Broken: Hidden Book Two (25 page)

I made my way into Hades’ home. It was large, but not gaudy. It was a more modern-looking building than many in the Nether, and my mother had once explained to me that Hades appreciated architecture and often changed the look of his home. Currently, he was in a Frank Lloyd Wright appreciation phase. As I walked in the front door, I was greeted by one of the demons who worked for Hades. The demon thumped his chest once as he approached, and I gave him a small nod in return.

“Lord Hades is speaking with his wife right now,” the demon said. “Do you mind waiting a bit? Lord Hermes is in there if you’d like to sit with him,” he said, pointing toward the living room.

I shook my head and grimaced. “I think I’d rather drink acid.”

He grinned, though to his credit, he did try to hide it. “What is your name?” I asked him.

“Elsoloth,” he said, surprise coming from him.

“Nice to meet you, Elsoloth,” I said.

“And it is an honor to meet you as well, my Lady,” he said, bowing a little. “Can I get you anything?”

I shook my head. “No thank you.” I studied him. He was tall, around six six or so, with dark gray skin and red glowing eyes. He wore the black uniforms many denizens of the Nether wore, not so different from my own. The guards, house servants, and Furies all wore pretty much the same thing. He caught me looking, and I looked away. “I’m sorry,” I said.

“No apologies are necessary, my Lady,” he said.

“There are not many demons in my world. And most there wear human skins. I am still getting used to seeing demons in their true form.”

He nodded. “You were bonded to a demon though, yes? I can feel demon blood in you. It calls to my own.”

“Yes. I was. My mate was trapped in a mortal body, though, so I was never able to see his true form. Unfortunately,” I said, and meant it. Nain must have been a spectacular demon, given the human skin he wore.

“I am sorry for your loss,” Elsoloth said softly.

“Thank you.”

He cleared his throat, looked around. “I would like you to know, my Lady, that should you ever need anything, the demons of the Nether are here for you. You don’t know us, but we consider you one of ours, maybe even more so than these gods do,” he finished, his voice low enough that only I could hear.

“Why?” I asked, genuinely curious. “You don’t know me.”

“We demons are not exactly the warmest, kindest creatures in existence, maybe,” he said with a wry grin. “But we take care of our own. And the blood in your veins makes you one of us.”

I watched him, tried to fight back the tears that threatened at his words. “That means a lot to me, Elsoloth. More than you know, today.”

He bowed his head. “Don’t forget. Trouble is coming,” he said.

A shiver went up my spine, but I tried to keep myself calm. “I won’t. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know,” I said, holding my hand out to him. He took it, his huge hands enveloping mine, and he shook my hand gently. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, my Lady,” he said softly. And he gave me a small bow and walked away. I stood for a few minutes, watched Persephone come out of Hades’ office, and Hermes walk in. Persephone glared at Hermes’ back as he walked into Hades’ office, then she turned toward me.

Persephone never failed to make me feel small. Not so much in stature; she wasn’t much taller than me. But in the way she carried herself, in her beauty. And in her obvious disdain for me.

She swept into the entry hall, wearing her customary green satin gown, multicolored jewels sparkling among her fiery tresses. “Mollis,” she said in a voice that made it seem as though she might as well have been addressing a slug.

“Lady Persephone,” I said, bowing my head to her. This was Hades’ wife, and he had done me a huge favor. He adored her, and, from what I’d seen of them together, the feeling was mutual, even if there was a bit of an undercurrent of anger there. I figured, a few thousand years or so, they probably had a whole lot to be irritated with each other about. They argued, but, for the most part, they were practically saccharine when they were in the same room. Kind of like me and Brennan lately, I thought, feeling myself blush a little. Would we be the same way a hundred years from now? Two hundred? I pushed thoughts of Bren back. Distracting, gorgeous man. Right now, I had a pissy goddess to deal with.

Her sweetness definitely did not extend to me. I would show her respect, no matter how much I wanted to do the bitch act right back at her.

She stood there, watching me, lip curling in distaste. “Listen to me, Fury,” she said, and I looked at her more closely. Not only was she talking to me, but the urgency in her tone surprised me. She was afraid, and angry. “You must be alert in there.”

