❛THEY WOULD TELL YOU OF A KING WHO STOLE ME HELPLESS FROM MY SUNSHINE GARDEN.❜
They won't tell you about the woman who came to him sublime, lily eyes and lily lips. A king does not ask permission from his prize, but she, oh she, she knelt, kissing m...
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THE FOREST OF THE FURIES, THE UNDERWORLD.
HADES
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING HERE?"
Apollo turned around at once, his face pale and bloodless, but his eyes held the same glint of malice in them as last time.
"I can explain," the sun god raised his hands. "Just hear me ou-"
"I'm not interested in your fucking explanation, Apollo," I spat at his feet, voice dangerously low as I tried to rein in my fury - although unsuccessfully. This man - this man had been about to steal the virtue of my wife when I had seen her the very first time.
I would never forget the look on her face.
The fear in her helpless eyes. The shuddering voice trying to stick to the confines of politeness even as she begged him to stop. The very innocence of her, the way her cries had travelled over the winds, carrying her voice over to me - looking for help. Of any kind. Any shape. Any form.
"The only reason I did not slaughter you the last time was because of Persephone. She isn't here," I let out a hoarse growl, slowly unbuttoning my sleeves to roll them up. "And that means... there is nothing here to stop me this time."
"I'm not interested in Demeter. How the fuck did you get this key?"
"Look - she's here. She's here. In the guise of Hecate. She tricked you into giving her the key - she wanted me to unlock the gates of Tartarus and leave you to your fate while she took Persephone away-"
"Oh, no. I don't think so," I snarled. "I don't believe you. You're a liar," a low hiss left my lips as I looked him right in his blue eyes, wider than the sky. "You know what I do when a liar enters my home, Apollo?" I grasped him by the chin, my words coming out in nothing but snarls. "I kill them like the rats they are."
"You don't know a thing," he snapped at me. "You don't know a damn thing, Hades."
"I do know some things. I know that you're a rapist. I know that you're a liar. And I know..." I eased my grip on Cerberus, who let out a long, long growl. "I know that when you die, I will sentence you to the deepest levels of Tartarus and laugh while I do it."
Go, I urged. The bloodhound lept at him.
The god flinched for a fraction of a second, before clenching his left hand into a mighty fist, striking back with a violent burst of light. Even as Cerberus's teeth tore into the vulnerable flesh of his knuckles, Apollo's fist made contact with his jaw - throwing him back onto the ground, heaving and panting.
Anger rose in me like a snake burning with deadly venom.
How dare. How dare he-
A tangle of dark, roiling power curled up in my palms, creeping up my arms like strings of inky night. Apollo snarled, gathering sunlight in his hand - even as the burst of my power hit him squarely in the chest, hurling him off his feet and onto the ground.
