Page 49 of Raising Hell
While the day hadn’t started out well, it felt like it was heading in a good direction...until Hades opened the festival room’s double doors.
The dank stone room's shadows weren’t heavy enough to hide the horror within. Over a dozen dust-covered skeletons littered the cavernous space. One was draped over a stone table. Another lay right in front of the door. Farther back, two were tangled together like they’d fallen mid-dance.
The ground started to shake, and I looked at Hades.
His eyes were fully glowing red, and his body was starting to change.
I hurried to take his face between my hands, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Hades,” I called. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t answer or look at me. His gaze remained fixed on the bodies in the room.
“Zotera!” I yelled, hoping we were close enough to the throne room for her to hear. Just in case we weren’t, I tapped Hades’ cheek roughly. It didn’t faze him.
The ground shook harder. Grit started to fall from overhead.
“Shit.”
I grabbed his face, stood on my toes, and pressed my lips to his.
Everything stilled.
In the silence, he groaned and wrapped his arms around me. The world and all its troubles wanted to melt away under the feel of his mouth against mine, but I repeated the number of lives lost so far in my head. Two hundred thousand. Whatever was in that room had upset him enough that he’d forgotten his newly made promise. No, he’d forgotten me.
Releasing his face but not removing my lips from his, I pushed against his chest. He retreated a step. Then another. I backed him out of the room and turned the corner so he wouldn’t be able to see within.
I turned my head, breaking the kiss.
“Are you all right?” I asked, breathless as he kissed his way along my jaw.
“You kissed me. How can I be wrong?” he murmured.
“I kissed you to stop you from shaking the world again.”
He jerked back, ending the distracting kisses he’d been placing at the corner of my mouth.
“Not a true kiss?” he asked, frowning. Red light flickered in his eyes.
“Please, Hades. You promised to try.”
“Why can a kiss not simply be a kiss? Why must it always be a bargain or a bribe?”
“Why do you keep losing your mind and killing people?” I countered.
His frown turned into a glare, but the flickering light faded.
“It is not I who kills,” he said with angry accusation.
“Mother?” Zotera called.
Hades and I both turned our heads to watch her race down the hall. She came to a panting stop several yards away, her gaze bouncing between us.
“Did father—?”
“Your mother is unharmed,” Hades said, releasing me.
She looked at me. “Why did you call?”
