Chapter Fifteen:

The Underworld, four months later...

"You did well today," Hades said as I climbed into bed, reaching for my Kindle. He placed a bookmark between the pages of a thickly-bound book, setting it on his nightstand.

"Well enough to go to Portland?"

"No."

"That's what I thought."

He reached out, grabbing my chin as he turned my face towards his. "I'm sorry that you even have to ask anymore, Emma."

"Just admit it, Hades, you're glad that I'm here, and faking sincerity about it won't earn you brownie points with me right now."

I tore my face from his grip, flipping through my library to find the book I wanted and after a minute he turned away, too, though I could still feel his gaze on me.

"Milord - oh." A man skid to a halt just inside the bedroom door, out of breath, eyes bright - excited.

"Yes, what is it?" Hades asked, absentmindedly slipping a finger under the strap of my tank top.

"It's Persephone, milord. She...returned."

"Are you sure?" He tossed the covers off, reaching for his pants and shirt as I carefully slid out as well, reaching for my luggage.

I knew this day would come sooner or later, but damn if it didn't hurt, just a little bit.

"Sure that the woman entering with Nicholas just now bears a striking resemblance to your wife? Yes, I am."

Hades beamed from ear to ear, striding purposefully towards the door. He stopped abruptly when he noticed me, leaning against the bedpost, gaze canvassing the room for anything I might've forgotten.

"Aren't you coming to see her?"

"I think this is probably a reunion you should make alone."

"Emma-" He reached out for me, expression fierce, determined, and joyous and I smiled, shaking my head as I stepped past him into the hallway, Bailey in tow.

"I get it, Hades. Please have Magda prepare my room for me on your way down."

"See you-" He licked his lips, seeming uncharacteristically out of sorts. "See you for breakfast?"

The way I saw it, I had two options.

I could tell him to get dead and spend all of the next day and day afterward wallowing in my room with a bottle of wine, or I could suck it up and stop pretending like I had any rights to him whatsoever. I wasn't his, and the sooner I remembered that, the better.

"Yeah, I'll be there. Don't eat all the waffles this time, okay?"

He nodded once and left as I made my way to my room, retracing the familiar steps I'd taken a few months earlier, thinking back to all the fireside dinners and late-night cuddles as night flickered back to dawn. He's not mine, even as I stilled, flinching when laughter reached my ears. I felt a weird sort of pulse vibrate its way through me, and knew immediately what it was. The curse breaking. Which meant...

"Oh, hell no." I pushed my door open and sighed, setting my things down as the souls in there snapped to attention. "I thought I was done for today."

"We couldn't find the death goddess, so we came to you," a man closest to me said and I nodded, standing in front of the line.

"And you won't, because she's not a death goddess anymore. Well, let's get this over with, because I really need sleep."

***

"You can do this, Emma. You're a strong, independent woman who doesn't need anyone else to make you happy. Chin up." I tore my gaze from the bathroom mirror, adjusting the lace camisole and pencil skirt as I briefly considered taking breakfast in my room.

Stop being such a freaking chicken. They won't bite. Besides, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Not really.

All those nights and days wrapped in Hades' arms...

He's a full-grown man who made his own decisions. If she's going to kill anyone for it all, it'll be him, not you. IF he tells her. Oh, goddess, please don't let him do that.

I paused outside the dining room, squaring my shoulders when voices drifted to me, as well as more laughter.

Ugh. Is it too late to turn back?

"Good morning." I entered, eyes flicking to my usual chair, the one I'd called my own the past three years, now occupied.

Persephone stood, embracing me in a hug so tight, I thought my ribs were going to crack.

"Emma."

The recognition in her voice made my throat close as I blinked furiously against the swell of tears, taking a seat across from her as she smiled gaily at me. Her curly hair cascaded down her bare shoulders, flowing over the rose-print dress she wore. She looked beautiful - regal - just like a goddess should look, and I clenched my fork as I glanced down at the table in front of me, trying to my best to get a grip on the wild and crazy emotions clashing themselves together in my gut.

Hades smiled, tugging her back to him as she squealed and collapsed in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. He looked directly - and I mean directly - at me as he kissed her again, cupping her face tenderly, and I felt the color rush to my cheeks.

