Page 32 of Hades

Her fear that she might harm them with her touch was unfounded, and foolish, but he would never tell her that, because it stemmed from her heart—a heart that was warm and loving, and protective.

Just like Persephone’s.

His mood faltered, anger giving way to sorrow as he thought about his beloved, and yearning filled the hollow where his heart had been before she had been taken from him.

“We will find her,” Thanatos whispered close to her ear, and Hades felt he wasn’t only talking to Calindria now. He was talking to Hades too, trying to buoy him up. She closed her eyes and leaned into Thanatos’s embrace as she nodded and he murmured, “We will. I swear it, Calindria.”

“I swear it too. I will find Persephone…” Hades gathered his strength, shunning his fears, and strode towards Morpheus. Hypnos did the wise thing and stepped aside, leaving his son open rather than moving to protect him. The god of dreams was wise too. He fell to his knees before Hades and bowed his head. Hades glared down at him. “If I do not find her, it will be your head, Morpheus. Now, tell me everything you know.”

Morpheus nodded and kept his head bent. “Mnemosyne woke me from my slumber. She told me the foreseen war had begun and that it was taking its toll on my god-queen. She said you had sent her because you were busy at Tartarus, questioning members of the enemy. I was suspicious of her, but she explained things… said things that made me believe she was speaking the truth. She relayed an order from you, stating I had to help Persephone sleep by giving her a dream… a memory Mnemosyne had in a vial. I still have the liquid.”

“The liquid is useless to me. I cannot see the memory it contains. Did she say what it was?” Hades felt as if everything hinged on the answer to that question, one that might give him a clue as to Persephone’s location.

Morpheus nodded and looked up at him, his black eyebrows furrowed. “She said it would give her a dream of her past… a moment that was a fond memory of Persephone’s.”

Hades growled. “That could be anything!”

He lunged for Morpheus and seized him by his throat, hauling him off the ground and holding him so his feet dangled above the black flagstones. Hypnos tensed, his muscular body locking up tight, but didn’t intervene, and Thanatos slid his twin a worried glance.

“Tell me where she is,” Hades snarled and tightened his fingers around Morpheus’s throat.

The flagstones beneath his feet cracked and shadows streamed from them, shooting towards Morpheus’s legs.

“Father,” Calindria snapped and broke free of Thanatos’s hold, moving two sharp steps towards Hades.

Hades halted the attack and came close to growling at himself when he saw the look on his daughter’s face. She looked too much like Persephone. Despite everything the enemy had done to her, she still had a warm heart like her mother, and still looked disappointed and horrified whenever his temper slipped its leash and he came close to killing someone.

The shadows snaked back into the fissures in the ground and he dropped Morpheus. The god landed heavily on his knees and gasped for air.

Hypnos looked as if he wanted to check on his son, but remained upright and away from him, his tone calm as he said, “I tried finding her through sleep. She has been gone some time. She must have slept at some point, but I could not find her. I have tried to reach her when fatigue touched her body and mind, but I cannot.”

And it had taken its toll on the god of sleep.

Hades could see it in the paleness of his skin and the darkness that encircled his silver eyes. He reigned in his anger and drew down a deep breath, steadying his unruly emotions and calming his racing pulse. When his mind was steady again, the darkness receding, he held Hypnos’s gaze.

“Do not overexert yourself, Hypnos. Persephone would not want that.” Hades kept his gaze locked with Hypnos’s as surprise flitted across the male’s features, suppressing the urge to point out that it wasn’t so unusual of him to have a kind word to say or to show compassion for his subjects, in particular his loyal servants. He ignored the soft look Calindria was giving him, as if he was wonderful for showing kindness rather than cruelty. “Iwould not want it. I will be relying upon you and your brother in the days ahead, and your mother too. I need you strong.”

Thanatos broke away from Calindria and went to his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder to grip it. Hades felt another stab of envy at the brotherly act, something he had witnessed the twins do often, and his own sons too. He bit back a wry chuckle at the thought that danced through his mind. Zeus and Poseidon would never act in such a manner with him, so there was little point wishing they would. He pushed aside the thought, one that was born of weakness.

After all these centuries, part of him still longed for his brothers to be, well, more like brothers to him.

It would never happen.

Rather than showing any kindness towards him, Zeus had condemned him to the darkness of the Underworld, while he bathed in the light of Olympus.

The shadows must have writhed around his boots, stirred by his dark thoughts, because Morpheus shuffled backwards, away from him. The god remained on his knees though, revealing he had more sense than Hades had given him credit for, and when Hades looked down at him, he was quick to seize another chance to petition him for mercy.

“I will work with my father and we will find her. I will right this wrong.” Morpheus’s blue-violet eyes begged him to listen and to accept his offer.

“Right this wrong?” Hades narrowed crimson eyes on the male. “You speak as if this is a simple mistake you have made, as if you did something as harmless as revealing information to Mnemosyne that was of little consequence in the grand scheme of things. What you did could turn the tide of this war in her favour and place her upon my throne. It is not a mere wrong you can right. It wastreason!”

Morpheus shrank back as Hades boomed those last three words at him, the horror that flashed across his face swiftly followed by regret, and then shame as he lowered his gaze.

Hypnos and Thanatos stepped forwards as one, ever the united front.

Another needle of envy pierced Hades’s black soul.

Zeus and Poseidon were constantly against him.

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