Chapter Three
Farren
“That’s where they are?” Kill asks.
Verena shrugs, although she looks as frustrated as Hades does when he can’t say something that he wants to and she replies, “I cannot say.”
“Understood,” Zev replies before anyone else can, as his eyes briefly flash white.
My mind is spinning. Remeus and Crem both loved torturing me, and yet, the memory of them had completely disappeared.
“Remeus was the one who was controlling Temperance,” I mutter as the memory comes back.
“Fuck, you’re right,” Kill frowns. “I really don’t fucking like this.”
“No one does. The only silver lining of the situation is that it was a one-time spell. Some of the ingredients needed in order to cast it no longer exist, they used the last of them,” Verena replies.
Rival nods, “Well, at least there’s that.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have long. You mustn’t forget that you also need to find and secure the last key fragment,”
“It’s in the Dragon Realm?” Rival asks for confirmation.
Which is smart really, because gods and goddesses like to speak in riddles, and she could have quite easily switched the conversation without thinking that it was necessary to tell us.
Verena nods, “Yes, it is. It will not be easy to attain. The Dragon Realm isn’t a hospitable place at the best of times.”
We all nod, we knew all of this.
Well, the stuff about needing to go to the Dragon Realm, not the changing fate thing, or the fact that we had all forgotten that there are actually seven princes, not five, which means there are two more that I need to kill.
That thought shouldn’t send a thrill through me.
After the pain they caused me the first time I was in the Underworld though, my excitement at getting to return the favour is justified, at least in my mind it is.
Hades frowns, anger darkening his eyes as he crosses his arms over his chest and asks, “Why does this God want my realm?”
Verena’s expression becomes severe, “Because your realm has the most souls.”
With that haunting last statement, she disappears.
“Great,” Kill mutters sarcastically.
Still looking troubled, Hades says, “Come on, let’s get back to the castle.”
I watch as he simply clicks his fingers, and we find ourselves in one of his comfier and less formal sitting rooms. We all collapse onto the various comfy sofas scattered around the room, Loki ends up on one side of me, and Zev on the other.
Loki must see me narrowing my eyes at Hades because he chuckles and says, “Don’t worry, he couldn’t just click his fingers and zap us anywhere before.”
He moves me so that I’m under his arm, my head resting on his chest, and I breathe out a sigh of relief as my body relaxes.
My hand reaches out for Zev, and he threads his fingers through mine, squeezing them gently.
It feels strange to hold someone’s hand with my missing finger, but I’m not going to hide it or allow myself to be ashamed of it. I’m going to own it.
It’s proof that I survived something horrific.
It takes Hades a moment to realise what Loki is talking about, but when he does, he smiles broadly. “I can also transport people almost anywhere from the God Realm, which Monty warned us that I couldn’t do from the Underworld. I just wanted to clear that up before anyone asked me about it.”
I smirk.
Kill frowns, “It sounds to me like this God is trying to create an army big enough to take over all of the realms, and in order to do that, he needs a truly epic-sized army. The Underworld has the most souls of all of the realms. If I were him and had the same ideals that he clearly has, then I would want to take control of the Underworld, so that I could utilise the souls there in my war. I would also want to make sure that I had the right people in charge to help lead them, which is probably why he had everyone forget about a Crem and Remeus. So that they can lead the armies.”
“I agree, that’s the most likely reason, we know that,” Rival says with a slight frown, “But how is he planning on utilising them? They’re souls, they can’t leave the Underworld.”
Storm’s eyes widen, “The Wraiths. That Wraith that I fought against was coherent. If this God could get all of the Wraiths behaving that way, then he would be able to control an army of Wraiths.”
Zev tenses, “When we were going through the door into the Underworld and we fought off the Wraiths, Hades said that the Wraith had the mark of one of the prince’s on his neck.”
“Fuck,” Hades agrees simply.
“So he’s not after the Underworld then, he’s after the Soul Side,” I point out. Which seems fairly obvious, but I just want to say it out loud.
“It's not going to be easy to stop him,” Rival says. “I highly doubt that he’s going to just give up if we get the last key.”
“You’re right,” Khaos frowns. “Which brings up another issue. Where are we going to put the key fragments in order to keep them safe and stop him from getting them again?”
“Hades' vault,” I say immediately. “The princes couldn’t get in there. I’m not even sure that they knew where it was. It’s got Hades’ beast guarding it, and it’s got thousands of strong and ancient spells on it as well. No one will be able to get through them.”
“You did,” Khaos points out with a proud glint in his eyes.
“Farren is a Spell Weaver,” Hades replies. “A true one. She can pick the spells apart as well as layer them.”
Khaos’ eyes widen. “I can’t remember the last time that I came across a true Spell Weaver, not just one who had adopted the name but had none of the real talent that true Spell Weavers possess.”
“Before I forget, because there is so much going on that I’m likely to. Apparently, now I remember the spells that I pull apart,” I tell them.
“What do you mean?” Mayhem asks curiously.
I frown slightly as I try to think of the best way to explain it, “So I had to pull apart the spells containing my magic in order to escape. There was absolutely no way that I would have been able to escape without it. Khaos helped me, and if he hadn’t, then I would be dead.
” The way that H helped me when I had to pull the spells apart seems like something that is just for us.
So, despite the curiosity in the eyes of the others, I don’t explain any further and instead, carry on explaining my original point, “The door of the cell that I was in was also layered with thousands of spells, meant to make escape impossible and to attack me viciously if I even attempted to touch the bars.”
Growls echo throughout the room.
“The same ones that they had on your magic?” Khaos asks me.
I shake my head, “No, the ones that they had on my magic were a thousand times worse. What I was saying was that when it came to undoing the spells on my door, my magic sliced through them like it was nothing. Then, when I found Dagon, I was able to layer the door with the spells that were on the cell.” When they all look at me curiously, I add, “I didn’t want Dagon to try to escape while I tortured him for taking my finger.
