“What are you doing opening the door?”
“Psyche texted that you were on your way.” She yanks me into the house and shuts the door behind us. “Zeus is really dead?”
“Yes.” She looks exhausted, dark circles beneath her eyes and her hair messy as if she’s been running her fingers through it. I catch her hands. “Mother would like you to come home. We all would.”
She opens her mouth, hesitates, and finally nods. “I will.” She gives me a sad smile. “But something tells me you’re not here for me. Hades is in with the puppies.”
“I won’t be long—”
“It’s okay.” Another of those sad smiles. “Charon offered to give me a ride home whenever I decided that was what I wanted. Don’t worry about me.”
Easier said than done, but she’s right. Eurydice has her own path to walk going forward. I give her another hug. “I’m here whenever you need me.”
“I know. Now, go get your man.” She gives me a gentle nudge in the direction of the living room currently designated for the puppies.
I find Hades sitting against the wall with his eyes closed, the puppies sprawled over and around his legs. He opens his eyes as I walk into the room and blinks slowly. “You came back.”
“Of course I came back.” I take a step forward and stop, suddenly feeling awkward and unsure. I clasp my hands in front of me. “I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye. I saw a way through this, and I took it.”
He absently runs his hand over the back of the puppy in his lap. “You could have talked to me before you left. I said you aren’t a prisoner here, and I meant it.”
“I couldn’t risk it,” I whisper. “You’ll go to such lengths for the people you care about, but you’re positively ruthless when it comes to your own safety.”
“I’m expendable.” He shrugs. “It goes with the territory.”
“No, Hades. No, you are absolutely not expendable.” I stride to him and sink carefully to my knees in front of him. It’s only now that I get a good look at his face. I can’t stop my gasp any more than I can stop from reaching out to ghost my finger along the bruise darkening his cheekbone and blackening his eye. “What happened?”
He still won’t look at me. “You made a deal with your mother last night to ensure I could act against Zeus without repercussions. What were the terms?”
“How did you—” I stop when I catch up to what he’s saying. “Zeus. That was you?” It must have been, unless Hades wandered into a bar fight in the time between when I left and returned. The most logical answer is also the simplest. He went after Zeus and they fought. Now Zeus is dead and Hades is home and looking like he’s come out of a car wreck.
I reach out and tentatively take his hand. He grips me tightly before seeming to realize what he’s doing and tries to disentangle our fingers. I tighten my hold on him. “You went after him.”
“I thought you bargained yourself to him in order to spare me. I knew he’d break you, and I couldn’t stand back and let that happen.” He sounds almost empty. “I wish I could tell you that I didn’t mean for him to fall, but…I don’t know. I just don’t know. If this changes things—”
“Hades, stop.”
“Yeah, you said that to me before.”
It takes me a moment to understand what he’s referring to. “On the bridge.”
“I almost killed him, too.” His voice is just wrong. He hardly sounds like himself. “I might have if you didn’t stop me.”
I clear my throat and try again. “Zeus was a monster. I’m not going to pretend that murder is the right way to solve a problem, but do you honestly think he wouldn’t have killed you if he had a chance? There are so many deaths to lay at his feet. I’m sorry that you have to bear the burden of his, but I’m not sorry he’s dead.” I reach out with my free hand and cup his face, careful of his bruise. “And that man you beat hurt my sister. I didn’t yell because I wanted to save him. I did it because I knew that you’d feel guilty if you lost control.”
He releases a shuddering sigh. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”
I might laugh if I didn’t feel like I’m in the middle of running a marathon. Now is the time for the full truth, but my heart is beating so quickly, I’m suddenly afraid I might pass out. It was so much easier to write the words and slip away before he found them. “I’m not leaving, Hades. I love you. I’m staying and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you—and to help you protect your people.”
“But with Zeus gone, you’re free.”
“I know I’m free.” I take a ragged breath. “And because I’m free, I choose this. I choose us.” He’s not brushing me off, so I scrape up the courage to continue. “A month ago, all I wanted was to get out. I didn’t know you existed, let alone that I’d fall in love with you. I didn’t know there was a part of Olympus that could feel like home.” When he just stares at me in seeming confusion, I give his hand a tug. “Here, Hades. It feels like home here with you. In this house, in the lower city. I want to be with you, if you’ll have me.”
He gives a slow smile. “You mean it.”
“With my whole heart and soul.”
“I love you, too.” He raises our clasped hands and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “I didn’t want to trap you into staying by telling you, but…I love
