Page 30 of Wild Hunt
I still hadn't fully processed the fact that I had come back from the dead. I didn't feel any different, and I still had the mental block whenever I thought too hard about it. Something told me Hades had the answer to that, too, and trap or no trap, I wasn't leaving until he gave it to me.
Halfway through my lunch break, I was convinced he had stood me up. When he finally appeared, it was on the other side of the rooftop, not the door I'd been watching the whole time.
"Holy shit," I cried, spinning around to face him. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"You know, that filthy mouth is going to get you in all kinds of trouble," he said in his usual snide tone, hands in his pockets as he walked toward me. I swear, the guy could have been on his deathbed and he still would've acted bored.
"I've been waiting here for twenty minutes," I said, folding my arms. "Where were you?"
"Taking care of business," he answered unapologetically.
“Business," I scoffed. "You mean your little drug ring?"
He smirked. "You're one to talk."
I rolled my eyes. No argument there. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"In addition to giving you the chance to thank me properly for saving your life, we need to talk about the consequences," he answered. "The mental ward will be wearing off soon."
"Mental ward?" I echoed, thinking of the block. "So thatwasyou."
"Of course. I wasn't going to just let you run around telling everyone what happened. I know you run to Dionysus with everything."
I stared at him in irritation, not really able to argue with that either. "Are you finally going to tell me what the consequences your mother was talking about are or not?"
His eyes flashed with anger. "My mother is another topic you shouldn't bring up," he said sharply. "Certainly not in this place."
Usually, I was eager to tug at any thread that might unravel his temper or his ego, but something stopped me from pushing this issue. "Fine," I muttered. "Just tell me what she was talking about."
"Resurrection magic is forbidden," he said slowly, like he was talking to an idiot. "I'm sure even you're aware of that."
"Of course I know that," I snapped. "All the fun magic is."
"This is different. Others capable of using it are able to bring back a wounded animal that's just died, at the very most. Anyone capable of true control over life and death is rare."
I had an uneasy feeling the entire time he was speaking, and his words chafed against the block that was still making it uncomfortable to think about this. "And you're one of them."
His silence was all the answer needed. He took another step forward. "You're now one of the only three people on this Earth to know my secret."
"You boys really do share everything," I said wryly.
He gave me a smirk, but his stare remained icy as usual. "I brought you back soon enough that there shouldn't be any major side effects, but there are some things you need to know. Namely, we’re bonded."
Immediately, I didn't like the sound of that. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that your existence is tethered to mine," he answered. "If I die, you die, so don't go any of taking extreme measures to get out of our engagement."
Shit. "I'm not the murderer around here."
He gave me a weary look. "Come on, you're not still on about me killing Phrixus, are you?"
"You're still on my short list of suspects," I answered.
"Then you're even dumber than you look," he said without missing a beat. "For one thing, I have an alibi."
"So your best friend’s daddy says."
"So heknows," Hades corrected. "And I can prove it."
