“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He grasped her hand and cast a portal to transport them. In a second, they were at the River Styx. “Keep this.” He pressed the helm into her hand. “You’re still invisible, but the thing also will cloak your powers, so yell if you need me,” he told her, as she stared wide-eyed at the desperate, moaning souls lingering on the banks. “Now stay here while I talk to Charon. Bastard’s been charging double for his lameass ferry ride.”
This had been an eye-opening day. Persephone stood on a cliff in Tartarus, still cloaked in protection by Hades’s invisibility spell. And thank the gods for it, as there were scary creatures and pain and fire everywhere she looked.
This was the true Underworld, the bowels of the realm that tainted the entire world with evil, that made others regard her Hades with fear.
Your Hades?
Well, for however long she would have him, yes. She glanced over at his powerful profile. She hadn’t realized how relaxed he was with her until she saw him slip into that cold, merciless mask to deal with his minions. It wasn’t an easy job he had, to keep the scales of good and evil from tipping too much in one direction or another. A lesser god might have relaxed in his luxurious palace and delegated, but Hades appeared to be fully cognizant of his responsibilities as overseer of this realm.
Her gaze slipped to the red-skinned, horned creature he was currently viciously, verbally gutting. He raised his hand in a slicing gesture, and the devil cowered. She’d flinched once when he raised his hand like that, but now she savored a burst of smug superiority. He’d never inflict pain on her, even went so far during their training sessions to make sure she didn’t somehow hurt herself, though he was perfectly capable of dishing it out.
A sudden movement caught her eye. Another devil, almost as large as Hades, crept up behind him. She’d watched Hades dressing the thing down earlier, noting the crazed fury in its eyes. It carried a pitchfork now, and like a time-lapse photo, she could see every frame of its body as it prepared to throw it. The lift of the sharp tip, the retraction of its shoulder, the fighting stance of its legs…
“Hades!” she yelled, but she was too far away, and the noise of other screams and yells drowned her out. In her panic, she tried to either still the thing’s arm or deflect the spear somehow, but nothing happened, and she realized Hades’s helm was blocking her powers. She started to run, stretching out a hand as if she could stop it, as the sharp object went airborne heading straight toward her guy. No, no, no, no.
A second later, Hades pivoted and held up his hands. What looked like a black rope thrust out of the ground and knocked the spear aside so it fell to the floor harmlessly, and then wrapped around the now-struggling devil. The creature was smashed against the hard rock wall, leaving a smear of black blood, and then flung off the cliff into the fiery pit.
When the black rope rolled up into a neat ball and disappeared, Persephone realized it hadn’t been a rope at all.
It had been a vine.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing, and Hades seemed to grow larger before roaring, “Does anyone else wish to challenge me?”
Silence.
“Then get your asses back to work.”
The din of screams and painful moans returned. Hades turned back to the devil he’d originally been speaking to. It nodded multiple times and scurried off. Had she not been watching Hades, she wouldn’t have seen the slight bow to his shoulders and the sigh he gave before he straightened and walked toward her. “Walk,” he muttered between his teeth.
When they turned a corner and were relatively isolated, he stopped them. “What did you do?”
“I…I have no idea. I couldn’t get to you in time, and I was worried.”
“A spear wouldn’t have hurt me.”
Of course it wouldn’t have. She’d panicked. “I know. I’m not even
He grasped her hand and cast a portal to transport them. In a second, they were at the River Styx. “Keep this.” He pressed the helm into her hand. “You’re still invisible, but the thing also will cloak your powers, so yell if you need me,” he told her, as she stared wide-eyed at the desperate, moaning souls lingering on the banks. “Now stay here while I talk to Charon. Bastard’s been charging double for his lameass ferry ride.”
This had been an eye-opening day. Persephone stood on a cliff in Tartarus, still cloaked in protection by Hades’s invisibility spell. And thank the gods for it, as there were scary creatures and pain and fire everywhere she looked.
This was the true Underworld, the bowels of the realm that tainted the entire world with evil, that made others regard her Hades with fear.
Your Hades?
Well, for however long she would have him, yes. She glanced over at his powerful profile. She hadn’t realized how relaxed he was with her until she saw him slip into that cold, merciless mask to deal with his minions. It wasn’t an easy job he had, to keep the scales of good and evil from tipping too much in one direction or another. A lesser god might have relaxed in his luxurious palace and delegated, but Hades appeared to be fully cognizant of his responsibilities as overseer of this realm.
Her gaze slipped to the red-skinned, horned creature he was currently viciously, verbally gutting. He raised his hand in a slicing gesture, and the devil cowered. She’d flinched once when he raised his hand like that, but now she savored a burst of smug superiority. He’d never inflict pain on her, even went so far during their training sessions to make sure she didn’t somehow hurt herself, though he was perfectly capable of dishing it out.
A sudden movement caught her eye. Another devil, almost as large as Hades, crept up behind him. She’d watched Hades dressing the thing down earlier, noting the crazed fury in its eyes. It carried a pitchfork now, and like a time-lapse photo, she could see every frame of its body as it prepared to throw it. The lift of the sharp tip, the retraction of its shoulder, the fighting stance of its legs…
“Hades!” she yelled, but she was too far away, and the noise of other screams and yells drowned her out. In her panic, she tried to either still the thing’s arm or deflect the spear somehow, but nothing happened, and she realized Hades’s helm was blocking her powers. She started to run, stretching out a hand as if she could stop it, as the sharp object went airborne heading straight toward her guy. No, no, no, no.
A second later, Hades pivoted and held up his hands. What looked like a black rope thrust out of the ground and knocked the spear aside so it fell to the floor harmlessly, and then wrapped around the now-struggling devil. The creature was smashed against the hard rock wall, leaving a smear of black blood, and then flung off the cliff into the fiery pit.
When the black rope rolled up into a neat ball and disappeared, Persephone realized it hadn’t been a rope at all.
It had been a vine.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing, and Hades seemed to grow larger before roaring, “Does anyone else wish to challenge me?”
Silence.
“Then get your asses back to work.”
The din of screams and painful moans returned. Hades turned back to the devil he’d originally been speaking to. It nodded multiple times and scurried off. Had she not been watching Hades, she wouldn’t have seen the slight bow to his shoulders and the sigh he gave before he straightened and walked toward her. “Walk,” he muttered between his teeth.
When they turned a corner and were relatively isolated, he stopped them. “What did you do?”
“I…I have no idea. I couldn’t get to you in time, and I was worried.”
“A spear wouldn’t have hurt me.”
Of course it wouldn’t have. She’d panicked. “I know. I’m not even
Similar Books
