Page 35 of A Touch of Chaos

Still he tried to saw at the threads, breaking out in a cold sweat as Theseus approached.

The demigod crouched before him, watching Hades’s struggle before he spoke.

“This would all be quite honorable if it wasn’t so pathetic,” he said, plucking the claw from between Hades’s fingers. He studied it and then slammed it through Hades’s hand and into the ground.

Hades couldn’t even scream. All he managed was a pained gasp.

He glared up at Theseus, breathing hard between clenched teeth, and watched as he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small envelope, pouring the contents into his palm.

“You’ve earned this,” Theseus said, blowing something into Hades’s face.

It was some kind of powder that invaded his nose, mouth, and eyes. He started to cough, and he couldn’t stop. His eyes watered, and his chest burned. He needed water—he needed tobreathe—but then he tasted blood on the back of his tongue.

His vision swam.

I am going to die.

CHAPTER IX

PERSEPHONE

The Underworld was different.

The air smelled like sulfur, and the sky was full of ash. When the wind blew, Persephone could feel the grit of it against her skin, rough and blistering.

There were other things too. The souls had channeled their usual merriment into preparing for war. Cerberus remained restless and three-headed, uninterested in play. All the while, the glassy obsidian mountains of Tartarus taunted Persephone, a constant reminder of what had occurred in the arsenal.

As much as she recognized she was queen of this realm and now possessed power over it, she could not bring herself to hide the changes, the slow decay. It seemed fitting given what had occurred—what wasstilloccurring—and concealing it with vines and flowers felt insincere. A corpse was still a corpse, even covered in colorful flora.

There was a part of her that wondered if theUnderworld was dying, and if that was true, did it also mean Hades was dying? She pushed those thoughts away quickly. She could not bear to think like that right now. It felt like giving up, and she wouldnevergive up. She would fight for Hades until the world ended, and when there was nothing left, only her rage would remain.

“Have you heard anything?” Yuri asked.

Persephone met the soul’s wide-eyed gaze. She frowned, realizing she had become so lost in her thoughts that she had heard nothing the girl had been saying.

“About Hades,” Yuri added to clarify.

Persephone’s gaze fell to her cold tea.

“No,” she whispered.

Hermes and Apollo were on the hunt for Theseus’s men. The challenge was finding someone close enough to the demigod who would know the answers to the questions they had, though they were finding that very few knew his plans, if any.

Hecate was continuing to trace her ring, which was proving to be far more challenging than either of them expected given that it seemed to be traveling with Theseus and revealed a rather mundane routine for someone so sinister.

Nevertheless, learning the demigod’s movements was still an advantage. Perhaps they’d find someone to interrogate.

“Are the souls…” Persephone started to ask if they were afraid, but that was a ridiculous question. Of course they were afraid. It had only been two days since Theseus had released the Titans and the souls had to fight the monsters that had escaped Tartarus. They’d been brave, but there had been consequences, as sheknew there would be, namely that some had not been able to withstand the trigger of battle and Thanatos had to take them to Elysium.

It had hurt everyone. It hurt now.

“Do they feel safe?” she asked instead.

“As safe as they can,” Yuri replied, and she looked out her open door. “Preparing for the worst makes them feel better.”

The street was busy with souls who were repairing or reinforcing their homes. Ian and Zofie continued to forge weapons, their hammers striking in an uneven rhythm.

It was almost like they did not trust her magic, though how could they when she did not even trust it herself? It was new, still foreign. It lived on the fringes of her energy, reminding her of the way Hades’s magic always waited in the wings, primed to protect her no matter the cost.

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