Chapter 21 #3
Another thought slams into me then, this one softer, more disorienting. I press a hand to my ribs, trying to ease the ache tightening in my chest.
My father.
He didn’t abandon us like I’d always thought. He left to protect us, just like Mom said.
“Is he… is he here?” I ask. “My dad?”
“No one knows where Sonar is.” Hayes shakes his head.
“He was one of the Ten Forsworn—the Titan generals who defied Zeus during the war. After their defeat, they were sentenced to the Tartarus prisons for eternity. Decades ago, Sonar escaped. My father sent Watchers and hellhounds after him, and they tracked him to California, to your mother. But after Amber was born, he vanished again. No one’s seen him since. ”
“Oh, who cares about him anyway?” Amber shrugs. “It’s not like he was ever around.”
Her words barely register as a new idea takes root.
Wild, but not impossible: Northwestern hemisphere.
October birthday. Halfbreed. Those aren’t just Amber’s markers.
And if someone’s going to rule the Underworld by Hayes’s side, shouldn’t it be someone who can actually watch a scary movie without covering her eyes the entire time?
Someone like… well, me.
“What if it’s not her?” I ask Hayes.
“It’s not you,” he says too fast. Too firmly. Like it’s a thought he’s had before and been forced to dismiss and bury deep.
“How do you know?”
“There were other signs. Extraordinary ones,” he says. “Amber was born during a Blood Supermoon. It’s a rare celestial event sacred to the Olympians and always marks a shift in power.”
I scoff. “So a creepy moon shows up, and suddenly she’s the Chosen One?”
“There’s more,” he continues. “The night she was born, every gate in Tartarus burst wide open. Every cell. Every seal. It took my father, Zeus, and Poseidon weeks to track down and contain the prisoners. But it wasn’t just random chaos.
” His jaw flexes. “The escapees weren’t running.
They were searching. Heading topside. All of them. Moving with purpose.”
“You’re saying they broke out because of Amber?” My words are thin, uncertain. “To what? Find her?”
He nods. “If the prophecy is real, then she’s the key to uniting the immortal races—Olympians, Underworlders, and the last of the Titans. The prophecy doesn’t just promise a new queen. It promises a shift. For some, that’s a good thing. But others will lose everything. Power. Position. Influence.”
I sink deeper into the bed, suddenly ice cold despite the warmth of the luxurious bed.
I can’t believe it.
We’re back at Star Wars, but somehow, it’s even worse than the long-lost Olympian sister twist. Turns out, I’m Hayes’s long-lost Olympian sister-in-law.
“How long have you known it was her?”
Hayes won’t meet my eyes.
“My father figured it out around my fifth birthday,” he says. “That’s why we moved to Laguna Hills. To protect her without raising suspicion.”
The words gut me.
Every shared memory. Every secret. Every late-night call—was it just proximity to my sister? A job? Had I only ever been his way of keeping tabs on her?
Was any of it real?
“Why bring us here now, then?” I ask, barely holding myself together. “What’s changed?”
Hayes’s expression darkens.
“There was supposed to be more time,” he says.
“Time for us to live some life, explore the world first. Time for me to stay hidden until I was ready to take the throne. But someone made their move—they killed my father.” His hands curl into fists at his sides, knuckles white with restrained fury.
“As you can imagine, killing an immortal god isn’t easy.
We still don’t know who did it or how, but with my father gone, everything’s unraveling faster than expected.
Power vacuums don’t last long down here, and if they kill me or Amber before I’m crowned and married, it all falls apart. Earth isn’t safe anymore.”
“The important part is we’re here now, Ally,” Amber says, looking shockingly unbothered by all the talk of murder plots.
“Mortals can’t enter Hades—so, no Mom, no Brooke, no Tiff.
But you? You’re a halfbreed too. That’s why I begged Hayes to bring you here.
There’s going to be a big royal wedding when I turn eighteen, and you’ll be in it, obviously. ”
“It’s her decision, Amber. We talked about this,” Hayes says, cutting her a look. He turns to me, something taut and unreadable in his expression. “Now that you know everything, it’s your choice. You can stay. Or you can leave.”
My heart stutters. “I can go back?”
“If that’s what you want,” he says. “But you need to understand what that means. You’ll be alone there and if my uncles—or the wrong immortals—find out what you know, they won’t hesitate. You’re a threat now, Al. And they don’t leave threats alive.”
A chill races through me.
“But I’ll be safe here?”
“Safer… maybe. But not safe.” He hesitates.
“The Palace protects us for now, but it won’t hold forever.
The throne is empty, and the balance is tipping.
Whoever killed my father isn’t done. They’ll come after us down here, too.
” His voice drops lower, and something unreadable flickers in his eyes.
“There’s something else you need to know.
If you stay, you’ll have to participate in the Secular Games. It can be… dangerous.”
“The what now?”
“It’s tradition here,” he says. “An ancient rite held to mark the crowning of a new ruler of the Underworld. It’s a competition meant to cement the Crown’s power.
Everyone will be watching. Every house sending champions.
” His gaze locks on mine. “And thanks to your bloodline, you’ll compete for the House of Hades. ”
A dangerous competition between immortals in the literal Underworld? That doesn’t exactly scream warm welcome. I’m not entirely sure staying here is any better than going back home.
“You’ll be fine, Ally. You can handle a little challenge,” Amber says, brushing it all off with a wave. “Please say you’ll stay. You can be my maid of honor!”
I stare at her, a sick twist curling in my gut.
She says it like it’s some kind of gift.
Like me fighting in some deadly supernatural trial and possibly risking my life is some pesky minor detail—as long as she has her dutiful handmaiden smiling prettily at her wedding.
She’s so insanely self-absorbed she doesn’t even realize she’s asking me to stand beside her while she takes everything I’ve ever wanted.
Or worse—she does know and just doesn’t care.
Amber has always underestimated me, and she’s doing it again.
She has Hayes now. She probably thinks she’s won. That I’ll watch from the shadows like I always have and bleed quietly if the Games demand it. That I’ll hold her hand and smile politely while she becomes royalty, marrying the one person I’ve loved in silence my whole life.
Stay quiet.
Stay small.
But I’ve spent eighteen years on the outside looking in. I’m done with that.
The Underworld isn’t meant for people like Amber. It’s meant for people like me. If this place wants a princess, it should have chosen more carefully.
Because I didn’t come all this way to be anyone’s maid of honor.