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WILLOW
Luckily—or not luckily, depending on your point of view—another explosion splits through the air, suddenly reminding the three of us that there’s a battle raging.
I can’t do it. Daphne’s anxiety might have her unable to watch out for her sun god, but I can’t pretend that Aiden isn’t out there, risking himself because I basically asked him to. I know he’s only here because of me.
I have to make sure he’s okay.
Tiptoeing closer to the tree line, staying hidden as best as I can, I watch as gold and silver sparks flash through the sky.
It takes a second before I realize what they are.
Arrows. Following them to their source, I see that Eros is shooting from the sky.
Alex is shooting from the ground, tucked out of sight in a hiding spot of his own.
On the mountain, there are two archers: a petite figure with dark hair, dressed in mortal clothes who has a silver glow covering her even more effectively than her t-shirt and jeans, plus a giant of a man draped in a brown leather cloak perched at her side.
Artemis and Orion—or, if you ask Alex, Noelle and Hunter.
They’re both shooting arrows, too, and as I watch, I see that all four archers are targeting the titans.
It’s working. I would’ve thought that the arrowheads wouldn’t penetrate their marble-looking skin, but they definitely do. All three of the titans look like pincushions, that’s how many arrows had found their place in their oversized bodies.
It’s not enough. Not yet, at least. Even from this distance, it’s obvious that power and magic pours out of them rather than blood.
Every gesture from Oceanus sends torrents of sea water crashing through stone.
Columns of white fire come from Hyperion.
And it’s probably Crius who is responsible for the fragments of earth ripping loose from the mountain itself.
They’re not soldiers. They’re natural disasters wearing stone faces, and my heart beats triple-time when I dare a second to look away from them and I… I don’t see my husband.
And then it happens. Eros lands an arrow in one of the titans.
In quick succession, Alex gets two. Add a pair from the goddess of the hunt and her companion and the first titan starts to crack.
Instead of wounds, they’re fractures all over his marble body.
He splinters, and then he explodes. Stone rains across the mountain, even making its way to the formation still on the ground.
Halfway up the mountain, the Spartan general leading the charge lets out a howl of rage. His skin glows red for a heartbeat and I know… I just know… he must be Ares.
He only has my attention for that heartbeat. Because, in the next, I see a black shadow dart across the mountain. I don’t know where he came from, but when he materializes on one of the cliffs, I instantly recognize him.
I’d know my husband anywhere.
Aiden is standing right where the first titan dropped. I don’t understand what he’s doing until I see it, and even then I’m not sure at first. Something twisted and pale rises from the shattered stone. It’s larger than Aiden, but he handles it easily as though it weighs nothing at all.
It’s in his hand, and then it’s on fire, and then it’s gone.
He took the soul of a fallen titan and used hellfire to… to…
Hades carries the Underworld wherever he goes. All of the flames come from the pits of Tartarus. All my husband did was return the terrible titan back to his cage.
Thank you, Persephone. Your color commentary could’ve come in handy a little earlier, but at least I know what I’m watching—and what I pay witness to as Aiden does it again and again.
It was inevitable. There are three of the Twelve on the mountain: Hephaestus, who is tucked in a cave somewhere, making it impossible for Ares to storm Olympus, plus Artemis and Apollo.
With the added heft of Eros and Orion’s bows, plus the presence of the Lord of the Underworld himself, it’s child’s play to take out the other two titans now that they’re aware it’s possible to do so.
Aiden doesn’t have to fight. Without a bullet for his gun, it’s useless, but he doesn’t grab a bow and arrow or a sword of his own. He has his fire, but the only time he wields it is to send the titans where they belong.
And that’s when it hits me.
Death doesn’t wage wars. Death gathers the fallen.
The titans first, then the Spartan soldiers that Ares is sacrificing in his quest to get to Aphrodite, Aiden is there to send them on their way to the Underworld while their numbers dwindle quickly beneath the onslaught of arrows and boobytraps, courtesy of Hephaestus.
I’d say that the battle is over before it truly begins, but I don’t think I really understood just how crazed Ares and the mortal soul that houses him is.
