14. Hercules #2
“So. You really were that Hades.” I was right. I don’t know if that’s good or bad at this point. I try to relax into the chair, but it’s hard when I have Hades’s full attention on me. “I’m not him.” I don’t hurt people the way he does. I don’t hurt people at all . At least, not on purpose.
“Trust me, I’m well aware of that. You are, however, a possession that matters to him.”
I was right about that too. This is about revenge.
I should have known I couldn’t escape Olympus’s politics even if I escaped the city itself.
Carver City seemed like a safe bet for a place to settle down, but obviously Zeus’s influence has spread to even here.
“It must have been bad for you to go through this much shit to get back at him.”
“A son for a son, little Hercules.”
The implications hit me hard enough that if I weren’t sitting, I’d be on my knees. A son… My father took his from him? But that doesn’t make sense. I would have heard about it. I’m sure I would have heard about something like that. “When?”
“Before you were born.” He waves it away with a flick of his wrist. “I have no intention of discussing it further. You wanted to know why; there’s your why. Does it make you feel better?”
Since he sounds genuinely curious, I answer honestly. “No.”? 3
“There you have it.” He shrugs. “I didn’t call you here for that, however. I have a task for you.”
My mind whirls with the implications of what he’s told me.
Within all the confusion and anger, there’s hurt.
No reason for his motive to sting. Did I really want to hear that he saw me across the room and couldn’t rest until he had me as his own?
That kind of shit only happens in movies and fairy tales.
This is real life. Real life is ugly and brutal and filled to the brim with pain.
I know this too well already. Of course he didn’t want me . He has Meg.
Meg.
“Does she know about this?” There were a thousand ways Hades could have accomplished this goal without involving her. I don’t understand that . He wields cruelty with the precision of a surgeon with a scalpel. “It’s really shitty that you’d hurt her just because you want revenge on my father.”
“Hercules.” The censor in his tone makes me flush. “The conversation is closed. I trust it will stay between us.”
I open my mouth to argue, but his sharp look stops me. Instead, I swallow hard. “A task?”
“Normally Tink acts as Meg’s assistant, but her contract is coming to an end. Regardless of what the future holds for her, you’ll be trained to take her place.”
I swallow. “You want me to train to be Meg’s assistant.”
“Yes.” His gaze doesn’t leave my face. “Do not fuck her.? 4 Regardless of what else happens, that is a line you will not cross. If you do, I’ll punish you both publicly.” He leans forward. “And trust me when I say that you won’t enjoy it in the least.”
A thrill courses through me despite common sense whispering that crossing this man is a mistake, even in a game.
I’m still furious at Meg. Last night changes nothing.
But like with Hades, I want her enough that it clouds my judgment, and the protective urges that drove me to make this bargain in the first place haven’t disappeared.
Hades obviously knows that and plans to use it against me.
Is Meg in on this particular game? Our short history more than proves that I can’t trust her. “Okay,” I say slowly.
“‘Yes, Sir’ is the proper response.”
“Yes, Sir,” I immediately repeat. I have a lot to think about, but in the end it changes nothing. I gave my word. If I didn’t know the reason Hades wanted me, that’s on me. I charged in here thinking I knew everything I needed to know and ended up in over my head as a result.
Embarrassment heats my face. All I want is to do good, but every time I turn around, I’m fucking things up worse than they were before I arrived.
I can’t keep up with the major power players no matter how hard I try.
I don’t even know if I’m capable of thinking about the long game the same way Zeus and Hades do.
Every time I try to slow down, my instincts get the best of me and I jump without checking for water.
I need to change that about myself, and I don’t even know where to start.
Hades studies me as if he can divine my thoughts right out of my head. “There’s no shame in the impulsiveness of youth, little Hercules.”
I try for a laugh, but it comes out bitter. “Are you a mind reader now?”
“I don’t have to be when you wear your thoughts on your face for anyone to see.”
“I don’t know how not to.” I don’t know how not to do a lot of things.
He leans forward and braces his elbows on his desk. “Time and pain are the best teachers. You’ll learn. Maybe not soon enough, but you’ll learn.”
I should end this conversation, but he’s actually talking to me with something almost like compassion. I can’t trust it—I know enough to know that —but I also don’t want it to end. “Were you ever like me? When you were my age?”
“No.” His smile is quick and bittersweet. “I was much, much worse. Or better, I suppose, depending on how you look at it. You had the self-awareness to realize all was not as it seemed and to look past your father’s charismatic mirage. I didn’t.”
I can’t imagine a Hades with stars in his eyes. It’s possible he’s lying to me about this too, but my gut says it’s the truth. I clear my throat. “I’m sorry for what he did to you.”
He takes off his glasses and pulls out a black cloth to clean the lenses. It’s such a mundane action, but it leaves me breathless. “Meg will be in her office. It’s the next floor down.” He glances up. “Tonight, we’ll have another lesson.”
That’s a dismissal if I’ve ever heard one. I should be happy to leave this man’s presence, but reluctance weighs me down. That was almost a full conversation without animosity or manipulation. Almost. I push slowly to my feet. “I’ll see you later, then.”
He lets me get nearly to the door before he speaks again. “And, Hercules?”
“Yes, Sir?” I pause but don’t turn around.
“Next time you walk through that door, I don’t want you wearing anything but your skin.”
1 ? You’ll never find the “I’m into kink because my trauma makes me so DARK and brOODY” trope in my books. Trauma and kink can go hand in hand, but lots of people are kinky just because, which is where I lean when it comes to my characters.
2 ? He really is too precious for this world.
3 ? When there’s a mystery, so often the characters are sure that answers will make them feel better. Life rarely works out that way.
4 ? LOL. SURE, JAN.