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“Is that not a punishable offense in the eyes of a god?”
“Trust, darling,” Hades said, curling a few strands of hair around his finger. “By the time Theseus comes to the Underworld, it will be I who escorts him straight to Tartarus.”
CHAPTER XXII
HADES
“I cannot believe I am doing this,” Hades grumbled as he navigated along a rocky path within the mountainous range of Erebos to reach the cave in which Hypnos lived.
He would have teleported, but he had been warned against that by Hecate.
“You must show him respect,” she said. “You are going to ask him a favor.”
Hades refrained from saying what he wanted, which was that Hypnos could go fuck himself, because at the same time, he had hope that the God of Sleep could actually help Persephone.
So he continued up the path like a mortal, feet slipping on small rocks, barely fitting between narrow passages until he made it to the mouth of a cave. Water flowed from it, glistening like moonstones, down the side of the mountain from where Hades had come. It fed into the Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness.
He hesitated at the dark entrance, uncertain ofhow to proceed, but he was saved from deciding when Hypnos yelled from inside.
“Go away!”
“You don’t even know why I’m here,” Hades snapped.
“I know you and that’s enough,” Hypnos said.
Hades let out a low growl and then he spoke through gritted teeth. “I have come to ask for a favor.”
“I do not grant favors, even for the God of the Dead!”
“Yet you will commit treason when forced,” Hades muttered.
“I heard that!” Hypnos snapped.
Hades sighed. “I have brought you a…token,” he said, unable to call it a gift. “If you are willing to help Persephone.”
There was silence, and after a moment, Hypnos emerged from the darkness of his cave. His hair and lashes were white like Thanatos’s, but instead of long locks, his hair was short and coiled close to his head. He was dressed in white and had white wings that fell behind him like a cape, dragging the ground.
“A token, you say?” Hypnos sounded curious, even if his expression remained neutral. “Let me see it.”
“Agree to help Persephone,” Hades said.
“No,” Hypnos said.
This was a mistake. Hades had known that the moment Hecate had suggested it, but he’d had to try. He could hardly handle the dread as night approached, the worry that Pirithous would return again tonight to haunt Persephone’s dreams. It did not matter that his soul was gone now. He still lived on in Persephone’s mind.
Hades stared at the god for a moment and then turned to leave without a word.
“Wait, wait!” Hypnos called.
Hades paused, but he knew the god hesitated.
“A hint at least, before I agree.”
A wave of disgust curled Hades’s lips, and he continued walking and did not respond. For him, it was bad enough that he had to give some kind of offering just to secure Hypnos’s help.
“Not even you would agree to something before you knew the bargain!”
There was a time when Hypnos would, a time when he was known to be calm and gentle, much like his brother.
