Chapter 17 Hades
HADES
Memories existed, suspended in the void of time, blending with reality with every step I took, refusing to let go even when I tried not to think of the past that now brought nothing but pain.
With each passing year, each century, each millennium, it was getting harder and harder to breathe, proving my existence in this world would only bring more suffering.
Yet I knew the end would never come. At least not for me.
But for the first time since that cursed day, my body didn't try to crumble after walking for longer than an hour. After almost an eternity, it didn't feel like my insides would collapse, sending me to the sweet embrace of death I so desperately craved, and I had her to thank for it.
The silver-eyed beauty.
The vicious queen returning to take her rightful place.
The place that stayed empty for more than five millennia. The place on that throne was only ever reserved for her. The place where I held her, the place where I loved her, the place where I fucking lost her.
I couldn't understand it at first, at least not fully. I couldn't understand the pull, the need, the yearning. I couldn't understand anything until she wrapped those hands around my throat, activating the only rune that ever mattered. Her rune. Her mark.
The mark of our bonding, of our souls forever belonging together.
The mark she gave me when another body and another pair of eyes stood before me. When she was just a maiden and me just an asshole, desperate to just hold her hand, begging the Universe to let her love me. To let me have at least that, after an eternity of living in darkness.
I begged for just a little bit of sun, a little bit of happiness, until that very Universe took it away the same way I was given it.
Through blood.
Through tears.
Through pain.
Yet she was here now. She was back, just like she had promised she would be.
And she was stronger, much stronger than in her previous body.
That soul I would forever know felt darker, heavier, and I knew it was the lifetimes that made her different.
It was the five thousand years she had lived far away from me, never once stepping foot on this wretched island.
Rustling of leaves sounded behind me, but even without turning around I knew who it was.
I kept my eyes fixed on the window overlooking Medusa's dining table, feasting on the silver-haired woman sitting there with a plate filled with food that would soon not be enough to sustain her.
The food that was meant for mortals and for the creatures, but not for her.
"Was it you?" I asked as one of my oldest companions stood next to me, pressing against my leg with his head.
"Was it, Grimm?" I looked down, seeing one of the brothers that missed her almost more than I did.
The one that defied every single one of my orders, leaving the island on every October 31st, when the veil thinned and the creatures could roam the real world.
After Grimm and his two brothers spent more lifetimes than I could count searching for our queen, for the soul of the one I loved, and failing, I forbade them from ever leaving again. I forbade them from destroying what little humanity I had with each new failure and each new death she had.
"I thought I made myself clear."
And I thought I told you I didn't care, he said, lifting his head to look up at me. She's here and we're lucky I was there.
That, we were. "So when I asked if you took anything from the garden—"
I lied, Grimm replied. I lied because I wasn't sure. I lied because that night I wasn't even sure if she would survive and I couldn't stay. I couldn't keep watch of her, but I felt her. I was following her for years, Hades. She's… different.
"How so?"
There's a darkness attached to her soul this time around. There's a darkness that never was there. A power I cannot understand.
I knew exactly what he meant, because I felt it as well. I felt it the moment I saw her. Hell, I felt it the moment she stepped on this island, hearing the wind whisper the name of the prophesied one. Of the one that would bring the end to us all.
Kaira had no idea what kind of power she wielded, and not only because she was the daughter of Thanatos.
But because she meant more to me than my own life.