14. Hercules
HERCULES
It’s the craving for him .
I find the gym without too much trouble and spend an hour working through my demons.
Sweating always paves the way for clearer thinking, and I’ve been lax in my routine since I left Olympus.
Gym memberships are expensive and hardly qualify as a necessary expenditure.
Unsurprisingly, the Underworld offers the best of everything.
High-tech treadmills and bikes. Free weights that gleam in the bright light.
Everything looks brand-new and barely used, though I know better.
It’s an illusion, just like the rest of this place.
I head for the free weights and begin the process of going through my old routine. My body remembers the motions, allowing my thoughts to wander right back to Hades.
Wanting the man who manipulated and trapped me is the height of foolishness.
He didn’t pick me by random; his cruelty is too calculated for that.
If I’d stopped reacting to Meg and thought for a few minutes, I’d have realized that a long time ago.
All roads lead back to Olympus—to my father.
I’m sure of it. Would it change my actions?
I don’t think so. Even knowing what I do now, I still want her.
I should be smarter than this, but I’ve already proven that should has no place here.
I want him.
I want her.
They desire me—some things can’t be faked—but they both have an agenda that hints at a deeper game. My thoughts last night might have been drugged on pleasure and exhaustion, but it doesn’t make them any less true. In the light of day, everything feels clearer.
Hades plans to use me to get to my father.
I can’t say if it will work. My father hasn’t tried to summon me home since I left, allowing his lack of attention to translate into a punishment.
He’s always been like that, giving and withdrawing love in turn.
Except, with Zeus, love is an edged weapon even when he’s effusive and happy. Even with family.
With anyone who isn’t family? They don’t have the slightest bit of protection to keep my father from taking what he wants, when he wants.
I hiss out a breath and push the bar away from my chest. The ridiculousness of the situation is not lost on me.
If Hades had come to me and offered a plan to bring my father down, I would have agreed and gladly.
Instead, he’d used Meg as both bait and a strange kind of punishment.
That is the part that doesn’t make sense to me.
What little I know of this man paints a picture of someone who does nothing without a reason.
He wouldn’t put together a messy plan that potentially hurts the woman he appears to care about without a damn good reason.
In the end, does it matter what Hades’s endgame is?
I gave my word. I’m his for life. If he was going to try to kill me, he would have done it by now.
If my being here aggravates my father, I’m still furious enough to enjoy the thought of that.
That anger isn’t going away. Not ever. Zeus hurts everyone he comes into contact with.
He plucks them, uses them, and then disposes them like they’re tissues instead of people.
And Olympus lets him. Everyone looks the other way because he has power, and that’s the only god anyone in that cursed place worships.
The door opens and Tink walks in. She gives the entire room a dirty look before settling on me.
“There you are.” She’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt that has a picture of a skeleton holding a pair of eyes perfectly centered on each breast with the text My eyes are up here .
Tink is…quite the character. She snaps her fingers. “Up here, Hercules.”
“I like your shirt,” I say dryly.
“It’s my day off,” she snarls, but her lips tug up a little at the edges. She might be mean as a snake, but I like her. She gives me a long look, lingering on sweat slicking my bare chest. “Hades wants to talk to you. You should probably, uh, shower first. I’ll wait.”
“You want to watch?” I don’t know why I offer. I’m mostly teasing, I think, though Tink is gorgeous enough that if the situation were different, I’d make a real pass at her.
She raises her eyebrows. “What a cute little exhibitionist you are.” She laughs. “But I know better than to play with the boss’s toys without permission. Get your ass in the shower and be quick about it.”
She follows me back to my suite and takes up residence on the couch while I head into the bathroom. I shower quickly, telling myself that it’s prudence causing me to do so, rather than anticipation at seeing him again. I’m a goddamned liar.
I walk to the closet situated off the bathroom and flip on the light.
And freeze. Yesterday, I’d dropped my bag into the middle of it with the intention of hanging up my clothes once I had some downtime.
The bag is gone. Now the space is filled with clothing.
