Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76370 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76370 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Instead, all I feel is empty.
The elevator doors open on the floor that houses the private residences of people who live here. There aren’t many these days. Me, Allecto, Tisiphone. Technically Hercules and Meg have their own rooms, but they’re rarely used since they spend most of their nights with Hades.
I start toward my room, but Hercules appears at the end of the hall, looking harried. “There you are.”
“Here I am.” My voice sounds decidedly normal, which is a small revelation. At least the vines full of thorns embedded in my chest are invisible to anyone else.
“Hades would like to see you.”
I take a step forward before Allecto catches my shoulder. “The old man can wait. Give yourself a little time to catch your breath.”
She’s probably right, but I’m not in the mood to wait. No matter what Hades has to say, it will offer a distraction from the memory of the silent hospital room we just left. “It’s fine.” I inject some sunshine into my tone because Hercules looks worried. “I’ll go see him now.”
The elevator is the closest way up, but I don’t trust Allecto not to follow me into it and then demand to be present for whatever Hades has to say. She doesn’t normally meddle in Underworld affairs unless it’s directly related to security, but one look at her face shows a worry she can’t quite hide. “I’m fine.”
“The more you say that, the less I believe you.”
Hercules looks between us. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.” I slip past Hercules before Allecto can keep arguing. She curses but doesn’t try to chase me down, probably because she knows Hercules will demand answers until someone tells him what’s happening. Explaining what I’ve done today means explaining how I’ve had a mother in a coma for two decades, which means explaining the terms of my bargain.
I know Hercules. He won’t understand.
I take the stairs up to the floor that houses the main club and Hades’s public office, and then I pause on the landing for several long minutes while I put my armor back in place. Soft spot or no, it doesn’t do to meet with Hades while bleeding from an emotional wound. He won’t be able to help himself. He’ll poke at it until I spill all my messy emotions all over both of us.
When I’m reasonably sure that I can walk into the office without breaking down, I leave the stairwell. The hall is empty, which is a small blessing, and I stride to Hades’s office and let myself in.
A quick glance around the room shows that it’s the exact same as it’s always been. Hades has a private office, but this is the space where he prefers to handle any club business that arises. The room is done in shades of gray, and careful lighting always leaves the man behind the desk bathed in shadow. It’s very dramatic, but I’d never be fool enough to say as much to Hades.
He’s the only one in the room.
I clear my throat, fighting down a flutter of nerves. “You called for me?”
“Sit.”
As I make the short trip across the office to sink into a chair across from him, the empty feeling in my chest yawns wider. I clasp my hands in my lap tightly enough to grind my bones together and try to keep my voice even. Hades doesn’t immediately speak, which only heightens the sudden concern that I’m right and Allecto is full of shit. “Are you going to kick me out the same way you kicked out Tink?”
Even with the shadows, I can see Hades’s surprise. “You and Tink are hardly the same, Aurora.”
A sentiment I’ve heard more times than I can count, especially since I took over her position. If Tink weren’t one of my closest friends, it might make me hate her. As it is, she gave me large shoes to fill when she left. I try to still my sudden shaking. “With respect, that’s not an answer.”
He gives a nearly soundless sigh and leans forward to prop his elbows on his desk. It brings his features into the light. Hades is an attractive, older white guy with salt-and-pepper hair and black square glasses that frame his dark eyes. He’s handsome in a scary kind of way, but he’s never been anything but kind to me.
Not that he’d label it as such. The man has a reputation to uphold, after all, and if I ever pointed out that he got the raw end of our bargain, he’d deny it. Hades doesn’t do charity, but in my case, there’s no other way to describe it. What other man would give an astronomical amount to a thirteen-year-old girl and then send her away with a command to return when she’s twenty-one?
I tested him to see if he’d come looking for me. Letting a week and then a month slip by after my birthday. He never showed to enforce the command. In fact, he seemed surprised when I finally arrived at the Underworld.