Chapter 23 Hades
Hades
“Let me go!” I roared, for hundredth time. Ankhiale rolled her eyes at me, just as she had every other time.
“Good gods, you're irritating. If you're careless enough to let me trap you, then you should handle the consequences like a real man.”
I glared down at the metal band glowing around my wrist, furious that she'd managed to get it there. If I'd known she'd had it I would have fought differently.
“I know who gave this to you,” I hissed. It was a manacle forged by Hephaestus, and there were only three in existence. They were able to bind a god of almost any strength, and due to their exceptional power were only ever used in extreme circumstances.
And the only gods they were entrusted to were the three strongest; Zeus, Poseidon and myself.
I shook my wrist, pouring the little power I could still access into the metal, but the manacle didn't move. It was chained to an iron stake in the ground, pinning me in place.
I knew it was useless.
I used my own manacle to transport powerful prisoners to Tartarus, until it was no longer needed to trap them and limit their power. I knew how unbreakable the magic was. And I knew that only one of my brothers could remove it.
“Well yeah, it's pretty fucking obvious,” Ankhiale said, stepping through the ring of flames she'd created around me.
I couldn't survive her fire without my power.
My mind was racing, fear for Persephone overruling all else.
I was useless here. “That pathetic water-loving brother of yours isn't strong enough to free a Titan from Tartarus,” Ankhiale smiled at me.
She was right. Poseidon would never have enough dominion in the Underworld. But Zeus...
“He orchestrated the Trials here so that I would have to relinquish control of the Underworld to him. It was nothing to do with finding me a wife. It’s why he found Persephone.”
She nodded, her flaming hair falling about her face, her blood red lips pulled up in a grin.
“The longer the Trials have gone on, and the more control you have allowed him, the more power he has gained here. He's the strongest of all of you. All he needed was a little time, and a little deference from you. And the girl.”
“I am the Underworld,” I spat. “He can not beat me in my own realm.” She chuckled.
“It would appear he already has, little Lord,” she said, gesturing at my wrist. I instinctively drew on my power, but the response was just a pathetic swell of fury, coursing uselessly through me. I couldn't channel it into magic, no matter how hard I tried.
“Why would Zeus free you? He hates you, and all other Titans.” I couldn't make sense of it. The very last Olympian who would want Cronos to be free was Zeus, surely?
“Ego and hatred are powerful emotions, Hades.
The world has forgotten how evil we Titans are supposed to be.
They are allowed into the academies to learn magic alongside the other citizens, they are allowed to work and live in the realms, treated the same as everyone else.
And now, to top it off, you've given one of our most powerful, the mighty Oceanus, his own realm in Olympus.”
I stared at her in disbelief.
“You're saying Zeus is freeing Cronos to show the world that Titans are bad?”
“He doesn't think Cronos will actually make it to freedom. He thinks he can use me, and your lovely ex-wife, to let Cronos wreak a touch of havoc, reminding the world of what Titans are capable of, before he swoops in and saves the day. And then all will hail our mighty King Zeus.” She gave a mocking bow.
“But he's a fucking fool,” she hissed straightening suddenly.
“As soon as Cronos gets his hands on that little flower goddess of yours, Zeus will not be able to contain him. Nobody will!”