Page 62 of Seeking Hades' Ember

“Flame!” Hermes waved as he pulled down his sunglasses. “Glad to see you have joined us, get in! Water’s warm… just like everything else in the Underworld,” he muttered. I smiled and waved as Loukas turned around, but Ares took it as his time to strike, letting out a mighty roar and threw Loukas in the pool.

The splash got water all over the deck while everyone was laughing as Loukas swam to the surface. Ares jumped and with his large form, more water ended up splashing out as well as getting Hermes wet. He wasn’t amused.

Grabbing Hades’ large shirt and pulling it over my head before throwing it on a nearby chair, I was left in my bathing suit. The water was extra blue, and I took my foot and dipped it into the water. Hermes was right, it was warm. It occurred to me that I wasn’t sure if I knew how to swim. I scratched my cheek to figure out where the shallow end of the pool was until I noticed it was eerily quiet. Moving my head slowly, I glanced to the right side of the pool where the boys were.

“Shit,” Loukas whispered while Hermes snickered into his magazine. I looked down to make sure a boob wasn’t hanging out and all my parts were covered but everything was in order.

“What?” I shrugged my shoulders, still leaning over to test the water.

“Does Hades know she’s out here?” Ares punched Hermes in the shoulder.

“Ow, and no. It is more interesting this way.”

“What is more interesting?” I questioned as Ares gave a disapproving look.

“Let’s play a game,” Hermes announced as he got off his floating mattress. “How about chicken?” Loukas jumped up and started heading to the shallow end of the pool.

“Ember is my partner!” Loukas swam towards the end of the pool, and I took the main stairs to enter. The water felt fantastic, not cold enough to cause a chill but not warm enough to make it feel too hot once we started swimming. I tickled my fingers on the surface of the water and Loukas stood up beside me.

“I don’t know how to play chicken. How do you play?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s easy. I’ll get under the water, and you climb on my shoulders. Lifting you up, you are to battle against Hermes with your hands and try and push each other off into the water. Not unless Ares wants to be on the top.”

“Screw that!” Hermes waved his hands. “I can’t lift 300 pounds of muscle!” Cerberus growled at Loukas, but I couldn’t understand what Cerberus wanted me to do. “Calm down, Cerberus. They won’t let me drown,” I laughed. Hermes laughed as well. Cerberus took a sharp look at Hermes who only nodded his head and Cerberus ran off.

“Why is he being a grump?” Loukas had put himself under the water and I climbed on his shoulders. Loukas’s hands grabbed onto the front of my legs as Hermes was on Ares’ shoulders. “Wait, this isn’t fair. Ares is way taller than Loukas!” I whined. “Plus, you guys are gods. You’ll cheat!”

“Oh, come on, let’s just play a little bit.” Hermes kicked Ares in the ribs to move forward.

“I’m not a damn horse, Hermes, watch it,” Ares growled as he leaned backwards and dunked Hermes in the water. I started laughing and had to hold Loukas’s head so I didn’t fall back into the water.

Ares pulled Hermes back up just in time to for us to see smoke trickling into the pool.

Hades

My head was pounding.

The dream from the other night was still haunting me. It was on constant repeat to tell Ember about the Helm. There just wasn’t an easy way to tell her. I can’t just ‘word vomit,’ like she says, to tell her this. Ember has had nightmares about this damn helmet since she met me; what if she thinks I was the one who took her!

I buried myself in work, trying to figure out where the missing gods were but I was coming up at a dead end each time. My next step was to meet with Zeus, someone that Loukas couldn’t go and get an audience with. I needed to know if Zeus did in fact put the order in for Malachi to grab Ember from me. If he did, then I’m going to have to re-evaluate my whole plan about Malachi and turn it onto Zeus. The only problem, would I bring Ember with me because she was not leaving my sight. I didn’t trust my own men and demons for her protection.

The pounding in my head continued and I rubbed my temples in a clockwise position. I told Ember she could leave the office; she was becoming restless since she had been healing so well. I could also sense that her monthly was completed but I dared not touch her. I was too afraid to do anything; I had to tell her the truth first.

Kronos, I needed her now. Her presence calmed me and abated all the fears I had as strange as it sounded. She kept me grounded while I worked but it was selfish to keep her in here. If Cerberus watched her, she would be fine.

“Master,” Cerberus called to me. “Master, you need to come to the pool area.” Cerberus trotted in and Ember was nowhere in sight.

“Where is Ember?” I growled at him. Pushing away from the desk, I began stomping out of the room. Cerberus was trotting alongside me as his head began to survey the area. He does this when he’s nervous. “What is wrong? Where is she? Why did you leave her?!”

“Relax.” He picked up the pace. “She’s in safe hands, almost literally,” he mumbled. We approached the patio at the back of the palace; they were wide open leading to the pool. The water was moving about, causing waves. I heard Ember’s laughter penetrate me as I walked out.

“Fuck,” I whispered. She was going to be wearing a swimsuit if she is out here. Damn, and they are all skimpy ones. “Fuuuuuuuuck,” I cursed myself again as I walked out.

Ember was wearing a red suit with diamonds sparkling the front. Her breasts were almost pouring out of her top and my dick instantly went to attention. Before I could appreciate the view before me, I noticed Loukas’s head was smack dab in the middle of her thighs.

Feeling my eyes glow red and the smoke tendrils leaving my limbs, the fire in me started to blanket the pool. Ember’s laughter halted as she looked around and Loukas’s smug face fell to a worried one.

“Better be worried, you piece of shit,” I growled out and I could feel my claws extending, wanting to slit the little bastard’s throat.

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