The Mad King (The Dark Kings #1)(38)

“Well, not often the Lord of Death sees fit to grace us with his presence.”

Not an answer, and yet I’d not actually expected one.

“Want me to fetch a nymph for you? Heard it’s been a while.” He grinned, glancing quickly down between my legs and snorting.

I sighed, already exhausted by my kind, and I’d only just gotten here.

“No,” I said. “Where is Aphrodite?”

That question seemed to take him aback, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. “Hate to say this, Deathy, but I don’t think you’ll be getting any sex from that one. Rumor has it she’s been locked up in her castle beneath the waves these past few days and has threatened to cut off anyone’s balls who dares to approach.” Covering the side of his mouth with his hand, he glanced from side to side quickly before leaning in and saying in a stage whisper, “She and the twisted one are on the outs, you see.”

Feeling strangely protective all of a sudden, I snapped at the imbecile. “Get out of my way, you gossiping whoreson.”

Then I shoved past him, unnecessary since I traveled through a time portal, and made my way directly into Aphrodite’s luxurious sex suite.

The place was gilded with gold and dripping with diamonds from every conceivable corner. Upon her floors were rugs of thick, plush animal skins as white as freshly fallen snow. A massive mirror took up one entire wall, and at the very center of the opulent room sat a bed that could easily sleep twenty.

Aphrodite was notorious for her orgies.

But instead of finding a bevy of naked men and women giving in to her every whim, I only found Aphrodite lying on the center of it, wearing a very mundane-looking gown of spun white cotton, her blond hair loose and looking tangled.

She did not cry out when I entered, simply sat up slowly, as though she wore the cares of the world upon her small shoulders.

Aphrodite wore no glamour today, and I was taken aback by the sight of her. This was the real woman who hid behind the gowns of spun sunlight, whose flesh glowed, golden and alive.

She looked tired.

There were dark circles under her eyes, as though she’d been crying for days. But for all that, she was still one of the most beautiful woman I’d ever known. I rather liked her without the magic, though I’d never say so.

“Hades?” she asked quietly, looking at me strangely. “Why are you here?”

Taking a deep breath, I licked my front teeth. Now that I was here, I wasn’t really sure why I’d come, to be honest. I’d kicked her out of my realm, mocked her, made her feel a fool.

I frowned, shoved my fingers through my hair, and looked at her directly. “You never spoke with the Fates. Did you?”

The visible swallow and shudder she gave was answer enough, and my heart sank.

Crawling forward on her hands and knees, gripping her sheets so tight that her knuckles whitened, she shook her head vehemently. “No, but before you say another word, know this. The rest was the absolute truth. I need you to believe in them as I do.”

“Who told you to get to me? Why?”

Twisting her thick hair through her fingers, she looked nervous. And not at all like the confident goddess I’d always known her to be. I didn’t know what to make of this startling revelation, but there was an epiphany growing inside me. One that seemed so obvious now in hindsight that I was ashamed I’d not realized it sooner.

“It was the fairy queen of Kingdom—Galeta. And I would trust her word as surely as I would trust that of the Fates. I did not lie to you, Hades, Calypso is your lost mate.”

“And how do Hatter and Alice fit into this?”

I had my suspicions, which had blossomed after speaking with Hatter, but I would hold that thought close to the vest. For now.

She shrugged, and that movement alone seemed to wear her out.

It was inconceivable to me that I should care about this slip of a woman I’d never had feelings for before. But I was seeing Aphrodite in a new light today. And I felt heartily ashamed of myself.

“I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “But I would do anything to—”

Unable to be in her presence a moment longer, I turned on my heel, tore open a portal, and returned to the safety and isolation of my underworld.

I would have to eventually apologize to Aphrodite for my actions, but if I’d been forced to remain in her presence a moment longer, I might have given in to my shame in public.

Sitting upon my throne and with tears burning in my eyes, I flicked my wrist. For days now I’d been spying on Calypso, and this time was no different.

I watched the elemental with new eyes.

She sat on a cliff, staring down at her beloved sea. She was not in human form, but she was more solid than she had been before. More like a pillar of water in the shape of a coral. And though I could not see her face, I knew her eyes were trained upon the sea she loved so well.

I looked at that water too, wondering what it was about it that called to the elemental so. Water was just water. You drank it, bathed in it, cooked with it, but there was no more to it than that.

But as I watched her study it, I knew it was so much more than that to her. To her, it was life. Beauty. Wonder.

I frowned.

Where had those thoughts come from? Blinking, I tried to shake the nonsense from my head, but all of a sudden I caught movement from the corner of my eye. It was Calypso, and though she still bore no recognizable form, I felt her eyes upon me. Her gaze met mine across time and distance, and though I knew she did not see me, she was clearly aware of being watched.