Chapter 25
HADES
Icy fury consumed my mind at the sight of Thane.
Blood poured in two thin rivers over his forehead, collecting at his jawline before dripping onto the floor beneath him.
The scent of disease tainted the room. His head was slouched forward with a needle protruding out of his skull like a fucking unicorn.
It wouldn't kill him, but that was almost worse.
It left him to bask in unimaginable agony for who knew how long.
I dipped out of the room and stood against the wall to come up with a plan.
Rage and guilt twisted into knots within me.
I should have trusted him. Apollo had days to torment him because I was off sulking.
All the while, he had been loyal to me. It was despicable.
Flames still flickered over my skin, but I wasn't sure who I hated more right now—Zeus and Apollo, or myself.
I ground my teeth together and steeled my nerves to return my attention to the room.
Finally able to look past Thane's wretched state to the chains holding him, my eyes finally caught on it.
Apollo was smarter than I gave him credit for.
Stygian iron also snuffed powers given by an immortal, which rendered my pet's ice useless under the very chains I had armed him with.
I grimaced. That meant I must free Thane before restraining Apollo, and that would be an impossible task.
Near impossible, but not impossible. I slipped my phone from my pocket and placed it against the doorframe, praying that Apollo wouldn't notice the red recording light.
Then I straightened from my hiding spot and strode into the hospital room with my head held high.
The click of my heels caught Apollo's attention.
The immortal turned on me, hand already reaching for the gilded sword at his waist. In response, I tore my scythe from its sheath and swept it toward his neck.
The air froze down the stretch of my handle to the blade inches from his Adam's apple. He gulped and raised his arms.
"This fight is fruitless,” he said in a tone intended to be soothing, though it was anything but.
The comment made me want to hack through his head until the room was painted with his golden ichor, but I refrained. There were better ways to get what I wanted, and I was nothing if not strategically minded. I let my weapon go slack in my hands.
"You're right. Let's talk this out like adults, Apollo."
A feral smile twisted his lips, and he straightened. Arrogant, as I'd guessed. A man who thought he was safe simply because the beast had yet to attack. He waved a casual hand to the broken and bleeding Thane. "I'm guessing you came for your pet?"
"You would be correct. But it's more than that, Apollo." I said his name again intentionally. I carefully stepped out of my phone’s line of sight. "You started a plague and blamed me for it. I deserve—no, I demand to know why."
His eyebrows furrowed and his jaw tightened. He spoke through stiff words and clenched teeth. "Not even I am privy to all of Zeus’s plans, little fury. I simply do as I am told and reap the benefits of being loyal."
I snorted at that. "Oh darling, look at me and see where the road of loyalty leads."
He raised an eyebrow. "To ruling your own kingdom, with your own castle, worshipped by the entirety of Olympiara."
"Trapped in a castle and feared by the entirety of Olympiara," I retorted. A ripple of flames ran across my flesh as anger threatened to consume me. Apollo made it sound as though I was the goal, that my life was one to aspire to. Little did he know that I was cursed.
"Fear is a powerful tool, Hades. Entire countries have been leveled and rebuilt on fear."
On this, he and I agreed. We had overthrown the last regime under the guise of saving the country from the monsters that plagued this world.
We succeeded but rewrote the stars at the same time.
What he didn’t know was that fear could level a person, too.
It could corrupt them until nothing but rot and decay remained.
I was about to tell him as much when I realized I was rapidly steering us off-topic. I had a purpose here.
"So, you're telling me you sentenced hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent citizens to death, and you don't even know why?"
His gaze lanced with anger, and shimmering gold rippled through his irises. "Yes. Because that is what it means to have faith. I believe in Zeus, as you should."
"Zeus is not a god," I snarled. "You have put your faith in the wrong place."
He gestured around him with a savage smirk. " I have everything, thanks to my faith. Perhaps your lack of faith has doomed you."
I considered that. It was possible that my soul was stained past the point of repair. Maybe I had cursed myself with anger and hatred. I tapped the foot of my scythe against the floor and used my free hand to tap my chin. In truth, I didn't care if it was true.
"It is possible," I said thoughtfully. Then I waved to the doorframe. "Unfortunately for you, you have doomed yourself. I just recorded everything you said and will share it to everyone in Olympiara the second I leave this place."
