The Mad King (The Dark Kings #1)(48)
“Yes, we have! All I’ve said is true. All of it.”
“The problem is—” I sniffed and finally gave in to my need to touch his jaw. His skin was so cold, and he trembled beneath my touch, and I didn’t know anything about anything anymore. I felt lost and scared and so damned confused about it all.
“The problem is, I just don’t remember a life with you, and I never will. Maybe if you’d come, maybe we could have built something then, but you are a living, and I am nothing but a ghost with form.”
“But you can follow me out, Alice. Hades has promised. As long as you believe in me. In us.”
My smile was sad. “I’m not sure I do anymore.”
Dropping my hands and closing his eyes, he nodded only once and seemed to curl in on himself, as though my words had been a physical blow to him. And I hated to hurt him as I had, but I was simply being honest.
He sat so still for so long that I felt awkward and unsure.
I would return to him, and I would give him the kiss of true love. Because I knew that was what burned deep inside me, whether I wanted it to or not. I could only hope that someday I’d be able to forget him entirely and be happy again. And he me. I would return later and slip him that kiss, his death would not be on my conscience.
“Good-bye, Hatter,” I said slowly.
Rising to my knees, I looked down upon his head, wishing for just a moment that I could run my fingers through his hair. But instead I curled my hand into a ball and gave a hard nod at his continued silence. Then, turning on my heel, I called forth the power of my bird and flew as far and as fast away from him as I could.
Chapter 16
Danika
“Just let him try to keep me out!” I snarled, breaking every godmother code in existence as I forced my way through the underworld.
Slamming open the bony gates to be greeted by that mangy, slobbering beast, I was half tempted to place a killing curse on him.
“Oh, do shut up!” I snipped, then walloped Cerberus with a thick ball of magic so powerful it caused his massive body to instantly seize up and drop to the ground, all three heads fainting dead away.
And then the whole of the underworld shook and trembled. A giant rift tore open in the ground beneath me, and out spewed a magnificent chariot of ebony, led by horses whose hooves caused the earth to rumble with thunder from each strike of their legs to land. Red, glowing eyes of monsters looked down upon me as giant curls of steam rolled through their velvety snouts. But it wasn’t the steeds that caused me to square my shoulders and lift my wand in a threatening manner, rather it was the massive wall of underworld god staring down upon me with murder clear in his almost neon-blue eyes.
“Fairy,” he spat. “How dare you.”
“Before you smite me or do whatever it is you’re thinking of doing, I want to remind you of one thing, Hades. Your success hinges on their own.”
He smirked, staring at me so long that I suddenly felt the need to quiver. I never quivered. I clamped down on my teeth, showing no outward sign of my nerves.
“Your kind. It was all of you. All this, it’s because of you.”
Galeta was not here to defend herself, and I would no more throw her under the bus than I would anyone else, so I notched my chin and gave him my most hateful look.
I was no more pleased with this new life than he was, but he didn’t have to be such a giant, unmitigated ass about it either.
“Undo whatever curse your people have wrought,” he commanded, and I felt the power of his words shiver like quicksilver through my blood.
“Oh, believe me, if I could I would. But there is no magic cure for this. The only way to fix this, any of this, is to simply shut up and do it. I’ve sent a ball of true love here.”
He chuckled. “I found it.”
Swallowing the sudden greasy ball of fury that wanted to spew off my tongue, I reminded myself that I would get nowhere with this officious arsehole if I gave in to my anger.
“You must release it, release that magic, Hades. You can’t stop true love, you must know that.”
“And you know that there was to be no outside interference. If he is to succeed then he must—”
Forgetting my admonishments of just a moment ago, I stomped my foot and snapped, “Damn you, man! What the hell has happened to you? You are nothing like you once were.”
Fire flashed through his eyes, and for just a second, I was prepared to battle for my life, but then he went absolutely still, not even batting an eyelash as he asked, “You knew me? Then? How?”
“Because you weren’t such a rotten bastard then. Aye, I knew ye. Most of Kingdom did. Aphrodite didn’t lie to you, Hades. You did love Calypso, and she loved you with a passion that rivaled insanity. You have a granddaughter who still lives—”
“What!” he thundered, eyes flashing with sparks of lightning, and blue flame suddenly curled outward from the scabbard attached to his hip. “How is that even possible? I have no children.”
“I don’t know,” I said sadly, going from loathing him to feeling pity for a god. What had the world come to that I could feel pity for someone as powerful as death himself? “None of this makes sense to me either. But she lives. And her name is Fable. She is trapped inside a curse flung by the hand of your own wife.”
“No.”