Rather than admit defeat, Ares roars, then abandons his soldiers to his second-in-command—at least, I think that’s what he did—right before he charges the rest of the way up the mountain himself.
Aiden melts into the shadows, then appears right in Ares’s path.
The god of war raises his sword. In a voice that’s definitely more human than mythic, he howls loud enough that all of the Other can hear: “Nessa is my wife. I’ll gut you to get to her, and I’ll gut that giant fucker that stole her from me… I’ll kill the whole damn world to get what’s mine.”
In return, Aiden gives control over to Hades. His voice booms even louder as he says, “That was your mistake, Ares, son of Zeus. You threaten me, and I laugh at your insolence. But you threaten the world, and that means you threaten my wife. For that, I show no mercy.”
Uh-oh. For the god of the Underworld not to show any mercy…
Daphne and Jolie both ended up joining me at the edge of the tree line. Under my breath, I warn them both to look away in case they don’t want to witness Hades lighting Ares up on the spot.
I don’t know if they do or not. I do know, however, that I watch as Hades makes infinitely more of a statement by grabbing Ares’s human host by the throat with one hand.
With the other, he reaches inside the man with one of his pale hands—and when I say inside, I mean it.
He shoves his hand in, and when he pulls it back out again, he’s holding a red-tinged shade that oozes power and rage.
Just not as much as my husband does.
Aiden thrusts downward. At the same time, a shadow portal appears, and I know he’s thrown the soul of Ares into the Underworld to await judgement.
I just… can you do that to a god? Why did he yank Ares out and not the mortal soul that either corrupted Ares or was corrupted by him…
at this point, I’m not so sure what the hell was wrong with that Troy guy, and I can’t find it in me to ask.
Not when Aiden as Hades still isn’t done.
He tosses the human body—Troy—down onto the cliff ledge in front of him.
Proving that, whoever he is, he’s a violent idiot, Troy grabs his sword from the ground, hops to his feet, and swings it wildly at Aiden.
My heart leaps to my throat, but I shouldn’t have worried. Aiden looks bored as he sidesteps every wild thrust.
At the same time, another soldier—the one that I’m pretty sure Ares put in charge after he abandoned his men—stalks up behind them.
Aiden doesn’t stop him. In fact, I think he encourages him.
And when that man uses his sword to slice at the back of Troy’s leg, causing him to crash down to one knee, I’d bet anything that was payback for Ares/Troy being a super shitty general.
With a gesture from who has to be the new leader, the Spartan army—those who hadn’t been felled by an arrow or Hephaestus’s machinations—begin to retreat.
At the same time, Aiden cups his mouths and calls out one word: “Blacksmith.”
As if on cue, a massive figure steps out from one of the caves. Tall and broad-shouldered, thick with muscle, he has bronze-colored skin and a mess of wild curls around his face. My first impression of him is that he’s some sort of swarthy pirate, but then I see the massive hammer in his hand.
Hephaestus. That’s gotta be Hephaestus.
Standing close behind him, a smaller figure appears. The most I can see from my spot—and only because I’m tapping into Persephone and using the goddess to boost my own senses of vision and hearing—is that she’s dressed in white and she has pretty pink hair.
Seriously.
It’s pink, and I’m super jealous.
Unlike Ares and Hades, the man who is Hephaestus doesn’t use his godly powers to make a point. He’s big enough and strong enough that all it takes is a bit of muscle and a whole lot of vengeance to pick Troy up by his breastplate and—
Holy crap! He just tossed the guy off of the mountain!
Okay. I know it’s a war and all, but that? I don’t want to see that.
Luckily, I don’t have to. Because while Troy is still in flight, familiar arms wrap around me from behind. I don’t even have to turn to look up and see that it’s my husband. I know exactly who has used his shadows to return to me.
The battle is over, and Aiden is here.
I would’ve expected Aiden to grab me, open a portal to the Underworld, and whisk me away before anyone could give him a reason to stop.
Only he doesn’t, and I’m only a little surprised by that—until Alex returns for Daphne, a proud look on his face that lasts only as long as it takes for Hades to grab him by the front of his tunic and haul him to the tips of his golden sandals.
