Page 26 of Hades

The goddess had lost most of her allies, was weakened and in danger of losing this war, and that was the reason she had done something so dangerous as snatching Persephone. This was her final attempt at securing her victory.

“It will not happen,” Persephone said, her voice light and betraying none of the doubts that clouded her mind. She focused on her husband and her family, on how strong and resourceful they were, and stared Mnemosyne down, letting her see the depth of her faith in them in her eyes. “Hades will find me.”

Mnemosyne smiled coldly.

“I am counting on it.”

Chapter 8

Hades pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed it as he opened the door to his bedchamber. He quietly stepped inside the darkened room, and gently set his gauntlets down on the dresser near the door, not wanting to disturb Persephone. She needed her rest. This war was taking its toll on her, sowing her mind with seeds of doubt that had grown into fear over the last few weeks.

If it was in his power, he would end the war now, removing the source of her fear and freeing her from it. But it wasn’t. His latest visit to Tartarus had yielded no results. Eris continued to refuse to talk, even after she had spent the day in a cell in the deepest reaches of the prison.

The goddess of strife had been near hysterical when Hades had led Thanatos and Hypnos down to her cell. She had stared at the bloodied stump of her right leg with wild amber eyes, unaware of them as she had babbled about the things that had eaten her and had twitched whenever she heard one moving in the shadows, her gaze leaping around.

When she had eventually noticed her older brothers, she had dragged herself to the thick bars of her cell and desperately pleaded with them to help her.

Thanatos had done as Hades had instructed before they had ventured down into the pit.

He had offered to take Eris from her current cell to a better, safer one, if she told him what she knew of Mnemosyne’s plans.

Eris had laughed in her brother’s face.

Thanatos and Hypnos had both tried to get her to talk, bargaining with her or demanding she tell them. Neither had been able to get a word out of her. She had sat in her cell, holding her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth as she stared at her brothers’ legs with glazed eyes.

In the end, Hades had grown tired of her ways and had ordered the brothers to leave, and he had followed them.

Leaving Eris screaming in the darkness as he took the sole light—her sole protection—with him, and the creatures closed in again.

He closed the door of his bedchamber and opened his eyes.

Stared at the bed in the black-and-gold room.

It was empty.

With a frown, he went to it and touched the mattress on her side. Warm. The covers were tousled. The room smelled of Persephone too, her sweet fragrance of lilies invading his lungs as he tried to figure out where she could be. Perhaps she hadn’t been able to sleep and had gone down to her drawing room.

Hades teleported there.

It was empty too.

He tried the main drawing room next, and then the kitchen. She wasn’t in either of them. A feeling grew inside him, chilling his blood and sending his pulse skyrocketing. He teleported to three more rooms, including the library, his study, and then the remaining parlours. Where was she?

Hades reached out with his senses but the added wards he had put in place around the grounds, and the spells Cassandra had cast to add yet another layer of protection from their enemy, dampened them and made it impossible for him to tell whether Persephone was in the sprawling palace.

He stilled. There was one place she might have gone if she couldn’t sleep. He teleported to Adora’s room, landing hard as using his powers so frequently took its toll on his strength. He staggered forwards, his eyes on the cot. Adora slept soundly in it, unaware of him.

Alone.

The door behind him burst open and Hades whirled to face it, his nails transforming into short black claws and his fangs dropping as he readied himself for a fight.

Ares halted the moment their gazes clashed, his bare chest heaving as he lowered the sword he gripped, and he ran a hand over his mussed tawny hair. “You scared the shit out of me. I thought something was wrong.”

“Somethingiswrong,” Hades snarled and frowned as he noticed Ares wore only his black undergarments. He would have chastised his son for rushing into battle without his armour, but he didn’t have time.

Megan stepped into the room, looking as frantic as her husband and just as relieved when she saw it was Hades who had caused the disturbance, and not the enemy come for her babe.

She drew her lilac robe closed around her and fastened it as she moved towards him, heading for Adora. When her gaze landed on his face, she stilled and looked worried again.

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