40. Chapter 40
Chapter forty
Corre
T he goddess’s hair fell around her, pouring over her shoulders and onto the ground in great, graceful waves. She was breathtaking, her beauty surreal. She looked like she’d been molded from the ocean. When her icy eyes fell upon Markus, she frowned, and they darted to the two evil deities bowing at her feet.
“Rise,” she said, her voice smoky and commanding. She waved her hand up, beckoning them to stand. “Hypnos.” She fixed her heavy gaze on the Deity of Sleep, then shifted to the other. “Thanatos.” As the two deities got to their feet, her gaze settled back upon Markus. “Markus, son of Thomas and Lily?”
He nodded slowly.The tension in the room was thick. Suffocating.Corre looked from Thanatos to the goddess, and then to the still bowing Deity of Sleep. She stifled a gasp and looked up at the goddess. “You’re Nyx,” she said, and the goddess smiled.
“That’s right.” Her alluring voice was somehow both loud and smooth as it rippled across the cave. “I take it I have been asleep much longer than a few hours.” She looked to Hypnos, and her expression immediately changed. “Explain yourself.” Her hair shuttered, coming alive as fury sparked in her eyes.
Hypnos continued to bow. “I’m sorry, Mother. Forgive me.”
“I didn’t ask you to apologize. I asked you to explain.” But the god said nothing. Nyx growled and then shot a look at his twin brother. “What have you two done?”
“Nothing, Mother. We were only fulfilling our callings—”
“Lies! You were told to train the boy. You are the Deity of Death, not the God of the Underworld. You were to train the boy until he was of age. But it seems you and your brother have done something devious, considering during Hades’ entire upbringing, I’ve been lying dormant in this place.” She looked around at the dreary cavern. “You kept me down here,” she said it as if only now realizing it. “You two have plotted something.”
“I’m so sorry, Mother,” Hypnos quickly spouted. “Thanatos beguiled me with an influx of power. I was intoxicated by it as it came.”
“You pathetic—” Thanatos started, raising his hand to smack his brother, but Nyx rose hers instead and, with a flick of her wrist, secured the evil god’s arm behind his back.
“Let your brother speak,” she said, then looked back at Hypnos.
“He had a plan that would allow us access to the entire world. We could rule it however we pleased. He said we could become more powerful than even the Titans. And he was right. He gave me power.”
“How?” Nyx narrowed her eyes.
“Through the dreams of the gods.”
The air was sucked from Corre’s lungs.
“You’re only to be over the humans’ sleep. How did you toy with the gods like that?”
“With Thanatos’s help—”
“Stop dragging me—” Thanatos’s mouth was clamped shut by another flick of his mother’s wrist.
Hypnos continued without skipping a beat. “I was able to create a room of nightmares for the young Hades, and it gave me power as he was trained. Thanatos told me it would help shape Theron into Hades while also giving me power.”
Corre’s heart pulled in her chest. She glanced over at Markus, but he showed no emotion as he watched the peculiar exchange.
“If you thought you two would rule the world, why would you need the boy?” Nyx asked.
“That was what he’d first told me, but after a few months of the boy’s training—” Torture , Corre wanted to correct, but she didn’t dare speak. “—I became stronger, and through his fears in that room, I was able to do more than I ever thought possible.”
“Including placing your mother in a cursed sleep,” Nyx hissed, and Hypnos cowered, bowing his head again.
“I apologize greatly, Mother.”
“That doesn’t cut it,” the goddess snapped.
Hypnos fell to his knees again, trembling as he stared fixedly at the damp floor.
“Is that what the power I felt was?” Corre finally piped up. “All that mind-numbing power? And the strange feelings the gods on Olympus have been feeling?”
Hypnos didn’t respond, but then Nyx said, “I’d like to know, too. Speak.”
“Yes.”
Corre laughed bitterly, but her mind was whirring at lightning speed trying to keep up. She knew she’d been blind and na?ve about the affairs on Olympus, but just how much was she unaware of?
“If you’ve been taking a portion of Markus’s power his whole life,” Corre started, “why are the gods only now feeling ill, or strange, or whatever it is?”
