Chapter Seventy-Four #2
“He’ll be invincible,” I spoke up. The enormity of what was happening finally hit me.
The Morningstar was in a position to take us all out, one by one.
Just as the original Olympians, as my mother, my father, and my beloved, had overthrown the titans.
“Can his realms sustain that many souls? It may speak as to why he desires the Underworld. Its permanence and space.”
A series of agreeing hums among the council wasn’t comforting. Athena in particular watched me with a slow nod.
“It would speak to his newfound desperation lately,” Hecate’s prickly tone affirmed.
“What of the titans?” Athena finally spoke, turning all heads to the goddess of wisdom. “Hades, would you release them to help us defeat this new threat? Do you think a deal could be brokered?”
“We barely caged them before!” Zeus cried out, lightning flickering over his skin. His tone descended into a dangerous cadence. “That’s suicide, and it’s not an option.”
“But we did cage them!” Athena countered, her voice stubbornly remaining calm where Zeus was chaos. “And we can do it again.”
“They’re too angry,” Hades murmured, shaking his head, agreeing with Zeus. “I feel them. They’re hateful of us. They’d let us die out of spite, even if it meant their end. Especially if it meant our end.”
“Besides that, we can’t risk them falling into the hands of the enemy.” Zeus glared at everyone, challenging each being in turn to disagree with him.
I firmly met his gaze. “Agreed, Zeus. We leave the Titans as far from reach as possible.” As if it were as simple as keeping a sweet on the top of a cupboard away from prying, eager fingers.
“Okay.” Athena crossed her arms. “What do we know about the Morningstar, then?” When nobody answered, her voice rose. “We cohabitated with this monster for a long time and we know nothing?”
“We know he gains power through the prayers of mortals, like us,” Poseidon mused thoughtfully. “We know he gains strength from the souls that end up in his Hell realm.”
“He hunts for Persephone, specifically,” Ares stated, his eyes narrowing on me. “Why?”
“Are you accusing my daughter of being in league with him? He assaulted her!” Mother’s harshest tone was a bluster of a winter wind, draining the warmth even from the braziers.
“No accusation was thrown, Demeter, relax.” Ares’s axe glinted menacingly in the firelight as he twirled it expertly over his wrist. His attention shot back to me, not unkindly. “What was your relationship with him before Hades?”
I hesitated a beat. “I’d only met him that day in Olympus. It was friendly mostly,” I said stiffly. “Until it wasn’t.”
“Until he touched her,” Zeus smoldered, making me want to disappear inside myself. Hades’ hand floated to mine, bolstering. “He’s targeting her. Hunting her, and has since he met her that day in Olympus.”
“What is it about Persephone he wants so badly?” Athena asked, zeroing in on me with scrutiny that made me want to squirm even more. “She looks normal enough to me.”
For the first time, Mother and Zeus exchanged a tense look that went unnoticed by the others as they bickered amongst one another. It was too fast, too sharp to be benign. Zeus’s storm bright eyes briefly filled with something that looked foreign on the King of the Gods—fear.
I grit my teeth in fury, my hands white-knuckling the ends of the armrests of my throne. A deep, primal knowing churned in my gut.
They knew something.
I opened my mouth to order them to put what they knew to name when a deep, resounding crack descended upon the room, loud enough to shake the walls.
We all glanced up in unison, watching the brazier swing and dust descend over us all.
Like a door breach on a heavy gate, another thunderous boom shook every brick. This time accompanied by a strange shattering sound, like a million shattered pieces of glass, but deeper, more resonant. When one scream began, a chorus cut through the air.
“He’s here,” Hades snarled, rage pulsing from him like blood from a wound. “The barrier—I can’t feel it anymore.”
The wards. They were breached.
The Morningstar moves to attack us.
“To arms!” Zeus cried, summoning his lightning to his hands like a spear. I didn’t have time to choke on the fear tightening my throat. Hades shot me a knowing look in the chaos. Dust settled over everything, loosened by the infrequent quakes.
“Don’t leave my side, little shadow. I can keep you safe, but only if you’re where I can reach you.
” As grim as he looked, there was a spark of long-simmering rage boiling over.
Hades has wanted to fight the Morningstar for so long, and today he got to draw blood.
The air sparked, the shadows went from lazy coils at our feet to vengeful streaks around us, hissing a warning to any who might venture too close.
“I promised my thorns to any who dared harm this place. I just didn’t anticipate having to make good on that promise so soon. I fight with you, Hades. At your side.”
Ares tossed his axe up only to catch it by its hilt.
I wasn’t sure which looked more bloodthirsty, him or his weapon.
“Fucking finally,” Ares preened under the promise of blood and violence the way flowers did under rain.
He raised his axe up to look at it almost lovingly.
“Let’s go, old friend. You’ll drink your fill this day. ”