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Hades opened his mouth, but he wasn’t sure what to say.
“I don’t suppose you have to say it out loud,” she said. “I have already heard your thoughts.”
Hades slammed his lips together, but after a moment, he spoke. “I do not know who else to ask.”
“Well, I am wise beyond my years,” she said. “What troubles you?”
“I thought you could read my mind?”
“Do not be cheeky,” she admonished.
Hades narrowed his eyes. He knew she was well aware of how he felt. She only wanted to hear him say it, and if he didn’t, there would be no moving past this. After a moment, he sighed heavily and scrubbed his hand over his face.
“I’m angry,” he said.
“What’s new?”
“This isdifferent,” he said and paused as he tried toseek words to make her understand. “I…I can’t…make it go away, and nothing I usually do is working.”
“What made you feel this way?”
He explained what had occurred tonight—Harmonia’s brutal attack and how he suspected it was connected to Adonis, how he feared it would encourage other Impious to start attacking gods publicly, as had happened with Persephone while she worked at the Coffee House.
“Perhaps you are not so much angry as you are afraid,” she said. “It is not unusual to not know the difference.”
Fear seemed…ridiculous. It was much easier to be angry.
“Easier because it is familiar,” said Hecate, once again responding to his thoughts.
Hades curled his fingers into fists.
“If I am afraid, it means…I am…helpless.”
It took him a moment to meet Hecate’s gaze after his admission. He did not like this…whatever this was.
“It’s called being vulnerable,” she said. “And of course you hate it. You don’t like to feel out of control, though you often are, especially where Persephone is concerned.”
“You’re not helping,” Hades said.
“Give me time,” she said. “We’ve only just begun.”
He groaned. What more could he possibly need to say?
“I…don’t know what to do,” he said.
If he could, he would lock Persephone in the Underworld and risk her wrath to protect her. There was so much above working against them. If she never ventured out, at least she would be safe.
“And she would grow to resent you as she resents her mother,” Hecate said.
“I know,” he said. “I do not wish to hold her prisoner, but it is the only thing that makes me feel…at peace.”
That wasn’t completely true. While it took one emotion away, it gave birth to several others—dread and anxiety, mostly.
“Perhaps you just need to feel it,” said Hecate. “It is all right to honor fear, to acknowledge that it has a place inside you, even if you are a brooding alpha male.”
Hades glared.
“It is not as if you do not have a plan to protect Persephone or to find those responsible for Adonis’s and Harmonia’s attacks. As far as action is concerned, you have done everything possible.”
