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“The word of four thief-takers and a bastard?” Jamison huffed. “Nobody is going to prosecute Hades on the word of five commoners.”
“The lady—the wife of the scum who died in his own vomit. Won’t she come forward to accuse her husband’s murderer?” someone asked.
“No. The only chance we have is to shoot him and drown the body,” Jamison said darkly.
“What?” Eloise cried from the doorway.
“Eloise!” Ford jumped up from the table, and the men followed. “I thought I told you to stay in your room!”
Eloise walked farther into the room. “You are planning to kill Hades? For what?”
“We are not going to kill him.” Ford threw a dark gaze toward Jamison. “But we can’t let him leave unscathed. He captured you! He kept you prisoner. Lord only knows what else he did to you.”
“He fed me, cared for me, and actually asked me what I wanted instead of just ordering me about!”
“What?” Ford’s frown turned into a scowl.
“What?” Eloise echoed.
“Why are you defending him?” Ford asked.
Eloise threw up her hands. “Because he didn’t do anything wrong. He only wanted to take revenge on the man who killed his sister. Surely, you understand.”
“She is in love with him,” came a voice from the darkness. The entire room stilled. Eloise frowned into the shadows. The man with wheat-blond hair stood and stepped into the candlelight—the same man who’d kidnapped Eloise for Hades and later betrayed him and helped Ford get Eloise back. His green eyes glinted in the candlelight as he watched Eloise carefully. “Andheloves her.”
“That’s preposterous!” Ford scoffed.
Eloise looked down, not answering.
“Is it?” the blond man asked.
“He is a monster!” Ford yelled.
“He is not that bad,” Eloise answered hastily. “None of them are. They are just doing their best.”
“None of them are?” Steam was about to come out of Ford’s ears. “He killed a man!”
Eloise raised her eyes to her brother. “And didn’t he deserve to die?”
Ford looked at her in horror. “How can you speak of such things?”
“He seduced Hades’ young sister. Wouldn’t you have done the same?”
“As you can see,” Ford said through gritted teeth, “Hades is still alive.”
“Ford.” Eloise walked deeper into the room. “Please, we can argue about this later. I came to ask you something. This man, who you claim killed Ava, do you know anything more about him?”
Ford’s frown deepened. “Why would you want to know?”
“I know all the people there. Perhaps I can recognize—”
“And then what? Are you proposing we go save Hades? It’s one of his own. Let him deal with it!” Ford roared.
“How can you talk like that?” Eloise’s words were a mere whisper.
“Like what? Like that monster defiled my sister and now I am asked to save him instead of killing him?”
Eloise reared back. “He did not defile me!”
