Page 50 of Raising Hell
“He went in there and flipped out.”
As soon as I motioned to the room, Hades looked at it. His eyes changed drastically.
“Not again,” I muttered.
“Father shouldn’t go in there. It will upset him.”
“No kidding,” I said, already reaching for his face.
He wasn’t so far gone this time that my touch didn’t bring him back.
“Let’s fix that room from out here,” I said.
He stayed where he was as I circled around him and lightly touched the glowing script. The gold lifted from his skin, weaving into something else I’d need to wear. Beside us, a glow of light emanated from the room.
Hades caught my hand and kissed my fingertips.
“You will enjoy this,” he said, tugging me toward the room.
Like the throne room, it had undergone a drastic change. The dead bodies were gone, and the dank darkness was now a well-lit marble room filled with food-laden tables.
“Children,” he called loudly, walking farther into the room. “Let us feast once more.”
“What the heck was that?” I said, standing by Zotera. “He saw bones in there and freaked out.”
She studied me for a moment with an unemotional expression.
“His memories might be dangerous to you.”
CHAPTERNINE
Before I could askher what she meant, a woman entered the room from a hidden passage like the ones I’d discovered in the throne room. She wore a long wrap around her waist and nothing on top, like Zotera, and her smile lit when she spotted Hades.
A second later, another appeared from a different passage. Then another and another. Men and women emerged from the walls, and more voices echoed farther down the hallway from where we stood.
Hades’ children were coming.
Nervous, I glanced at Zotera, and she gave me a reassuring smile.
“Go, Mother. Father would want you at his side.”
At his side? In the midst of all of that?
Letting out a calming breath, I went to Hades as he greeted the first arrival, the woman with long ebony hair. He was smiling at her and said something I couldn’t hear in the growing noise. She laughed lightly, which made him smile more. A thread of jealousy wormed its way through me, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was bare-chested. Hades was happy because of her.
He saw my approach and immediately reached for me. The feel of his fingers threading through mine helped dull the ache in my chest so that, when I looked at her, the smile I offered felt more genuine.
“Hello.”
The humor left her face as she paled, and Hades whispered, “No.”
“Sorry. I forgot. No smiling for me.”
I endured Hades’ suspicious scrutiny and her fearful glance before she hurried away.
“Before your rest, you spoke of music and dancing,” Hades said, his fingers stroking over mine. “Does this please you?”
My heart skipped a beat at the realization that he’d not only listened, but he’d tried to do something that I’d like.
