It may be easier to stomach if he looked like a villain, but he’s got the same golden boy perfection that Hercules possesses. The carved jawline that translates to strength for those who don’t know better. The big, broad shoulders and wide hands. The blond hair and beard that have the faintest sprinkling of gray in them. He’s Hades’s age, but where time has honed Hades to a fine blade, it’s done something different to Zeus. The laugh lines around his eyes probably inspire trust. Just a good old boy, someone people want to sit down and have drinks with.
I haven’t moved since I took this seat, and though the silence wears on me, I haven’t spoken either. Zeus scares the shit out of me, but I’ve played longer games than this with Hades. I don’t always win with him, but I’m determined not to break first now. I occupy myself by counting down the seconds.
“I’ve heard about you, Megaera.”
I slowly turn my face from the window to look at him. I may have won the standoff, but it feels petty now. What difference does it really make? I’m in over my head and there’s no rescue in sight. I give him a blank look. “Funny. I haven’t heard a single thing about you.”
Oh, he doesn’t like that. His blue eyes that seemed so similar to Hercules’s a few moments ago light up with a rage that leaves me breathless. He leans forward and props his elbows on his knees. “Loyalty that’s purchased with a deal is hardly loyalty at all. Your first man threw you away as soon as he was done with you and didn’t look back. Hades has done the same now that he has my son to occupy him.”
It’s my worst fear given voice.
I don’t believe for a second that Hades would bargain me away, not like my ex did. But I can’t stop myself from reacting to his words. I swallow hard and my head spins a little. “I’m here. You’ve got what you wanted.” A calculated risk on my part. Even if he didn’t shoot me, the sniper would have had a clear shot of Aurora fleeing down the block.
Then there was the threat to shoot Hades. I can’t let that happen. I don’t know how I’m going to stop it, but getting in this car was the first step. I should have stopped, should have talked to someone, should have done anything but react emotionally, but the threat to Aurora put me on autopilot and panic drove me. Stupid. So fucking stupid.
Allecto would have found and removed the shooter before they became a danger to Hades. She just needed time to work and a knowledge of the danger. But time was the problem. We didn’t have any. We still don’t.
“I’m only getting started.” He grins suddenly. “Hurting you is as good as hurting him, but don’t worry, I have no plans to kill you.” He pulls out his phone and begins typing something on it.
That doesn’t reassure me nearly as much as I’d like it to. I’m a connoisseur of pain. I know exactly how a person can draw out the pain until it’s a symphony. The difference is that I only play with the willing and Zeus isn’t talking about kink. He’s talking about torture.
I am so sorry, Hades. I really fucked this up.
Headlights over Zeus’s shoulder draw my attention. My heart leaps even as I tell myself that it’s a lost cause. I know those headlights, the ridiculous blue tinged lights bright enough to blind the unwary. Allecto has a thing for lights, and she’s pickier about them than I am about my floggers. I’ve had to sit through countless conversations where she gushes about the new technology and her plans to install them in the Underworld’s vehicles. Still…
The car behind us closes the distance and switches lanes, revealing a second nearly identical one behind it. What are the odds of having two cars with the same headlights? I blindly reach for the seat belt and secure it. “You’re going to regret crossing Hades a second time.”
“Am I?” Zeus shrugs without looking up. “He’s weak, Megaera. You’d recognize that if you knew true strength. He takes every hit lying down and when he tries for revenge, it’s laughably pathetic. Seducing my son?” He snorts. “As if Hercules won’t come crawling back to me the second he realizes I have you.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
The cars are closing the distance fast. I don’t know what their plan is, but I grip the seat belt tight against me as the closest one edges near. I swallow hard. “I think you’ll find that I do.” I have a moment to tense and then the car nudges the passenger side of our car, right near the back tire. For one second, I think it won’t do anything, but then our car begins to spin.
We hit the edge of the highway and barrel down the embankment. A rumble of impact and then I’m weightless, the car rolling with a violence that leaves me breathless. Or maybe that’s the seat belt slammed against my chest, holding me immobile. We land right side up, and I let loose a sob and scramble for my buckle. It gives with a pop, but the pressure in my chest doesn’t abate.
Through the shattered window, I see the other car screech to a halt. The doors fly open and there’s Hercules and Hades.
They came for me.
Hercules sprints to our car and damn near yanks the door nearest me off its hinges. He starts to reach for me and hesitates. “Are you hurt?”
I try to find words, but a sob rips free and I throw myself into his arms. My chest hurts. Ribs, I think distantly. “I’m… I’ll be okay.”
He holds out a hand. “Can you get to me, Meg?”
My fingers brush his when a hand closes around my throat and I’m jerked back against a big body. Something wet coats my back, soaking through my dress. Zeus’s voice sounds more animal than human. “You always were a fucking traitor.”
Hercules goes pale. “Let her go.”
“Move back or I wring her neck.”
Hercules takes a step back and then another, his hands held up in front of him. Each increase in the distance between us spikes my panic. I struggle, but Zeus wraps his other arm around my waist and squeezes. The pain nearly makes me black out and I can’t stop a shriek.
Zeus shoves us from the crumpled vehicle, dragging me over broken glass. I barely feel the cuts over the symphony of agony that is my ribs. He stops just outside the car and my vision clears to see Hades bearing down on us. Zeus, the bastard, laughs. “I thought taking her was good enough, but you’re right. This is better. You can watch her bleed out and know that it’s your fault.”
Hades draws a gun and points it at us. “Release her.”
“Is your aim good enough to hit me and not her?” Zeus laughs again. “I don’t think so.” He hefts my body up until my knees don’t touch the ground, using me as a human shield. “Move back.”
“I don’t think I will.”
“Come now, Hades. Release Hercules and I hand you back your woman. She’s even mostly whole.” He laughs, the bastard. “You’ve had your fun.”
“No.”
Zeus goes tense behind me. “You can’t get out of this without losing one of them. Her or him. Choose.”
“There is no choosing, Zeus. I love them both.” Hades hesitates and then his eyes go hard as they meet mine. “Head wound, Meg.”
I don’t think. I can’t afford to. I reach back and punch blindly over my shoulder, ignoring the screaming of my ribs. My fist makes contact with Zeus’s head. It wouldn’t be enough if he was healthy and whole, but the blood soaking me must be his because he shouts and drops me. I hit the ground and press myself down as a gunshot sounds. Too loud. Too close.