Page 182 of A Touch of Chaos

Hades knew why she suggested it. The sooner she began, the faster Apollo would make it across the Styx, the sooner everyone would see him again.

Artemis’s gaze snapped to Hecate’s, her words slipping between clenched teeth. “If you touch him, I will kill you.”

“There has been too much death already,” said Hecate. “Do not threaten more.”

The goddess dissolved into tears. It was strange to see her like this and harder to watch. When Artemis wasn’tstoic, she was vengeful. There was no in-between—except for now.

“Please,” she begged. “Do not take him away.”

Hades stepped forward and knelt, his face level with hers.

“Without rites, he cannot rest,” he said. “Let Hecate honor him so that you can meet him at the Styx.”

“You will let me see him?” she asked.

“I swear it,” he said.

She took a few more quivery breaths, looking down at Apollo’s charred body. Hades did not know how she did it—how she held him so tightly when he looked nothing like he did in life.

“I’ll see you soon,” she told Apollo and bent to kiss his forehead.

When she released him, Hecate took him away.

“I don’t understand,” said Hermes. He sat at the bottom of the staircase, staring at nothing, his gaze unseeing. It was how everyone looked—completely lost. “I thought Theseus was vulnerable.”

“Dionysus said he was slow to heal,” said Hades.

“But even gods can be wounded,” said Persephone. “Theseus’s skin was like…steel.”

“Then he has become invincible,” said Hades.

“But…how?” Persephone asked.

“Hera,” said Aphrodite. “She has a tree of golden apples that, with one taste, can make mortals immortal and the vulnerable invulnerable. It is obvious he has had a taste of the apple.”

“It sounds like we all need to eat from that fucking tree,” said Hermes.

“I suppose that depends on what you valuemore—your immortality or invincibility,” said Aphrodite. “The tree will take one to grant the other.”

“Perhaps Theseus plans to eat another apple when all of this is done,” said Artemis.

“We can only hope. It is rumored that partaking of the tree twice means death.”

There was a beat of silence.

“So you mean he cannot be wounded at all?” asked Persephone.

“No,” said Hades, and if they could not pierce his skin, they could not even poison him with Hydra venom.

“Even Achilles had a weakness,” said Aphrodite.

“Theseus has many weaknesses,” said Hades. “The question is, which one will kill him?”

As promised, Hades took Artemis to the Styx, though she was not alone in welcoming Apollo to the Underworld. Persephone and Hermes followed, and so did Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Harmonia, and Sybil. Thanatos arrived shortly after, followed by Tyche and Hypnos, who crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing the crowd of souls who waited with fragrant laurel and hyacinth and played sweet music on lyres.

“Where was all this when I died?” he demanded.

“Not to be rude, Hypnos, but you’re not that popular,” said Hermes.

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