Page 2 of Hades

Hades only closed his fist tighter, squeezing her throat without even touching her, reminding her that in this world, his power was absolute and unmatched.

Her face reddened, her frantic gasps like music to his ears, a melody that entranced him and had him sinking deeper into the waiting darkness. Shadows swirled around the soles of his boots, tendrils of black rising up the metal plates of his greaves to twine around his leg and stroke it as he gave himself over to the cold abyss, listening to the coaxing whispers of the other side as it beckoned him.

Tempting him into surrendering to it.

Hades stared down into her wide amber eyes, the world around him falling away as ice filled the space in his chest, chilling his heart until he felt nothing.

When the last frail threads of warmth slipped away from him, losing their hold on him, he snapped himself back from the edge with a low, furious growl and released his hold on Eris.

She sank onto her side, gasping for air. Choking. Coughing.

Damn him.

Hades stared at his fist now, Eris going out of focus beyond it, and curled his pointed black talons until they were in danger of piercing his palm.

He was stronger than this.

Stronger than the darkness that ran in his blood.

In his soul.

Gradually, that darkness lost its hold on him, the light that struggled to bathe his soul driving it back. As it weakened, the world returned to him, awareness of it slowly building until he once again heard the distant clamour of the occupants of the spiralling cells that drilled deep into the black earth of the Underworld.

Until he grew conscious of the male now watching him carefully. Silently.

Hades ignored him and focused on strengthening his connection to the light, using it to drive out the darkness. It was growing harder to keep it at bay.

His regular visits to Tartarus weren’t helping him there.

The occupants of the cells were always rowdy whenever he visited, the hordes of daemons and other creatures contained in the depths howling because of his presence, filling the air with rage that burned in his blood too. Their disquiet roused the fell beasts that stalked the prison, dark things that would eat his prisoners if it wasn’t for the ancient metal bars that kept those in the upper reaches safe from harm.

Hades let their malice seep into him as he calmly lowered his right hand and focused on Eris.

The sole light caught on the beads of sweat that clung to her grimy forehead as she coughed up blood and her hand trembled as she lifted it and tentatively brushed her fingers across her throat. It bore a black bruise in the shape of his hand, one that was darkest where his fingertips would have been if he had gripped her physically rather than mentally.

Her dark eyebrows furrowed as she angled her head back, fear flitting across her features as she shifted her gaze to the other occupant of the room, one who loomed deep in the shadows close to the heavy iron door.

“Mercy,” she whispered, her voice scratchy, and reached her unsteady hand out towards the male. “Help me,brother.”

Hades flicked a glance at the male.

Thanatos.

The towering obsidian-haired god of death remained stoic with his arms folded over his broad bare chest, his silver eyes cold and emotionless as he stared at his younger sister, and his black wings furled tightly so the longest feathers brushed the ankles of the onyx armour that protected him from the waist down.

The male hadn’t moved since the guards had brought Eris into the chamber. He hadn’t spoken a word either.

Hades knew why Thanatos was there, and it wasn’t because he felt a need to protect his sister, or because he had any mercy to show her.

This was a form of punishment for himself, carried out to assuage his guilt over the fact that several of his own bloodline were involved in the uprising that threatened to destroy the Underworld and the mortal realm too. An uprising that would see the two merged into a new realm her cohorts would rule if Hades failed to stop them.

All led by a goddess of the Underworld.

One of his own subordinates.

A female he had believed to be even more loyal to him than Eris.

A female he had once shown mercy.

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