Page 54 of For the Love of the Gods

After an eternity, sleep took over.

But I wasn’t free of Rose even then.

Never would be.

†

Council meetings were always tense. I tried to stay silent, to observe. That was what I was good at. Watching people, figuring out how they worked and what they cared about. It was the easiest way to get them on your side.

I needed that. It was still so unclear when the next generation would take over. I was shoved into leadership too soon and Adrian had taken over the throne earlier than most to gain traction with the older gods. It worked with a few, their natural instincts bowing to the more powerful god in their presence.

But some resisted, unhappy seeing the skies and half the Underworld ruled by gods thirty, forty, fifty years their junior. Especially when Lukas was taking on more and more responsibility by the day.

And Pine…well, no one knew when Pine would take over. His father still seemed quite happy in his seat of power. I wanted Pine in that seat. Jerome Hades was impossible to work with. He fought me every step of the way, voting opposite of me just because he could. Making comments about my youth and inexperience.

That was ironic when he just let his power rule for him, not even caring when something went wrong or having any respect for propriety. Even now, the meeting was about to start and he was nowhere to be found. A pattern for him. He would always roll in in the middle of Adrian’s welcome without an apology.

Adrian shot me a look, with a nod towards the empty seat to my right at the far end of the table. He sat at the head of the other side. The Skies and Underworld juxtaposed.

I shook my head in disbelief, forever annoyed at the gall on that old man.

Tense murmurs stole my attention a second later. One of Lord Vulcan’s guards was whispering in his ear, while Lady Ares was laughing under her breath at a letter that had just appeared in her hand.

Letters and guards started pouring in all at once. Even Adrian’s advisor, Emre, came rushing to his side, pulling him into a private conversation. I turned in my chair, looking for Raiden, but he wasn’t there.

And then it happened. Every single head at the table turned to me. There were so many emotions in the texture of those stares, but there was one feeling I saw more than the others.

It was fear, but in a particular form. The type of fear that came from hearing that something tragic had happened again. That a plague that had affected you for years had reared its ugly head.

The virus, that sickness was back.

Based on the shadows gathering in Adrian’s eyes, it had come back with a force. I racked my brain for a member of my court who could have been killed in the power struggle that spawned from Adrian’s birth. An old, minor god maybe.

Then the shadows of Adrian’s fear broke. To show grief. Full body grief. The potency of it only had one explanation. A family member or a friend you valued just as much.

The glances at me, Adrian’s reaction. The pieces slammed together right as the door to the Council room flew open.

Rose Hades stood in the doorway, hair flowing and green eyes blazing, looking like someone who just had the final part of her soul click into place. Like a goddess who just inherited the power to her realm.

“Why are you here, Rose?” Adrian asked, with the cadence of a rhetorical question. I hoped she didn’t answer. I didn’t want to hear it.

Rose moved her head slowly to look at him. Her body still. “Pine is dead.”

Anger, grief, and vengeance split my chest open.

“And your father?” Adrian asked, his voice shaking with restrained power.

“Also dead,” Rose said, her voice hollow. Empty. Emotionless.

Adrian’s eyes narrowed, a storm clouds gathering as he curled his fist around a spark of light. I wished he’d let it fly right into Rose’s chest.

“Huh,” Lady Bacchus, the drunken, classless fool of wine that she was, said, breaking in at the most inappropriate time. “I didn’t know you had it in you, Rose. Well, Lady Hades, now. Cheers.”

She lifted a shriveled hand, clutched around a glass of wine like it was her life force—probably was—in the air towards Rose before tossing it back.

Rose blinked at her once. Then turned to Adrian, whose hands were letting off sizable sparks in her direction before pulling reluctantly back into his fists. Then, slowly, so slowly, to me. To the open seat.Herseat next to me.

I knew what my face looked like. Could feel the same expression that had hardened my mouth and jaw while I extracted revenge from my uncle pulling at my skin.

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