Page 21 of Hades

“Here.” She cupped his nape, lifted his head, and dabbed liquid on his lips.

He opened his mouth and allowed her to pour water into it, swallowed it down and licked his lips again as she moved away from him.

“What does my god-king want?” Morpheus husked, his voice scratchy from disuse, and looked at the black-haired female who towered beside his resting place in his temple, “Mnemosyne?”

Her ruby lips curled. “You remember me. Hades has had you asleep so long I feared you would have forgotten all of us.”

As if he could forget the titaness. She was the goddess of memory after all. They had worked together many times in the past. Her powers and his worked perfectly together, as did his power and that of his father, Hypnos, the god of sleep.

Eyes like mirrors reflected him as she leaned over him, her smile still in place. “You still look as if you are miles away in the dreams of another.”

She reached a hand out to him.

Morpheus took it, his skin a stark contrast to hers. He was onyx where she was marble.

He allowed her to help him up into a sitting position on the stone dais. “It always takes a while for everything to stop feeling so strange when I return from dreaming.”

And when he had been asleep as long as he had this time, it would take more than just a while. Everything in his temple felt so surreal. As if this was the dream. His violet-to-blue gaze darted over the black columns and beaten golden bowls of burning oil scattered with red petals. Someone had left several gold offerings beneath his feet. The temple maidens? He had many who served him, tending to him while he slept, protecting him or bathing him. Each of them was fiercely devoted to him and would do anything for him, and several of them had made advances over the years, wanting to service more than just his temple.

Yet, he wanted none of them.

His thoughts leaped back to the blonde female. Were his instincts about her right and she was a nereid? If she was, he needed to tell the Moirai. They were seeking one. He vaguely recalled that. Perhaps that was the reason he often found himself in her dreams. He wanted to watch over her for them. It was all he could do while he was sleeping, but now he was awake. As soon as he had dealt with this new business for Hades, he would visit the Moirai.

“What does Hades wish me to do, Mnemosyne?” He frowned when she tensed as he spoke the name of their god-king. Had they been fighting again? Mnemosyne had often complained of the way Hades treated her. She hadn’t been the same since their god-king had locked her away in Tartarus for failing in an important mission.

He couldn’t recall what that mission had been. Only that she had failed, and Hades had been angry. Or had she refused?

That was it.

She had refused to do as Hades had ordered and as punishment, he had locked her away.

Hades could be temperamental like that.

It was part of the reason Morpheus always strived to please him. The rest was because he owed Hades his life.

“Hades requires your help with a delicate matter.” Mnemosyne finished refilling one of the larger bowls of oil and lit it. The fire burst to life instantly, warming her pale skin and catching on the gold band that circled her ribs beneath her bust. She looked at him, her silver eyes filled with the flames. She looked like fire in that moment, and it was more than just the crimson colour of her dress or the gold detailing on it, or the way flames danced in her irises. It went deeper than that. Ran beneath the surface. Shone in her eyes.

Suspicion flickered inside him again and he frowned at her. “Why didn’t Hades come to ask me himself?”

He always did.

Hades never used a third party to bring him his orders.

Mnemosyne stood and smoothed the layers of her scarlet dress down over her stomach and hips, her hands steady and face expressionless. “Because the danger the Moirai foresaw has come to pass.”

Cold flooded Morpheus and he dropped onto his bare feet. “And why wasn’t I woken?”

If Hades needed warriors, Morpheus would fight. He would do anything for his god-king and this realm. He would defend it until he drew his last breath.

“Because your work was important and it was all in hand. Hades’s sons and Nyx and her children are dealing with it and hunting down anyone involved. They caught the one behind the uprising. Eris.” Her look hardened, her eyes sharpening.

“Eris,” he breathed, unable to believe one of Nyx’s own children would rise against Hades.

What madness.

Hades might be cold and cruel at times, and often difficult to work with, but he was a good ruler, a just king, and he took care of his people. He didn’t deserve to have his own subjects turn against him.

“Not only Eris.” Mnemosyne swept across the room, her steps silent and her dress trailing behind her like blood on the black marble floor. “Her siblings too.”

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