Hades’s penetrating gaze is burned into the memory too.
Right before the moment I lost her again. Not just from my embrace. Something came between us, invisible but impenetrable, like a force field only worse. The barrier was sudden and savage—and woven out of pure evil. Nothing can alter my ultimate impression—and lasting fear—about that.
Or the new incision into my mind from it.
The impression is a warning and an affirmation at once. “Shit,” I mutter, fighting stunned tremors from my own body. But I’m losing. Miserably.
All of it really was more than a dream. The vision…wasn’t that. It was absolutely real. And now, so are the new depths to which Hades has gouged, courtesy of his simultaneous violation of Kara and me both. Our moment of intimacy and commitment is tainted forever.
Never again.
The shock of his ambush pales against the pain of losing Kara again, but the violation of his lurking presence means there’s also hope.
She’s got to still be with him. So if I can find Hades, I can find her.
Rage and bitterness climb through my senses now, churning into a storm I can’t stop. A detonation I can’t contain.
Can’t—and won’t.
In one motion, I’m zipping up my khakis and bounding up from the lounger. In my wake, the long couch flips and crashes into the wall. My incensed roar is also my self-directed promise to deliver Hades to the same fate. I don’t care who he is or what he’s capable of. If hell collapses while I’m busy tearing his head off his shoulders, so be it.
I sprint out of the great room and begin scouring all the other chambers until I find Gio how I was moments ago, abandoned to sleep. I hate to wake him, but finding Kara has never felt more vitally urgent. Perhaps even a matter of life or death—though hers or mine, I can’t begin to guess.
I shake his shoulder, jolting him awake. At once, his eyes are wide and full of panic.
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
“I saw her again,” I say, swallowing hard. “It felt too real. Hades has her. He’s with her. I’m sure of it. We’re not too late, but…”
His features tighten with worry. “But we could be. Let’s go. I’ll sleep when I die again.”
A relieved sigh rushes out of me. “Thank you.”
Within minutes, we’re putting the light castle in our rearview. New determination, inspired by dreading fear, drives our steps over the bleak terrain.
“If she’s with Hades, she must be in the capital. He wouldn’t be anywhere else, would he?”
Gio swats away a swarm of aggressive flies that disappear as quickly as they arrived. “It’s a fair assumption. But sadly, it means we’re still plenty far away.”
I clench my teeth to muffle a groan. We need to move faster. I need to find her. All I have to guide me is a rough mental map of a fictional hell and an old man who managed to jump out of the real one fifty years ago.
“There has to be a better way. A quicker way.”
He shakes his head slightly. “I wish I knew one. Sadly, I’m the mere mortal of the two of us.” He squints, his focus narrowing on the glowing light ahead of us.
Lights, rather. The glow comes from nine ornate candelabras, arranged in a semicircle around a tall leather throne perched on an ornate dais.
“Speaking of immortals…” Gio mutters.
The dread that’s been following me around since we got here is overrun by a strange new sense of caution.
Not even the beast in the chair, awaiting us with casual but careful attention, can change that. An audacious air drips from him like the never-ending wax cascading off the candles. He’s dark-eyed and well-muscled, and his skin has a worn leathered look that doesn’t surprise me, considering the elements Gio and I have faced so far. An eternity of this would take its toll on anyone. Even a beast.
Even Minos.
The infernal judge of the damned.
He’s a nebulous but curious character, watching us with mild interest as we approach.
“Who comes into my house of pain?”
His voice is shockingly refined and echoes across the dead landscape around us.
I’m almost impressed until his tail uncurls, looking like a well-made leather whip. Its massive length creates a wide boundary that stops us short.
“Wellll?”
Minos tacks an appraising brow and a suggestive smirk onto the end of his summons, though I don’t mistake either for humor. Once upon a time, he might have ruled one of the earth’s leading civilizations, but now he’s a beast and a loyal follower of Hades.
The conclusion has me straightening my posture. It’s time to prove I deserve to be here. To be taking this full journey. That I can handle whatever this strange savage and any of his other friends dish out.
After pulling in a determined breath, I move forward by a forceful step. “My name is Maximus Kane. And this is my guide, Giovani Valari.”
“Valari.” Minos slithers a taloned finger across his slimy smile, continuing until the digit supports the droll cock of his head. “Well, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a minute. And yet here you are, Giovani, daring to tempt the natural order again?”
“For a noble purpose.” Gio is just as regal about it but keeps his voice humble. “This man’s dedication to the truest love of his soul.”
A hum rises from the rugged figure on the throne. His posture follows suit. “High moral ideals aren’t exactly worthy of special privileges here. Neither is love, even in its truest form. In fact, that foolishness is more likely to drive a man to sin than anything else.”
“He’s not a sinner,” Gio argues. “Not as I was, anyway. We simply must pass to find my granddaughter.”
The beast’s eyes spring wide. For a couple of wild seconds, even his tail whips up to make crazy eights in the air. “The beauty in Hades’s custody as we speak? I’ve heard whispers of this. She is your granddaughter? Oh, my, my, my. Now this smells like some delicious retribution.”
Before he’s done, I’ve returned to being a block of seething tension. The words turn my nerves into knives and my throat into an uncontrollable growl. It doesn’t surprise me when I look back over to find myself the fresh subject of the beast’s attention.
“You, Maximus Kane, have no place here. You’ve committed no mortal sins that warrant my judgment. Further, you’re not even dead.” He turns his gaze back to Gio. “Technically neither are you, but you have yet to pay for your sins, Valari.”
“I’ve paid, damn it!” As the shout spills from Gio, he stalks forward with balled fists and a jutting jaw. Both of us have tried doing this the civilized way. Now, we’re done with holding back for the sake of appeasing this beast’s ego. “A thousand times I’ve paid! If you ask, even Hades himself would—”
“Hades is not your judge. I am,” he drawls. “So give me one good reason why I shouldn’t hurl you at once to the fourth circle, where your greed and avarice should’ve already had you languishing.”
I step forward, driven by a renewed sense of urgency. I cannot lose Gio. He’s my guide, and he’s fast becoming my friend. Beyond that, it’ll ruin Kara’s heart if the man is restituted to eternal suffering in the name of saving her from the same thing.