The Mad King (The Dark Kings #1)(25)

He growled, the sound echoing through his vast chambers like the snarl of a demon ripping out from the bowels of hell. An all too appropriate visualization for my uncle right now—his hair looked unwashed and unkempt. He was still surrounded by a field of raging snowfall and clinging to that damned sword like all the answers to life could be found in it.

“You do not belong here, Aphrodite! You overstep yourself, coming to my lands. Trying to tell me what—”

Crossing my arms, I snarled, “Oh, shut your pretty face, Uncle, and listen to me for once! She is even now agonizing over her decision to dip herself into the river Lethe. Look, believe me or not, that’s not my problem.” I slashed a hand viciously through the air. “But I am telling you that Alice Hu is your best shot at finding purpose and meaning again. If you let her forget herself, then that magic she and the Hatter forged in the alternate timeline will forever disappear right along with her. The lives of so many hinge upon them.”

Lowering my voice, feeling cold and empty inside even as the rage still coiled tighter around my heart, I hiccupped on a sob. “Can’t you see, can’t you feel that what I told you before was true? Is there no part of you, Uncle, that doesn’t want more than this bleak existence you’ve made for yourself?”

His features were shuttered as he stared hard at me, and it was all I could do not to cry. I was a goddess, used to getting my way in all things. But with Hades I wasn’t even certain I could use force on him. My uncle had always been different than the rest of our pantheon. And even if I could twist his actions, I could never do that to him. The choice had to be his alone—it was the only way this could work.

I blinked, feeling broken and desperate. Wringing my hands, I whispered, “I went to her, as one of your own, and told her that if she merely dips a finger into the waters of Lethe she will only forget the pain. I had to give her hope, you see. I had to make her believe she has choices.”

His jaw muscle twitched. “You know that even touching the waters is far too dangerous for a spirit. Its coolness is addictive, its waters intoxicating. She might not be strong enough to resist its siren lure for more.”

I nodded miserably. “I know. But a person with no options is a person without hope. You’ve got to help her, Hades. You’ve got to allow Hatter to come here.”

Adjusting his position on his throne, a small spark of hope flared in my chest as I felt him truly give me his undivided attention for the first time. His beautiful dark blue eyes narrowed intelligently as he said, “I have listened to the little spirit’s soul, as you asked. Hatter is the very reason for her depression. I do not believe she would enjoy seeing him here.”

“No, you’re wrong.” I clutched my hands together. I had to make him see, had to make him believe, or bringing Alice here had been for nothing at all. “He is her heartbeat and she his. She just doesn’t remember. But he can make her, he can unlock her memories, her true memories, and restore order to Kingdom.”

He snorted. “And what is Kingdom to me? I do not care, nor do I—”

“She resides in Kingdom, Uncle. Surely you know this. I’ve caught you peeking in on Calypso.”

“You spy on me?” A growl reverberated through his words, rocking the very foundation of the ebony-colored marble floor beneath my feet. I notched my chin and held his fiery gaze.

“Aye. I do. And I will not apologize for it. You know who I am and why this is so important to me. I would see you all restored. Please, Uncle, I would give you anything in return if you would just believe in me.”

Closing my eyes, I held perfectly still. I’d played my last hand. My final ace. There was nothing more precious in all the pantheon than to be owed a favor. It didn’t matter what he asked of me, I would grant it.

And judging by the way I felt the tension in the room suddenly thicken, I knew I’d finally gotten to him.

“Anything?” His question echoed like rolling thunder through the chamber.

Opening my eyes, I didn’t flinch at the sudden greed in his gaze as I said, “Anything at all.”

“Leave. Leave my realm and never return.”

I gasped, not sure why I was surprised, but I was. “What?”

“Go. Your entrance here is barred. Now go!”

And with those words, I was cast out of the underworld. Startled, confused, I stared at my opulent chambers and clutched at my heavily beating chest.

This couldn’t be how it all ended.

It just couldn’t be.





Chapter 9


Hades


A promise made was a promise kept.

I could no more tolerate Aphrodite’s censorious gaze or her constant meddling in my affairs, but she had stirred a curiosity in me I’d been unable to forget.

She was right. I did study Calypso.

In the waters of a world that I knew not, I watched the elemental goddess, curious for the first time in a long time as to how it could possibly have been her and me.

And something restless in me came to life. Like a caged lion, I paced back and forth, drowning in so many questions.

First and foremost, how I could possibly have forgotten someone who supposedly meant the world to me? Not that I believed Aphrodite entirely, but I’d been making inquiries of late.

I told no one, but I had made a visit to the sands of time, and I’d asked Time only one question.