I nod, thinking of those swords. That Hades fought in the war feels an undeniable fact, but it’s at odds with everything I was taught and all the tales I’ve heard. How could the gods of Olympus be running about terrorizing mortals when the war was still raging? How could I have been complaining about lyre recitals and dance routines when people were dying on sword points across the ocean?
‘Why would he say the war was over when it wasn’t?’ I ask. I do not want to admit the gaps in my knowledge but I need to know. I wonder what else my father has lied about.
‘What does Zeus love more than instant gratification?’ Hades scoffs. ‘I hear he was incredibly confident when he challenged Kronos for the throne. He thought the war would be won in moments. Zeus grew weary of fighting after mere weeks and, between time unfreezing us, his own rampantpromiscuity and the gods’ ability to burst free from anything – their own heads included – Zeus finally had enough bodies to fight for him. Isn’t that what real power is – getting others to do your dirty work for you? But then he couldn’t step back, could he? Victory had to behis. He couldn’t let someone else win for him. No, much better to declare the war won, start dividing up the spoils and when the rest of us are dying on a battlefield in a war that’s supposed to be over he can sip wine on Olympus and call it a little uprising – nothing to worry about.’
‘But that’s so …’ Cowardly? But then Father bullied me for years because I dared speak out of turn – it’s hardly a surprise he keeps his power with tricks and cruelty. ‘It’s over now, right?’
‘Yes,’ Hades says darkly. He seems tense and he’s not looking at me any more. He’s staring into the distance.
‘Youwon it,’ I realize. ‘That story about you and the uprising … it wasn’t an uprising at all. You summoned an army of the dead and the Titans surrendered.’
‘I ended the war; Zeus won it. After all, he freed me from Kronos, he put me in the training camp that raised me to fight, he gave me my powers over the Underworld. I’d be nothing without him.’
‘You can’t really believe that.’
Hades turns suddenly, eyes piercing. ‘Whether I believe that or not is beside the point. It’s the line you’ll feed back to your father when you finally return to him.’
I flinch like he’s slapped me, my questions knocked out along with everything else.
‘I think that’s quite enough talk of that,’ he sneers, picking up his pace as we walk the hallways. ‘I wouldn’t want to abuseyour delicate sensibilities with further discussion of so unladylike a topic.’
My jaw clenches in my efforts to keep my mouth shut and I can feel my eyes burning with deistic rage. If he were mortal and not another god he would be cinders right now.
‘Anyway, I called in some favours,’ he says, pushing open a door. I was in this room earlier. It was empty then. ‘You must have been too shy to ask the aurai but, no matter, it’s arranged now.’
I blink at the loom and my fingers twitch in protest. They are pained enough after sewing all night.
‘I hear you are quite the accomplished weaver.’ He turns and a smile plays on the corners of his lips. I would like to tear it off with my needle-damaged hands. ‘And if that does not suit you there is an art room across the hall, and a music room with a lyre down there.’ He points each door out. ‘I assume my library won’t interest you so I had some poetry delivered through here. In short, there is much that ought to occupy you and save you from the need to venture into the rest of the realm.’
I swallow the acidic response that springs to my tongue and instead hiss, ‘How lucky I am to have found xenia with a man who would go to such lengths to provide such tailored entertainment.’
He grins, his joy rising with every glare I throw his way. ‘While you were freshening up for dinner, I asked the nymphs if they would accompany you from now on. You seem to have much to say to them, after all. They’ll stay in their wind forms until you want them but, don’t worry, they’ll be at every door to make sure you are never without anything you need.’
I was raised on an island, alone, in the middle of the Mediterranean. I know a trap when I hear it. And this is a trick right out of Mother’s book – nymphs to spy on me and report back.
Why? Punishment for the flowers? Or for being here at all? Maybe he just doesn’t like a girl doing as she pleases.
‘I shall leave you to enjoy it.’ Hades waves a hand in farewell before turning down the hall.
I stare at the open doors and step away, back towards my room, to prepare for tomorrow.
Because if Hades doesn’t want me venturing into his realm, then that’s exactly where I’ll go. And he can get a thousand nymphs to spy on me if he likes – I’m not making this a secret. I’ll strut out of those doors right in front of him, middle finger raised. The only thing he’s managed is to make me hate him as much as he apparently hates me.
So perhaps I ought to add doing something about him to my plans for this last week of freedom.
HADES ISN’T AT BREAKFAST THEnext morning. For a moment, I revel in the relief of being alone, of a meal where I don’t have to bite my tongue more than I actually speak. But then I remember the nymphs are watching me now, and I find I can’t look away from the doors as I try to catch dust in the air, light refracting in strange ways – anything to indicate the presence of a watcher.
Finally, I give up. ‘Can you at least join me at the table?’ I ask. ‘It would be less weird than you hovering.’
Tempest shimmers into existence with a shrug and, despite being incorporeal, manages to throw herself heavily into a chair. She says nothing but watches me with a growing frown.
‘What is it?’ I ask.
‘Hmm?’
‘You keep looking at me.’
‘Just trying to figure you out, I suppose. You seem pretty straightforward to me. I’m not sure why Hades is so puzzled by you.’