” My smile is dark and deadly, “I took everything that stuck out on him and then carried on slicing.”
“That is so fucking hot,” Khaos grins. His eyes meet mine, “Not many people can match me when it comes to being bloodthirsty.”
I grin, “I’m not most people.”
“You definitely aren’t,” Zev agrees. He smirks, “You’re a bit scary, but it’s definitely hot.”
“I fucking love how bloodthirsty you are,” Loki adds, looking down at me with heat in his eyes that makes me squirm, and his eyes blaze.
I clear my throat, “So yeah, I now know all those spells that the princes put on my magic and on the door. There are thousands of them, and they’re pretty fucking nasty.”
“That’s incredible,” Rival says. “I think I need to do more research into Spell Weavers. I don’t know nearly enough about them.”
“I’ll help,” I offer. “It's definitely one of my gifts that intrigues me the most and the one that I have the least amount of knowledge about.”
He smiles at me softly, “I’d like that.”
“So the two princes that everyone has forgotten about are in the Dragon Realm as well,” Reaper mutters. “We’re all agreed that they need to be taken out, yes?”
I grin, “Absolutely.”
My enthusiasm has them all smiling and nodding in agreement.
Everyone is quiet for a moment, all of our minds drifting off to different places, which is proven when Mayhem speaks.
“So, Monty definitely told us things that he wasn’t supposed to,” Mayhem points out after a moment of silence.
Storm nods, “Oh, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that he did. The Goddess told us that we would need to go to the Dragon Realm as if it were the first time that we heard about it. She even looked at Reaper, expecting him to have a reaction.”
Reaper’s eyes flash to Ryu’s, “Yes, she was definitely expecting us to react in some way. Remind me to thank Monty the next time that we see him. I would have lost it otherwise, and that could have tripped the protections that Hades said were in place.”
Hades nods, “It definitely would have tripped them. You give off a lot of power when Ryu comes forward, and the protections wouldn’t have known that you weren’t attacking.”
“Monty definitely deserves a massive thank you,” Reaper replies.
“How did Monty know what the Goddess knew?” I ask with a frown. “I mean, Monty knows lots of shit that he probably shouldn’t know. He always has, but knowing something that a goddess knows and being able to tell us that is pretty impressive even for him.”
“Don’t forget that the Goddess had absolutely no idea that we had already been told that we needed to go to Dragon Realm,” Loki reminds us.
Hades makes a frustrated noise, and we all look at him curiously.
He opens his mouth and then closes it again, looking a bit like a fish.
I frown, my brain taking far too long to connect the dots.
I am feeling incredibly overwhelmed right now.
It was only a few hours ago that I was fighting for my life and my magic so that I could escape, and now I’m sitting in Hades' sitting room, comfortable and safe.
Surrounded by these men who risked a hell of a lot to come and get me.
I don’t think it’s quite hit me that I’m safe.
Plus, I haven’t had a lot of sleep, not proper sleep, for a really long time now. The sleep in the cabin doesn’t count since we were still under duress, which means I was still very aware of what was going on around me, in case we got attacked.
As soon as I get some decent sleep, I’ll be back to my usual self and giving Storm shit just because it’s funny.
Because of this, I’m grateful when someone else figures out what is going on with Hades, because I really doubt that I would have ever figured it out.
I’m getting more tired by the second. It’s like my body is finally realising that I’m safe, so it wants to catch up on all of the sleep that I desperately need.
“You know something, don’t you?” Zev asks, studying Hades closely.
Hades nods, “Yes, but apparently I still can’t tell you.”
“Maybe we should just stop guessing and ask Monty himself?” Storm suggests.
Kill nods, “I think we should just go with that plan.”
“Monty never gives us a straight answer. What makes you think that he will about this?” Reaper asks. “There must be a reason why Hades can’t tell us.”
“We’ll get Farren to ask him,” Loki suggests with a shrug. “He’s clearly got a soft spot for her.”
I grin, “You’re not wrong. It’s something that I’m pretty proud of, actually.”
“There you go,” Loki says triumphantly.
I chuckle, “Sorry to burst your bubble, Loki, but he very rarely answers one of my questions directly either.”
“You could try though,” Rival says, watching me closely from across the room.
He hasn’t taken his eyes off me since we sat down, and quite honestly, instead of finding it uncomfortable like I usually would, I find it really reassuring.
I reach my other hand out to him, not really sure what I’m asking, but although surprise lights his eyes, he still gets up and comes to sit on the floor in front of the sofa, resting his back against my legs as the hand that’s not holding Zev’s automatically moves to his hair and starts playing with the orange strands.
It would appear that I now have a need for them to all be close to me, and they’re not the only ones that seem to be more free with their affection.
I’m not complaining, I like it. I could do with a gentle touch after everything that I’ve been through, and so long as they don’t mind, then I’m going to carry on.
“Ren?” Khaos asks, bringing me out of my thoughts as he looks at me worriedly.
Glancing around the room at the others, they’re all wearing the same expression, and I’m pretty sure that I just missed something, but I have no idea what.
Before I can answer him though, a giant yawn takes over. Making me look ridiculous because I refuse to let go of Zev’s hand or move my hand from Rival’s hair, so I sort of half turn into Loki’s chest and yawn instead.
“Sorry, I’m really tired,” I reply when the yawn has finally released me. I grin when my yawn is caught by the guys, and they all start yawning as well. “What did you say?” I ask, tapping the top of Rival’s head gently.
“Huh?” he replies sleepily, and the guys smirk. “Oh, you could still ask Monty how he knew. Out of all of us, you are the one that he’s most likely to answer.”