“I never took his power,” Hypnos said. The words were stiff as they came out. Like Corre was beneath speaking to. “I only received power through his fears, but the more powerful he became, the more power seeped into those fears, unguarded, in that room. And then into me. He hadn’t returned to it for years, until recently.” The Deity of Sleep looked up, dreamily, staring off into the leaky grotto. “It was the most power I’d ever felt. It was glorious. So much power . . . I could start working toward the world Thanatos had planned—” Hypnos grunted in pain as his brother struck him across the face.
Markus’s master looked to the goddess Nyx. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying. I wasn’t trying to rule anything. I was only trying to reach my potential and show my brothers how to do the same.”
“That’s not—” Hypnos started, but Thanatos glared at him.
“You’ve spoken to your other brothers, then?” Nyx said, and Thanatos’s features twisted. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” She sighed heavily and stroked her forehead. “You chose the easiest to beguile first. You wanted to show them the start of your devious plan. What exactly were you expecting to accomplish?”
“Just as I said, to reach—”
“Do not lie to me!” Her voice bellowed higher and higher until it was a piercing screech, like the sound of a hydra. Thanatos stood his ground and didn’t so much as shake. Hypnos, on the other hand, collapsed onto his face, quaking with fear. “You meddled with the divine,” she said, scowling in disgust. “Who do you think you are to believe you can interfere with the affairs of Olympus? To take Hades’ fate from him and torment him for your own selfish, disgusting purposes? Who do you think you are?”
Thanatos’s eyes were black with fury. “I am the Great Deity of Death!” he howled. “The true God of Death! The deity of death itself! The throne of the Underworld shouldn’t go to some sniveling boy who didn’t even want it!”
“That’s not up for you to decide!” Nyx shouted. “You were to train the boy as a god of death! To train him! That is all! And now you have made a grave mistake. Many grave mistakes.” She turned to Hypnos. “As did you. You both will suffer for what you’ve done. I’ll get to the bottom of every last part of it. With the new, true reining head of Tartarus.” She turned to Markus, her scowl quickly, jarringly, turning into a smile. “Are you ready, young Hades?” she asked gently. “To take the throne that is rightfully yours?”
Corre’s face lit up, her spirit soaring; she smiled so hard her cheeks hurt as she grabbed Markus’s arm and looked into his lost eyes. “Markus! Did you hear her?” But he didn’t move, and her smile fell. “Markus?”
“See?” Thanatos scoffed. “The boy’s soft. He doesn’t have the stomach to rule as God of the Underworld.”
“Do you believe you’re above all other gods?” Nyx snapped at her son. “That you know better than the Titans and the prophecies?”
“So, there are prophecies,” Corre muttered to herself, but the goddess heard her.
“Yes, child. A great many.”
Her gaze fell. “Oh.” If they were all prophesied of their places on Olympus, or below, then where did that leave her?
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t make your own destiny,” Nyx added, and Corre looked up. The goddess smiled down at her, then once again shifted her focus to Markus. “Young Markus, what say you? Are you ready to take the throne?”
Markus continued staring off, frozen.
“Markus?” Corre asked softly, threading her fingers in his. “What’s wrong?”
Finally, he met her gaze, curling his hand over Corre’s and taking a breath. “Nothing,” he said quietly. “This is all so much, but,” He looked up at Nyx, “I’m ready to take the throne.”
A smile stretched across Corre’s face again, but there was still a weight heavy in her chest. She’d hoped there were no prophecies. That the tale that spoke of them was just another story she got wrong.
At least Markus would finally be free.
She pressed her face against his side. “You did it, Markus. You’re free.” She lifted her hands and tenderly grabbed his face. They looked into each other’s eyes, tears filling Corre’s. “You’re okay now. It’s all over.”
He didn’t smile back. He wiped a tear from her face and said, “What about Correlia?” He looked up at Nyx.
“What about her?” the goddess asked with that same melodious hum in her voice.
“Can she stay?”
Nyx laughed. “That’s for the two of you to decide. You’re the ruler here now. Not me.”
The weight lifted from Corre’s chest. “Markus!” she gasped, so gloriously relieved, and he wrapped his arms around her.
