It was no indication they hadn’t slept together afterward, but Hades wasn’t wearing the sheen of a satisfied man.
“I only found out tonight. I didn’t know.” Hades really did look apologetic, the corners of his mouth turned downward, shadows shifted beneath his eyes.
“How could you let this happen?” I blurted out. I hadn’t meant to come across as accusing, but I was, all the frustration and grief pushing the words out. “How could you let any of it happen? My friend is in mortal danger because of X.”
He sighed. “Look, I realize he’s a problem. I’ve known it for a while, especially once the souls he consumed didn’t go to the Underworld. But I hoped if I pretended that everything was fine, it would be.”
“You thought it’d just go away? And now my friend is in danger! Where the hell is he hiding her?” My voice climbed.
He paused for a long time, the corners of his mouth tightening, and when he let out a long exhale, I sighed, well aware he didn’t like the answer. Which meant I wouldn’t either.
“I can occasionally sense him but not his precise location. He’s somehow shielded himself from me. And I have no idea where he’d hide on Earth, or even what his interests are. We rarely talked back in the Underwor
ld. Even the Fates couldn’t tell me anything about his whereabouts.”
“Fuck. Nothing ever works out so easily,” I seethed, biting my tongue to stop myself from screaming, as it seemed X was running rings around us.
“You’re telling me. I see now it was wishful thinking on my part to ignore him for so long. I bet you won’t believe me, but I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I know I’m a son of a bitch, but I don’t actually believe in meaningless violence.”
His actions over the past months directly contradicted what he’d just said. He’d killed me, for God’s sake. But somehow, looking at his face when he spoke, seeing how raw he was, how truly sorry he seemed, I couldn’t help but believe him.
And if this was how he felt about Catina being taken, if he was upset about the lives stolen by X, killed so their souls wouldn’t end up where they belonged, it was the proof I’d been looking for to believe he was a good guy.
Knowing he wasn’t the villain, warmth spread throughout my chest at the reality. But if he was on our side then we needed his help.
I stood, set my half-empty water glass on the coffee table, and crossed the living room. Hades looked unsure when I approached him. He stood as well, ready to receive whatever I planned to dish out. He stared at me with uncertainty, but he never backed away. We’d fought so often that if I attacked, he likely wouldn’t have been shocked.
When I was in front of him, I stood on my toes, put my hand around the back of his neck, and pulled him down for a kiss.
Whatever he’d thought I was going to do, it wasn’t this. My kiss had caught him by surprise. His body went rigid, as if he wasn’t sure this was real.
But I kept my lips pressed to his, and a moment later he relaxed, softening. He wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me against him. We plastered together, his strength enveloping me, his scent melting me with desire. He kissed me properly, and I found the man I’d been with before.
He was sensual, tender, but his power didn’t carry the lust that usually came with it. This was more about connecting, about being on the same page.