Page 80 of Dead End

“Thank you, Meg. I’d like to speak with them. Can you please bring them to me?”

“Send Cerberus,” Tisiphone said. “We’re not your hounds.”

She was testing my boundaries again. I had to nip this in the bud. “You’re the Hounds of Hades. It’s right there in the name.”

Tisiphone jerked up her chin. “Hounds of Hades, not Melinoe.”

I was beginning to lose patience. “You’re the ones who came to Fairhaven and insisted that I return to rule.”

Hestia appeared in the doorway. “Erinyes, my darlings, despite your protestations, I think you’ll find that you are, in fact, her bitches.”

Tisiphone’s face radiated anger and resentment. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

The trio left and I continued to sit on the throne to wait for the judges.

Hestia lingered. “If you intend to keep the underworld from descending into chaos, you’ll need to exert your authority.”

“They wanted me here. Why be difficult now?”

“It’s their way. You’ll figure it out.” With those words, she slipped out of sight.

Gods, I missed Kane. I missed all my friends and acquaintances in Fairhaven.

I missed organic blueberries.

But this was my home now and I had to learn to accept it. Resistance was futile, as any alien overlord worth his salt liked to say. Once the transition period ended, Hestia would pack her bags and go, leaving me alone to rule.

It wasn’t my worst nightmare, but it wasn’t exactly a dream come true either. Despite regaining many of Melinoe’s memories, I still didn’t feel at home here. And the one missing memory that plagued me was how I ended up being reborn in the first place. Why didn’t I remember what happened?

The sound of shuffling footsteps alerted me to my requested visitors. The three men lined up in a row in front of me. The Erinyes didn’t bother to accompany them. Shocker.

“Your Majesty,” the men said in unison, bowing their heads.

“I’m going to need you to identify yourselves. I’m afraid I don’t remember you.”

“We didn’t interact much, Your Majesty,” the man in the middle said. “I am Minos, son of Zeus.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at his attempt at posturing. I didn’t care who his father was. Thanks to my previous dealings with the vampire Vincenzo Magnarella, I also happened to know that Zeus was available in The Corporation’s pantry of pantheons.

“I’m Aeacus,” the man on the left said.

“And that leaves you,” I said to the man on the right. He was the tallest of the three with a luxurious head of silver-white hair and a full matching beard.

“Call me Rhad, if it pleases you, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you all for coming so quickly. As part of my transition to the throne, I have questions about how we judge the souls that enter our underworld.”

Minos offered an indulgent smile that immediately got under my skin. “It’s simple, really. They queue up and wait their turn. Each one stands before us, and we decide which section to send them to based on how they lived their lives. Seamless and efficient.”

I thought of the Chinese underworld. “There’s no mirror involved, is there?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Then how do we have all the information we need?”

They stood in confused silence. Finally, Aeacus said, “Your Majesty?”

“How do we know the circumstances surrounding their actions? If a soul arrives who robbed a bank, do we know why they took such drastic action?”

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