“It’s over,” he said, emotion welling in his voice.
“It’s over,” she confirmed, rubbing his back.
“This is a mistake!” Thanatos screamed. “You don’t know what you’re doing! He doesn’t have the strength to be Hades. He—”
Nyx lifted a hand and scowled.“Enough,” she said, throwing the giant god to the ground.
Corre’s jaw dropped, but when she looked over at Markus, she couldn’t help but love the glimpse of satisfaction on his face. The retribution.
“You have caused enough trouble,” Nyx continued, walking closer to Thanatos, who was forced to his knees by his mother’s power. “You will suffer for what you have done.” She shook her head slowly. “You’re no Great Deity.”
“Zeus won’t let you—” he started, but Nyx burst into laughter.
“Please! Zeus fears me. He wouldn’t dare go against anything I say.”
Just as Thanatos’s eyes widened, he was thrown onto his back, and a burst of light sprung from his crooked frame. A powerful, blasting light. With every second, it grew. It was like a giant rush of glowing fire was being sucked from his body and into his mother’s outstretched fingers.
Nyx watched, expressionless, as Thanatos yelled and writhed, the glow around his body thunderous and blinding.Then, almost suddenly, Thanatos’s body began to shrivel, and the power turned into a flash of light.
Corre covered her eyes, squeezing them shut behind her hand. When she opened them again, there were spots in her vision, but there was no denying what the blinding light had left behind.A shrunken shell of a former Thanatos, now the size of a regular god. Thin, wilted, and far smaller than his former apprentice.
At first, no one said anything. No one dared to move. But then Nyx spoke. “His powers have been stripped from him.” She shifted her gaze to Markus. “And now you decide his fate.”
“No!” A quiet, scratchy voice croaked. Thanatos’s withered form limped forward. “He doesn’t deserve the throne.”
“You’re wrong!” Corre squeaked. At first, she didn’t realize the words had come from her, but when everyone turned to face her—even Markus, whose eyes were wide and hopeful—she didn’t let herself back down. “You’re wrong,” she said again, more boldly. She looked straight at Thanatos. “Markus has been training harder than anyone ever could. He’s the strongest god I know.” Her eyes met the young Hades; tears were forming in his dark brown eyes. She smiled and slid her hand into his. “It’s true,” she said softly. “You’re worthy of everything you desire.”
A tear skated down Markus’s face, and he smiled before leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on her lips.
“See?! Do you think a god of—” Thanatos started, but Markus whipped around and cut him off.
“You have no more power here!” he said, and his voice boomed across the room. Corre’s heart flipped.
The withered god looked at Markus, aghast. “How dare you speak to me like that?” The young Hades walked forward, letting go of Corre’s hand as he looked down at his former master. He got mere inches away from his face and peeredinto the god’s tiny yellow-black eyes. Thanatos lifted a skinny arm and tried to strike him, but Markus caught it effortlessly and smacked it away.
“You hold no more power over me,” he said. “Not anymore.”
“You—” Thanatos started, but Markus interrupted him again, turning his face to his new guards. His new army. Everyone he now ruled over. Including Nikias.
“Take him to the throne room,” he commanded. “I’ll deal with him there.”
The demons stood at attention, bowed, and, almost unanimously, said, “Yes, sire.” Quickly, they all flocked out, two of them locking Thanatos’s small wrists behind him with chains before pulling him back out of the grotto.
Nikias was the last one to leave.
“General? Did you hear me?” Markus shouted.
Nikias flinched, then muttered something under his breath. “Yes . . . Sire . . .” He grumbled, then turned on his heel to leave.
When no one was in the grotto but Markus, Corre, Nyx, and a bowing Hypnos, the young Hades turned to Corre and grabbed hold of her hand. “Are you ready to go?” She nodded, unable to hold back the tears now spilling from her eyes.
“Of course,” she said.
“I shall speak with my husband, Erebus,” Nyx said. “And I will speak to Zeus. None of this will go without consequence.” Then she smiled. “But we can discuss all of that later. I believe Thanatos’s punishment awaits. As does your crown.”