Page 90 of Seeking Hades' Ember

The one thing I needed to find was my favorite spot, my favorite place to play as a child. Sure, the tree house was a fun spot and my favorite, but I vaguely remember having “the spot.” This spot no one knew about, and I was certain that was where it was held. The problem is, I didn’t know where it was, what was around it or anything. I just knew the treehouse wasn’t THE spot. I would check anyway because I was curious if my treasure chest was still there.

“Maybe we could show Hades around?” My mom spoke up as we heard a knock at the door. Dad stood up and wiped his mouth. “Who is it?” Mom went to stand up, but Dad waved for her to sit down.

“I’ll check, Kitten just wait.”

Before Daddy got to the door, it opened, and three men showed up. Looking all like their Greek selves, our friends walked through the door. “Loukas! Ares! Vulcan!” I jumped up to run and give them a hug, but Hades was quick and pulled me back. My hips rubbed up against his groin and he growled.

“Don’t move, or I’ll go find your room right now.” The vibrations in his chest set me off as I started giggling and my brothers groaned.

“Wait! The Ares!?” Dante jumped up along with Steven and Hunter and rushed towards the entrance.

“Loukas is in deep shit,” Ares growled as he pushed him to the floor. “Tell us every bit you told Zeus.” Hades’ anger built but I grabbed his hand.

“Tell. Me. What.” My family slinked back, and my father looked between Loukas and Hades.

“Loukas’s a demon,” I whispered, “He’s my good friend.” Loukas’s head jerked to me and smiled but that did not make Hades any happier.

“You told him” Hades pulled him up by his collar. “You told Zeus what we know!” Hades’ smoke leaked from his robes again and I sighed exasperatedly. I was just glad it didn’t leave a permanent mess anywhere.

“Hades, just wait, let’s hear his story,” I begged but Hades growled and didn’t let his eyes veer away from Loukas.

“Can’t do that, Flower. He betrayed me, his master.” I looked at Loukas and tilted my head in confusion. Loukas only nodded in confirmation slowly as he gripped Hades’ hand to steady himself.

“Loukas told Zeus that my mate would find the Spere of Souls. Do you know what kind of danger that puts her in, you fool? We don’t know if we can trust Zeus! He could be lying!” Loukas’s face turned purple as he lost the air from his lungs. Panicking, I knew what Loukas did was wrong, but I didn’t want him to kill him!

Pulling on Hades’ arm, my family watched in horror as their daughter dared to defy the God of the Underworld. “Wait Hades.” Hades eyes softened as he looked at me.

“I cannot let this rest; he will be punished.”

“Just hear me out! Before you had your temper tantrum with Zeus, he said he didn’t do it. I felt it, Hades. He was telling the truth. He had no idea that Malachi was after me and was only following Selene’s orders. I felt his emotions and he spoke the truth!” Hades gripped loosened but not enough to drop Loukas.

Hades glared at Loukas and dropped him to the floor, harshly, causing a hole to erupt in the middle. “You have to fix that, that doesn’t look good bashing your in-laws’ home.” I whispered. Hades chuckled and pulled me to him for a brief kiss.

“Loukas, you are sentenced to the dungeons of the Underworld Palace until we have things resolved. Your judgement will be decided from there.” With a wave of his hand, Loukas had vanished before our eyes. My family stood in awe while I just giggled how utterly normal this was to me now.

Vulcan came to my mother and bowed, giving her a kiss. “It is an honor to meet the woman who destroyed Trixen.”

My dad growled as he pulled mom back into his embrace. “Um, t-thank you,” she stuttered as she blushed.

“I think this has been enough excitement. How about Ember getss some rest before her appointment? Cyrene, be ready at 4pm sharp at the medical clinic with your best healers.” Dad ordered as Cyrene agreed and left the house. Cyrene looked at Hades with such adoring feelings of my Hades. My throat growled as she left and mom only giggled as she elbowed dad.

Taking Hades’ hand, I led him up the stairs. It was amazing how I remembered the exact layout of the house. The bedrooms were all upstairs so Mom and Dad could watch us closely, which didn’t help one bit. My door was the furthest down the hall because I was the oldest. The pink and purple letters on the outside of the door remained, Alpha Ember.

A little smirk played on my lips as I traced it with my hand. Hades was pensive as he studied the door, but I opened it before he could speak. I felt his confusion, his wonderings of what I was going to say in regard to the Alpha title. I had never trained for it, other than the supporting words from dad. Age ten was when I would start training and I never made it.

My room was left the same, besides the mess that was left behind. A wooden rocking chair was beside the bed and a calico overstuffed cat sat on it. Picking it up I smelled it and it all smelled of my mom. Dried tearstains laid on the white portions of the fabric as I petted it. “Mom really did spend some time in here huh?” Hades nodded as he walked around the room looking at pictures.

The entire left side wall was covered in colorful drawings and random polaroid pictures. Mostly my brother Dante and I and one special one that sat in the middle. It was the last picture taken before I was taken. Steven was holding onto my hand as I kissed him on the forehead.

“I’m sorry you missed your youth.” Hades frowned as he sat on the bed, holding a framed picture of my family. “I’m sorry I messed up and didn’t see you when I could.” I sat beside him and put my head on the side of his arm. I wasn’t tall enough to even reach his shoulder.

“I’m happy that you told me the truth. Yeah, it sucks I was away from them, but it made me stronger in other ways. It’s in the past but you must learn not to be so hot headed and not listen to people. I hope you learned your lesson?” I giggled as I elbowed him. Hades continued to stare down at the picture frame.

“When this is all over, I can see if Hecate could conjure spell to reverse time?” I raised an eyebrow questioningly. “It hasn’t’ been done but with magic, anything is possible I suppose. We could rewind and you could stay with your family, and I would watch over you.” I scoffed and threw my hands down on my lap. Standing up I went to the large window that now had bars covering them.

“Ok, Hades. One, we don’t know if you can change time to do something different. There must be a law against that, otherwise time and space would be so screwed up!” I waved my hands around. “Two, you have to forgive yourself since I have forgiven you.” Hades glanced at me again with those dark eyes. I wanted to kiss him until he believed me. “And three, I wouldn’t change anything that has happened to me. Look who I am now!” My hands fell to my sides.

“I went through some hardship, but a lot of girls had worse and continue to do so. Once this is over, I want to be the protector of those girls. If I didn’t go through what I did, I never would have known of such a crime being trapped here in a Werewolf community. I wouldn’t have become as strong mentally either. Look what I can do now! I can read people’s emotions, tell if they are lying. How cool is that?”

Hades smiled while he bit that thin bottom lip of his. “I don’t know if I would have gained that power before being magically experimented on, but I have it now and it gets stronger every day when another barrier breaks. I’m here now, today because of you. You saved me, you gave me a love story I will never forget, and it will be written down in history books to come how the God of the Underworld swooped in and saved his mate from certain death and misfortune. You will be written in a new light just because of that. You don’t have to be portrayed as some evil god. You will be the one in the light.”

I threw the picture frame from his hands onto the bed and straddled his lap. “You, my Hades, my mate are perfect just the way you are. Blonde hair, dark eyes, sweet, talented, powerful, indescribable hunk of a god that deserves so much more than this self-loathing guilt eating your soul shit.”

I kissed his forehead. “We’re in this together. In the end you saved me and I’m gonna save you.”

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