Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
Hades
The Siege Begins
When Persephone walked away, leaving me on the battlefield, my soul was hollowed in ways the curse had never achieved.
But it didn’t matter in the end. I’d made a vow.
So I’d come for her again. To the gates of the city of the gods, where my brothers had barred me for an eon. They feared my vengeance after they tricked me, cursed me, stole everything I loved.
They were right to fear.
My power had returned—the full, unfettered strength of the God of Death—the moment my queen shattered the blood curse. I went back to the Underworld and gathered my army.
My warriors and subjects had been trapped in the Underworld for so long while I searched the mortal realm for my mate. They’d waited. Trained. Hungered for this day. Now they threw themselves against the walls of Olympus with everything they had.
We couldn’t break the wards—I knew that. The protections around Olympus had been woven by all twelve Olympians. They were impregnable.
So we would camp here to besiege the city. We would harass the gods, trap them inside like caged animals—until I had my queen back.
The siege had raged for over an hour. My army bombarded the gate and the walls.
Winged demons circled above, searching for weaknesses in the glimmering ward-light.
Beasts from the deepest pits of the Underworld threw themselves against the walls.
And the legions of the dead climbed over one another in endless waves, wailing and clawing at the barrier.
I bet the deafening sounds grated on our enemies’ nerves. Metal on magic. Fists on stone. And the screams of the dead. War drums beating frantically.
I stood at the forefront, watching the wards glow under the assault—hard and bright as diamond, and just as cold.
Arrows of fire rained down on my army from the walls. The enemy soldiers shot volley after volley, trying to discourage us.
My shadows arched into a protective dome, shielding my forces and devouring the burning arrows.
My head turned to The Paramount, music drifting from the high tower. My eternal foes were throwing a party while we laid siege to their gates.
Those motherfuckers were toasting my loss. Cheering the theft of my mate.
Dante barked orders.
Our spells struck the wards again and again. The barrier flickered—a ripple in water—before hardening again. The blasts drew the enemies’ attention. Figures emerged onto the rooftop of the floating terrace, and my superior sight singled out my mate among them even from this distance.
She was pushed to the front by the crowd, forced to witness the siege.
A mask resembling a flaming death skull, the symbol of the Underworld, covered half of her face. I hadn’t expected that, and pride surged through me.
Our connection ignited, the mating bond flaring to life, bright and fierce. I felt my mate’s focus on me. Her recognition. Her longing.
My love. My gaze held hers, pouring every ounce of need into the space that separated us. I come for you. As always. Forever.
I drank her in greedily. She wore a gown of liquid flame, the red of blood and war. The bodice was cut daringly low, a statement that she had nothing left to hide. The skirt flowed around her like fire given form. Black gloves scaled her forearms—the color of my realm, of our home.
She wasn’t just the most stunning goddess. She was magnificent. My queen no longer veiled her power, and it outshone every false star in their golden sky. It radiated from her in waves I could feel even here, a beacon in the chaos.
Seeing their regal queen standing proud upon that tower, my army rallied with a vehemence that shook the bridge.
They hammered the walls harder, threw themselves against the shimmering barrier with renewed fury.
She was loved by them all. They would die for her.
Kill for her. Follow her into any battle.
Then a giant figure materialized at the far end of the golden bridge in a flash of sunlight.
Apollo strode forward like a peacock, his movements deliberately showy. He zipped across the span faster than mortal sight could follow and stopped just inside the gate, facing me.
My shadow shield churned before me. His sunlight cloaked him like a second skin, a brilliant, taunting glow.
He shone annoyingly. He’d once believed his light could seduce my mate away from me. Had been certain its warmth would triumph over my darkness.
I sneered. The fool.
He tapped two fingers to his temple. The rain of fiery arrows from the walls ceased.
I raised a fist. The bombardment ceased instantly. The legions behind me became a silent wave awaiting my command.
“Well.” Apollo’s voice carried, smooth as honey and just as cloying. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Why the fuck are you here?” I hissed.
“To say hello to an old friend.” That infuriating smirk was etched into his voice.
“You aren’t my friend.”
“Now you wound my feelings.”
“Your kind have no fucking feelings,” I growled. “Beat it.”
“Incredibly rude,” he said, sunlight glinting off his perfect golden hair. “No wonder Zeus despises you. No wonder Poseidon grinds his teeth at the mere whisper of your name.”
“I don’t give a fuck what those two clowns think,” I snarled.
“Run back and tell them to return my queen, or my dead will wail outside their walls for eternity. My demons will beat upon their gate until the gold flakes away. And my creatures will foul their gleaming walls until Olympus reeks of the pit.”
