Page 20 of The Fifth Gate

He nods. “Alright. Let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about a woman who lost her only family, and her first instinct was to immediately march into the Underworld to get her sister back.”

The muscles in my jaw tighten, teeth creaking at the pressure.

Hades’ voice is steady, but relentless. He holds my eyes without blinking or looking away. “Let’s talk about a woman, untested, untried, abandoned and cursed by her own mother, who still dared to walk where most gods would not go. She made her way through the Underworld, restoring the levels to their former glory and dispatching the Fallen, nearly singlehandedly—something I never even bothered to do.”

“And why haven’t you bothered all this time?” I ask.

Hades shrugs. “I don’t care enough.”

“You view Aphrodite’s daughter—”

“Penelope,” he corrects me. “Call her by her name.”

“You view…Penelopeas entertainment then?”

Hades nods. “I have been bored for more years than I can count—I have lost interest in the comings and goings of my realm—if not for you, I do not know what I would have done.”

“Found another companion, no doubt,” I grumble.

Hades laughs. “You do not give yourself enough credit, my friend.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that Penelope has instigated within me true interest, excitement, wonder and, yes, lust… for the first time in a long time, I find I actually care about something. And that alone is worth her trip here.”

I won’t look away, no matter how much I want to. How did hades change so quickly from a bored nobleman in his flowing purple chiton, to this? I haven’t seen him like this in… more centuries that I can recall.

“And now,” Hades continues, still smiling pleasantly with his ancient, stygian eyes. “She has bearded the dragon himself in his very den. Even though her powers are unsuited and untried. She still hasn’t fled, or begged, or crumpled under the pressure. Her courage is unlimited.”

Blood pounds beneath the surface of my skin, the heat of it uncomfortable. I haven’t flushed in eons, not since I was a stripling god.

“Your rage has blinded you, Ares,” Hades says almost gently. If a dagger to the kidneys can be gentle. “But as a guest in my realm, do me the honor of understanding that I would not be led around by my cock by some ‘brainless bit of fluff’, no matter how lovely.”

He’s right. That’s what makes this whole bloody thing so devastating. That’s what leaves the tension in my chest coiling tighter and tighter with no hope or chance of release.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Hades raises a brow at me. It’s a supercilious gesture, but I don’t bother to snap at him over it.

“What was that?”

“I said,it doesn’t matter.” My hands tighten on the arms of my throne. “It doesn’t matter if she’s nothing like her mother. Or if she’s brave, or smart, or powerful. Aphrodite’s forced my hand, Hades. This is the only way left to me to take back my freedom. There is no other way.”

There have been days where the only thought to keep me moving has been my plans for revenge. I knew Aphrodite could be a catty bitch; that was why I turned her down in the first place. I’d been at the height of my power then, with thousands of followers offering worship, praying for victory as they warred against their enemies. Kingdoms could and would rise and fall in a day. I didn’t have time for the amount of bullshit that came along with the Goddess of Love’s whims, no matter how beautiful she was.

I’d known she was pissed with my refusal, but I hadn’t paid it any thought. She was a Goddess of Love, for fuck’s sakes. What could she do to me? She’d move on, find another male to sink her claws into, and I could get back to my battlefields where mortal men spent their blood like coin for land and honor and glory.

Unfortunately, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ hadn’t been a popular saying in those days, or maybe I would have paid more attention. Hell, maybe Aphrodite was the one who coined the phrase in the first place. Regardless, I was accustomed to war, to charges and flanking, to feints and parries. I didn’t see the sideways attack coming until it was already far too late.

It had been Zeus who had come to me, saying there was unrest in the Underworld. That Hades had requested support in dealing with one of the Gardens. It had been a thinly veiled order, since we both knew there was no way that Zeus would ever set foot in a place where there were no women for him to seduce. Or do anything that required effort on his part.

But it hadn’t been Hades who’d mentioned as much to him. It had been Aphrodite whispering in his ear, and she’d known exactly what would happen, even if I hadn’t.

The second I set foot in the Fifth Garden, I’d barely even gotten a glance at how withered and desiccated everything had become, before the weakened, desperate realm snapped shut on me like a bear trap.

When I realized I couldn’t fight my way free through brute force, and that even Hades himself couldn’t loosen my chain, my rage had torn the very earth apart. Gone were the trees and the river beds, and in their place, volcanoes tearing through the ground, spewing magma like fury into the air.

Trapped.

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