Even Alex knows better than to test my husband right now. Not after we all just witnessed Hades’s ability to reach inside an immortal, pull out his immortal soul, and leave the mortal body completely vulnerable.
Troy is dead. No doubt about that. I’m pretty sure Alex doesn’t want to be, either.
Now, do I think Aiden is going to kill my cousin’s husband? Nah. Doesn’t mean that Alex knows that…
Looking down his nose at the pretty boy sun god, Aiden says, “Tell my brother to clean up this mess.”
“I don’t know if Dad will be back in the Other soon—”
Aiden’s eyes turn white. Beneath his tan, Alex goes pale.
“You told me that Zeus orchestrated all of this. That his purpose during this latest incarnation was to stop Kronos from upsetting the balance between the old world and this one. Between the mirrorside and the Other. His presence here might have thrown it off more, but if I know Zeus, he’ll be watching the fruits of his labors. Trust me, Apollo. He will come.”
Aiden blinks. His eyes shutter, then open, and when they do, they’re the deep, delicious black I know and love again. Dropping Alex, he reaches out for me, finding my hand easily though he never once removes his gaze from the cocky sun god.
“Understand this. All of you. Everything I did today, I did for my blossom. That’s all.
And now, I’m takin’ her back home where I can keep her safe and make sure that Tartarus stays closed before Zeus tightens his wards on the prison.
Them titans ain’t gettin’ out again, I promise you that, but we did what you asked.
We helped. And I’d rather enjoy my wife among the shadows and the flames than claim her where everyone can see. Does anyone have a problem with that?”
Whoa. Big words from a man who spent more than a century as a virgin, but lucky for me, I know he can back them up.
Huh. I never thought it would be war and fighting and a little homicide that got my baby going like this, but if he needs to prove to himself that I’m his… I’m game. After all, he did all of that for me just like he said.
Me? I’ll do anything I can for him.
I’d hope he would figure that out by now, but when he finally rips his powerful gaze away from Alex, searching for me, I see hesitation in every inch of his beautiful face.
“I almost lost you, Blossom. The thought that the worlds could end and there would be no more Willow… forgive me if I won’t be able to settle my god down until he’s bed his wife and reminded himself that she is right there with him.”
I notice how careful he is to blame his possessiveness on the dark god inside of him. That might’ve worked, too, if I hadn’t spent the last three seasons getting to know every part of Aiden Murphy.
“That’s Hades. What about you, baby?”
He pulls me close, twisting me in his embrace so that I’m helpless but to feel his hard chest and even harder erection as he pushes himself against me.
“I waited eighty years for my wife to return to me. I waited three months with her in my realm before I knew what it felt like to have her wrapped around my body. Now? I don’t think I can wait a second more to come inside of her and prove to us both that she’s right where she belongs: with the man who would’ve waited an eternity for her love if that’s what it took. ”
“You have it, Aiden, baby. You have all of me.”
He ducks his head, pressing his lips to the side of my throat as he thrusts softly against me. “And I’d burn both worlds down before I’d lose you, Blossom. Flames and ash and brimstone everywhere just to keep that fiery crown on top of your pretty, pretty head.”
Gods help me, but I almost cream myself right there.
Aiden Murphy might have been a killer once.
Made that way by his government or the man he called “boss”, it doesn’t matter.
He knows what it costs to take a life, and after all of the souls pledged to him during this battle…
Hades might get a boost of power from the influx of dead to the Underworld, but something about proving himself and saving me again has really turned my husband on.
Not that I’m complaining or anything.
Reaching behind me, I give his ass a squeeze. Then, turning inside of his embrace until I’m standing in front of him, I go up on my tiptoes and fist my hands inside of his silky black shirt.
And then I say the three little words that I know will drive my husband mad more than any other:
“Take me home.”
To the Underworld.
To Sir, who reluctantly stayed behind to guard the gate while we ran to the above to help fight Ares and the titans.
To the pomegranate tree, and the megaron, and our bedroom.
Home.
Where I belong with him, and he belongs with me…
Take me home, husband, murmurs Persephone.
And that’s exactly what he does.