Page 27 of Hades

“Fuck,” I mutter.

I scurry into the bathroom, materializing a cute short set. A finger over my lips I peer at Warrick before I close the doors to the bedroom as I rush to greet my brother.

Taking a moment, I calm my nerves and slap a smile on my face as I open it to reveal not only Zeus, but Poseidon and Hermes as well. I pray that War listens and doesn’t leave the bedroom.

“Hello, brothers.” I nod, with a grimace on my face. Controlling my anger that is starting to boil again I continue. “Hermes, what can I do for you?”

Zeus pushes past me, and the other two follow making a beeline for the couch in the main room.

I add a log to my fireplace and turn to face Zeus, leaning against the wall. “What has happened?”

“It’s my idiot son, Ares. He is on the warpath once again.Unhappy that I will not let him rule the earth or the sea, he seeks to dethrone you. To rule the Underworld and make it his own.”

These words from my brother cause me to erupt in laughter. “Ares wants to take my place? Fuck, let him. He doesn’t realize what all that entails. He is too much of a pussy to last more than a day, and I mean that as his loving aunt. Ruling the Underworld is not as easy as that little twat thinks.”

All three of their jaws drop to the floor.

Poseidon is the first to laugh, before he declares, “Leave it to Hades to make light of the situation. I don’t think she’s wrong, either. Ares believes that ruling is what he is meant for, but it is so much more than it seems.”

“All that aside, Ares is here in Vegas. He is gunning for you. How are you going to fight the God of War himself?”

As soon as the words leave Zeus’s lips, the door to the bedroom opens. Hair ruffled and in his pajamas, Warrick walks straight to my side. Once again wrapping an arm around me, he answers, “She can fight the God of War with War himself.”

I glance up at the smirk on his face, a little confused. “What do you mean?”

“I am War, one of the Four Horsemen.”

“Sister, you slept with a horseman and didn’t know that’s what he was?” Zeus laughs.

“Shut your mouth. Yes, we slept together. Unlike my brothers, I am no slut,” I retort.They don’t need to know about what I did in private, not yet at least. But am I turning into one of them? First Frank and now War?

This shuts them both up.

“And, for your information, I knew there was something different about him and his brothers. If you guys are so protective of me, go have a chat with Seph. I do not need him poppingup in my room naked again. Keep him and his twig away from me, unless he wants it broken.”

All four men shudder at my words. Good, my point got across to them.

“As for Ares, I can deal with my nephew.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Hades,” Zeus replies.

“I didn’t know you cared, brother. Do you really have a heart?” I joke.

In a puff of smoke, both of my brothers disappear. Hermes has a lost look on his face as he sits awkwardly on the couch.

He stands. “I’ll show myself out.”

I nod and watch as he does just that.

“So,” Warrick says, still standing close to me, “you really are Hades?”

“Would you have believed me if I told you that? Throughout history, they wrote me as a male. Do you know how annoying it is to not be able to fix that one detail? But Zeus denied me that. Asshole.”

Warrick smirks but it’s gone in an instant, face going serious as he gets down on his knees. “Lady Hades, I, the Horseman of War, pledge to you my loyalty and fealty.”

“You shouldn’t give that so freely,” I warn him, shocked he would bow to me. “I may take you at your word and never release from your oath. Why would you give it to me so easily? We are strangers, after all. What if I am really the devil? You may have just sold me your soul!”

“I don’t know what it is about you, but the moment I laid eyes on you, I wanted to be at your side. In all my years on earth, no woman has moved me in that way. Besides, my brothers would agree. You should’ve seen Drevi after that disastrous date. He was depressed, and we now have a hole inthe wall to fix. We all feel a pull to you. You have won us over without even trying.”

---