Chapter 17

Hades

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d visited Olympus. I’d once felt something akin to awe when I was there. The ivory pillars had glowed with a mystical light. The halls and temples had been adorned with gifts left at the shrines in the human realm, and all the gods had been dressed in their finest. I’d envied them.

“This place is a real shit hole,” I muttered as I stepped out of the portal.

Persephone seemed impressed, but her reaction likely had to do with how favorably Olympus compared to the dreary corridors and portals we’d traveled through.

“It’s not quite as glamorous as I’d expected,” Persephone admitted.

“Hades?” Hera called out from the entrance to the main hall. “Is that really you?”

I usually only saw Hera when she came to the other parts of the demon realm to retrieve Zeus. In all my years, I’d never received a warm welcome from her, yet she was smiling as she greeted me. I didn’t trust her.

“Yes,” I replied. “Zeus sent Ares to invite Persephone to Olympus, and I don’t trust you assholes around her, so here we are.”

From my perspective, I sounded nicer than usual.

“Persephone?” Hera asked with raised eyebrows. “So, the curse has finally been broken?”

“Can we get this visit over with?” I demanded.

Hera ignored me and walked toward Persephone. She stopped, and her nose wrinkled, likely having caught a whiff of Persephone. I had to give it to Hera; even with the scent of Cerberus’s breath, she continued to approach us. Her lotus scepter was in her right hand, so she reached out to Persephone with her left. “I’m Hera, Queen of the Gods. Welcome to Olympus.”

Cerberus moved in front of Persephone and growled at Hera, causing her to take a step back and raise her scepter.

“I wouldn’t recommend threatening Cerberus,” I warned. “You know how he reacts to threats.”

Hera was doing her best to mask her fear, but I could see it. Cerberus could smell it. I didn’t communicate with Cerberus in words, but I understood him. It was hard to explain our relationship to others. He was excited by Hera’s fear. He also saw her as a threat, a tasty threat, if I was picking up his thoughts correctly.

“Why did you bring that thing with you?” Hera asked with only a slight quaver to her voice.

Persephone’s eyes narrowed. “There’s no reason to be rude. Cerberus is my friend, and he seems worried you’ll hurt me.”

Two heads turned toward her while one continued to glare at Hera. My friend definitely approved of Persephone.

“Where is Zeus?” I asked.

“What’s the hurry?” Ares asked as he approached from our left.

“We need to leave before Cerberus eats one of you,” I replied.

Cerberus growled at Ares. It wasn’t the same growl he’d given Hera. We often disagreed when it came to Ares. Cerberus liked him, probably because Ares was willing to fight with him.

Ares chuckled and moved toward Cerberus. “We’ll have to fight later. Zeus had a feast prepared in Persephone’s honor. Azrael’s great-granddaughter deserves the very best.”

“She won’t be eating here,” I snarled.

Persephone tugged her hand out of mine and smiled at Hera and Ares. “Can we have a moment?” she asked.

“Of course,” Hera replied before turning to Ares. “Tell Zeus his guests have arrived and make sure the feast is ready.”

“I’m not your errand boy,” Ares ground out.

“Don’t forget your place,” Hera spat out.

I ignored their argument and tugged Persephone along behind me until we came to a lone olive tree. Cerberus followed us until he noticed the garden of statues nearby and took off to mark them all in his own special way.

“I don’t like it when you answer questions for me.” Persephone was irritated with me, which came as no surprise. She wasn’t one to simply take orders.

“You can’t eat here,” I told her.

“Why not?” she asked.

“I don’t trust that they won’t poison you,” I admitted.

“Why would they poison me?” Persephone asked, looking truly perplexed.

“To hurt me,” I replied. “Possibly to hurt Azrael.”

“The last would be stupid since Azrael isn’t even aware of my existence,” she muttered. “I suppose he might know about me. My mom never met him, so she always figured he didn’t know about her, but he might.”

“Do you want him to know about you?” I asked.

Persephone cocked her head to the side and carefully considered her answer before responding. “I’m not sure. The only time I saw him, he seemed very unpleasant.”

In my opinion, Persephone would be better off without Azrael in her life. He was dangerous, and I wasn’t certain he cared about anyone other than himself. I surprised myself with my desire to defend Azrael’s temperament. “He doesn’t have anyone. As the angel of death, Azrael can enter all realms without gaining anyone’s permission. He’s very powerful, but he’s also alone. The other archangels look down on him. He can’t live in Hell or the human realm, so Heaven is all he has, but I’m not sure he considers it home.”

“That sounds very sad,” Persephone said thoughtfully. “Do you think he wants to meet me?”

“It’s possible,” I replied. “Azrael isn’t my friend by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t trust him, so I’d rather you stay away from him.”

“But you won’t try to force me to stay away from him,” Persephone added.

“I might,” I confessed.

“If you did something like that, I might use some very unpleasant words to express my displeasure,” she warned.

My laughter was so loud, it echoed across Olympus. “You make it very tempting to forbid you to see Azrael.”