Page 68 of Chaos Unleashed

“Don’t forget what Monty said about the Princes ignoring it,” Mayhem reminds us, “you don’t know what condition it’s going to be in, and that could bring up some problems that we haven’t considered.”

“That’s very true,” Grey replies, “what’s giving me hope is that Monty said that they’ve ignored it, and the Underworlders that oversee it are incredibly capable.”

“The Hellier’s I trained for the punishment side of it are elite and stronger than most, I’m sure that they’ve managed to keep it running as smoothly as possible in our absence,” Khaos adds.

“I think the biggest issue is going to be the effect of not having me here and my magic feeding the realm,” Grey admits.

“I hear you, but Monty wouldn’t have warned us unless the soul side was experiencing some issues,” Zev points out.

“Yes, you’re right. We will proceed with caution,” Grey agrees. He looks over us all. "Is everyone ready?”

“Sure,” I reply.

He grins, and I feel his magic build in the air as he builds the portal that will get us to the soul side; a sense of excitement goes through me; we’re getting a sneak peek of where we go when we die and that’s pretty cool.

The portal pops into existence, and whereas I’m used to them being swirling masses of colour that are somewhat disorientating to step into, this one isn’t; it's like looking through a window. I can see what we’re going to step into, and curiously enough, it appears to be a town, and we're looking at a street with houses on either side.

“I’ll go first,” Grey says, “to make sure that you all arrive safely and don’t get killed as soon as you step through.”

“Appreciate it,” Zev jokes, making me smile.

Grey steps through without problem, and I see him instantly drop his glamour. He’s truly magnificent and the vision I had didn’t do him justice. The smile that breaks out on his face as the glamour falls is full of relief, and I can't help but smile in response. It has to be so freeing, especially after having it on for so long. I also appreciate how difficult it must have been to put the glamour on again after he’d finally managed to get rid of it. I feel pretty shitty that it’s taken me this long to realise that.

As soon as I step through the portal before I even look around or anything, I head straight to Hades, and in this form, he is definitely Hades; it just feels right to call him that.

He looks at me curiously, and I move up onto my tip toes. When I realise that I’m still too short, since he’s a freaking giant now, I use my air magic to help me float. It wasn’t my intention to kiss him, but he looks so amused that I have to use my magic to put me on the same level, that I want to do something to shock him.

So, I get really close until my lips are a hair's breadth away, causing him to still I'm not sure he's even breathing.

“Thank you for wearing that god awful glamour to come and get me, even when you didn’t have to wear it,” I whisper because he’s close enough to hear me.

As he begins to open his mouth to talk, I lean forward and kiss him. I meant for it to be a quick kiss, just a simple thank you, but I'm lost as soon as my lips touch his. His arms wrap around me, holding me close, which is a damn good job because as soon as our lips touched I lost the grip I had on my magic and I would’ve dropped to the floor if hadn’t held me.

Our lips move together as my hands move into his hair, and my whole body comes alive.

He pulls away before I’m ready, and I groan in protest.

“As much as I want to kiss you forever, we’ve just stepped foot in the Underworld, and I’m fairly certain that we’re going to get company soon. These people haven’t seen me for decades and most likely think I’m dead,” he starts.

I finish his sentence, “And it’s probably not a good idea for the first time they see you again to be when I’m stuck to your face.”

Hades bursts out laughing along with the others, who must be standing close enough to hear us.

“I wouldn’t quite put it that way, but yes, that’s what I was getting at.” Hades replies.

“Okay, fine. I suppose you make sense,” I reply and then smirk, “I’m calling you Hades from now on. It suits you better, and I like it more.”

Hades’ eyes heat as he practically growls, “I like it when you say my name.”

“Er, guys, whatever Farren was going to reply to that was going to lead to you guys making out again, and while I didn’t mind watching at all, and I know I’m not the only one, we do have something that we need to focus on right now.” Zev interrupts.

I glance over my shoulder, and I’m surprised to see heat in all of their eyes. Oh, well, that’s an interesting turn of events, but it's not something that I can really focus on right now. That sort of revelation needs time to explore, and as we’ve been reminded multiple times now, we don’t have that time right now.

Hades gives me one last quick kiss and then puts me down.

“I’m surprised we haven’t had any visitors yet,” Khaos comments, looking around with a frown.

Now that I’m not distracted by Hades, I get a proper look at the Soul side of the Underworld. Just like it looked through the portal, we’re on a street. It’s a long stretch of road with offshoots, grass verges, and trees lining it. It’s incredibly well looked after, and there aren’t even any potholes, which is a sure sign this is the Soul side of the Underworld.

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