He ripped the air with his hands, willing it to show him Ever’s whereabouts, but all it revealed to him was darkness.
No.
“Ever.”
“Ever!”
“EVER!”
He shouted her name over and over.
“Come back!”
Hecate appeared in the chamber together with Thanatos just as Hades fell to his knees.
“Milord!” The two rushed to his side to help bring him back to his feet.
“She left me,” he said dully. “I don’t understand.” It was almost like Persephone all over again, only this time he was not glad it was over.
Instead, he despised every second of it, and he wanted her back.
He goddamn wanted her back.
“I tried to stop her,” Hecate confessed painfully, “but she was crying and adamant. I tried to ask her why, and all she could tell me was that she had heard you and Thanatos—-”
The winged demon jerked in realization, and Hades whitened.
“What is it?” Hecate demanded, seeing how the two had reacted.
“She must have overheard us,” Thanatos said bleakly.
“Overheard what?”
“It’s my fault.” Hades’ voice was harsh with self-loathing. “Thanatos asked me if I believed she was the prophesied queen...and I said no.” His eyes closed as his mind conjured an image of Ever the moment she heard his words—-
He must have made her cry.
His fists clenched. “I told her I blamed myself for what happened in the past, and she must have left to prevent me from going against the prophecy.”
Ever’s tear-ravaged face flashed in front of him.
He remembered her lips start to move.
I’m sorry.
And yet, she had mouthed the words like she knew she was also saying goodbye and that they would never see each other again.
“I have to get her back,” he said tautly. And he had to do it now. To use mortal methods to look at her would take too much time when the only things he knew of her were practically useless, such as the fact that her name was Ever, she was from England, and she had an aunt he would like to kill.
By the time he found her, anything could have happened—-
Anything.
“I need to be alone to think,” Hades said tautly under his breath. “Do not dare follow me.” Not bothering to wait for an answer, he transported himself back to the temple where he had first met Ever.
Now that the party was over, the temple was once again abandoned, its location remaining unearthed and undiscovered by mortals. The silence in it was tomb-like and the darkness oppressive, but none of it had any effect on Hades.
Memories rushed to his mind the moment he stepped foot inside the temple—-
Of Ever falling out of the door like manna from heaven—-
Of Ever accidentally rubbing herself against his body—-
Of Ever making him realize that he could choose to turn her into his prophesied queen—-
Hades went still.
A long ago memory seemed to wake from him, of the One above whispering to him and his brothers that even though every second of their lives were foretold, it all still came down to free will.
It – life – would always start and end with a choice.
And he had chosen.
The lord would fall because of her.
And had he not, at that moment, chosen to believe it meant the way he had fallen literally on his back because of her?
The lady would disappear because of him.
And Ever, too, had made her choice by using the crystal key to leave him.
And when these two came to be,
The Underworld would have made its choice.
Hades’ head jerked up, and he suddenly knew what he had to do.
Chapter Twelve
“The pastor will be coming to our house at seven o’clock,” Arisa warned her niece sharply. “Make sure you show proper gratitude that he’s been understanding about us canceling on the dinner a week ago.”
“Yes, Aunt.” It had been one week since she had come back to a world without him, and as the days passed by, it was also getting harder and harder to believe that what she had experienced was real.
It didn’t help at all that when she woke up in the library, not even five minutes had passed, and when Ever returned to her aunt’s home, she had come to realize that nothing had changed.
Arisa still believed she owned the right to enslave her niece.
She was still caged in poverty.
And the only Hades she knew was the one who loved Persephone between the pages of a book.
“I will never forget the shame that you have forced me to endure, having to lie to Pastor Nolan about an emergency, when really, the only reason we can’t entertain him is because your cooking—-are you listening to me?”
Arisa’s scream startled Ever out of her thoughts, and she said quickly, “I’m sorry, Aunt.”
Heaving an irritated sigh, Arisa muttered, “You’re getting worse every day.” She didn’t know what had changed, only that something had happened to her niece. Every day, the girl was growing paler and steadily losing weight.