Hades and Persephone: Crown of Souls (Gods of Myth #3)

Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

H ades

“Demeter wants Hades dead.” Thanatos’ hand slams on the table and his voice rattles as he repeats, “She wants him dead.”

Charon slumps in his seat beside Hecate, pale eyes bored. He is anything but. The man is sharp as a tac and lethal as a poisonous snake.

This is a shit show. It's been a shit show since the moment I walked Persephone through the doors of the Palace. She’d stormed away from me with more fire than she's ever stormed away from me with.

If there was one thing Persephone hadn’t been all those centuries ago, it was a fighter. She’d been a seductress of all who came near her, but when it came to the fire of rage, she simply didn't possess it.

She never threw down with me. Never gave me her emotions. They were always under lock and key. Hidden far too deep inside her for me to catch even a glimpse.

Now, she's an open fucking book, and the pages are aflame.

She's mad at me, that much is obvious.

But how can I agree that she is my soul mate when such a thing is not possible? At least, not in the way that she thinks.

If our souls are tethered, it's been done to manipulate. If our souls are tethered, it means we are vulnerable to the Moirai.

If our souls are tethered, we are at the harrowing mercy of the Fates.

Such a thing is a terrifying thought, even to me.

The idea that she could be at the mercy of the Fates, now, again, after all this time—after they sanctioned her brutal murder—after they cut the cord of her life and left her soul to wander aimlessly, without purpose for centuries in the Underworld alone?—

I cannot forgive them that sin.

If it were within my means, I would punish them.

Agitation rings from Thanatos. It spills from every pale pore that crafts the God of Death, seeping into the room and scenting it with the acrid scent of a Reaper come before one’s time.

I haven't seen him this wild since the first years after Persephone’s murder, when he carried the weight of her lost soul on his shoulders. It's no wonder, if I'm being honest. It is the first time he's sat at a table with Hermes since I banished him.

I when I lost Persephone, I'd been overwhelmed with my own grief. My own anger. The toxic spill of rage that tainted every ounce of my blood left me blind to the fact that Thanatos grieved, too.

He grieved the loss of his queen, yes. He grieved the fact that he had been unable to find her wandering soul where it roamed, untethered and unrecognized in the shadows.

But more, he'd grieved the loss of his lover.

Now he cannot even look at Hermes.

I don't think Hermes has torn his gaze from Thanatos once.

My eyes drift from the two males to where Persephone sits. Her back is stiff. Her eyes are cold. She refuses to meet my gaze, even though I had felt her eyes on me in the moments before I slid mine to her.

I sigh, and push from the chair to stand. “Demeter has disliked me from the beginning. Her feelings regarding me, is not news. The fact she tried to employ Persephone to kill me…” I pause to mull this thought over. With a tap of one finger against the table, a dull thud echoes in the silence. Right now, one could hear a pin drop, I am certain. I murmur low, “Now, that is interesting.”

“Interesting?” Leuce scoffs after a beat. “I call it diabolical.”

Hypnos slides his eyes to Leuce. “Has Demeter ever been anything other than diabolical?”

Leuce rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Hypnos winks at her before his gaze slides to Minthe. He gets a smolder that is exclusive to the God of Dreams and waggles his brows. Minthe wets her lips.

I bite back a second sigh. If there is a soul who's gotten more ass than Hypnos, I don't know it.

The trio make plans to meet up later while Thanatos avoids Hermes’ eyes. Hecate hasn’t spoken a word, but I’ve noted she looks significantly healthier, her skin not so thin.

For Persephone’s part, she glares at the lot of us. She hasn’t even deigned to touch the pomegranate treat Maya brought for her. At her back, Noc, Jas, and Prim stand sentry. She has yet to see them in their Cerberus form.

I’m honestly not sure how that would go. In her mind, they are pups.

She has no idea the wreckage they are capable of.

“Enough.” I place my hand to the table, and every pair of eyes settles on me. A heavy silence stretches over the room as I pin the little goddess with my eyes. Her lovely features harden, and I bite back my third sigh. “Persephone, I need you to run through your dream again.”

She huffs. “I've done it multiple times already.”

My gaze is glacial. “You are leaving something out.”

Momentary surprise strikes her, before she straightens her shoulders. Noc’s eyes drift to her, assessing. “It doesn't pertain to you.”

“It absolutely does.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

She holds my gaze with a challenge that is as infuriating as it is surprising. Hot anger spikes at the back of my neck. I am not familiar with this feeling regarding her. I am not familiar with her challenging me, at least not like this. But this is important. I need to know what she saw in her last moments. I need to know what Demeter said. I need to know what Demeter has planned so that I can keep her safe.

I know for certain she is hiding something when she juts her little chin at me, a dare sparking in her deep green eyes.

This is going nowhere. I have enough centuries to know, that at least for now, we’re at an impasse.

Grinding my teeth, I bow my head. I center myself with an inhale through my nose and out through my mouth.

To the table, I say, “We know Demeter had access to the Underworld on more than one account. Hermes brought her here repeatedly.” Thanatos emits a hiss I ignore. “I do not believe that every time he brought her here, it was to meet with Persephone, as she claimed.” In shame, Hermes bows his head. To make my point clear, I add, “I have absolved Hermes his sins. He has paid his price and has been welcomed permanently into the Underworld.”

Thanatos snaps his eyes to me. His voice is barely more than a breath. “Permanently?”

I refuse to look at Persephone when I say, “Hermes made the choice.”

Thanatos shivers, and finally, for the first time, his eyes land on Hermes. “You gave him your soul?”

“I did.” Hermes nods. It is sober and without shame. “This is my home, and my soul was the price. I paid it willingly, and with honor.”

Thanatos shakes his head, but the ice in his cold, deathly black gaze is beginning to melt.

I continue, “Now that Hermes has bound himself to the Underworld permanently, he is no longer the Messenger God capable of moving between the realms. Therefore, Minthe, Leuce—I need you both to listen to the stirrings in the living realm. You’ll do so under the guise of handling The Tower of Pluto. You will be safe there, but know that outside the Tower, I can award you no protections.” I receive two somber nods of assent. “There was a battle, and not only Demeter showed her cards, but Zeus came for the game. There are more players in this than we initially suspected.” I don’t let my gaze drift to Persephone at the sound of her little gasp. “What I need to know, is why they would want me dead. What do they want with the Underworld?”