“Father?” a voice called.
I tried sitting up as my attention shifted to the entrance where all three furies had entered and were eyeing each other warily as they approached the thrones. Hades’ arms kept me firmly anchored to him.
Giving into his need to keep them safe, I relaxed into his hold and waited for them.
“This shouldn’t be possible, right?” Megan said, looking at her mother when they stopped before us.
“No. It shouldn’t,” Grace, Megan’s grandma, said.
“Daughters, you have nothing to fear from one another here,” Hades said behind me. “Do you not know that?” He sounded surprised and confused.
Grace tore her gaze from Megan’s mom. “No. We don’t know that. I haven’t been this close to Paxton since she was ten years old.”
The emotion in her voice broke my heart. It seemed to break Megan’s mother’s too because she started tearing up. A single, blood-red tear ran down her cheek. The sight disturbed me, not that I let it show.
Grace opened her arms, and Paxton dove for her, hugging her tightly. Grace held her while she cried.
“You were never meant to be separated,” Hades said, confusion lacing his words.
“Then why were we?” Megan crossed her arms, looking every bit of the easily angered fury I knew.
“I would rather discuss that another time.”
Hades’ hold on me tightened fractionally, and I knew Persephone had done something. I hated her even more for whatever she’d given up that had enticed Hades to keep his favored daughters apart.
“Have you located the man Ashlyn described to you?” Hades asked.
“We will talk soon, Paxton,” Grace said, easing away from her daughter.
Paxton nodded and wiped her face. She reached out to squeeze Megan’s shoulder affectionately then faced Hades.
Megan lacked any shred of deference for Hades. She huffed and crossed her arms as she answered him. “It’s only been a few hours. The druid I need to talk to finally just answered my message before you summoned me. Again.”
“We need more time and help to locate him,” Grace said respectfully.
“Time is not something I can give you,” Hades said, the hand on my arm smoothing down my skin.
“Whoever it was came back again,” I said so they’d understand. “This time, it was a knife.”
“Are you okay?” Megan asked, her angry expression fading to worry.
I nodded. “Hades caught the knife just in time. I can’t imagine what a knife to the heart would feel like.”
“Excruciating,” Hades said, his hand roving over my hip. “And not something I ever want you to endure.”
I cringed, already guessing how he knew what a knife to the heart felt like. Megan saw it all. His hands on me – me cringing and how I didn’t move away from him.
“Father, I’d like to talk to Ashlyn while Paxton and Grace fill you in on what we’ve already done and what we plan to do,” Megan said.
“No.”
Megan scowled at his immediate response, and I turned to face him before she could argue.
His gaze, storming with so many emotions, swept over my face.
I feathered my fingers over the mark I’d made on his neck.
“You said you would give me anything. Give me your trust that I won’t do anything to harm Megan. And trust Megan to keep me safe while I’m talking to her. Allow me another chance to prove I’m not her. Please.”
