Page 69 of Seeking Hades' Ember

"Those are angels. Ignore them; maybe they will go away if they know what's good for them." Hades stopped abruptly and stared down the group of men and pulled me to his waist. "She's mine, now begone." Hades' eyes glowed red, and numerous angels left while a few stayed. "Is there a problem?" Hades' rigid body became relaxed, and I had a terrible feeling something was going to happen.

"Just seeing what all the fuss is about…." one of them mused. He was tall, almost as tall as Hades, with orange locks that trailed to his eyes. "Pretty little thing, no mark on her at all, huh? You haven't claimed her yet." Hades grit his teeth as his smoke tendrils begin to crawl out of his body.

"Watch it, Gabriel." Wait, Gabriel? THE Gabriel?

"Woah," I whispered as I held tight to Hades' hand. Vulcan had given me a summary of how Gabriel was supposed to be mated with Persephone, but now he had forgotten or was made to forget by some force of magic.

"Someone is impressed." Gabriel waved white robes over his body as I began to back up. He strutted over and stood next to Hades. "Better claim her before someone else does. You know mates are supposed to be a gift, not that you deserve one," Gabriel hissed.

Hades’ fingers grew claws as he gripped Gabriel's neck.

Immediately, the other angels came to the rescue but were stopped by Hades' other hand, who had them frozen. The loud growl from Hades' throat was interrupted by a booming voice that could only be described as thunder.

"HADES! BROTHER! Finally, you come to visit!" White robes trailed behind the man with a short blonde beard. His hair was to his shoulders, and his arms opened wide. "It's been centuries!" Hades quickly dropped Gabriel, who slinked away from the scene and gave a pity glance towards me.

Shaking it off, I stayed near Hades as both brothers hugged each other. "Finally! Come, come, I've been expecting you!" Several deities or fairies came forth and ushered us in. They only reminded me of tiny fairies I had seen in storybooks, but I dared not speak what I thought. I didn't want anyone angered at me for voicing my opinions, yet.

"Zeus, we don't have much time." Hades’ voice was rushed. Zeus! This man was Zeus? He looked so young! Then again, Hades was older than Zeus, and he looked young too. I couldn't wait until I didn't age, not that I had wrinkles to worry about yet.

"Nonsense, come in!" Zeus led us into a giant palace. White, everything was white, cream and gold. The chandelier was full of diamonds that decorated the slightly patterned floor of Greek decorations. The palace reminded me a lot of Hades' home except with tons of light. Almost too much; I was blinded.

Zeus led us to a large sitting room with a large white marbled hearth with the twelve original gods on pink quartz pedestals. Zeus went to the hearth and stoked the fire, causing small flames to ignite. Several of the fairy creatures bowed as we walked by, all of them staring at Hades and me once we had passed.

"Hades! As much as I want to catch up, I must know this beauty before me. Is this your mate?" Zeus' eyes were full of mischief as he walked over to shake my hand. Hades immediately stood in front of me.

"That's enough, Zeus. I need to speak with you first." Zeus frowned and let out a grunt of disapproval.

"You wound me." Zeus willed a drinking glass that filled up on its own. "I'm just curious about the woman that finally ignited a fire in your stone heart." Zeus motioned for us to sit down, and Hades pulled me closer to him on the white-colored couches. Sensing my discomfort, Hades rubbed his thumb over my knuckles, but his eyes never left Zeus'.

"Drink?" Hades' eyes narrowed.

"Did you send Malachi to collect Ember?" Zeus' head tilted in confusion.

"No, but I did send Malachi to collect someone called Jillian." Hades stood up, and the dark smoke leaked again, but I grabbed his hand. His breathing slowed as I put another hand on top of his.

Zeus glanced between the both of us as the realization dawned on him. "You are Jillian?" I shook my head no as Hades stood frozen in time.

"My name is Ember, formally Jillian. My memories have been taken away from me, but I did come to remember my name." Zeus sent someone after me, so I didn't want to spill all the information we had about Selene. He was looking for her, as well as the rest of the gods. If he found out that Selene had visited me, he might try to keep me or use me for his own personal use. Hades squeezed his hand with mine, recognizing I wasn't divulging into giving important information away.

"I see." Zeus tapped his glass with his finger. "I did send Malachi to collect you." Zeus paused. "Ember. Selene had told me that a woman named Jillian would need to be saved from an untimely death that would have happened the night of the auction at a strip club. Malachi was to save you and take you to a secure location here in the Celestial Kingdom. He hasn't returned, so I thought he was finishing up his orders." Zeus tapped the glass again as he waved his hands for one of the small fairy-like women approaches.

"You're lying," Hades growled.

The fairy's wings were gold, and the slight drapery of cloth covered her chest and privates as she fluttered close to him. Nodding her head, she zipped out of the room quickly.

"What do you mean I'm lying?" Zeus looked up at his outraged brother, who was oozing his smoke.

"You are just now following up on it? It's been two weeks since the auction!" Hades yelled. "If this was the case, then you would have known Ember was missing, and Malachi had something to do with it!"

"I've been a bit distracted, if you haven't noticed," Zeus gritted his teeth. I've got the rest of the gods figuring out that Selene, as well as Hecate, is missing; sorry if I don't follow up on every human girl on Earth."

Hades slammed his hand on the glass table in front of us, causing it to shatter. "Selene told you Ember was in danger that night!"

"Selene went missing the night of the auction! It slipped my mind!" Zeus lost his calm, playful demeanor as Hades stalked forward. I sat on the couch, feeling as small as a rabbit watching two gods come head to head. Zeus had tiny bits of static electricity buzzing around his head as he stood up.

"Zeus is telling the truth," I heard a whisper. Looking around, I realized it came within me. "Feel it, I feel his honesty."Concentrating on Zeus, looking past the anger he was feeling for his brother, he had no guilt on his soul. He had nothing to hide. The only thing that Zeus was feeling was the overwhelming burden of finding the two missing gods.

"He's telling the truth," I whispered, aloud again. No one paid attention as Hades began yelling.

"What if I had lost your mate if she was to be protected by me?" Hades’ spat. Loud thunder rolled through the room, and lightning struck the lamp table.

"If you had accepted Ember when you knew she was your mate as a baby, she wouldn't have been kidnapped and dragged to that club in the first place! YOU could have protected her!"

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