Hades (The God Chronicles #3) (10 page)

“Can I talk to you?” I asked
crisply.

“I don’t have time for your stupid requests,”
he said snidely, turning back around to look at the screens behind
him. “If you want something, ask one of your servants.”

“I don’t want anything but to talk to you,” I
replied, doing my best to not be rude to him, even though the tone
he’d used had gotten men punched out before.

“Persephone,” he grumbled, turning back to look
at me. “Obviously, I am having my war council right now and
discussing the state of this realm we both rule over.” He began
rubbing his right temple with two fingers, looking at me like I was
a dog who needed disciplining. “This is the work part of that, the
part you never do. Why don’t you leave it to the boys, who know
what they’re doing?”

My blood was reaching its boiling point,
especially at his comment to leave the work for the boys. If he
only knew the amount of work I’d done in my lifetime. The anger
gave me more strength and determination though, along with the
desire to put him in his place.

Daddy would never talk to a woman this way, not
even one he didn’t care for. If he’d heard the way I’d just been
spoken to, he would have started a fight himself. Since he wasn’t
here, it was up to me to teach Hades a lesson.

With a smirk sliding into place, I let the
large doors I’d come through fall shut loudly behind me. Not
breaking eye contact with him, I moved towards the center of the
room, taking a seat in one of the unoccupied chairs.

Silence so thick it could have been cut filled
the room as we stared each other down. I could tell I’d surprised
him, but it wasn’t going to be enough to save me from further
mocking and humiliation attempts. If anything, all I’d done was
make him angry with me. The point for turning back had passed as
soon as I’d decided not to act as the classic she-devil I was
supposed to be playing, though.

“As I was saying,” Hades fumed, resuming
whatever it was he’d been saying before I entered. “There have been
issues and concerns raised that the area isn’t being surveyed
enough. I’ll be stationing three more of you there during our ride
out today. You—”

He pointed to three guards around the table and
a small radio looking device rose out of the table in front of
them.

“You are to send hourly updates on conditions.
If everything is looking as it should, lower level guards will be
stationed and you will return to your normal duties.”

The guards nodded, taking the devices and
stowing them on their persons.

“Worried about escapees?” I inquired,
remembering how angry he’d become the last time I’d brought up
incompetence in his abilities to keep everyone in the Underworld. I
didn’t even try to stop the mocking smile that spread across my
face.

He pursed his lips, glaring at me, but then
apparently decided to ignore the question.

“I think that covers all major concerns for
this week,” he stated. “If anything else comes up, we will address
it while we are out.”

The screens behind him began shutting off as
the guards stood from their seats, all of them making their way to
a regular sized door I’d missed before.

“Is her highness so inclined to join us today?”
Hades sneered, finally advancing towards me for the first
time.

“I am,” I said smoothly. “Where are we
going?”

“We, the people who keep your sorry excuse of a
queen safe from everything down here you seem to have forgotten
about, ride through the realm every week to make sure it is as it
should be. You would know that, if you’d ever taken an interest in
anything other than your precious tan and counting down the days
until you get to leave again.”

“I want to come now,” I said forcefully,
annoyed with being insulted for things I’d never actually
done.

“Suit yourself,” he said with a shrug, turning
and following after his militia.

I shoved myself away from the table, rising and
following after him in a fuming manner. Where I had been afraid of
him before, deciding to be more myself had unlocked this person who
couldn’t seem to stand him hardly at all. The way he spoke to and
treated me made me want to break his nose. He probably treated the
help around here the same way Persephone had treated hers, with
contempt and cruelty. It was all I could do to not throw a shoe, or
something, at the back of his head as I stayed a few paces behind
him. If he could feel the hatred I was burning into his hair with
my eyes, he made no indication of it.

We passed through the door and into another
outdoor corridor, much like the one I’d entered into when I first
arrived. It could have been the same one, but I wasn’t paying
enough attention to notice. I knew if I were to fall behind, trying
to figure out where I was, I would lose the group and any
opportunity I had to try and assert myself into the position I
wanted.

Only the sound of footsteps accompanied the
group for a while, the hallway leading on for quite some time in
the burning heat. Finally, I could see the men in the front were
going through another door and a quiet sigh of relief brushed past
my lips. It felt like the hottest, longest day of the year down
here.

When I finally passed through the entry way,
still the last of everyone, I was surprised to find we hadn’t
actually gone inside. Instead, we were in what looked like a
stable. It was odd, the amount of comfort I got from the smell of
hay and horse hair. That was where the similarities to my barn
ended though.

While the basics were the same, individual
stalls for the horses, a type of loft full of hay, and riding
equipment hanging on the wall, this space was much bigger than the
barn. It was wide and open, the stalls lining the circular walls of
the stone room. Where I was used to a dirt floor, there was a stone
slab. There were four doors in the space as well—the one we’d come
through, one straight across from it, and one to either
side.

One of the guards opened the side door to my
right, revealing what looked like an armory. My heart skipped a
beat as I eyed a shelf full of helmets, making a note to come back
alone and look through them. From what I could see, though, none of
them looked like something extraordinary or straight out of
legend.

The guards busied themselves putting on extra
armor and switching out their weapons. A few stayed behind, opening
the doors to my left and rolling out a large, black chariot. Hades,
who had gone in with one of the horses, reappeared with the black
steed, reigns in hand. He handed the stallion off to one of the
guards, who began hooking it up to the carriage as three more
horses were brought out.

