EPILOGUE
Remiel
Smoke slithers through my dreams, sticking to the back of my throat like tar. Flames lick the edges of my vision. Screams echo through decades—
A paw bats my chest.
I gasp myself awake to see Hades’s emerald eyes staring back at me from above my sweaty brow. Darkness envelopes my room like it did the night of the fire that claimed my parents’ lives.
That almost claimed mine.
I stumble to the bathroom and crash to my knees at the toilet with bruising force. I heave twice before my stomach empties itself entirely.
Too many emotions crowd my cranium as I brush my teeth and gurgle mouthwash. For a moment, I stare at myself in the mirror and mark each feature staring back at me: dark skin, hair like raven feathers, plump peach lips, Greek nose, aqua eyes.
And the demonic skull branding the center of my heaving sternum.
I take a deep breath and sigh it all out, donning sweats and rubbing my eyes free of sleepy dust as I scoop Hades up and meander my way downstairs.
Without Poppy here since she moved out, the café is even more quiet at midnight than it ever was before. I’ve stood in this place many times without any light to penetrate the shadows. It’s usually a peaceful darkness, one that always swaddled me like my mother’s arms when I was little.
Now, though, there’s an eldritch feel to it all. I realize why when I spy a silhouette in the corner, idly swaying in a hammock.
Hades’s quiet purrs suddenly cut off.
I freeze as the cherry of a cigarette glows bright in the dark. Illuminating a scarred face and mismatched eyes I haven’t seen since I left Leviathan.
“E-Elder?”
“Hello, Master.” He grins, silver smoke coiling above his hooded head. “I think it’s time we have a little chat.”