Chapter 15
HADES
"That makes no sense. Didn't she tell you a blade to the head would kill an immortal? She knows that wouldn't work. Why would she lie?"
"I don't know, but I promise it was her. I always remember clients' faces."
My confusion quickly morphed into palpable fury.
That conniving little cunt, and knowing my brother, he was the puppet master holding the strings.
Hera never had an independent thought in her life, much less the willpower to attempt something as brutal as murdering her sister-in-law.
No, this had my brother's signature all over it.
My heart slammed against my ribcage, an enraged beast desperate to sow its wrath. The golden-stitched rug sizzled and curled underfoot as I marched toward the elevator. I reached for the button, only to realize flames had engulfed my body. I snapped my gaze to Wolfe. "Get the elevator," I snarled.
He obliged, doing everything in his power to avoid my heat as he pressed the button. My foot tapped as we waited, globs of fire dropping from me with every impatient stomp. It was too long before the eccentric ding of the elevator sounded.
By the time we stepped off the elevator, my patience had snapped.
I marched through the gilded halls, toward the double-wide golden doors with my brother's likeness.
Though he took liberties with his appearance, particularly with the bulge at his crotch.
With a toss of my hand, I launched a fireball at the family jewels.
The guards shouted and rushed us, their gaudy armor clinking with every lumbering stomp.
Flames rippled up my forearms in a violet wave, but Wolfe stepped in front of me.
Frost stitched over his jacket sleeves until it bolted from him in a cloud of icy vapor.
His power slammed them against the wall and enveloped them in a thick coating of immobilizing ice.
"You didn't kill them," I growled in distaste.
"Cleaner this way," he responded without pause.
It wasn't worth debating whether murder was the better option given the circumstance. We marched in with the sounds of desperate, enraged screams following us.
We walked into a plush room of gold and marble. In front of us stood a solid gold brick of a desk, carved with the twisting necks and open maws of a hydra dancing between bolts of lightning. Behind that desk stood the three gods I wanted to burn to a crisp.
Apollo stood with his hands folded in front of him. Hera stood next to him with wide eyes and trembling hands that clutched his shoulder. My fire roiled.
Zeus was the same as the last time I saw him. Sun-kissed skin led to dirty blond hair and piercing blue eyes like that of a hawk. His smile was that of a predator, hidden under suave arrogance and faux approachability.
"Well, if it isn't my fiery sister.”
I threw a fireball at his head, which he and Hera narrowly avoided.
"Why the fuck did your pet hire someone to kill me?" I shouted.
An agonizing silence built, second by second. Zeus leaned back in his desk chair and crossed his arms. "I invite you into my home, and you accuse my wife of something so heinous? You wound me, sister."
He leveled me with that smug expression that made me feel inches tall. Fury and hatred boiled underneath that insignificance. Of course he would lie—would take my power with a single utterance. I choked down the urge to burn the entire high-rise to cinders, though it felt like eating a hot coal.
I exhaled a breath like I intended to spit fire, hoping the simple action would steady me to endure… this. Helplessness ate at flesh and bone until there was nothing left but my ire.
Wolfe stepped carefully around my flames, consuming Zeus’s attention. "It’s not an accusation, because I’m the proof. Hera hired me to kill Hades."
Zeus’s jaw ticked and his veins flashed a shimmering gold that ended at his electric eyes. Wolfe continued, his voice dropping. "But I’m pretty good at reading people, and I get the feeling that you were the mastermind."
Silence slammed into the room with the weight of a sledgehammer. Each meager second dragged out for eons. The tension pulled tight enough to snap before Zeus responded. When he did, it wasn't to Wolfe. No, he looked directly at me.
"Who the fuck is this, Hades?"
The fury etched in his tone was a boon that spread satisfaction from my toes to my lips, curling them into a smile. "That's the challenge in hiring an assassin to kill me, brother. All wraiths come to me. You should know better."
He bared his teeth. "I did not permit you to buy a soul. It is a wretched, inhuman thing to do. You have your two servants; you did not need another."
The jagged stone of anger swelled in my throat.
He was diverting the conversation to redirect the blame to me.
He had done so my entire life, and it allowed him to dance out of the repercussions of his actions for an eternity.
I knew what he was doing—I fucking knew it—and yet it hurt and enraged me all the same.
He was scolding me, and the sickest part was a small sliver of that broken little girl within me that wanted to apologize for not accepting the shackles he had placed on me.
I can't let him get to me. I repeated the mantra in my mind over and over. Wolfe glanced at me with furrowed brows, but I ignored him. When I spoke, it was through gritted teeth, because otherwise I would scream. "Why did you try to kill me, Zeus?"
He rolled his shoulders, the only indication of his guilt.
"I did not invite you into my home to entertain these vile accusations.
A string of mass murders were committed across Olympiara, and I have brought you in for questioning on the matter.
That is far more important than something that did or didn't happen over a century ago. "
I snorted. He really was predictable, using his serpent's tongue to overcome his enemies and take control of any situation without lifting a finger. No matter, I had nothing to hide. "I gave a merciful end to the terminally ill and suffering. You should give me a medal."
He smiled, though his eyes narrowed to slits. He turned his attention to Apollo. "My sister believes she helped those people. What do you think?"