“That’s…vividly disgusting,” he chuckled, the sound grating. “Honestly, I don’t particularly care what you do to them. I’m just here because your little tantrum disrupted my dance with Bloom. Which was, frankly, doubly rude.”
I bared my teeth, a snarl torn from the deepest, darkest part of me. The urge to rip his golden head from his shoulders was a pulse of pure, blinding need.
He raised his hands, palms out in mock surrender. “I rescued her from having to dance with Zeus, though,” he continued, his tone deceptively light. “Trust me, you’d thank me. I could feel her fury from across the room, a storm waiting to break. She was two seconds from clawing his eyes out.”
“You should’ve let her, you meddling prick!” I snapped.
“If I hadn’t meddled, he’d have gone back for her while you weren’t there to back her up. She’s a lone she-wolf in a den of power-hungry vultures.”
“You’re a vulture, too,” I spat.
“That’s where you’ve got me wrong, pal,” he said with a smirk. “But I don’t blame you. You and I have never seen eye to eye.”
“I’m not your pal!”
“I understand holding a grudge,” he said. “They sacrificed two of my companions as collateral damage when they began their crusade against you. Daphne. Hyacinthus. Both gone, because of their game.”
“I don’t care what you lost,” I said, my voice cold enough to freeze the Styx.
He grinned, and I ached to punch that insufferable golden-boy face.
“You’re still one of the originals. One of the three brothers who carved up the worlds and divided the realms. Being exiled to the Underworld and barred from this golden city doesn’t delete your genetic makeup.
It doesn’t change the fact that you remain one of the most powerful beings in existence. ”
“Fuck off, Apollo,” I said. “I’m busy.”
I began to raise my hand, the signal to unleash hell once more.
“Wait.” His voice lost its playful edge, shifting into something purposeful. “I’m not here as their messenger. I’m here as hers. Your queen.”
My heart slammed into my ribcage, a painful, hopeful drum, yet I narrowed my eyes on the sun god.
“What are you saying?” The question tore from me, despite the millennia of enmity standing between us.
“You see her on the tower,” he said, his gaze drifting briefly toward the rooftop of The Paramount. “Isn’t she magnificent in that crimson gown?”
I snarled at his familiarity.
“Cool your jets,” he snorted. “I’ve conceded. After an eon of trying, I finally understand that nothing can come between you two. It would be the height of folly to keep attempting it.”
But he was a fool. He might understand her better than any other gods, as he’d been there in every lifetime, trying to steal her. He had never succeeded. The bond between my queen and me was unbreakable.
It had never stopped him from trying. The fact grated on my nerves, even now.
“I have to admit,” Apollo continued, “you found a true gem. She’s magnificent and clever.
And she might just become the most powerful immortal in our generation.
” He paused, and his voice softened. “I genuinely liked Bloom. The mortal version of her. Her empathy. She was kind to me when she had no reason to be.”
“What is the fucking message?” I demanded.
I found, abruptly, that I no longer hated him with the same pure intensity. He had earned a temporary exception from my loathing of all things Olympian.
“I forgot,” he said.
I glared at him.
“Well, it has to do with opening the final bottle of Nyx’s Vintage tonight,” he said. “Just remember that I do this for her, not for you. So get ready, Hades.” He leaned forward, the gold in his eyes glinting. “The Trojan horse is already inside the walls.”
My heart skipped a beat. He was telling the truth. “Nyx’s Vintage” was a mocking safe word between my mate and me.
And then the God of Sun and Brightness vanished in a flash of searing light.
He was still a cunning and self-serving prick, but what he’d revealed about my mate ignited a burning hope inside my chest. A Trojan horse. My Trojan horse.
She’d need a distraction. A massive, deafening one to draw all the attention to me. I must give her space to work.
“Work harder!” I roared, my voice carrying across the entire bridge. “Give them hell! Show them what the undefeatable Underworld force is made of!”
My army erupted. War cries tore from thousands of throats. Hammers, spells, and bare fists resumed their assault with redoubled zeal. The dead wailed in a rising chorus, a symphony of damned fury.
The sound was deafening. Overwhelming. It was the perfect distraction.
Let them look at me. Let them fear the storm at their gates.
My queen was already behind their walls.
The arrows of fire rained down again, and my shadows swallowed them.
Then a shockwave hit us, not from our siege but from within the city. The magical pulse was unmistakable.
Another followed. Stronger. It rippled through the air with enough force to make the golden bridge tremble beneath our feet.
The Paramount swayed like a sapling in a gale. The immovable structure, untouched for eons, was rocking.
At its pinnacle, standing at the very edge of the rooftop, my glorious mate locked her gaze with mine.
And grinned. That wicked, dangerous smirk I was only beginning to know.
She was doing it. Shattering their wards from the inside.
My queen was coming home.