Page 72 of Hades

“Why is there none of that now that he knows?” I ask, my voice getting louder with each word.

“He saw what you did to Hermès' face and thought you handled him well. Hermès wears your gift as a reminder not to fuck with you. No wonder he is aligning with Ares, he is like a beaten puppy seeking a new home. But he picked the wrong side yet again.”

“And you, father, whose side are you on?” Nile questions him.

“If Zeus would allow me to pick sides it would be Hades’s, of course.” He beams a blindingly white smile.

“Are you just saying that because she can hear you?” I ask.

“Of course not, my sister is tougher than Zeus and he knows it, the only reason she doesn’t rule Olympus is because she’s content with the Underworld,” Posiedon explains.

“And here I thought it was because she respected me,” Zeus chimes in.

“Oh, maybe that is it,” Poseidon tries to play it off.

“So, Harper, are you fighting with your Aunt?” Zeus asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Are you?” I retort.

“Being the head of the gods, I can’t interfere, but if I could, how can you ask me to pick between my sister and my child?”

“That’s fair but he is starting a war and will kill innocents just to take a throne that’s not his. To me, that sounds like he wasn’t punished enough as a child. Does he want a fucking crown? Give him one, this is a useless reason to fight,” I tell him. “I will fight with Hades, Hermès is mine. I lost countless years of my life with my men all because of him and he’s not getting off that easily.”

“Be safe, my daughter, do you still have the necklace I gave you?”

It was tucked under my shirt for safekeeping and my hand rises to it out of habit. “Yes, father.”

With that, he and Poseidon are off chasing a few women as they are exiting the party.

“Why is this family so fucked up?” Stone questions.

“Lucky, I guess,” I reply and this gets a smile from him.

“Okay, are you all ready to travel to the Underworld? Have any of you been?” I ask.

“No, usually when you go there, you aren’t coming back,” Phoenix comments.

“We will,” I promise as I take his hand and head towards where Hades is standing at the bar.

The patrons are exiting the courtyard when a voice yells over the crowd.

“This is a stick up!” as gunfire sounds.

“Did these dumb motherfuckers really just start a robbery at Four Horsemen’s Casino?” Stone asks.

They spray gunfire again.

“Yep, they must have heard about this party and thought it was a good idea to rob the rich tonight,” Nile says.

They picked the wrong casino to rob, if the horsemen don’t deal with them, it’s safe to say that Hades and her scythe will.

My guys are itching for another fight, they carefully tiptoe closer to the crowd that is now in two lines.

“I said form two lines. The next person I notice not complying will get to meet the barrel of my gun in their face.”

Well, this asshole deserves whatever is coming to him, maybe a little zap from my lightning will scare him off.

I just make it to the line closest to me when I hear her voice.

---