Apollo scanned me with his normal, muted expression.
As though he was too good for this conversation, though I knew better.
He held a facade as well as the rest of us, pretending to be the gracious healer.
In reality, he was a festering boil that spread disease for his own profit.
I met his gaze with disgust, hoping my distaste ate away at whatever blackened void he held within.
He ignored me and returned his attention to Zeus.
"We had been working on a cure, Your Highness.
She ruined our efforts and killed innocents for her own interests. "
Zeus smirked. "Well, sister, what do you say to that?"
"I say you falsely accused me of starting this blight, to the point you fucking named it after me, and now that I disrupted your plan, you're being a whiny bitch." I allowed a sardonic grin to click into place as the perfect mask to my agony. "All is fair in love and war, brother."
Zeus rocked in his chair, forcing Hera to scoot out of the way from her spot behind him.
"You know what I think? That you're upset you're being blamed for 'Underworld’s Delirium' and you threw a tantrum with no consideration for the consequences.
You're behaving like a child. You need to remember the benefit of the many over the wishes of the few, darling. "
I grimaced at the expression. It was a statement he had made often enough when we stood together, in the days when I was young and na?ve.
It had been something my brothers and I had committed to when we began our takeover.
We were the sacrifices, destined to save Olympiara from the constant monster attacks.
It took me a hundred years to realize it was an outright lie.
"Oh, so church attendance is low, and you needed to return the fear of God to your citizens? Can't have them gaining independent thought."
Zeus smiled but said nothing. Ever the politician. I stepped in closer and willed him to see the hatred in my eyes. "And as usual, you used me as your scapegoat. But what if I stopped playing the villain, brother? I could tell them all they would find salvation if they simply turned against you."
He chuckled at that, the sound a thunderclap that vibrated through my bones. "You wouldn't do that. It would cause utter anarchy. And besides, you couldn't if you wanted to."
The unwavering confidence in his statement had my flames rippling to life.
The shag rug beneath Zeus’s desk curled and singed, filling the air with its acrid scent.
A caged canary, like always. An army of Poseidon's soldiers stopped me from ever attempting to usurp my brothers.
They lived in my home, putting me under constant supervision.
The world froze on its axis. Even the dust particles caught in the golden midday light stilled in their eternal dance.
A shudder ran through me as puzzle pieces clicked together in my mind, forming an image of iron bars and blue soldiers' jackets.
My lips parted, the air like ice in my lungs. "That's why you did it," I murmured.
Zeus was too smart to ask me what I meant, but my attention locked onto him regardless. "You wanted me caged, that's why you sent an assassin. Fear has always been a favorite tool of yours, hasn't it?"
"We didn't send that assassin, Hades. You've convinced yourself of this because you refuse to believe the mortals would want you dead, but—”
Everything that came out of his mouth was a lie, so I ignored him. "That explains why Hera told them a knife to the brain would work. The goal wasn’t to actually kill me.”
"This allegation is ridiculous," Zeus snapped. He got to his feet, his hulking form towering above both Hera and Apollo.
"You know what’s ridiculous? You are a weak, pathetic man who cheats on his wife and does whatever he can to fill the empty void in his chest to make him feel whole. I can't believe I have allowed you to control my life for this long. That is fucking ridiculous," I snarled.
A bolt of anger warped his expression into something twisted and evil. Blue lightning danced across his skin. The static electricity in the room built and made my hair rise on end. Then he lunged, and I braced myself for what would be a violent clash.
Except the sharp sting of electricity did not vibrate my bones.
Only darkness graced my vision. Wolfe stood in front of me, one hand between my brother and me.
He spoke in a deep rumble that vibrated up my spine.
"You dare attack Her Majesty? In front of me? You aren’t aware of the mistake you made, but I am happy to show you. "
The temperature in the room dropped, and frost crept over Wolfe's suit jacket in jagged snowflake patterns. A pool of ice dashed across the floor, intent on neutralizing the threat. Zeus’s lips parted to speak, but Wolfe cut him off.
"I was raised to see Hades as the villain.
Your curriculum, I suppose. I guess death puts things in perspective. "
He grabbed the edge of the desk and threw it to the side with a violent crash. The piece must have weighed well over a thousand pounds, but my guard dog discarded it like nothing. My core heated at the blatant violence, the show of loyalty. It made me salivate.
Zeus bared his teeth and threw a hand at Wolfe. Except nothing happened. His palm was pressed to Wolfe's chest, but that familiar sizzle of flesh and fabric didn't come. Ice spread across my brother's fingertips. He screamed and yanked his hand away as his flesh turned a sickly shade of blue.
Wolfe tilted his head. I could almost hear the smirk in that motherfucker's voice. "Do not threaten her, and do not put your hand on me."
There was a tense silence as the gods in the room gaped in horror at my undead assassin.
Hera and Apollo, ever the inactive pussies, stayed with their eyes wide and their backs against the wall.
All attention was on Wolfe, and my core was melting at the stench of fear.
Having someone on my side, one that could raze cities for me and silence my brother's fucking mouth, was twisting and heating my insides in ways I was anxious to explore.
Zeus’s gaze went to me, frustration marring his face. "What did you do, Hades?"
A smirk tightened my cheeks. "I finally found someone that doesn't fall for your shit, brother."