Page 10 of Queen of the Underworld

The confidence that she would return and he would see her again loosened the tight feeling in his breast and had him taking a step back into the shadows. His mind churned, plots forming as he continued to watch her.

She would be his, but he needed to ensure she would remain that way once he took her.

As the shadows grew thicker around him, the darkness grew stronger. His brothers had taken females they desired, making them their queen, and in time those females had come to accept their new life. So it would be with this goddess.

Hades eased further back into the darkness of the cave, towards the gate, before she noticed him and he ruined everything. To ensure she remained his, he would do something that would be both a pleasure and a torment.

He would speak with Zeus.

Partly to anger his brother and partly because he desired the male’s blessing. If Zeus gave it, no one would be able to take the goddess from him.

She would be his queen.

Hades grinned, flashing his fangs.

Even if Zeus denied him as Hades expected, she would still belong to him. He would take her regardless of what his brother said and he would fight everyone in this world to keep her. No one would take her from him.

Rather than heading through the gate behind him, Hades teleported to the one in a remote dusty stretch of land near Athens. He stepped through the shimmering portal and out into the harbour of the bright white city that clung to the foothills of the mountain.

A city that buzzed with life, kissed by sunshine and the turquoise sea.

Olympus.

Darkness surged through his veins and crowded his mind, rage burning up his blood to have his talons flexing at his sides as he tracked the people coming and going along the promenade, dressed in fine white chitons and gowns, and adorned with gold.

Olympians.

His claws itched to rip through them as the darkness snarled within him, goading him into painting this fair city with blood and death to take what was rightfully his and had been denied him. All would tremble at his feet and beg for mercy. Even his brother. His grin stretched wider as pleasing images of Zeus on his knees before him filled his mind, spreading intoxicating warmth through his body.

Hades bit back a growl and eased back a step, away from the people, unable to trust himself to be near them now that the darkness was rising again, slowly devouring what precious little light remained in his soul.

He breathed harder, his chest straining as he fought it, battling to calm himself and clear his mind. He knew how the Olympians spoke of him, how they feared him and twisted the tales of him, turning him into something monstrous.

A monster he could easily be when the darkness took him.

A monster he would not become.

Hades fixed his gaze on the largest white temple that sat on a promontory of tan rock high above the others and teleported there, seeking the escape from the crowds and hoping it would help him retain control.

He landed in the heart of his brother’s chambers.

Hades turned in a slow circle, surveying the bright white room that was open to a balcony overlooking Olympus on one side. Between two of the fluted columns that lined that side stood a gold chaise longue and beaten gold table laden with dark grapes and an empty goblet, and against one of the columns someone had propped up a fan with a long gold handle. He sensed movement in the other rooms beyond the white marble walls that enclosed three sides of the room, but only one of the people was approaching him.

He continued to stare out at the city, at terracotta roofs enclosing green gardens and the leafy trees that lined the broader avenues. So different to his realm. The contrast was marked, and undeniable. Hades hated it. He despised how he felt whenever he ventured here, how this pure, pale city tainted his view of his realm, making him see it as a grim, dark place.

A betrayal.

He betrayed his realm whenever he thought like that, whenever he compared it to this one and found it lacking. The Underworld was everything to him. He didn’t want it to be like this city, and yet… he also wished at times that it wasn’t so dark or so dangerous. Despite his efforts, his realm remained a bleak and savage land, one filled with bloodthirsty beasts and death.

And it was all his fault.

He kept his eyes on the city, cursing his weakness and how this city affected him, and how he let the darkness affect his own realm, as the person entered the room to his left.

His immense power pressed against Hades’s own.

As if that would scare him away.

Hades crushed the fear and the anger his thoughts had stirred, destroyed the regret and the shame, and hardened his heart, drawing up the darkness like a cloak around it.

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