I appreciate that he said yet and not since there is no way you’ll ever be part of Hades circle the way I, and I’m pretty sure everyone else around here, saw it. But I also take note of the fact that he said Hades wouldn’t send me there with no preparation. So he might at some point? I don’t even want to think about that.
Max pauses and bows his head slightly as a group of boys come down the hall.
My heart goes cold.
Haven is one of them.
I stand aside with Max and bow my head hoping none of them will notice me. But how long can I hide? Hopefully long enough to survive this stupid debacle.
A few of the boys laugh at something one of them said.
Keep going. Pay us no mind.
Max tenses beside me and a moment later, someone shoves him and he goes sprawling on the floor. I barely have time to realize what’s happened before I’m standing there alone staring at Haven.
“My apologies, Maximillian,” Haven says coolly. “I didn’t see you there.”
The two boys behind him laugh.
Max gets up. Hands clasped behind his back, he simply nods. “I’m sorry to have been in your way. Pardon me.”
I’m about to tell Haven exactly what I think of his bullshit apologies when Max puts a hand lightly on my arm.
“See that you stay out of our way,” Haven says, but he’s staring right at me. I try to match his glare and fail. His mismatched eyes are unsettling and I think he knows it. I look away, clearly the weaker opponent.
Son of a nymph.
When the boys are gone, I turn on Max.
“He’s such an asshole! Is he always that way toward you? I’m so sorry Max. He just shoved you for no reason and you’re apologizing to him?” I acknowledge that I might be slightly angrier on his behalf than the situation warrants, but every interaction I’ve had with Haven Knightfall is more annoying than the last. “It’s like that guy thinks he’s the God of the Dead.”
“He’s pretty close,” Max replies and I realize I said that last part aloud. “The Knightfall family is the closest thing that Hades House has to royalty. Haven’s father is the current Lord Commander of Hades’s army. His brother is Head of Hades House—you’ll meet him soon, I’ll warn you it won’t be fun—and it’s been expected that Haven will win his trial since the moment of his birth. The Knightfalls have been favored by Hades for generations...it is said that one of the ancestors of their line was a descendant of Persephone, someone that Hades truly cared for and made promises to.”
“Those are some pretty long-term promises,” I muse and follow Max as we continue to the other side of the house.
“Time doesn’t work the same for the gods,” Max reminds me. “A promise of a few generations is like a blink to them.”
“Hades must have loved that person very much.”
He nods as we turn a corner. “They don’t give such promises easily.”
I wonder who that person was. I wonder what she or he was like to have had the power to win over the God of the Underworld. “That person,” I say, “Haven’s ancestor—what do you think they’d make of the current state of things? Do you think they’d be proud of the Knightfalls’ power and might, or disgusted by their nepotism?”
Max snorts. “The former, definitely. Hades’s descendants are known to prefer marital matches within Hades House in order to keep the bloodline pure and the power flowing.”
I wrinkle my nose. “So they have no issue with all being descended from the same god? Like…they’re literally marrying their family.”
“Well from what I understand,” Max says with a laugh, “the mortals believe they’re all descended from the original mortals, a couple named Adam and Eve. It doesn’t seem to bother them much. It’s all many centuries and millennia removed.”
I burst out laughing. My voice echoes through the long hallway. I clamp my hand over my mouth and make wide-eyes at Max.
“It’s okay.” He smiles at me. “This isn’t the Great Olympian Library. No one will shush you.”
Still, I lower my voice. “We were always encouraged to play and be merry at Hestia’s House, but Hades House feels…” I look up at the soaring hallway, “…more somber.”
“Just fewer people and merriment, I suspect. I promise you, there are no rules against being happy.”
“Good to know.”
And could I be happy here? I had everything I could ever want at Hestia’s House and for some reason, that was never enough.
Max continues the tour and shows me the kitchen and the library, several sparring rooms, and the banquet hall. I’m actually starting to enjoy my time in Hades House when he delivers me to a hallway and nods to the one door at the end. “That’s the office of Head of House. He’s expecting you.”
My stomach swims. Max said it was Haven’s brother who was Head of House. Now my joy is smoldering at my feet.
Max gives my shoulder a squeeze. “Good luck, Ana,” he says and then bolts in the opposite direction.
I turn to the arched door. It’s easily twice my size in height and width. There are bronzed rivets hammered into a grid pattern on the bottom and an iron flower embedded in the top.
Above the door hangs a gold placard that reads NEREUS KNIGHTFALL: HEAD OF HADES HOUSE.
I reach out with a fist and knock on the door.
Chapter 9
I know virtually nothing about Haven’s older brother. But if he’s anything like Haven, this meeting will go over about as well as a lead chariot in the sky.
When the door pulls open, there’s a man standing on the other side in black tactical gear, similar to what I wear, but much more lux. He looks like he could walk out the door and straight into a battle, but something about his long lashes, unmarred face, and perfectly manicured fingernails tells me he’s seen very little war.
He’s got Haven’s high cheekbones and sharp-as-an-arrowhead nose, but Nereus’s eyes aren’t nearly the same shade of hellfire amber as Haven’s good eye is. His are darker brown like...well, like river mud.
“Hello, Mr. Knightfall,” I say and fall into a deep curtsy like I’m some kind of milk maiden and not a chosen one.
Also I’m no longer wearing a dress, so my hands hover awkwardly at my knees with no skirt to grasp.
Nereus clears his throat. “Anastasha, I presume?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Come in.”
I step into the softer hush of the office. Though I know even less about underworld magic than I do about Nereus, I immediately sense something stirring in the air. I wonder if there’s something shielding the office from eavesdropping and prying eyes. All ambient noise has vanished the moment I’m over the threshold.
Black shutters are closed on the windows and a fire burns in the brick fireplace, filling the air with heat and crackling embers.
Nereus gestures for me to sit in one of the wingback chairs across from a matching black velvet sofa.
I do and fold my hands into my lap.
There are about a hundred things I want to say to him, but now that I’m here, the words have escaped me. Haven might be about 37% hotter than Nereus, but I can sense that Nereus is like 62% more powerful.