42. Nyssa #3
My resolve shattered the moment Caelus was struck — harder than before. An echo of an arrow wound bloomed right near his heart. An inch to the left and it would have been a direct hit.
He finally let go of my leg to clutch his chest, breaths coming in short, rapid rasps. His silvery eyes locked onto mine, as golden ichor poured from the hole.
“Night… shade…” he gasped.
And all at once, I was done .
I ignored the cuts appearing on my skin as I stood, the trickle of ichor leaking from them going unnoticed, as I glared at Hera.
“That’s enough,” I hissed, watching her golden brows flicker as my voice changed, coming out deep and commanding — coincidentally reminiscent of my father’s. “You want my secret?”
Hera straightened, delight creeping into the curl of her lip.
“Fine.”
The attacks ceased as I inhaled to speak.
“My father is dead.”
Caelus’ eyes went wide. Hera gasped, trying to make sense of the words.
“But that’s not possible… We would have known… would have felt…”
“No, you would not have. The Underworld is loyal to its own, and we do not divulge secrets or weaknesses to the likes of you,” I spat. “Hades has been gone for years now. He never could heal his broken heart.”
I swallowed roughly, a sharp slice to my palm reminding me that the entire truth had not yet been told.
“He waited until I came of age and my powers manifested. He made sure I was well-trained in all war tactics and I had loyal subjects to guide and protect me, if need be.”
I could see the pieces falling into place for Caelus.
“Charon,” he breathed. “And Cerberus.”
I nodded once. “Charon came to live with me at the palace after his mother died.”
I turned back to Hera. “When Zeus stole Hades’ wife from him — when he stole the only brief happiness and peace my father had ever known — he ensured Hades would never recover, whether he knew it or not.”
“But… we would have felt the power ripple… Did you sentence him too?!” she screeched.
“No. Hades took care of that all on his own.” Her brows twisted, and her light blue eyes darted side to side as she struggled to understand.
Caelus obviously inherited his wisdom elsewhere, as he showed no such signs of misunderstanding. In fact, he looked at me with such solemn sympathy that I wanted to throw something at him.
“He went to her, didn’t he?” Caelus asked, almost too low to hear.
Once more, I nodded. “He went to the arches and threw himself right into the Elysian Fields. To find her .”
Their love story would always be my favourite tragedy. Hades had tossed aside his crown and his kingdom without a second thought — just to find his lost love in the next life.
A reflection flickered across from me, though I had not moved. I saw that my father had lost his manic grin, his face softening back into the man I knew. He gifted me a rare, small smile filled with pride before he dissolved into wisps of shadow and disappeared on a phantom breeze.
A sob built in my throat like a lump I couldn’t swallow.
“Which brings me to my final point,” I began. “The original Hades is gone. And two things were his to leave behind: his legacy and his crown. Both now belong to me.” I stood taller, lifting my chin as I summoned the familiar weight of the Shadow Crown.
My reflection showed a flickering black diadem positioned perfectly upon my head. Its spikes pierced the air four inches above its base, moving eerily in the spotlight like tendrils of smoke weaving through the air.
Caelus stood slowly, taking a few tentative steps toward me.
“You’re the Queen of the Underworld?”
“I am.”
“But only Hades can wear that crown,” Hera whispered.
“Yes. I am Hades now. It is as much a title as it was his name.”
Caelus laughed.
He laughed .
I frowned, wondering if he’d finally lost his damn mind. Hera apparently wondered the same, shuffling back a half-step.
“Well, I guess now is as good a time as any,” he said between chuckles. “Mother, it appears I am your worst nightmare brought to life. I am in love with Nyssa, the Queen of the Underworld.”
Caelus doubled over laughing, clutching his belly, as my reality shattered in a single sentence.
Hera’s did too. Fury twisted her features. Wrath raised her hand to strike him.
But that would not do.
As easily as breathing, I whipped a shadowy rope through the air, lashing it around her wrist, halting her strike.
“But that’s not all,” Caelus continued.
How in Tartarus is that not all?!
“During the Fates’ trial, when I was the last champion left in the room…
” His laughter fell abruptly short. He stepped closer, standing directly in front of me, taking up my space and st ealing my air.
I could never breathe when he looked at me like that — like I held every answer to every question he could possibly ask.
“I should have told you this months ago, Nightshade. And for that, I am truly sorry. But I don’t regret it.”
“Regret what?” I breathed. Anxiety turned my blood to ice and my heart raced like a beating drum.
“After you left, I found my thread. It was running right alongside yours.” Caelus’ face softened. “I severed my own thread?—”
“No! But why would you?—”
“—and wove it into yours.”
He let the words hang, waiting for the implication to hit me.
My eyes widened in horror.
“We are bound together, you and I.”
“YOU DID WHAT?!” Hera screamed, finally catching up.
“Our fates are tied together just as surely as the stars are bound to the night sky, Nyss.”
“What have you done?” I whispered, terror unfurling at the realisation — at what it might mean for him if I failed.
Or what it might mean for both of us if I didn’t.
“What have you done, boy?!” Hera shouted a moment later — reliable as an old watch, always just a few seconds behind. She lifted an arm again, but this time her mirrors betrayed her.
I watched as she retrieved a bronze dagger from a hidden pocket in her golden gown, its metallic blade glinting harshly under the glaring light.
She raised it like she meant to throw it, eyes locked firmly on her own son. Her own flesh and blood. Intuition tugged at my middle, and I lunged forward as fast as a viper, ripping the locket from her throat.
Hera stopped dead in her tracks, clutching at her neck as though she might miraculously find the chain now gripped tightly in my fist.
“No! Give it back! Give it back now!”
Caelus and I watched as a single cut appeared on her outstretched palm — a clean slice from an invisible blade. Hera turned her petrified gaze to the nearest mirror, eyes wide, and screamed a bloodcurdling sound.
“No, no, no, no, no,” she begged her mirrored assailant as cut after cut appeared on her peachy skin. “Zeus, no… I didn’t… I couldn’t… and all your lovers…” Hera howled.
I shared a shocked expression with Caelus.
Surely, she didn’t mean…? She couldn’t mean what I thought she did?
Hera killed Zeus?! The goddess of Furies-damned marriage — murdered her own husband?!
“Mother,” Caelus breathed. “What have you done?”
I had no intention of witnessing our ex-Queen’s mutilation, so with a blast of power, I shattered the mirror and stepped through the newly-forged exit.
“Caelus?”
He turned, shellshocked.
“Come with me,” I coaxed, relieved when he took a shuddering step towards me. “Come home,” I whispered, grasping his hand as the shadows whirled around us.
To the Palace of Hades.
To my queenly dominion.
To home.