“What do they do if there’s a tie?” I force my eyes open for the answer.
“It depends,” Hades says slowly. “But they don’t allow two winners. There can only be one ruler of the gods.”
Fuck.
I want to scream the word. Scream at the unfairness. Just…scream.
No. I curl my free hand into a fist in my lap. There’s too much riding on this, and I don’t have time to wallow or lose it. I have to think. “I have to try anyway. A tie is still a chance.”
Hades’ scowl could strip concrete off rebar. “You can barely sit up.”
I scowl right back. “Then you’d better get your ass back up to Olympus and buy me a few more days. I’m doing it.”
He shoves a hand through his hair as he’s up off his chair, whirling away from me. Even his rigid shoulders look like they’re considering all the ways to get me to not do this. “Don’t make me put you through more,” he says in a voice I’ve never heard from him before.
Can’t he see? If I don’t, I’ll hate myself.
“Hades.” I say his name quietly, and his back goes even more rigid, like he’s ready to snap. “Please. I have to.”
“Fuck,” he mutters. His hands go to his hips as his head drops forward, and his shoulders rise and fall. “Fine. I’ll go talk to them.”
84
If Trust Won’t Work, Try Bribery
When you have everything to lose, you start coming up with the shit that will get you smited.
That’s what we’re doing tonight. Any minute now, in fact.
Fates, please be on our side and let this work.
We have to be very careful in how we do this to avoid the “no interfering” rule for Hades. So, at my request, Hades is bringing…guests…to his home. Charon about fell on his ass when Hades told him. How they can come and go from the Underworld without a mark similar to the one Hades gave me, I don’t know, and I don’t ask. But as far as anyone else is concerned, this is a “hooray I’m better, let’s catch up on what I missed” party for all the champions.
Given the size of Hades’ home down here, you’d think entertaining was common. “Mansion” doesn’t really cover it. “Castle” is closer. I’ve been encouraged to walk a lot by the ghost doctors attending me in committee, and so I’ve explored.
At this point, I’m pretty sure I’ve only covered about fifty percent of the grounds, and I’ve cataloged at least thirteen bedroom suites, two dining rooms—one formal and one informal under a skylight. There’s a sauna, a massage room, the library where he first brought me after Boone’s death that puts the fairy-tale Beast’s to shame, three separate indoor living spaces, and at least three more outdoor—one up on the roof, where I am now, one by the pool, and one in a garden that stole my breath. Two kitchens inside—one for Hades’ personal use and a massive one for the staff who serve here—and one kitchen outside. Indoor pool and gym, outdoor pond, but also an outdoor pool that is more like a series of pools incorporated into the lush landscaping that swirls and eddies from unique feature to feature, with bridges, grottos, and even one with cabanas on islands surrounded by water.
Suck it, Olympus.
That’s what Hades’ home in the Underworld screams.
The other champions are in for a surprise when they get here. I almost smile as I picture their reactions. The opulence and luxury are both in your face and understated. Just like his penthouse, it’s eclectic. A mix of elements from all around the world.
But what’s different is the lived-in feel. The rooms and decor aren’t untouchable, uncomfortable, or showy. Every space here is…cozy. I want to tuck myself into each nook and cranny and just enjoy—read, take a nap, watch TV, plan a heist.
Hades is there with me in every one of those fantasies. I can’t quite seem to get that to stop.
I’m waiting in the rooftop living area. From here, I have a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the mountain the home is built into and the lands beyond with their ethereal hills, fields, and rivers covered by a cave ceiling so high, it might as well be sky. There is a sort of daytime and nighttime here, mimicking the Overworld, but the colors are more vibrant. Especially at night.
I sigh as I drink in the view for perhaps the last time.
Tomorrow, we go back to Olympus for the eleventh Labor. Hades bought us the time. The Daemones helped, coming back down to inspect me and agree that the final challenges should wait for all the champions still living to participate.
Hades hasn’t told me any more about the three Labors I missed, despite me bothering him nonstop—a bad sign that I won’t like what I hear, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll find out tonight regardless.
A breeze ruffles my hair and caresses my skin.
There’s a breeze in the Underworld. I’d pictured a roasting wind to go with the burning fields, but not here in Erebos, the Land of Shadows. Here, the breeze is cool and perfect.
I’m wearing a sundress, of all things, in a cheerful yellow. I have no idea how Hades knew I’d always wanted one. Pledges wear utilitarian clothes or clothes to blend into the environment where we have a job, but we don’t get to keep those. And I never got to that level anyway.
I stare out over the vistas and sigh again because I think I could stay here forever and never miss any other place. But maybe that has something to do with the god who calls this home.
I feel Hades before I hear or see him move up next to me at the rail. Not from his emotions. I haven’t felt those again in the extra days he wrangled for me to rest and recover.
But there’s this tension now.
Like a thin wire has been strung between him and me, and if we get too close…sparks travel that wire and we both risk getting scorched. So we’ve been moving around each other carefully.
We don’t touch.
We don’t glance or stare.
We don’t share a room alone for longer than a few minutes.
We don’t breach the invisible walls of personal space, like glass bubbles around us.
