“Or it could be that Nico was never supposed to die,” Mayhem says thoughtfully. “If he wasn’t supposed to die, then the balance would have been off anyway, and actually what Farren did was fix it.”
This time, we all fall silent for a different reason as we stare at Farren in awe.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nico
If Mayhem is right, and something about his explanation feels like it is, then she did something that seems even more impossible.
“I can find out if you want me to,” Mayhem offers, looking at me.
“What do you mean?” Hades asks with surprise.
I’ve spent enough time observing them to know that Mayhem is a lot more than he seems, but I have no idea where he’s going with this.
Mayhem looks around and lowers his voice even more, “I can check your soul and see if you died before you were supposed to.”
“That’s incredible,” Hades mutters in astonishment at Mayhem’s confession.
I hesitate, “Can you tell anything else? It’s not like reading my mind?”
There are things that I’ve been through that I don’t want to share.
Not even to find out if I’m supposed to be alive.
I look down at Farren in my arms and come to a startling realisation, I would do it for her. I would risk Mayhem seeing it all, riskchanging his opinion of me, risk him looking at me with pity instead of respect, if it meant that she was safe.
Damn.
What the hell am I supposed to do with that?
I look back up at Mayhem just in time to see understanding cross his features.
“I can make sure that I only look for that specific thing. If I was looking at the whole of your soul, I would be able to see the damage left by certain things, but I wouldn’t be able to see what caused it. However, I can make sure that I am only looking for whether you died before you were supposed to.”
I’m not the only one who stares at him in pure shock.
That’s insane.
I know what Hades said about the warriors who guard the souls in Purgatory, but I don’t think that even they can pick and choose what they can see when they look at a soul.
Maybe I’m wrong though.
It’s certainly not my area of expertise.
My gaze connects with Rast, and what he says next surprises me despite the fact that I’ve been watching and listening to them for a while.
“I trust him,” Rast says. “If anyone can find out without seeing anything that you don’t want them to, then it's Mayhem.”
Mayhem grins, “Aw, Farren was right, you like us.”
Rast smirks, “You’re growing on me. I wouldn’t say that I like you.”
“Uh huh, you keep telling yourself that, mate,” Loki retorts, immediately looking completely gleeful at the prospect.
“We understand if you don’t want to risk it,” Kill surprises me by saying.
Storm nods, “Kill’s right. No one will hold it against you. We get it.”
