Page 103 of The Duplicity of Thieves

“Hades is worried,” I admit.

“Hades worries about everything.”

“This is different.”

He nods with understanding. “We’ll handle it.”

“You’re invited tomorrow, of course.”

“We were going to be here regardless,” he grins. “Josie invited us.”

I look down at the beautiful girl sleeping in my arms. “I don’t want her going anywhere without one of us. Preferably you, if not me.”

“Understood.” Minos is the head of defense. He overprepares. Not much can get past him. He’s a brute to the highest degree. “Speaking of, the Remnant have left Asphodel. By all reports they are evacuating the entire kingdom and most likely returning to the Republic.”

“I know,” I sigh, scratching my stubble.

“How?” Minos looks bewildered.

“She told me. She’s Remnant.”

Awareness flashes in Minos’ eyes. He doesn’t say anything about it. He doesn’t need to. We’re both thinking the same thing. The Remnant hate us, as admitted by Hades a bit ago. Our marriage could be considered a declaration of war. She could be seen as a traitor to her own people. A Remnant and the Underworld’s finest in the same room. What a sight that will be.

“Did you tell her about Eris?” he asks. “She’ll be at the gala.”

“Not exactly.”

“Then I can assume you didn’t tell her that you and Eris used to have a thing?”

“I did not. There wasn’t a thing. She got me drunk enough to sleep with her. Anything past that was a delusion on her part.”

“I’m sure she’ll be very receptive to your wife,” he says sarcastically.

“She’s getting married. Why should she care?”

“Because she left after you rejected her.” Minos says the thing that has always perturbed me. The one thing I’m not sure Hades knows.

“Eris was delusional. She gave me presents, and I stupidly thought we were just friends. I didn’t realize she had feelings for me. If I had, I never would have let her talk me into fucking her.” I gag at the memory. The Mondurian tales that were stolen from Josie surface in my mind.

“In case, for some reason or another, she isn’t over it. Do you have a plan on how you will handle her?”

“There is nothing to plan.”

“Eris is slick, Aedonaeus. Say she is angry that you rejected her, she will act on it. You need to tell Josie that way she doesn’t come unprepared. I have no doubt she can handle it. If you don’t, then Eris will be able to exploit it. It’s my understanding that marriage is easier with honesty.”

“Is that how you ended up with a bastard son?” I retort. Minos is originally from Olympus. When Hades took over the Underworld, he came with him. We've never discussed why he left, but one drunken night he did tell me that he used to be a king, and that he stupidly slept with a beast of a woman. He got her pregnant and ended up with a bastard blood thirsty son who, to his horror, ate his prisoners.

“I ended up with a son because I’m an idiot. Because I wasn’t honest. I’m not sure if you recall, but it didn’t end well,” Minos reminds me.

He’s right. If I don’t tell Josie everything with Eris, even if I think it’s irrelevant, she will find a way to complicate my life. Strife is what she does best. “Fine. I’ll tell her.”

“You only have a few days.”

“I’ll tell her tomorrow then,” I huff. “Minos?”

“Yes?”

“Our lives are in danger. Josie’s in particular. I mean it when I say I want her watched. Indefinitely,” I warn. He gets the message and immediately nods.

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