Page 82 of The Hellbeast's Betrayal

I frowned.

“I am master of my own Fate,” I told him firmly, making him ask,

“Yes, but is she?”

“You speak of Ella,” I confirmed, making him smile, the sight transforming his face into something a little less Hellish.

“My daughter, yes, for that is her new name, is it not?”

“It is,” I affirmed, the knowledge that my girl was born from the ruler of my world still a hard fact to process.

“And you wish to bring her back to her true self, the part of her that loves you?” he asked, making me grip onto the branch tighter as I answered his with firm resolve.

“I do and I will.”

“Ah, but there is naught more selfish than that of love,” he replied, now turning back to face the tree. But I couldn’t stop myself from asking,

“Why do you say that?”

“I have been in love twice in my life, and each did not end well, young King,” he told me, making me grit my teeth.

“I made a bargain for Persephone, to claim her as my own, but her heart was not mine to take, for her nature became dark and cruel. Her soul not meant to survive my world, for it was not as pure as I had hoped for. The light I brought into the Underworld simmered until it became the darkest thing there,” he said, telling me something I already knew as the Queen had been bitter, cruel, and twisted for a long time, with jealously fueling her evil doings.

“And the second, what of Leuce?” I couldn’t help but ask.

He breathed in deep after I said her name, shuddering at the sound.

“She was the only one who truly loved me in return, willingly joining me, her soul so pure not even the darkest parts of my world could tame it. Nothing could snuff it out… nothing but the jealous nature of others,” he said, once more referring to his first wife.

“So, you hid them to try and save them?”

“I tried to give them up. But like I said, love makes you selfish and my only temptation was her,” he said, reaching out his hand, one as black as the talons that tipped each finger. Yet even with this dangerous hand, he still managed to caress a leaf delicate enough that it did not tear.

“But in the end, her love for me was what killed her,” he said, lowering his head before dropping to one knee at the base of the tree. Again, I gripped on to the branch in my hand like it was my last lifeline, as I could see now where he had broken a piece off. A fresh snap in the wood that would no doubt heal itself over time.

“This tree is the last piece of her I own. Her soul encased within its core, but one day it will leave me and I am yet to discover where it will go. For I fear it will be a place that I cannot follow,” he told me, now producing a flower in his hand, one called an Asphodelus, with ghostly grey petals that he laid down at the roots.

“You think she will be reincarnated?” I dared to ask.

“Yes, which means only death will bring her back to me.”

“That’s why you don’t help us defeat Garmr now, isn’t it…? Love makes you selfish.”

He rose back to his full height, turning to me once more.

“You always were the smartest of my creations. Yes, for if I aid you the way you wish, then my opportunity to have her once more is gone.”

I gritted my teeth.

“The Fates told you this?” I assumed, making him nod.

“The Fates told me only of when I am to intervene, not before and not after, but precisely the right moment, for if I do not heed these words, I will lose the last pieces of her left in my world.”

I jerked my head back, understanding dawning on me.

“You mean your daughters?”

“If I intervene in your war, Cerberus, then my daughter no longer stays tied to this realm, one in which she needs to be.” Finally, I understood why he remained in hiding, as his very presence in this war could make all the difference and not for the right reasons.

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