Confusion, anger, then fear flashed across Apollo's face like the slides of a View-Master.
He shoved me out of the way without care to lurch for the phone.
I used the distraction to close the space between Thane and me.
With one smooth yank, I removed the syringe from his head and threw it to the side.
Regardless of the wretched burning, I reached up and wriggled the chain free from its hook in the ceiling.
It clattered to the floor along with his wrists.
I gritted my teeth. There wasn’t time for this.
In moments, Apollo would be on me. I bent and freed Thane’s wrists from their now-loose confines.
The metal ate away at my skin, but I ignored the fiery pain.
I, Hades, goddess of fire, would not fear being burned.
I wrapped the end around my fist and turned to my opponent.
Apollo was straightening, a triumphant expression warping his face. "You foolish bitch. I deleted it."
"Good thing it was live." The satisfaction of my next words lessened the pain lancing through my fist.
I swung the chain without giving my words time to settle, and it twisted around his throat. Cries of agony filled the small room and serenaded my actions as I yanked him hand over fist toward me. The pain was cathartic as new boils and burns marred my skin with every tug.
Apollo fought me for every inch, but the iron was weakening him faster than me.
The chain had dug an inch into his charred flesh and was restricting his ability to heal or breathe.
I slammed my fist into his nose, causing him to crumple under my toxic leash.
His knees hit the floor with a dull thud that vibrated through my feet.
I untangled the chain from his throat and wrapped his scarred wrists with it.
Bits of flesh and ichor, both Apollo’s and my own, clung to my fingers, but I ignored it.
The scent of charred meat filled the room as I melted the chains together around his wrists, ensuring there would be no escape.
I kicked Apollo so his weight rested on his chained arms, then finally gave my attention to Thane.
The slew of emotions that overcame me at the sight of him nearly caused me to choke.
Beneath the relief at his safety and the lingering terror was something deeper, something that had taken root in my heart and festered over our time together.
It was an urge to claim him as mine in every way.
Chain him to me so he never left my side again.
Maybe some would call that feeling love, but it was corrupted in an irreparable way. Unfortunately for him, I didn't care.
Apollo had done a number on him. Sweat glistened off his ghostly complexion in the blue moonlight.
His shirt was in shreds, held up only by the strips of fabric stuck to his blood-slicked torso.
Black strands of hair stuck to his forehead and nape at odd angles.
He was just as brutally handsome as the night I’d met him.
Blue eye sockets full of icy fury burrowed into me, and I wanted nothing more than to melt that gaze.
I prowled toward him at a steady pace, refusing to run to him. "Are you alright, handsome?"
He choked out a chuckle and rubbed a hand over his chest, smearing gore with the movement. "Peachy."
"That's good." I came to a stop a pace away from him, keeping his head level with my thighs. "You left me. You failed your mission."
He recoiled. His eyes darted to the floor before returning to me. "I'm sorry. I made an error—a moment of softness that will never happen again."
"Good. I don't want you soft, my darling wolf.
I want you vicious and brutal in every possible way.
I want to see your darkness spread across this world with mine.
" My hand brushed over his hair. The strands were wet to the touch, but I didn't mind.
A small smile willed its way to my lips. "I'm glad you're safe."
His expression softened, and he slouched into my touch. "And you as well, my fiery goddess."
He glanced at Apollo. "What shall we do with him?"
I dared a look at the god behind me. A soft groan escaped his cracked lips. Already his neck was healing itself. He would wake soon, but chained with Stygian iron and powerless, there wasn't much he could do. "Throw him into the pits of Tartarus and let the furies have at him."
Furies were one of the few monsters allowed to live during our rise to power.
They proved to be particularly efficient torturers.
Their cruelty had attracted me, and they had a haven within Tartarus.
I couldn't wait to see what they would do with Apollo.
"Lamia has ensured that his little speech is broadcasting to all of Olympiara.
There are sure to be uprisings by morning. "
He chuckled. "That should be fun."
With that, he tried to stand. However, I pushed my heel into his chest to pin him down. His eyes widened. "We need to leave, don't we? His guards will catch us soon."
I shook my head. "The city is burning, the marshals have their hands full.” I smirked. “We have time, and you have been a very bad boy, handsome."