The rubble shifted, stones rolling aside not by force, but as if they were simply moving out of the way of a guest. A figure stepped through the dust, brushing soot from an immaculate velvet coat.
"Well," the intruder said, his voice smooth, amused, and terrifyingly familiar. He looked past Kaelen’s bared teeth and Flynn’s snarl, locking eyes directly with me. "That was certainly a noisy way to change fate, my dear. I hope I’m not interrupting the afterglow?"
TWENTY-NINE
Aria
The man standing in the settling dust of the tunnel mouth was an anomaly. In a world of jagged stone, sweating bodies, and raw, bleeding magic, he was a slice of immaculate, terrifying civilization.
He wore a suit of crushed black velvet that seemed to absorb the dim light rather than reflect it, tailored to a frame that was lean and elegant. His hair was slicked back, black as oil, and his eyes were the color of garnets, dark, red, and utterly bored. He leaned lightly on a cane topped with a silver skull, watching us with the expression of a disappointed parent who had walked in on a particularly messy house party.
"Uncle," Kaelen growled.
The single word dropped into the silence like a stone, rippling with a complicated mix of recognition and dread.
The intruder, who the bonds were telling me was Hadesof all people, clicked his tongue, tapping the cane against the toe of his polished boot. "Nephew. I see you’ve relocated, though I daresay your choice of location leaves something to be desired."
The absurdity of the moment washed over me. We were five magical, glowing, naked beings huddled in the roots of amountain, pulsating with the aftershocks of amazing sex, what some would even call a divine orgy, and the Lord of the Dead was critiquing the location as though we'd had a choice in it.
"What are you doing here?" Flynn snapped, stepping in front of me. He was stark naked and covered in rock dust and sweat, but he projected enough aggressive arrogance to fill a throne room. "How did you even get into the mortal realm?"
Hades raised a sleek eyebrow. "You think I'm actually here? My dear boy, if I were actually in the mortal realm, you would all be on the floor just from my presence alone. No, this is just a projection. One I can only send because you are so close to my realm. This is the attic of my domain. I felt the floorboards shaking." His gaze shifted to me, sharpening instantly from bored to dissecting. "And I heard the singing. 'Void.' A catchy tune. A bit nihilistic for my taste, but certainly effective."
He took a step forward. The shadows seemed to stretch and curl around his ankles like loyal hounds.
"Stay back," Thane rumbled. He didn't shout, but the earth beneath us vibrated in sympathy with his voice.
Hades paused, his garnet eyes flicking to the Bear Prince. "Thane. Still the wallflower." He looked at the wreckage of our clothes, the sweat slicking our skin, the undeniable golden tethers of magic pulsating between the five of us. A slow, dry smile curved his lips. "And I see you’ve finally stopped moping and started binding. About time. The sexual tension in this mountain has been giving me a migraine."
"Get to the point, Hades," Kaelen said, his hand balling into a fist, though he didn't raise it. "If you are here to put us back in the cage, you will find we are no longer cooperative and the cage is no longer there."
"Put you back?" Hades laughed, a soft, dry sound like parchment crumbling. "Why on earth would I do that? You justsilenced the distress beacon that has been screeching in my ear for a millennium. I’m here to thank you."
He gestured with the cane, pointing it at the ceiling where the dust was still falling from the tunnel he'd just walked out of as if it were flat ground.
"Hera stopped digging," Hades noted. He cocked his head to the side as though listening to something only he could hear. "She thinks you’re dead. Erased. Disintegrated by your own incompetence. She thinks the binding ate you all alive."
"Good," I said, finding my voice. It was raspier than usual, deeper. I stepped out from behind Flynn, ignoring the way Kaelen tried to shield me with his arm. I wasn't ashamed of my nudity or the marks on my skin. I felt armored with power. "That gives us the element of surprise."
Hades’s gaze locked onto mine once more. For a moment, the air grew incredibly cold, smelling of pomegranates and fresh graves. He studied the golden markings pulsing on my neck, the bite marks, the sheer volume of chaotic magic rolling off me.
"Aria Pandoros," he murmured. "The little key that turned herself into the gate as she destroyed it." He tilted his head. "You feel... crowded. Five souls in one vessel. It’s a wonder you haven't cracked."
"I hold them," I said, lifting my chin. "And they hold me."
"How touching." He looked around the ruin of the chamber, his nose wrinkling as his gaze landed on Steve. The Skal was cowering in the corner, trying to make itself look like a harmless pile of rocks.
"You stole one of Poseidon's vacuum cleaners," Hades noted with mild distaste.
Scary man,Steve projected into my mind, a tiny, whimpering thought.Smells like The End.
"He’s with us," I said defensively.
"Of course he is." Hades sighed, checking a pocket watch that appeared in his hand out of thin air. "Listen, I am a busy deity. Souls to reap, riches to count, et cetera. I did not come here for pleasantries."
"Then why did you come?" Elias asked, his voice melodic and wary. He stood slightly apart, his turquoise eyes tracking the shadows around the god.
"Because," Hades said, his expression hardening, "the upstairs neighbors have become intolerable."
