“Wake up, damn you, Tollie!” I start untying his wrists. “Wake up!”
If he would just wake up, he could bring the others back from the Afterlife. It would all be fine. We would all be fine.
“Tolliver Torio Takao, you will wake up this instant!” I shout, punching him in the stomach.
He groans, and his eyes flutter, and I think he’s about to wake up, but then Rook is on me. He pulls both my arms behind my back, dragging me away from Tolliver.
“WAKE UP!” I shout at him, my voice nothing but tatters. “WAKE UP! TOLLIVER!”
I kick my legs, trying to make contact with a shin, or better yet, the groin, but Rook knows what he’s doing. His hold on me is too strong, and he anticipates my every attack. Every time we’ve fought, he’s just been humoring me.
He throws me down before Hades, my knees hitting the dirt so recently overturned by her resurrection. I push myself up to run, but Rook is already there, standing in my way. He grabs my arm and pulls me to him.
“Fighting is useless,” he says, and I don’t recognize his voice. “Don’t waste your energy.”
I stare into his eyes. They’re the same deep gray as they were moments before, but I don’t see any of the Rook I knew in them.
“Bastard,” I say, then spit in his face.
I brace myself for retaliation, but he just wipes his free hand down his cheek and turns me to face Hades.
“I like your spirit,” Hades says conversationally. “And credit where credit is due. You did something no one has accomplished in over three thousand years.” She claps slowly. “Brava, my dear. Well done.”
“I thought you were his sister,” I say stupidly.
“Of course you did, sweetie,” Hades replies. “That’s the whole reason Rook’s plan worked. If he had told you he wanted you to resurrecttheHades, you would have run off with your little tail between your legs. Or worse, you would have worked with the Titans and lost anyway.”
I’m weighing my options and coming up empty. Running will do me no good. Fighting will just get my ass kicked. My only realhope is that Tolliver wakes up or Poppy comes back. Neither of which seems very likely.
“Do you want to know how I met Rook here?” she asks as she starts to pace, practicing her long, purposeful stride. “It wasagesago. Literally ages. Bronze Age? Heroic Age? I can’t keep track of years anymore. It was before I went into exile.”
She stretches her arms out, rolling her wrists.
“Mmm,” she hums to herself. “It’s good to be back in a body again. Anyway, what was I saying? Ah yes, Rook was…nobody, really. What did you go by back then, sweetie?”
Rook mumbles something.
“What was that? Speak up, darling.”
“I don’t remember,” Rook says gruffly.
Hades lifts her palms. “Well, that goes to show how long ago it was. Of course, at that time, I wastheTitan. None of this syndicate business like you have now. It was me and all my little god friends and…” She takes a deep sigh.
“Persephone,” I breathe.
Hades closes her eyes as though she’s holding back her reaction. “Yes, dear Persephone. We really were in love, you know, and that makes the betrayal that much more devastating. I tried to talk it out with her, but she didn’t have my vision.
“You see, I knew that it was only a matter of time before we were all at each other’s throats, and I wanted to guarantee that Persephone and I could live long, happy lives. So when any of our little friends got too powerful, I made sure to—” She shrugs. “—remove them.”
“You killed them,” I say flatly.
She nods.
“But you can’t kill a Titan,” I argue. “They’re immortal.”
“Functionallyimmortal,” Hades corrects. “They are, in fact, so very killable.”
I narrow my eyes. “Good to know.”
