Chapter 12
Hades
The palace was still when I returned from the council chambers. Even the torches along the grand hall burned low, their flames curling lazily in the dim air.
Her door was shut, but I could sense her within. Mortal breaths — steady, even — reached me through the silence.
I told myself I would not enter.
And I didn't.
Instead, I let the shadows cling to me as I stepped closer, letting them wrap me in their familiar coolness until I was little more than a silhouette. The moonlight spilled across her bed in pale ribbons, catching on the curve of her cheek, the loose strands of hair against her pillow.
She looked... peaceful.
I stayed no more than a minute. Just long enough to satisfy the strange curiosity that had been gnawing at me since yesterday. Then I turned and let the shadows pull me away — before that curiosity became something else.
?
Elara
When I woke, the room was awash in golden light, the heavy curtains drawn back to reveal the faint shimmer of the city beyond. At the foot of my bed, a folded gown lay draped over the chest.
Red silk. Simple, but so fine my fingers tingled just to touch it.
I hesitated — part of me wondering if this was another layer of control, another way to dress me like some prized possession. But the truth was, I had never worn anything so beautiful in my life.
So I put it on.
When I stepped into the hall, Hades was waiting.
"You're awake," he said, as if the simple fact pleased him.
"I am," I answered cautiously. "And... I assume you wanted me to wear this?"
His eyes flicked over me — briefly, but enough to warm my cheeks. "It suits you."
Before I could respond, he offered his hand. "Come. There are parts of the palace you may explore without concern. I will show you."
We walked side by side through grand corridors where carved columns stretched toward painted ceilings. He showed me the courtyards, the sunlit galleries, and a vast hall of mirrors that seemed to reflect worlds within worlds.
"Here," he said at one point, "you will be safe. The rest... not yet."
I didn't miss the unspoken meaning in his words: There are places here you should fear.
And yet, as the day went on, I realized something unsettling — I feared him less than I had yesterday.