His hands fall uselessly to his sides. He doesn’t deny it.
“I couldn’t tell you until you were here, in the Underworld—safe. There were rules…”
He uses that fucking word again—rules—likeit somehow excuses everything he’s done. It makes me want to explode.
“That’s bullshit! You care more about your precious rules than you care about me!”
His head snaps up, eyes dark with something primal and brutal.
“They would’ve killed you!”he roars. “Zeus. Poseidon. If they found out you knew, they’d have wiped you off the planet without blinking!”
I freeze, the force of his words hitting like a slap. But Hayes isn’t done.
“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” he continues, his voice trembling with emotion. “I’m sorry you’re mad. I’m sorry even if you hate me now. But I wasn’t going to gamble with your life.” He takes a step forward, energy crackling off him. “I know you don’t like how things are. I don’t like them much either,” he says. “But don’t you ever fucking say I don’t care.”
My breath catches as the anger in me dies, doused by his confession like water on flame. As much as I want to hold onto the rage, to keep railing against all the ways I’ve been wronged, I can’t. Because his words—the raw fear in his voice, the look on his face—I can tell he means it.
Every single word.
I still don’t know why he told her first, but I believe him when he says it wasn’t out of distrust. It’s painfully clear he was terrified for me.
Another thought slams into me then, this one softer, more disorienting. I press a hand to my ribs, trying to ease the ache tightening in my chest.
My father.
He didn’t abandon us like I’d always thought. He left to protect us, just like Mom said.
“Is he… is he here?” I ask. “My dad?”
“No one knows where Sonar is.” Hayes shakes his head. “He was one of the Ten Forsworn—the Titan generals who defied Zeus during the war. After their defeat, they were sentenced to the Tartarus prisons for eternity. Decades ago, Sonar escaped. My father sent Watchers and hellhounds after him, and they tracked him to California, to your mother. But after Amber was born, he vanished again. No one’s seen him since.”
“Oh, who cares about him anyway?” Amber shrugs. “It’s not like he was ever around.”
Her words barely register as a new idea takes root. Wild, but not impossible: Northwestern hemisphere. October birthday. Halfbreed. Those aren’t just Amber’s markers. And if someone’s going to rule the Underworld by Hayes’s side, shouldn’t it be someone who can actually watch a scary movie without covering her eyes the entire time?
Someone like… well, me.
“What if it’s not her?” I ask Hayes.
“It’s not you,” he says too fast. Too firmly. Like it’s a thought he’s had before and been forced to dismiss and bury deep.
“How do you know?”
“There were other signs. Extraordinary ones,” he says. “Amber was born during a Blood Supermoon.It’s a rare celestial event sacred to the Olympians and always marks a shift in power.”
I scoff. “So a creepy moon shows up, and suddenly she’s the Chosen One?”
“There’s more,” he continues. “The night she was born, every gate in Tartarus burst wide open. Every cell. Every seal. It took my father, Zeus, and Poseidon weeks to track down and contain the prisoners. But it wasn’t just random chaos.” His jaw flexes. “The escapees weren’t running. They were searching. Heading topside. All of them. Moving with purpose.”
“You’re saying they broke out because of Amber?” My words are thin, uncertain. “To what? Find her?”
He nods. “If the prophecy is real, then she’s the key to uniting the immortal races—Olympians, Underworlders, and the last of the Titans. The prophecy doesn’t just promise a new queen. It promises a shift. For some, that’s a good thing. But others will lose everything. Power. Position. Influence.”
I sink deeper into the bed, suddenly ice cold despite the warmth of the luxurious bed.
I can’t believe it.
We’re back atStar Wars, but somehow, it’s even worse than the long-lost Olympian sister twist. Turns out, I’m Hayes’s long-lost Olympian sister-in-law.
