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Chapter 23
Hades
Ipaced my bedroom, unable to settle down. The others were in the Underworld. I felt them, almost as if they were a footprint on my soul. They were there to rescue the human girl. And Elyse had joined them.
From the moment they arrived, and the ferryman allowed them to pass, assuming my brother should be allowed, I’d sensed them.
But why hadn’t I sensed X or the human he’d taken into my house? If I knew it was where he’d hidden her, I would’ve told Elyse.
Contrary to what everyone seemed to believe, I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I cared about everything that went wrong. Granted, I hadn’t been acting that way. I pretended I didn’t give a shit. It was the easiest way to get everyone to leave me alone.
If I didn’t care, I remained safe. The fact I wasn’t able to stop caring was beside the point.
I’d experienced Elyse’s happiness when she’d found her friend, beaming in my chest like a ray of sunshine on my face. I’d felt the determination of the three gods to get out of there as soon as possible.
And I felt the tightening of my gut when X cornered them and started a fight they couldn’t win.
X wouldn’t be able to do anything to the three gods. We were all immortal, and we couldn’t hurt each other physically, just emotionally. Denting our egos. Of course, that hurt like a bitch, too. But it didn’t kill us.
Sometimes, I wished it did.
But X could kill Elyse’s friend. He’d obliterate her and force her soul to remain in the Underworld, no matter what the others did.
And he’d kill Elyse. And if he murdered her this time, she’d be dead for good. She wouldn’t come back again. Elyse had died as many times as she was able to recover from. When my brother bestowed his power on the Lowe bloodline, he’d only given them a finite number of lives before they’d die their final death. They weren’t immortal.
Technically, they weren’t even demigods.
Elyse could die. And that was what X intended. I heard his call for her death, his fury at her power as distinctly as if it were my own. He was burning with rage to finish her. And my stomach rolled as invisible fingers snaked down my spine at the thought of what X planned for her.
I didn’t want Elyse dead, losing her mortal life. She’d trained so hard, took pride in what she did. I wanted her radiating with joy, laughing, and wearing her gorgeous smile.
But the group was losing against X, and if I wanted it to stop, I would have to go down there and get involved. If I decided to stand against X, who essentially just a version of myself, it would mean openly accepting how I felt about Elyse. Acknowledging she’d taken a piece of my heart, that I craved more than anything to admit my feelings and no longer conceal them. No more hiding or running away.
Nausea surged through me. I couldn’t do that. All this time, I pushed away how I felt about her because I couldn’t afford to get hurt again. And I’d dealt with too much of that over the past millennia. I’d opened myself up to heartbreak and grief, and I’d fucking had enough.
I couldn’t do it anymore.
I stalked to the wet bar adjacent to my living room and poured myself three fingers of whiskey. The humans turned to this stuff all the time when they were in emotional turmoil. I could see the appeal. Somehow, the mortals believed it would change the course of fate if they drank enough. I wasn’t that stupid. But I’d drink myself into a state of oblivion, and I wouldn’t know what happened while I was out.
I wouldn’t feel when Elyse died.
Hollowness swallowed me, and my pulse slowed. I rested my head on one hand and breathed deeply.
“You’re an idiot,” Persephone said, appearing next to me. I jumped and nearly dropped my glass.
“Fuck. Don’t sneak up on me like that, woman. You’ll give me a heart attack.”
“Maybe a heart attack is exactly what you need to jumpstart that thing. Because it must have stopped beating at some point for you to be okay with what’s going on.”
She lifted her perfectly shaped eyebrows at me and folded her arms over her chest.
Of course she sensed the shit tornado coming. The Underworld was her home as much as mine, and she felt the intruders as well.
“She’s going to die, Hades. Don’t you care?” she asked when I didn’t respond.
I threw back the contents of my glass and let the amber goodness burn down my throat. “I’m not going.” I poured more whiskey, not stopped bothering to count how many fingers and filled it to the top. If I planned to get drunk, why do it half a glass at a time?
“You love her,” Persephone insisted.
