Page 40 of Until Death
“Why?” I ask, my eyes narrowing on him. It is only now that I notice his disheveled appearance and fear finally begins to set in. “Hazel. Tell me, now, what has happened to her!”
"She was taken."
“Taken? By whom?” I demand, my shadows coiling around me in anger.
“Hades."
"What?" My heart drops at his words, dread settling like a lead weight in my stomach.
“She was not the only one taken,” the pale god hurries to add. “It appears that he may be searching for the woman from the ball.”
Silence falls as I try to process what he is telling me, but my mood only darkens as I realize what this means.
His little plan worked too well. Hades will not rest until he has made Hazel his.
“Damn you, Eros! You were meant to protect her! I should have known better than to trust you—”
“Iwasprotecting her,” Eros shouts, huge white wings springing from his back as he shoves Cerberus aside. “I amtryingto—"
“Her absence begs to differ,” I say, cutting him off, my voice calm even as my shadows betray my wrath. They dart out at him, but he leaps out of the way, his wings sending a cloud of dust up around us.
“Tell me, how could I go up against Hades?” Eros calls out. “I am no match against him, and if I had done so … if I had shown my hand, revealed the mortal’s importance to me, I would not have been able to seek you out. It would have only put her in more danger than she is now. I came to you because,” Eros says, his jaw working as he settles on the path once again and takes a tentative step forward, “because I need your help, Death.”
Though rage still courses through my veins, my shadows calm at the desperation in his voice. As much as I hate to admit it, Eros is right.
I take a deep breath, trying to quell the anger that still boils within me, I cannot let my emotions get the best of me.
Not now.
Not while Hazel is in such imminent danger.
“Come, we must make haste before it is too late,” I say even as Cerberus once again blocks my path, shifting back into his human form.
“Not so fast.”
“Move, or Iwillthrow you from this cliff.”
“Not before you tell me why this mortal is worth all this trouble to you in the first place.”
“Because she iseverything,” I snarl. “Everything this damned world seems to have forgotten. She is all that is good, all that is worth living for. She is a light in an eternal abyss of darkness … because Hazel’s life is worth a thousand times more than any being I have ever known to walk this realm or hers.”
Cerberus does not flinch at the ice in my voice, but I see the way his eyes brighten with a curiosity that I do not like. I said too much, and I do not know why I felt the need to explain anything to the beast in the first place.
“Move, Cerberus.”
Hades’ dog watches me for a moment longer before stepping out of my way, motioning for me to pass. I narrow my eyes on him as he gives me a mocking bow of his head before striding past him.
Eros quickly steps into place behind me, Cerberus taking up the rear as I lead the way down the path and back to the Aglaia.
All too soon, Eros cannot help but fill the silence as he overexplains everything that has happened since I so foolishly left Hazel alone with him. Apparently, Hazel is not the only woman still trapped within the walls of Hades’ palace, though I struggle to understand the reasoning behind this.
“There are many who are,” Eros pauses, clearing his throat as he remembers who follows behind us, “less than pleased with the king’s conduct, as of late. Or, so I have heard.”
It would seem that Hades has finally stretched the limits of his power too far. Perhaps this is just the edge we need to challenge him. But how?
“We need a plan,” I say, cutting Eros off as he trails off on some tangent about pleasure and appeasing the other gods. “Preferably one that does not require the involvement of fickle gods.”
“Perhaps we only appear fickle to one who does not have to regularly deal with the workings of this realm,” Eros retorts, taking me by surprise.