“With Hades?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

“With Hermes. Listen. Pay attention both to what he says and what he doesn’t. He and my bastard of a son are up to something. I can feel it.”

“Your son?”

“Dionysus. Zeus’s. You’ve heard the story, yes?” she asked impatiently.

“Oh. Right,” I said, embarrassed.

“Something’s happening. The entire Nether is restless. Can you feel it?”

I stared at her. She’d never said more than two words to me, and usually with a sneer. I couldn’t disagree with what she was saying, but I’d thought it was me and my mood. Elsoloth’s warning echoed by a goddess. Fuck.

“Do you think Lord Hades is in danger of some kind?” I whispered.

She looked at me, her gaze fierce. “The only one he really needs to fear is you. Remember that.”

“I would not hurt him,” I said.

“I should think not,” she muttered, glaring at me again.

“Is there something you want to say to me, my Lady?” I asked, losing a bit of my patience.

She glared at me. “Are you really so clueless? How can you spend so much time in his company and not know?”

“Know what?”

She let out a breath, irritated. “It is not my place to say.”

“Says who?”

“Your mother and my husband.” She looked at me, studied me. “Where is your father, Fury?” she asked, and I was startled by the change of subject.

“I…don’t know. On his mountain, I guess. Why?”

She muttered something that sounded like “idiocy.”

“What? Just spit it out, whatever it is.” Well. There went my attempts at “nice.” I suck at this kind of thing.

She glared at me. “Your father is no mountain god. ‘Mollis Cithaerus,’ my foot.”

I gaped at her. “Uh. Yes he is. My mother–”

“Your mother is doing everything she can to protect you, to keep the horror of what you truly are a secret. And since everyone knows your mother is sleeping with Cithaeron, it is convenient. However, if your father was a mountain god, he would have known you existed. He would have felt his own blood upon the earth, as many times as you’ve been injured, and he would have found you long before this. That is how they work.”

I stared. “Okay. So….?”

“Consider the fact that he’s done favors for you that he’d never do for anyone else,” she said, and continued. “Consider how often he requests you attend him. And then consider the way your blood undoubtedly responds to his,” she finished, meeting my eyes, and after a moment, I caught the gist of what she was saying.

“Uh. No. No. Nuh-uh. Not even possible. He can’t create life. Everyone knows that,” I said, balling my fists. My hands had become ice cold.

“Well,” she said, glaring at me. “Accidents happen, don’t they?” She let her eyes sweep over me, making it clear who and what she considered an “accident.” Then she swept past me. “Protect your father, Fury. With your insignificant life, if you must,” she said as she walked away.

I didn’t know how to handle what Persephone had just said. Didn’t know whether to believe her, or even begin to figure out why she would lie about something like that.

I walked into Hades’ office to see Hades and Hermes already sitting across from each other, Hades’ black stone desk between them. As always, the desk was piled with a crazy assortment of things, from newspapers and an old typewriter, to skulls and what looked like the bones of a small animal. Maybe a bird. Candles in iron sconces lit the perimeter of the room, and, as always, anywhere Hades was was permeated with the not-unpleasing scent of smoke. I went and stood in my customary place, behind and to the slight right of Hades’ large leather chair.

I tried focusing on his blood, mine, and my response to it. My blood did call to his, and his to mine, but I’d always figured it was because we were both creatures of the Nether, and that his blood called to me more strongly because he was Lord of the Nether. I didn’t know what to believe.

“Mollis,” Hades said in greeting.

“Hades,” I said. “Please forgive my tardiness. I apologize.”
Dad,
I thought at him.

He barely reacted, though I did note a tiny grimace. My wife talks too much. You and I will speak
later.
“Not a problem, my dear. Hermes here was early.”

Who else knows? I need to know. Now.

I settled my gaze on Hermes. I would heed Persephone’s warning. I didn’t like her, but she was shrewd, and if she saw fit to warn me against him….

Me, my wife, your mother, Cithaeron, and you. That’s it.

Cithaeron knows?

Your mother had some explaining to do. As did I with Persephone.

I sighed and tried to focus on Hermes again. My life was one fucking soap opera after another.

