“I don’t need your help finding friends.” Hades’ distinct growl slides through the darkness and over my skin in a delicious shiver that skims and caresses and awakens as it goes.
He kneels in front of me, running his hands over my body like he did after Poseidon’s Labor. This time there’s an underlying disquiet to his actions and his pinched expression. “Are you hurt?”
“Probably.”
“I’m not in the mood, Lyra. Answer the question.”
“I’m serious. I think I’m in shock. Nothing feels like it’s critical, though.”
He grits his jaw, but he nods, still checking me over. He works his way up my arms, then brushes my wet hair back and hisses. And that’s when I see it. Concern. Real concern. I know because I’ve dreamed of someone—my parents, Boone, even Felix—looking at me like that all my life. It darkens his eyes in a way that sends my heart tumbling.
He brushes his fingertip over a spot at my temple, and I wince at the pain that slices through my head at that touch.
“Sorry,” he murmurs.
But he doesn’t stop, threading his fingers through my hair, checking for more places I bumped into rocks. And it takes every ounce of my feeble self-control to not let either man know what I just realized.
Hades might take up all the air in the room, and he’s arrogant and bossy, not to mention secretive and closed off. Plus there’s that nasty temper. And he dragged me into the Crucible. But…I like him.
I like who he is.
I like fighting with him because I know he won’t hurt me and he’s only fighting because he cares about whatever pissed him off. I like his sense of humor. I like the way he laughs but hides it. I like the way he stands alone against the world and all the other gods. I like the way he breaks rules to help me. I definitely like the way he kisses.
And I would actually like to be his friend.
In the history of horrible ideas, that one is a doozy.
“You probably have a concussion.” He finally meets my gaze.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
I don’t know what he sees in my eyes, but it makes him blink, and then he slowly withdraws. His hands untangle from my hair as he leans back, and any hint of worry is gone behind the indifferent mask he’s so very good at projecting.
“Do you need a friend, my star?” Hades’ voice is still that silky drawl, but now it’s tinted with laughter, and I think I also hear a supreme sort of satisfaction there.
I take it back. Charon was right. Hades is a dick.
The only way I can think to react is to go on the offensive, so I sigh. “You’re like a damned predator with all the sneaking up.”
Sure enough, that brings out the arrogance. “I have been likened to a panther—”
“No, that’s not it.” I tap a finger against my lips, pretending to study him, then snap my fingers. “An octopus. That’s what you’re like.”
There’s a snort that might be a laugh from one of Cerberus’ heads.
Hades eyes me. “An octopus?”
“Uh-huh. It’s uncanny.” I offer him a sunny, innocent stare. “The smoke is like tentacles as you ooze your way into the room unseen and unheard. Definitely an octopus.”
Charon chokes on a laugh. “Oh my gods, Phi, she’s right.”
Phi?
I don’t get a chance to ask because Charon’s still laughing. “I’d never noticed before, but—”
He cuts himself off when Hades slices a glare his way.
“What?” I demand. Once you’ve got them annoyed, keep going. “Octopi are quite intelligent and cunning. You should be flattered.”
Hades grunts, looking downward as if he might find peace in that direction. After seeing both Olympus and now the Underworld, I understand why he looks down instead of up to the heavens.
“Your ally, Zai, came running straight to me and told me about your trip down the river,” he says. “You’re lucky I’d already returned to Olympus.”
“Ally?” He’s going to stop fighting me on that now?
Hades nods. “He’s earned it with that show of loyalty to you.”
Zai facing Hades alone to tell him he’d lost me down the River Styx had to have taken some guts for sure. “I’m glad. Because he’s coming to live with us.”
Cerberus and Charon both make choking sounds.
I expect Hades to immediately protest, but he doesn’t. He regards me with narrowed eyes before giving a resigned nod. “Makes sense. He can’t live with Dex if he wants to survive.”
“I was expecting an argument.”
“Me, too,” Charon murmurs.
Which earns him a speculative glare from Hades.
