Page 45 of Found In Destruction

No more lies and secrets. I picked her up off the ground and placed her on the couch.

“Last time I saw Zeus, I blackmailed him into giving me three favors. One of them was turning Feta into a regular dog so I could take him off the mountain. The other was giving Nonna’s location to Judas so he could find her. The third I saved for a rainy day. I forgot about it, but Apollo reminded me. Feathers had the great idea to cash it in to revive your mom.”

“You used one of your favors for Nonna?” A tear rolled down her cheek.

I sat down next to her, and took her hand, rubbing circles into the back of her palm. “Of course I did. I’d do anything for you, give you everything. I can’t guarantee that Zeus can revive her, but if he can’t he knows someone who can.”

She glanced between Feathers and I. “You two are amazing.” She sniffled, and Feathers handed her a tissue.Smooth, bro.

Awwww, so sweet. Until the next time you fuck up,Voice barbed.

Shaking his unnecessary negativity from my mind, I created a bubble, then recorded the message. “Urgent, please come to the compound. Lucifer requests your presence.”

My father was all about appearances and power. If Lucifer Morningstar wanted his company, he’d oblige. We’d probably wait ten minutes tops, maybe thirty if we caught him mid adulterous romp.

About fifteen minutes later, there was a clash of thunder, and a lightning bolt struck the floor, leaving Zeus in its wake.

“Ares, my son,” he boomed before giving me one of those fake hugs. The man had never hugged me in his life, even as a child. He had sworn it would make me less of a man.

“Father, good to see you,” I forced out. Now wasn’t the time for verbal constipation or holding grudges. My Little Goddess needed me, and I would provide for her. Period.

“Lucifer,” he said as they shook hands. He raked his lecherous gaze over Diana, and I had to fight the urge to decapitate him tooth and nail. “Diana, you look lovely, as usual.” I’m not sure if he was delu-lu, or if he thought that sleazy, toothy grin was attractive.

“Thank you,” she stiffly replied.

“Thanks for coming on such short notice,” Lucifer took over the conversation. I’ll cut straight to the chase. Ares is cashing in on his third favor.”

“He is?” Anyone else would have seen that as an innocuous question, but I knew what the inflection meant. He wasn’t happy I told them about the favors. Again, his fear of being perceived as weak.

“Diana’s mother is in equilibrium, and if we take her out, she’ll die. I want you to revive her.”

He sighed, carding his hand through his hair. “That’s the only magic I can’t do. That’s a request for your uncle Hades.”

Fuck! I hated seeing my uncle. The last time I saw him was right after I was exiled. He was such a tool, always one-upping everyone and rubbing in how amazing his life was.

Oh, look at my new Soul-Snatcher Gondola. Can reach over 200 knots and can cross the Styx like a dream.

Persephone is so beautiful, she makes the spirits smile. She’dnevercheat on me.

The entire underworld is my kingdom—I don’t need Mount Olympus. No one can exile me, nephew!

Needless to say, I lasted about half a century before I couldn’t take it anymore and went to live with the mortals. Eventually I met Bash, and then Desmond came along. Mal was the last pieceof our puzzle, or so we had thought. Now we had Diana and Feathers, and we were a family.

So, in the grand scheme of things, it all worked out.

“Oh good, we can pay a visit to Hades,” I tried not to sound so defeated, but of course he picked up on it.

“Tell him I’ll owe him a favor, and then you and I are square,” he replied.

“And if he doesn’t cooperate?” Diana fidgeted in her seat. I'm not sure if she innately felt how much I hated my uncle or if she was just making a plan B.

“Then I’ll make him see our point of view. Thanks for dropping by Zeus.” His dismissal was clear.

Zeus gave me an assessing stare, his face twisted in disappointment. I would have felt broken once upon a time when he looked at me that way, but now I felt nothing. “Good luck.”

He faded out, and I clapped my hands together. “Well, let’s go find Uncle Hades and get your mom back.”

“And how do we do that?” Diana asked, with a hesitant curiosity in her voice.

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