Why was he doing this? Because it wasn't hard enough already seeing her plastered all over him? Maybe I should just go back to my room after all - give them more privacy and time to be together without me butting in. After all, that's what I would want if -

"Stay."

My head snapped up, eyes finding his as he smiled again and helped Persephone back to her chair.

"Please stay. I had the cook make your favorite blackberry pancakes this morning. To celebrate."

So, you had my favorite breakfast made in celebration of her return? Nice cover story, but I don't buy it.

What can I do to make this easier for you?

Get a room, I said, nodding to Persephone, who reached out, tickling the back of his neck.

His lips twitched. She's affectionate. We haven't been together like this in over three years, so please cut her some slack.

Uh-huh. And that little smoochy eye-contact? What was that about?

"I've missed you, dear friend," she said to me, folding her hands in front of her on the table. "Hades told me how much you helped him while I was cursed, so I wanted to thank you for it."

"Speaking of help, are we going to the beach this morning?" I asked Hades, who nodded slowly, glancing between the two of us as he sipped at his coffee.

"Oh, I want to watch! What time will the two of you be there?" Persephone asked as I tensed, waiting for his answer.

This was my alone time with him - the chance I needed in order to talk through some things that needed talking through, such as my future in the Underworld, and what my role would be in the household now that she was home. None of which I could do with her watching and listening.

Hades, if you know this, you'll tell her that it's not safe for her to be there, like you've done in the past. It's not even a lie.

Things are different now, Emma. She ferried the souls for ten months, same as you.

I don't particularly care. I need that time away from her.

"Right after breakfast. But sweetheart-"

"Oh, no, don't you dare say that I can't come, Hades. Not after what I did for you in Portland. You owe me." She snapped her fingers and waiters brought platters of food in, depositing them in front of us before leaving again.

I loaded my plate, refusing to make eye contact with either of them as I debated the wisdom of even mentioning the beach in the first place. He knew how I felt about the subject, and I hoped that whatever maniacal thoughts he had, he'd at least stop and see reason.

You're thinking too much this morning.

Stop eavesdropping if you don't like what you're hearing.

"It wouldn't be fun for you, watching us work, because there's not much to it. Why don't you wait until dinner; that's when Emma's soul load is at its heaviest, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind a little compa-"

"Drop it, Hades. I'm coming with you and that's that. Emma, dear, please slide the butter this way, would you?"

***

I stood at the head of one of the columns, list in hand. I hadn't missed the apologetic caress of Hades' hand against mine as he passed me my half of the soul count, or the tight, nervous expression he now wore as Persephone stood a little off to the side, leaning against the castle wall.

"Ready?" he asked as he stopped beside me, pulling his own list out as well and I nodded, stiffening my spine like I'd done countless times before. Just because we had an audience now didn't change how we'd been doing things.

"Ready."

Another day, same thing.

Except that it wasn't, because absolutely everything was different.

"Brittaney Abdi."

The soul stepped forward, walking towards the boat as I ticked her name off.

One by one, Hades and I took turns calling out names until I could just see the end of the lines, licking my chapped lips against the spray of saltwater.

My phone rang.

I fished it out of my pocket, glancing at the caller ID as I saw Hades' eyes slide to me, motioning another soul past.

"Problem?"

"I'm not sure," I said, frowning. "I don't recognize the number, so if it's important, they'll leave a message." I ended the call, tucking it away again as I crossed another name off the list.

The cellphone rang a second time.

"Maybe you should...?" He gestured to the side and I nodded, handing him my list.

"Hello?"

There was some interference on the other end of the line - scratching, like fabric over the mouthpiece - and I held it away from my ear an inch. "Can you hear me?"

"Emma?" Sam's voice, faint and barely recognizable through the static.

"Sam? Why are you - I haven't heard from you in forever. What's going-"

He screamed, a piercing, bloodcurdling sound that shattered my eardrums as I dropped the phone, falling heavily to my knees.

I felt Hades' arms around me, helping me up as I pressed my hands over my ears, head ringing, and saw him snatch the phone from the sand, walking up the beach. Persephone fluttered around me, not sure how to help and in the distance, moving across the vast ocean, an equally awful screeching, getting closer...

