As the two gods shook hands, the binding effect of their power rippled once more through the fields. Nyx fled from her atmosphere around them, a sick taste in her mouth, left by men, gods, and their prideful ambitions.
9
Nyx abandoned the Elysium fields, leaving Hades and Poseidon none the wiser that they had been watched. They began walking once more through the grass, strategizing and pouring over the lists of gods and titans who had chosen a side.
“Who in the Underworld is unaccounted for?” Poseidon asked his brother, arching an eyebrow as he mentally ran through its inhabitants.
“Everyone.” Hades seemed annoyed. “You know I don’t control them.”
“You certainly act like you do.”
Hades cracked his knuckles and a ripple of power spread out from around him. “Imindthem. They mind me. If you have any grand ideas,yougo tell Hecate what to do and see what happens.” Poseidon held up his hands in surrender.
“Pass. She has not claimed a side yet?”
“She won’t. Nyx has said no, which we all anticipated, but Zeus remains bent on getting her to side with him.”
Poseidon made a low whistling noise. “Everyone would be wise to leave the primordials well enough alone. Especially Nyx. We know enough about the darkness under the water to understand that there are some things that should stay there.”
Hades laughed. “You’re speaking of Erebus now.”
“They are the same.”
“Not as of late.” Hades looked like an old woman with a secret. Poseidon raised a brow, dreadfully curious but much more cautious than his brothers of tangling with primordials.
“Then we’re all in trouble,” Poseidon snapped instead of giving into the gossip. “Those two pulled themselves into existence for one another,” he said, pointing a finger at Hades, “and if Zeus is trying to get in between them, it won’t work. What is his obsession with Nyx anyway?”
“Ithasworked.” Hades’s voice had a different, softer tone to it, almost one of regret. “In regard to Nyx…”
“Zeus knows that she is the only being alive that is stronger than him.” Erebus’s voice rang out in the air, deep and amplified, causing both gods to turn around in shock.
Rolling, black clouds gathered above them. Hades and Poseidon watched as they spun down towards the ground, touching the earth, and Erebus emerged from the column of smoke and shadow. Hades let out a low whistle.
“Neat trick.”
Erebus growled, ripples of shadow pouring out from him and snaking around Hades in a threat.
“Shall I show you an even better one?” Erebus hissed. “You gods need a sound reminder of who you are dealing with.”
“Darkness.” Poseidon nodded his head in respect and soundly elbowed his brother. “You’ll have to forgive Hades. He’s forgotten how to consort with other people. He spends all his time with the dead.” Hades narrowed his eyes at his brother but shrugged in agreement.
“You will both be careful of how you speak of Nyx’s name. As for Zeus, he’s afraid of her. His life has been ruined by the curse she put on him five hundred years ago. He knows that should she choose to fight with Kronos, it’s over.”
“What sayyou?”Hades pushed.
“You’ve heard my piece.” There was a guarded air to Erebus as he watched over both gods. He didn’t trust either of them, even though he wanted to convince Nyx to join their ranks.
“We have heard you defend Nyx.” Poseidon nodded. “No one negates her power. We have not heard what you have to say.”
Erebus studied them both. In perpetuity, he had never spoken publicly or privately against Nyx. There might have been things that they disagreed on—time immemorial was a long time to be alive to agree on everything—but they discussed those matters between themselves. Erebus loved Nyx like there was nothing else in the world. In his world, there wasn’t. He didn’t mind being the amplifier, the muscle, the enforcer, to her divine will. The idea of speaking out against her, even disagreeing with her wisdom, in front of others was one that had once been abhorrent to him.
The world was changing. All he wanted was to see her restored to the place of respect that she deserved. There was a time before this current slew of immortals when Nyx was revered above all else—Hecate, too, when he thought about it. Now, there was nothing but bullish men shoving their way through and pulling their whiny wives alongside them. Zeus had always known what Hera had intended to do when she set out to ruin Nyx’s temples; anything that praised Hera reflected well on him. It broke Erebus’s heart to see his children shunned, Thanatos feared and Hypnos brushed aside, and Nyx disregarded like an ancient bogeyman.
The slow desecration of all her temples, followed by spreading rumors of Tartarus, all contributed to public opinion. It was calculated. Erebusknewthat. No matter what Nyx wanted to say, he wasn’t blindly playing into Zeus’s hands. If they could join this battle and end Kronos, it would be an opportunity for the world to see them once in the light. There would be temples resurrected to Nyx again, to her honor and glory, the safety that she could provide. That shedidprovide. Erebus was falling prey to the one thing that any righteous man so often did—a nearly blind need to safeguard his family, no matter how strong they were.
“Nyx has spoken,” Erebus said again with a finality in his tone that gave no room for debate. Hades prodded again.
“You agree with her then?”