On one side is apparently my work wear, an array of fabrics in very small packages.
On the other are more clothes than I’ve seen in one place since I left home.
Slacks in black and gray. Button-down shirts in a wide range of colors. They’ve even bought me fucking shoes.
I wrap my towel around my waist and raise my voice. “Tink!”
“I’m not watching you wank it.”
Her response almost detracts from my growing irritation. “Get in here.”
She walks through the door and frowns. “What?”
“My closet.” I motion at it. “What the fuck is this? Where are my clothes?”
She peers past me and gives me a look like I’m having one over on her. “Is this a trick question? You have plenty of clothes.”
I feel like I’ve entered a completely different world all over again. I thought I had things down, at least a little, but I didn’t expect something as surface level as this closet being filled to rock me. And yet it is. “Where did they come from?”
“Oh. That.” Tink rolls her eyes. “I know you liked your white-bread style, but you can’t dress like that here. Hades and the Underworld have a reputation, and as employees of both, we are part of upholding that.”
I point at her chest. “What about what you’re wearing?”
“Look, I have seniority and I’m playing errand girl when I’m off the clock, so how about we don’t criticize my excellent taste in clothing?” Her humor is gone and she’s glaring again. “Put on some clothes and let’s go. We’ve wasted enough time, and I have shit to do today.”
This time, I don’t argue. In the end, we all answer to Hades, and expelling my frustration at Tink is a shitty thing to do.
I pull on a pair of black slacks and a light gray shirt.
There are ties, but I ignore them. A quick comb through my hair and I’m ready.
Tink doesn’t say anything as she takes me up to the top floor, and I miss her snark a little bit.
She punches the button to keep the elevator door open when we reach our floor.
“Only door in there. That’s where you’re headed. ”
“I’m sorry.”
She blinks. “What?”
“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot about the clothes. I was just surprised and you were there so I took it out on you.”
Another of those slow blinks. “Hercules, you barely raised your voice.”
Her shock at my apology doesn’t make me feel better. In fact, it makes me feel worse. “I’m sorry.”? 2
“Uh…consider it forgiven.” She motions for me to get the hell out of the elevator. This time, I obey.
This isn’t the same office from last night—or even the same floor.
I’m not sure what I expect when I push open the door, but it’s not the room I find myself standing in.
Aside from the big windows overlooking Carver City, the walls are filled with black bookshelves from floor to ceiling, and the shelves are packed with books.
Not just filed neatly. They’re stacked as if the occupant ran out of space and couldn’t bear to sacrifice even one.
I barely notice the desk and overstuffed chairs across from it or the thick patterned rug beneath my feet as I wander to the nearest shelf.
Again, I’m surprised. The books are genre fiction, each spine weathered as if they’ve been reread countless times.
Mystery, fantasy, romance, science fiction.
“By all means, feel free to look your fill.”
I jump and turn to face the desk. Hades sits behind it, watching me with an amused expression on his face.
As I’m coming to expect, he’s wearing black-on-black again.
He’s as put together as ever, and the exhaustion weighing me down after last night seems to roll right off him.
He motions to one of the chairs across from him. “Sit.”
I consider standing just to make a point, but it’s a silly hill to choose to die on.
I walk to the closest chair and sink into it.
It’s a rich emerald green that somehow fits in with the rest of the office, luxurious and sturdy and obviously well-loved.
The whole room feels comfortable in a way I’m not prepared for.
“Can I ask you a question?” I don’t intend to speak, but I don’t do well with secrets and bullshit.
I’d rather just get this all out in the open so I can deal with it.
Hades raises his brows. “By all means.”
“What did my father do to you to piss you off enough to target me?”
He studies me for a long moment, something like surprise written over his face. “You don’t have a subtle bone in your body, do you?”
If I did, I wouldn’t be in Carver City in the first place. I would have found a better way to fight my father, to help Leda, to make a difference. “I’d rather see the playing field clearly.”
He sits back, still seeming to consider my question. Or, more likely, considering whether or not to answer honestly—or at all. “He took everything from me.”