Page 3 of Hades

Themis sits on her golden throne, seething as she looks down at us. I’ve never been in the judgment chamber before. It is breathtaking, with its polished marble and sweeping views of the Heavens. Had I ever thought about it, I would have envisioned more of a torture chamber of death, but this is far more terrifying.

Protectively I hold onto Aradia as her mother slowly rises from her throne and glides toward us. Themis’ gaze feels like a physical knife going through me. The phrase,if looks could killcomes to mind.

With a flick of her wrist, I can feel my voice returning. I know if I speak now, she’ll hear.

“Spare Aradia,” I plead.

“I will spare no one!” Themis snaps before I can continue.

Her voice echoes off the walls, causing the chamber to shake. The marble floor before us dissolves away, and I instinctively push Aradia behind me. Blue skies with fluffy white clouds pass beneath us.

“Aradia, come forth,” Themis demands.

Aradia makes to move from behind me, but I hold her back. “She does not deserve your wrath. I love her and am willing to sacrifice my life for hers.”

“No!” Aradia cries from behind me as she struggles to come forward. “I don’t want to live without you.”

Themis gives her daughter a cackling laugh. If I could, I would kill her just for trivializing her daughter’s pain with laughter.

Spinning on my heel, I grab onto Aradia’s shoulders. “No matter what happens, I will always love you and find you again,” I assure her. “But I will not let you sacrifice yourself for me. She can’t kill me unless I willingly give her my life for yours.”

Tears stream down Aradia’s cheeks, and even my voice hitches as I fight back my tears at seeing her pain.

“Enough!” Themis yells. “I have made my decision, and it is final.”

“Aradia, your memory has been wiped from the Heavens. You are no longer a daughter or a sister.”

“Mother!” Aradia cries out.

Themis ignores her and continues, “For consorting with the son of Rhea, you will live as a human with no memory of this place or Hades. Your life will be eternal, but you will never walk in the Heavens again. This judgment is mine and mine alone, and I shall bear its weight forever.”

Before Aradia can plead with her mother, she disappears from my arms as if she were never there.

“Aradia!” I call out as the first trickle of wetness escapes my eyes. Seething, I turn to face Themis. “You would disown your flesh and blood so easily, her only crime, loving me?”

“She will have many lives, none of them with you,” Themis mocks as she walks around the gaping hole in the floor until she stands before me. “And the answer to your question is yes. I will disown my daughter if it means she will never be with you.”

“You can’t kill me, so what’s to stop me from consorting with human Aradia?”

My question brings an evil smile to Themis’ face. “Aside from me casting you out of the Heavens to reside in the Underworld with the remainder of your family? Nothing, except if you step foot in the human world, you’ll be drawn to her like a moth to the flame.”

Her words confuse me until she continues.

“You will choke on her happiness without you, lifetime after lifetime, until you can’t stand to watch it. Her smile and laughter will make you bitter.”

“If you think knowing Aradia is happy will destroy me, then you don’t know what love is.”

“Oh, and if she ever sees you, you’ll become nothing but a ghost to her. A figment of her imagination, a memory she just wants to escape.”

ARADIA

“Fuck me harder!”

The sound of a woman about to have an amazing O is drowned out by my heartbeat as I walk further into my apartment, or rather, our apartment. Hades looks up at me from his spot on the couch with a confused look in his big, chocolate-brown eyes. I brush my fingers over his head as I pass on my way to the bedroom, and he immediately follows me.

My hand is shaking so much that I have difficulty turning the knob, but at this point, what choice do I have? Pushing open the door, I stand watching the scene unfold in slow motion like a car wreck—two naked bodies undulating as they peak.

“Fuck, I love you,” Devon moans as he thrusts forward one last time before he collapses on top of the woman. Hades, with perfect timing, leaps onto the bed. I don’t even have the wherewithal to stop him. I’m frozen at seeing my fiancé fucking another woman in our bed.

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