Everyone was effectively ignoring me as they
got ready for their patrol ride. Other horses were being pulled out
and saddled, but I could see one at the other end of the room that
wasn’t being used. In fact, it looked like it hardly ever even left
its stall.

“He’s been exercised every few days, just like
I said he would be,” Hades said, apparently having been watching
me. “Good luck building that bond of trust with him now, though. It
would have helped if you’d ever actually come down and ridden him.”
He smirked, pulling a pair of gloves over his strong
hands.

“What’s his name?” I asked, turning back to
look at the poor animal.

“You never named him,” Hades said
crisply.

I maneuvered my way through the room to the
stall, opening the gate easily and sliding in with Persephone’s
abandoned ride. It looked . . . Sad. I could tell that it hadn’t
been exceptionally cared for, at least not emotionally. It made me
unhappy, seeing it so withdrawn. I knew from the horses at home
that there was a personality in there somewhere, and I was
determined to draw it out, even if it took all winter.

I left the stall and grabbed a brush off the
wall by the only closed door. There was a small bowl of sugar cubes
sitting on the table located beneath all the brushes, and I grabbed
a few of them as well.

Sliding back in with the horse, I let my
worries slip away and offered him the treat. He sniffed me for a
moment and then took them, some hesitance still in him. Gently, I
began brushing him down, talking to him under my breath as I did
so. He was visibly relaxing and perking up, probably used to this
routine happening before each time he was ridden. After a few
minutes, I was able to get him saddled and ready to ride
out.

“I didn’t know you knew how to care for
animals,” Hades said, some surprise in his voice as he watched me
lead it out of the stall.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” I said
mysteriously, letting a teasing smile slip onto my face.

He smiled at me, almost like it was a question
instead of a show of emotion.

I got up on my ride easily, shifting around in
the unbroken seat, trying to find a comfortable position. By the
time the guards started opening the last set of doors, I was
convinced Persephone had probably never even seen this room, let
alone her horse inside it.

The guards started heading out the doors before
they finished opening and I held back by Hades and his chariot. As
the view in front of me became more clear, my eyes widened in
shock.

It was obvious that the Underworld was just a
big cave, but I hadn’t expected it to be so large and open. The
path in front of us lead out into a cavern so huge that it seemed
we were out in the open air. It was full of people as well, just
wandering around and staring off into the distance.

“Are you ready to see what you’ve ignored all
these years?” Hades chuckled, whipping the reigns down on the backs
of his four stallions and quickly darting through the doors, the
pace for the ride set.

I urged my own horse forward into a bit of a
gallop, not knowing exactly what I was about to see. Dust from
everyone going before me hung heavily in the air, blocking them
from my view somewhat. I urged the horse to move a little faster,
trying to catch up. Only when I could see Hades, his black jacket
flapping in the wind as he stood in his chariot, did I feel like I
could stop pushing so hard.

Before I knew it, we were flying through the
sea of people I’d seen from the doorway. They gave us a wide berth,
some of them turning around so as to not look at us. They seemed to
close the gap we created very quickly though, some of them peering
up at me curiously, as if there was something they knew I didn’t.
It might have been my over active imagination, though. Heaven knew
I hadn’t planned on going out among the dead today.

The cavernous space proved to be even more
immense than it seemed, the island of those claimed by death
stretching on forever. The castle had disappeared from view long
ago and we still rode on at the same quick pace, apparently
ignoring all those around us.

Finally, the crowds thinned down to just a few
wanderers, people muttering to themselves and looking around
mournfully. Our pace slowed as we reached a river, though I didn’t
know if it was the same one I’d come in on or if it was the other
one I’d seen. I was already having a hard time sorting everything
out in my head. It felt like I was stuck in an endless hall of
mirrors, everything looking the same to me.

“Where are we?” I finally braved asking,
stopping next to the already parked Lord of the Dead.

“The Islands of the Blessed are just over the
ridge,” he said, motioning to the point where I couldn’t see past
the water any more.

“Right,” I said, nodding even though I had no
idea what he was talking about.

“Just as clueless as always,” he said smugly,
stepping down and pulling his gloves off. “I’m surprised you don’t
already know about it, but then again you never cared about
anything here. The Islands of the Blessed are where famous and
influential people go after they die. It’s basically one big party,
all the time.”

He walked down to the water’s edge and a boat
rose up onto the bank, several more following suit as the guards
approached the shore as well.

“Too bad you missed all the thousands of years
of that, huh?” Hades laughed, climbing aboard the small
boat.

I dismounted and followed him, fuming at his
teasing while silently agreeing that Persephone probably would have
been wroth to find out she’d been missing out on so much
fun.

“What about the—” I started to ask, turning
back to look at all the horses on the shore. Apparently, some of
the guards were staying behind to watch them.

“Are you coming then?” Hades asked, motioning
to the seat across from him.

There was a look in his eyes, something that
said he didn’t really think I could handle whatever it was he had
planned for the day, even though his face remained
neutral.

“Of course,” I said, pursing my lips at him and
climbing into the boat with ease.

He probably thought I was going to fall right
in. Judgmental jerk.

I took the seat he had pointed out and looked
at him evenly, ignoring the sudden tug that occurred as we pulled
away into deeper water.

Chapter Ten