Page 82 of Hades

That female turned with a hiss.

Correction. Several hundred hisses.

The snakes that formed her hair writhed and snapped fangs at him and he was quick to look away before she could use her gaze against him. He needn’t have worried. Persephone leaped between him and the gorgon, ripping her shield from her arm to spin it to face the female as she turned her glowing glare on him. Rather than hitting him and turning him to stone, her gaze bounced back from the polished metal inside of the shield and she screamed as ashy darkness swept up her arms and legs and her body solidified, becoming black rock.

Hades didn’t have time to thank Persephone. He seized her arm and pulled her behind him, thrusting his bident forward at the same time. The twin sharp prongs buried deep into the chest of the demigod who had been coming at her with his sword raised. Hades yanked it free, ripping an agonised bellow from the male, and tore him apart with his shadows, leaving them to feast as he turned to check on Persephone.

She stopped pulling a face at the sight of his shadows devouring the demigod and looked up at him, her expression brightening as she met his gaze, telling him that she was fine.

It was strange having her at his side in a fight, but it was nice too. She had always had his back and he had always had hers, and now that extended to the battlefield too. Not that he was going to take her into every war he fought, but he might consider accepting her help with the odd one or two in the future.

After he had put her through some rigorous training.

“Father.”

Hades turned at the sound of Keras’s voice.

And found himself facing several hundred soldiers.

“Handle things here,” Hades growled, his mind already turning to the battle ahead, plans firing to life as he realised they now outnumbered the occupants of Tartarus who had escaped their cells. “We will move deeper.”

Keras nodded and Hades took hold of Persephone’s hand and teleported with her.

They landed halfway down the spiral staircase, where Ares and Valen were battling a trio of demigods.

“Got this,” Ares grumbled as he lashed at one with a whip of fire. “But there’s trouble ahead.”

His son jerked his chin towards the other side of the tower and Hades looked there, his brows pinching together as he spotted what Ares had.

Morpheus.

The black-skinned god of dreams was fighting five on one, battering his attackers with his leathery wings and slashing at others with his claws. He felled two but another six daemons rushed him as they finished off one of the guards.

Hades teleported to him, appearing between him and the daemons, and unleashed his shadows. The daemons screamed as they tore into them, swiftly killing three of them and injuring the rest. Persephone leaped into action, her blade severing the head of one while brambles seized another, caging him.

Morpheus finished that one off, snatching up a sword from the stone steps and driving it through his heart.

A thick black wall of brambles shot up across the staircase to stop another wave of prisoners, blocking their route out of Tartarus. Hades threw his left hand forwards, thrusting his bident towards the last male and shadows burst towards him, forming a lance that pierced his chest and split apart as it exited his back. The tendrils curled around to grab the male and tear into him.

He purred as their fear swept into him, the shadows relaying it to him as it fed him the daemon’s strength.

A soft hand touched his face and he bared fangs at the intrusion, and then stilled as Persephone’s gentle green eyes admonished him.

Hades covered his hand with hers, brought it from his face and kissed her palm. “I am sorry.”

She shook her head, but the concern that flickered in her eyes didn’t go anywhere as she watched him closely. He reined in the darkness, pulling it back under control as his shadows finished with the daemon and retreated to him.

“Morpheus.” Hades turned to the male.

The god of dreams instantly faced him and bowed his head. “My god-king.”

“What happened here?” Hades made that question a demand, even though he was sure the male would have told him everything that had occurred even without being ordered to do it. In the short time he had been held in Tartarus, Morpheus had shown unending regret and a desperate need to redeem himself, and Hades was inclined to believe the male had nothing to do with Mnemosyne and had been a pawn she had used to get what she wanted.

“You are too late, my god-king.” Morpheus’s starlit eyes lifted to Hades’s face and that regret painted itself across his dark features again. “Mnemosyne is gone. She has made off with an army. I admit, it was she who released me, and she tried to convince me to fight on her side. When I refused, she ordered the daemons she had released to kill me. I tried to help the guards, but Mnemosyne… she must have unlocked more than half the cell doors. Our numbers were too few to quell the prisoners.”

“You have done well,” Persephone said, her voice soothing as she reached for Morpheus and laid her hand on his shoulder. “We thank you for your help.”

Hades wouldn’t have put it that way, but he reluctantly admitted his wife was right. Morpheus had done well. He had managed to contain many of the prisoners, the evidence of which was scattered around him on the stairs. There had to be close to two dozen dead littering the area near him, and more prisoners had been held back by him. Without Morpheus, close to a hundred of Tartarus’s occupants might have been running free in the Underworld right now or joining Mnemosyne’s forces.

---