When Hades didn’t try to kill Cass and didn’t speak, she took it as a chance to tell her side of the story.
“Esher was called for penitence and Daimon went. He didn’t come back though. I was worried about him.” She rushed each word out, unsure how long she was going to be given before Hades decided to go ahead and kill her. Now was not the time for lengthy and detailed explanations. Now was the time for speed. “The brothers… your sons… we feared the enemy had him. The Erinyes know which gate is bound to who so we went to New York, and I used a spell to track Daimon. When I found him, he had encased himself in ice. He was almost dead when Ares got him free, and I used…”
She hesitated. Was it wise to tell a god-king that you used necromancy to save his dying son?
Hades gave her a look that demanded she continue, his bident backing him up as he pressed it forwards, prodding her throat with the sharp tips.
“I used a healing spell and the basic theory of necromancy to—”
“Necromancy?” he barked and she leaned back as he pressed forwards.
Persephone gently placed a hand on his arm and lowered the bident from Cass’s throat. “It would explain the sensation of death you felt.”
Hades cast her a withering look, one that made it abundantly clear he wanted to argue with her.
Yet he didn’t.
He huffed and eased back, scowling at Cass. “Continue.”
“Well, he’s alive now and he confirmed what we had suspected. Nemesis is involved in this.” Cass froze up when Hades’s eyes blazed so brightly she was surprised she didn’t get burned.
“Nemesis,” he growled, and Cass really hoped that murderous look in his eyes was for the traitorous goddess now.
“Why would she?” Persephone looked worried as she gazed at her husband.
“Many reasons,” Hades snarled, his deep voice rolling across the land like thunder. “Power. Revenge. She believes I forced her into a life of servitude here after the last rebellion, when the roles of the gods and goddesses in these lands altered. I had her replace the Erinyes as punishment for her disobedience.”
“Disobedience?” Cass couldn’t hold back that question.
Hades narrowed his crimson eyes on her. “I sent a summons to Nemesis but she refused to answer. Rumours spread that she had sided with my enemy, but when we found her, she was bound and caged, and said that she had been captured by the enemy when she had tried to come to aid me.”
Hades growled, the sound a vicious black snarl as his lips peeled back off his fangs.
“You believed her?” Cass said what he wouldn’t, because she needed to know what had happened.
He nodded. “The rebellion had been crushed and the realm was safe, but I wanted someone to punish any who would attempt to break one of my rules. I moved her into a position I thought would suit her, allowing her to dispense justice. My justice. At first, she seemed to enjoy it, but then I noticed things. Small things. I began to feel she wasn’t satisfied and when I approached her, she spoke of how her small realm felt like another cage. Wanting my people to be happy, I gave her more freedom, allowing her to come and go from that realm as she pleased.”
Well, Cass could see why Nemesis hadn’t exactly been happy about her new station. Putting someone who had been held captive in a cage into a realm she couldn’t leave was just moving her into a new cage.
“Do you think now that the rumours had been true? She had been working with your enemy and when you had been close to discovering it, she had faked it all?” She caught the flicker of confusion in his eyes, there and gone, hidden before anyone could really notice it. This god didn’t like to look uneducated. He had pride. Possibly too much of it. That was never a good thing, but she wasn’t about to call him on the fact she needed to explain what she meant by ‘faked it’. “Maybe she had her people harm her and lock her away to make it look like she was still on your side.”
Hades roared, the sound deafening, and the ground bucked and shook so hard that one of the guards to her right landed on his backside and Persephone clung to her husband, casting fearful green eyes around her as fault lines spread across the black earth.
And Cass had thought his sons had serious tempers.
Hades did not like to be crossed.
“I will murder her with my own hands.” He raised his right black gauntlet and curled his talons into a fist. He turned a glare on his guards. “Dispatch three legions immediately. She cannot leave these lands with the gates closed. Find her!”
Hades pivoted on his heel, his red cloak swirling outwards with the sharp action, and Cass lunged onto her feet as her heart lurched.
“Wait!” She held a hand out to him, desperation flooding her, making her limbs shake.
He stopped and looked back at her.
“I need to get back to Daimon. Marek tried to take me from the fight but Daimon needs me there… I need to be there.” Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about him fighting when he was weak, her mind filling with the reckless things he might do to fulfil his duty.
Like bleeding himself dry to seal a gate.
He wouldn’t survive it.
“You worry about him,” Persephone said, her voice the first soft kiss of morning light.
“I don’t think worry is a strong enough word.” Cass shook her head and smiled solemnly. “Daimon is in bad shape, but I know he won’t leave. He’ll stay and fight and do his duty, and it will get him killed. Valen, Keras, Ares and Marek are there, but… I’m afraid… I don’t want to lose him. I need to be there.”
Hades turned to face her, a calculating edge to his crimson eyes.
