Page 99 of Love and Death
And then, I am abruptly plunged into utter darkness just before sharp pain erupts through my side, burrowing deep between my ribs to then twist in agonizing cruelty. I grit my teeth, gasping as air struggles to fill my lungs, and a blade is pulled slowly from me.
Hades appears, grinning, before me as he pulls off his Helm of Darkness, and I fall to my knees.
“Good little mutt. Now, lie down,” he commands with a biting laugh before kicking me in the chest.
I fall back against the gate, clutching at the wound as I drop sideways onto the ground, a dying man.
The battle rages on around me, but I can do no more.
I am slipping away.
The king has escaped my jaws, but I have bought her time.
And, in turn, she has given me my freedom.
31
HAZEL
Hermes disappears down the mountain path, eager to go on ahead, as the God of Dreams steps over to the altar. I can’t bear to watch as Hypnos lifts Eros into his arms. His body now seems so small and fragile in comparison to before, and I know why ... He, the God of Lust and Desire, no longer resides within it.
And that is all my fault.
Hypnos turns to carry Eros away with him, and I can’t help but bury my face in Death’s cloak.
“I will make the Fates choke on their own fetid threads for this, little one,” he swears vehemently.
“But I am the one who held the blade.”
“A burden you were never meant to carry,” he whispers into my hair. “Of that, I can assure you.”
I swallow my tears as I step back, only to realize Hypnos is already gone, leaving Death and me alone with Knax.
“Where should I wait for you?” I ask, suddenlyanxious to be away from the mountaintop altar before I am left alone with it.
“I will ride with you to the river, and then Knax will carry you home so that you may await my return in safety.”
“Home?” I question, hardly daring to hope.
“My palace.Your home, should it please you, Hazel,” he says, his voice so gentle it settles into the cracks in my heart, cupping my face in his palm as he brushes away a tear I did not know had escaped. “Come, I should like to be done with this dark affair so that I might return to you as soon possible.”
I nod, and he leads me over to where Knax paws the ground impatiently, his excitement palpable now as he tosses his head in the air.
“Wait, you mean … I get to ride with you? I thought Knax could not carry living beings.”
I can see my words pain him, though he answers me without wavering, “You may be a living soul, little one, but you are notlivingin the same sense as a mortal body.”
“Oh,” I whisper before adding, “I only ask because I was surprised. I have dreamed of this moment since the first time you took me to meet Knax.”
He chuckles softly at this. “In that case, please allow me the honor of turning the first of your dreams into reality.”
Death kneels before me, and then pauses.
“Unless you wish to ride sidesaddle, I must tear your dress—although, I hardly dare to call it that anymore. Do I have your permission to do so?”
“Tear it,” I say without hesitation.
He needs no further encouragement and tears the skirt of the dress just enough to allow me a little more movement. Rising, he places his hands at my waist and then, my heart pounding in my chest, he lifts me onto Knax, settling me just behind his shoulders as if I weighed little more than a doll … and mounted on the huge white stallion, I almost feel like one.