Messenger god, was how most people thought of Hermes. They forgot the rest. He is also a trickster, a troublemaker. And more. Gods really are not all that fond of traveling between the Nether or Aether and the mortal world. It wears on them, depletes their power for a time. They are at their most powerful, and most comfortable, in their own realms. So, when Asclepias and Hades came to me in my world, that was a big deal, and I’d had no idea at the time what I was asking of them. That type of thing is not often done.

Hermes, though….Hermes was different. He could easily cross into my world with no problem. He was the first of the Guardians, and Eunomia and her sisters were the continuation of what he’d begun, taking the souls of the dead to the Nether for their final judgment. He easily traveled from Aether, to the mortal realm, to the Nether.

I stared at him now, my own suspicions and Persephone’s warnings ringing in my ears. He was a beautiful man. Dark hair, dark eyes, tall, with a slight point to his nose and a strong jaw. It was a cold beauty, though. One got the sense, looking at Hermes, that he didn’t love anything or anyone as much as himself. He felt me staring at him, and gave me a small wink as Hades made small talk the way he did at the beginning of every meeting. I didn’t react, kept my eyes firmly on him. Hades was talking, but I wasn’t listening to the words. I was sensing for Hermes.

And I couldn’t feel a thing.

Suddenly the room got quiet. I glanced at Hades, and he had turned to look at me.

“I’m sorry, my Lord. Did you need something?” I asked, trying to keep myself under control. There was not a being in existence who had been able to hide him or herself from me. What the hell was this now?

Hades raised his eyebrows.
You are throwing off all manner of crazy power right now, my dear. Are you all right?

“I am surprised the Fury has come in to work today,” Hermes said, a small smirk on his lips.

“Why is that?” Hades asked, glancing from Hermes to me.

Hermes just smiled. “Seems to me, one would want to be with her loved ones on a day like this,” he said, and the threat in his voice was only heightened by the smug smile on his face.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had leaped over Hades’ desk, my sword appearing in my hand. I held it up to Hermes’ throat, and he held his hands up, laughing.

“Something you want to tell me?” I growled. All he did was laugh.

“Mollis!” Hades said.

“Why can’t I sense you, Hermes?” I asked. “What have you done to make it possible to hide yourself from a Fury?”

Now Hades was looking between the two of us, and Hermes let out another small laugh. “Maybe you are not as powerful as you thought you were, little Fury,” he sneered.

“Answer her question, Hermes,” Hades said, standing up. “Why can’t she feel you?”

Hermes just sat there, looking at me with that smug smile on his face. “You probably want to run home now, don’t you?” he said. “Never know what might be happening to those mortals you love so much while you’re here, playing enforcer for Hades.”

I gripped my sword tighter, tried to dampen the terror rising in me.

“Of course, you’re here already. And you’ve been gone for hours, yes? Anything could have happened.”

I tensed, and he laughed. “What are you going to do, Fury?”

“You’re saying all of this in front of Hades. What is your game, Hermes?” I asked, hating the tremor in my voice and realizing, sick as it was, that the lives of a few mortals meant nothing here. Not to Hermes, not overmuch to Hades. The only importance mortals had here was that they could be used, and my friends were being caught in the crossfire again, because the gods wanted something from me.

I shook with rage.

He smiled. I pressed my sword, just barely, against his skin, and heard his flesh sizzle against the flaming blade. He let out a low whimper, then composed himself, though he had at least stopped smirking. “Are you going to kill me, Mollis?” he asked.

“That depends on what you’ve done,” I said, forcing my body to calm, my nerves to become ice. I'd linked my mind to my mother's, my aunts' as soon as Hermes had taunted me. My mother and aunt Megaera were on their way to the loft to check on everyone. My aunt Alecto was on her way to Hades’. All I could do now was try to understand.

“Abomination,” he said, as pleasantly as if he was calling me a friend, “going to start a war over a mortal or two?”

“Hermes,” Hades threatened, but I cut him off.

“A war? Is your worthless existence worth all that?”

He laughed, even though my blade cut deeper and blood began to drip down his neck. “Mine? Maybe not. But if you kill me, you do exactly the thing they all fear. You prove that they are not as immortal as they thought. They will come after you.”