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Chewie cocked his head and sat on his haunches, panting happily, looking up at Sorin. Then, looking at Divina’s dangling hands.
Sorin shifted her so that he could see as well.
Her hands had stopped bleeding. The soaked bandages were no longer wet. The stains upon the linen looked faded and old, as if the wound and its dressing happened ages ago.
Ere unwrapped the bandages. Sure enough, both hands were good as new. As if the battle with the serpent had never happened.
But it had. Wounds still ached and stung all along Sorin’s body from the grueling fight with the undead soldiers. His eyes shifted to the place where he tossed the fleece.
It was still there, glowing brightly, though there was no light in the cavern to illuminate it.
“Lion-dog, come.Now,” Hades repeated his command, this time with clear impatience.
“His name is Chewie,” Divina whispered weakly into Sorin’s chest, focusing his attention back on her.
Reflexively, he clutched her to him tighter, his protective instincts thoroughly engaged.
She pushed him with her healed hands, and he set her down on her own feet, steadying her when she wobbled.
“I will call him whatever I want,” the god said. Probably through clenched teeth.
They were all wearing on his forbearance.
“Then he won’t obey you,” she retorted, her voice growing stronger, her large brown eyes clearer.
“He’s his own person, just like every other living thing in this world that possesses a soul,” she continued. “He may have volunteered to trade his soul for my Andros, but you do not own him. He is only loyal because he wants to be. You must respect him if you want his respect in return.”
Hades might have growled. Something ominous and dark certainly rumbled through the cavern.
Divina ignored him, going to her haunches to rub her healed hands through Chewie’s fluffy fur.
“Isn’t that right, baby?” she cooed, kissing his muzzle as he licked her face, whining happily in his throat.
“Is this what you really want? Do youlikeHades, Chewie? I wouldn’t leave you here if you don’t. We’ll find another way…”
He barked once and perked up his ears, looking back at the scowling god, whose dark expression very much matched his merciless reputation at the moment. Then, he darted a glance toward Cerberus, who straightened into a sitting position beside the throne.
The three-headed beast looked back steadily. One head panted with a lolling tongue. One head whimpered eagerly. The dominant head still looked like the stuff of every child’s nightmare, but Sorin saw no malice in its eyes.
“All right then,” Divina murmured so low, Sorin almost couldn’t hear.
“I love you forever, sweetheart. You can always call for me if you need me. I promise I’ll hear you no matter where I am. Maybe if you’re good, Lord Hades will let you out to play sometime. Visit me, even. Hmm?”
Chewie barked once more, butted his head against hers and bounded away. He picked up the fleece between his teeth and dragged it up the throne to Hades, like a child with his blanket.
When Sorin saw Hades tuck the fleece around Chewie’s body and stroke his fingers absently through his fur, he knew that the pup was in good hands, no matter how he got there.
Divina seemed to know too, for she released a sigh of relief.
“Now,” she addressed the Lord of the Underworld once more.
“Where is my Andros?”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
He is in the land of in-between, a hell constructed of his own imagination.
Hades’ words haunted Divina as she waded through the inky abyss that surrounded her.
