Page 128 of Queen of the Underworld

His distraction cost him.

Hades twined his shadows with the brambles, lacing them around one as it attacked the god, and grinned as the male cut the woody stem, revealing the shadow. Aristaeus’s eyes widened as it survived the blow and struck him in his chest, sending him flying backwards. The male hit one of the buildings, crashing through the wall, and a section of the tiled roof fell in on top of him.

Satisfied that the foolish god had learned his lesson, Hades extended his hand to Persephone.

Aristaeus reappeared, covered in splinters of wood and white dust that clung to his wet hair and armour, and bared his teeth as fury blazed in his eyes and he lunged for Persephone.

Hades swept his shadows around her to shield her and growled as he thrust his bident forwards, lodging one point of it deep in Aristaeus’s chest and the other in his throat. The male gasped and choked, blood pouring from his lips as he staggered backwards, shock rolling across his face. Hades grinned as Aristaeus’s horrified eyes slid to meet his, letting the male see in his gaze that he wasn’t done with him.

When his soul entered the Underworld, Hades would be waiting for him.

He put his left foot against the male’s stomach and kicked him backwards, pushing him off the prongs of his black-and-gold bident, and retrieved his helmet where it had tumbled from Persephone’s grip. He kept his shadows around her, shielding her and stopping her from seeing Aristaeus as he fought his inevitable death, feebly struggling to hold on to life.

Hades pulled her to her feet and ushered her away from the scene, towards the gate in the harbour as the storm continued to rage, a heaviness growing inside him as he saw the destruction he had caused.

Several of the white single-storey villas lay in ruin, and the streets ran with blood as people desperately tried to aid the injured. They turned fearful gazes on him as he passed them. As his shadows fell away from Persephone to reveal her, she gasped and looked at him.

He struggled to meet her gaze, to tear his eyes away from what he had done.

His victory was a defeat in disguise.

Because he could already feel Zeus’s anger and was sure his brother wouldn’t let him have Persephone after all now that Hades had wrought carnage across his city and harmed its citizens.

The air charged with familiar power.

Zeus was coming.

Hades looked at Persephone.

Certain he was about to lose her.

Chapter 38

“Hades!” A powerful male voice boomed his name and beside Persephone, Hades locked up tight, his shoulders going rigid beneath his black plate armour as they came to a dead stop at the entrance to the harbour.

Persephone cast a glance at Hades, concern blooming inside her when she saw resignation and hurt in his steady crimson gaze. It remained fixed on the gate that stood only one hundred feet away now. A war erupted in his eyes as the power she had felt curled around them and pressed down on her, and she was sure he would teleport her to it and rush her back into the Underworld to escape his brother’s wrath.

But then he released her hand and slowly pivoted to face the direction they had come.

Persephone turned too, surprise chasing through her as she saw the large crowd that had gathered to block the route back towards the temples of Olympus and to her left and right along the harbour road too.

The people ahead of her parted and Zeus strode towards them, his golden eyes unflinching and hard as rain pelted him, soaking his white chiton and rolling down the gold pieces of his armour.

Those eyes locked onto Hades.

And narrowed.

Lightning crackled in Zeus’s hand as he closed the distance between them and murmurs ran through the crowd, whispers that had Hades growing even more still beside her and had her looking at him again. He looked calm, unaffected, but she could see through the façade to his true feelings now. He was bracing himself, attempting to steel his heart so whatever Zeus said wouldn’t wound him.

“Leave this realm at once and never return,” Zeus growled.

The murmurs grew louder, and she scowled at the gathered as they whispered how just their god-king was, how right he was to banish Hades from the realm, and how vile her love was.

How evil.

Their cruel words ignited her blood and had her stepping closer to Hades as a powerful urge to protect him surged through her.

“For the damage and death you have caused here today, you deserve far worse.” Zeus held his brother’s gaze. “You had no reason to attack this city. What you desired was given to you freely, and yet you came here and wrought this suffering, and have doomed the mortal world to a far worse fate by attempting to take Persephone before she is due to return to you, breaking our agreement.”

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