"Hold the lines!" Hades bellowed, thrusting the phone into my hands again. "Horace! Jasper! To me, now!"

"They're...birds," Persephone said as I wiped a sleeve across my watering eyes, squinting where she pointed.

My heart stopped.

"Those aren't birds, Seph. They're Furies. Hades!" I stumbled my way to him, grabbing his arm and he whirled around, panic etched into every line of his face. That scared me more than it should have.

"Persephone, take Emma to the castle - now - and don't look back."

"Those aren't mine," I said as she took my elbow in her firm grip, and he nodded.

"I know. Just go."

We raced together down the beach towards the door, sand whipping through my clothes and hair and I leaned into it, sides beginning to throb and saw Persephone tossed aside, her body crashing into the castle wall as two Furies touched down in front of me red-tipped talons clicking together menacingly.

"What do you want?"

They smiled in unison, tracking me across the beach as I scuttled away from them. "We're here on behalf of someone you care about."

"Sam? It's Sam, isn't it? What the hell did you do to him, you nasty little parasites?"

"We're just the messengers, but if you don't come with us, he'll die."

"She's not going anywhere with you."

I heard the clang of metal on metal as Hades strode by me, placing himself and his sword in front of the Furies, who sneered.

"So cavalier with human lives, Hades, Lord of the Underworld. So heartless."

He jabbed his sword towards them and they shrieked as one, leaping back. "You're about to be in two seconds if you don't leave her alone."

Where did the sword come from? "Is Persephone okay?" I asked anxiously, glancing over to her motionless body.

"She'll be fine, though she'll wake up with a devil of a headache."

"We don't answer to you. Our master wants her, and he'll get her," the Furies said, feigning left as he followed.

"Take the rest of your brethren and go. Tell Kronos that his efforts here are pointless, because I won't surrender her without a fight."

"Wait," I said, stepping around him. "This isn't just about me. Sam's life is in danger, too."

A muscle ticked in Hades' jaw. "I don't care about him, just you."

"Yeah, well, I still do, alright? I don't know how Kronos knows about him, but Sam doesn't deserve to be tortured to death by your dad. Let me try to rescue him."

"You don't know how."

"If I do nothing, Sam dies."

"If you go there, alone with no backup plan, you could, too."

"What's worse, Hades? Martyring myself to save someone I care about, or living the rest of my life knowing I could've done something to save him, and didn't even try? You would do this if it were Persephone, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, of course," he said, seeming to realize what I was saying, and scowled. "I won't let you do this. It's suicide."

"And it's not your decision to make," I said, approaching the Furies, who glared at me with black, beady little eyes. "Y-you don't have order to kill me on sight, do you?"

They smiled, showing rows of glistening, pointed teeth. "Not yet."

"Take care of Persephone, okay?" I said to Hades as one of the Furies reached out, yanking me to them. "Tell her not to do anything stupid to get me back. And tell her...tell her that I love her, too."

His fists clenched and unclenched as his eyes spat fire. "You're acting like this is goodbye forever."

I dropped my eyes to the sand, flinching when the Furies' hold tightened. "I don't know that it's not."

He strode forward, ignoring their warning hisses, and grabbed my chin, forcing my face up to his. "I'll find you like I did last time."

"Please give me time to save Sam before you do. That's all I'm asking."

"Kronos could do anything to you, Emma, and I won't be there to stop him. Do you realize how much that worries me?"

"He wants something from me since he went through the trouble of kidnapping Sam in the first place. I'll find out what that is, rescue Sam, and once that's done, I'll call you to bail me out. Hopefully without any torture or murder involved. On either end."

I tried to smile, but the light didn't touch my eyes and after a minute he groaned, kissing me softly on the lips before stepping back.

"One day, this will end. One day, I won't have to keep saving you. I look forward to that day."

"Me too. But for now, you need to let me go."

"If either one of you touches a hair on her head..." He snarled at the Furies, who hoisted me up, hovering mid-air.

"Back off, Hades, if you know what's good for you."

I turned my face away from him, so I couldn't see the raw pain and anger there as he stepped up to Persephone's limp body, gathering her in his arms.

He backed slowly away from us, eyes never leaving mine as the Furies screeched once more, sweeping us out to sea.