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“Your realm?”
He nods. “While, yes, technically you’d be dead and unable to leave, at least it would be painless. Easier than falling asleep.” His smile takes on a lascivious edge, and he winks, flexing slightly. “I would do my utmost to make sure you never regret it.”
I stare for a long, unblinking moment, not quite sure whether I should laugh, cry, or just scream.
“I can’t do that.” My voice sounds weird, all squeezed down, like it’s being compressed by too much emotion.
Because I can’t leave with him. Just walk away from my life, just like that? Sorry Janie, you’re trapped for eternity, never to see your fiancé again, never even to reincarnate or know paradise, unless Ares gets over himself and lets you go. And I’ve known a few gods in my day: getting over themselves is one of the few things they can’t seem to do.
And what about Adonis? I just leave him to the fourth Garden? Morevna doesn’t seem to be anything like Azhrea, but I can’t just abandon him there. How long would he wait for me to return? He can’t even leave by the gates unless the gods have some way other than the relics I’m carrying to activate them.
And what about my life back on earth? It might suck, and sometimes I really do hate it, and if I have to let one more rich asshole paw at me to get a good contract, I might actually murder someone, possibly Renfield. But it’s still mine, damn it. I fought with my mother for years to have this life, even with her curse. No one is going to make me give it up. Not her. Not Ares. And not Hades, however altruistic he’s pretending to be.
Hades sighs. “Are you certain? I’m afraid Ares isn’t someone you can reason with, Penelope. He will kill you to get his revenge. And he won’t be kind about it.”
My heart is lodged somewhere up in my throat. It feels like I’m choking on a big piece of candy. I can’t force my voice out around it, and I’m not sure what it would sound like even if I could, so I just shake my head.
“I can’t take the easy way out,” I say sadly.
“Pity.”
He doesn’t sound surprised, just vaguely disappointed.
I swallow once, and then again, until I can choke down the fear enough to talk. “Can’t you do something… else?”
Hades frowns. “You turned me down.”
“No, but…” I take a breath and force my words to slow. “You’re the God of the Underworld. You trump everyone down here. You’re all powerful… so can’t you intervene with Ares? Just get him to let me and my sister go?”
Hades watches me for a long moment and then shakes his head. Just one slow slice to the left. “No, Penelope.”
At least the surge of anger that comes rushing through me like a tide drives the fear away for a second. Heat floods back into my hands, and I curl them into fists at my side. “Why not?!”
He doesn’t get offended, or defensive. Just watches me with those ancient, dark eyes. Usually, Hades is so busy doing his best impersonation of Casanova that it’s easy to forget he’s one of the oldest gods, brother to Zeus, himself.
“I am the God of the Underworld, as you say,” he says in a low, grave tone. “The God of the dead. You came here willingly, and against the natural order. You knew the risks. More than that, Ares has been my…companionfor many, many years. I would not attempt to coerce him, even if I can. He is a bad one to cross.”
“You can’t seriously be afraid of him?”
He shakes his head. “I have no one to fear.”
“Then?”
“Then you can imagine the,” he pauses and smiles, “hell it would be down here to deal with Ares’ foul temper if he learned I released you and your sister. I do not choose to go the next few decades or centuries getting the cold shoulder.”
“That’s weak.”
A tiny bit of the usual Hades creeps back into his face, a tiny smile tilting the corners of his lips. “Even for one as beautiful as you, Penelope. I’ve offered you the only aid I can.”
I feel weirdly chastened, and still so scared and pissed that I want to stomp my foot like a toddler. Instead, I pace a few steps forward, with Hades watching me quietly the whole time.
I spin on my heel to face him. If he won’t rescue me, at least maybe he’ll give me information. “How did Ares even get stuck down here in the first place? He’s the God of War, he’s not a death deity. Why would the Fifth Gate latch on to him like it has?”
The folds of Hades’ toga lap against the floor, like darkness turned into cloth, moving like it’s being stirred by a wind I can’t feel. He looks at me, as if measuring me, and not for my bra size for once.
“Once, being a death god was a high honor, Penelope. It was not something you were ‘stuck’ with.”
I flush a little, head rushing into my cheeks. I didn’t mean to insult him.
