Page 66 of Hades

To take her home.

He kicked off, only vaguely aware of the others as they rushed to keep up with him, and grinned as he placed his black helmet on his head and became like a wraith.

One that was going to slice a path through whatever force Mnemosyne had amassed.

“We are close,” Calindria whispered.

Hades sensed it. Power loomed ahead of him, far stronger than he had anticipated. A ward. More than one. Laced together into a barrier.

He knew it the moment he punched through it.

Weakness invaded him, the shadows that had been gathering to him dissipating in an instant, and he heard Calindria gasp and Keras mutter a curse.

The barrier did more than cloak the stone tower that loomed before him. It inhibited their powers and weakened them, leaving them all vulnerable. A heartbeat of silence, a stillness that felt unnatural, and then a roar went up and boots thundered against the earth.

Two dozen soldiers stormed around the tower, running at full speed towards him with their swords at the ready.

He turned towards Keras and the others, intending to demand they retreat through the barrier so they had their powers and could escape. Only Enyo and Thanatos had come armed with a blade, and they drew them as the soldiers charged them.

Keras’s eyes darkened, veering towards black as he stared the threat down and yelled a single word, one Hades knew was directed at him despite the fact his son kept his focus on the soldiers to stop them from becoming aware of him too.

“Go!”

Chapter 18

Erastus led the charge down the narrow stone steps that hugged the curved wall of the tower. Persephone’s heart pounded in her ears as she gripped the sword he had given her, the weight of it heavy in her hands as they shook. She drew down deep, steadying breaths, focusing her mind to expel the doubts that filled it. She could do this.

She locked her gaze on the back of Erastus’s head, telling herself that on repeat. She had fought in the past. She wasn’t afraid of getting her hands a little bloody. She wouldn’t balk at the thought of cutting someone down. But she had never fought with a blade. She steeled her nerves and denied the fear that tried to seize her again. She had watched Hades training their sons in the arena, studying him so intently she was sure she had picked up how to fight with a sword.

Although, she had been a little distracted by how alluring he had looked as he had twirled and slashed, rolled and parried, all while only wearing a pair of tight black trousers and his boots.

She subconsciously reached for her power, and hit the same wall again. The wards were too strong for her to reach it and the hollow void where her power should have been rattled her nerves. She sucked down another breath. Shecoulddo this. Without her power. All that stood between her and freedom were a few dozen guards.

Persephone almost laughed at that.

Just a few dozen guards.

She focused on Erastus. She wasn’t alone. Together they could cut a path through that many soldiers and escape this place.

Voices sounded below her and Erastus slowed. He held his hand out behind him, signalling her, and she paused out of sight on the cold stone steps, her rapid breaths rattling in her ears. Rather than rushing headlong into the room, Erastus casually walked down the last few steps.

“All good up there?” an unfamiliar male said.

Erastus gave a non-committal shrug of his shoulders. “As good as can be expected.”

He moved out of sight and her heart shot into her throat, hammering there in time with a single thought—what if he betrayed her?

What if this was all another trick?

She eased down the steps, her back pressed to the stone wall that separated her from the room. On the other side of the staircase, a torch flickered in a metal sconce, throwing her shadow out behind her where no one would see it. Her sword wavered before her and she tightened her grip on it, a pointless attempt to stop her hands from shaking. If anything, it only made the sword’s wobbling even worse.

Persephone peered around the end of the wall.

Just in time to see Erastus draw his blade and cut the unsuspecting male down with one blow. The other three guards in the room were still for a heartbeat, their wide eyes filled with shock, and then they launched to their feet, knocking the table they had been sitting at over and toppling their chairs.

Persephone reacted on instinct.

On what she hoped was a suitably feral battle cry, she hurled herself into the room, lifting the sword above her head. She brought it down hard on the back of one of the men who were rushing Erastus, leaving a dent in his breastplate and sending his blade off course. He staggered to one side and she lunged at him before he could recover. Her blade pierced his side, scraping along bone, and he turned a stricken look on her.

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