Chapter 13
HADES
It had been fifty years since I traversed the vast expanse of the Underbridge.
When my power was first realized as a young girl, undead souls clamored for my presence.
Zeus had been the one to recommend a city for the dead with me at the center, designed to protect my people.
I had agreed, being a trusting, impressionable young girl desperate for a life.
It made it difficult to see those I cared for, but at least my people were safe, and the land of the living was safe from them.
Then the assassination attempt. Zeus had insisted on installing guards along the Underbridge and in my home.
An undesirable necessity, he had said. Guards were necessary to keep me safe from those sent to kill me by mortals who feared my power.
I had not agreed then, but it hadn't mattered.
They trapped me away and left me to rot on my island of death and despair.
My driver, Dany, rolled to a stop in front of the first row of guards cloaked in blue garb and waited. The attendant approached us from his post, golden buttons glinting in the lavender morning light.
"Zeus has summoned us," Dany said as a way of greeting. She unceremoniously shoved a letter into his palm. It had been the point of Hermes’s visit yesterday, to deliver the letter granting me permission to leave. Needing permission to leave my own home disgusted me.
The soldier leveled Dany, then me and Wolfe, with an unimpressed scowl that made my blood boil.
As though this mere fucking human held the power to tell me what to do.
I could torch him and his comrades if I wanted to, yet I choked down the urge.
He analyzed the letter with an intensity that told me this was the most interesting thing to happen in his day, unaware of my desire to barbecue him.
"You have to get permission to leave?" Wolfe murmured from my side.
I shot him a venomous glare. "Yeah, thanks to you."
He scowled at that but made the intelligent decision to not respond.
The soldier stood straight and turned to the remaining infantry standing like a sea of blue along the length of the Underbridge. "Let them through!"
They parted, lining up between the spires and the Cerberus statues. The car lurched and plugged along past row upon row of stone-faced soldiers, their eyes tracking our movement with stoic silence. Flames flickered over my fists, though I snuffed them when the seat leather warped.
Zone 1 had changed drastically in the fifty years since my last visit, and yet somehow felt the same.
The entire city was an ode to Zeus’s power.
The road was trimmed with towering white marble skyscrapers trimmed with gold and blue opal.
Telephone poles and electric light posts stretched between them like spiderwebs cutting up the periwinkle sky.
Display windows boasted the newest televisions and phones, all plastered with The Tattle's newest headline. Residents walked in zombified states with their eyes glued to their devices, frequently running into each other. They said my citizens were wraiths, but compared to those that lived in Zeus’s domain, I wasn't so sure.
I rolled my shoulders and glanced at Wolfe, who sat in the seat opposite of me. His gaze was locked on our surroundings, the rotating glow of his eye sockets reflecting off the window. I cleared my throat, my fingers fiddling with the seam of my gown. "Have you been to the capitol before?"
"Yes, I have," he said in a flat tone. "And I hate it just as much now."
I couldn't help but agree with the sentiment.
His opinions shouldn’t matter to me. I shouldn't want his loyalty or anything but his compliance, but I had come to terms with the fact that wasn't the case. A broken part of me was desperate for his approval, like a starved cretin clamoring for scraps.
Seeing my brother again had to be the source of my insecurity.
Zeus always fucked with my psyche. At one time, I had trusted him with every fiber of my being—loved him, for what it was worth.
I wasn’t sure how I had been so foolish and na?ve.
He didn’t care about anyone but himself, and in my naivety, I had given him everything to carry out his plans for power.
Thinking about him and my past mistakes put me on edge.
Dany pulled to a stop, and I grimaced at the view. We had pulled underneath a porte cochère, and a valet was opening my door without regard for the fact that I didn't want to get out. My heart skipped, and I tossed a glare to Wolfe. "Remember our deal. Be a good boy today."
His cheeks flushed pink, and the frost coating the car seat spread at my statement.
This newfound kink of his was fascinating.
Somehow, the asshole that had tried to kill me all those years ago liked my power over him as much as I loved showing it.
Another development I didn't have time to consider.
Wolfe surprised me by getting out first and extending a hand to me, which I took as I stepped out of the car. He smirked at my raised eyebrow. "I can be a gentleman when properly incentivized."
"I'll keep that in mind," I retorted. My attention went to my driver, who was stepping out of the limousine to allow the valet into the front seat. "You are free to socialize but stay close. We will be out shortly."
Dany gave me a conspiratorial smile, her eye sockets scrunching with the movement. "See you soon, ma'am."
Wolfe put out his arm, which I took. Though it was all a facade for his own interests, I found myself pleasantly surprised by his manners.
At least I could pretend that he actually had my back.
Perhaps that was all it would take to endure this meeting with my brother.
It was unlikely, but I clung to the hope.
Zeus’s tastes had always been ostentatious.
The blend of gold and opal coating every surface of his interior was nearly blinding.
Ornamental furniture stuffed the room, carved with my brother’s likeness and his supposed accomplishments.
There was a solid gold desk along the far wall, its front surface engraved with a mural of Zeus giving electricity to the people of Olympiara.
Hera was stationed at the gaudy piece of furniture, her beautiful spun-gold hair pinned to her head.
Wolfe's attention quickly found her, the unfinished pearl in a room of gold, and he paused for a moment.
She gaped at him, and I growled under my breath.
The last thing I needed was Wolfe ogling other goddesses, especially those as pathetic as my brother's wife.
"Move your gaze before you piss me off," I snarled.
Wolfe balked, blinking at me as though he had just remembered I existed. "But… I know her."