“I like to get along with people,” Tartarus said. “But your mates are overbearing.” He sneered. “And they called me a jerk.”
“Let’s all just be quiet for a second,” I said, stopping my mates from retorting.
The lift kept plummeting, darkness rippling around us. A few groans, moans, and pained sighs arose from the dark. We’d passed many cells that imprisoned the Titans.
“How many levels does this dome have?” I asked.
“Twelve under the ground. Cronus is at the bottom,” Tartarus said.
“Is it because he’s the most dangerous Titan?” I asked.
“Not anymore,” Tartarus chortled. “I’m the new king here. I’m the biggest badass in town until the original gods come. They won’t stay long, though. They never do.” He gave me another meaningful look. “Their visit is overdue. I wonder what has delayed them. But they can be here any time now.”
My heart skipped a beat before it drummed, and I could hear the pounding heartbeats of my mates, too. Mom had said that we needed to sneak out through the portal the original gods opened and stay out of their sight. That would be quite a feat.
With my safety at stake, Zak, Héctor, and Paxton wouldn’t want to meet their fathers. Zak had a complex relationship with the God of Sky and Thunder. Héctor had been Hades’s former heir, but he hadn’t talked to the death god for a long time. And Paxton didn’t remember the God of Sea at all. Poseidon abandoned him and let him survive all by himself on the streets until Héctor found him and brought him into their demigod fold.
If the gods discovered my existence, they wouldn’t care I was their sons’ mate. They’d eradicate me.
That was why Tartarus gave me that evocative look. I’d warn him that if he sold me out, Mom would deal with him. No one liked to cross Lilith.
The lift suddenly stopped in the air.
“Celeste?” a voice called from the darkness, feather-light yet creaking like the hinges of a rusty iron gate.
I snapped my head toward the voice, my heart skipping a beat. My father had sensed me, and it sounded like he hadn’t spoken to anyone for a very long time.
A dim light sifted through the darkness like a wave of white fog.
A handsome long-haired man with a giant’s build perched on an iron bench inside a small barred cell. My father’s dark green eyes shone as they fixed on me.
“Hyperion,” Tartarus said cheerfully. “Look whom I brought to you.”
“My daughter.” Hyperion sighed, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Celeste.”
“Can we move closer to him please, Tartarus?” I asked in a strained voice as I struggled to get my emotions in check. I didn’t trust Tartarus, and I wouldn’t show any weakness in front of a stranger or a potential enemy.
“As I said, anything for you, Princess,” Tartarus said.
The platform careened toward my father’s cell.
I grabbed the bars that locked my father inside when we came in range.
“No, Celeste!” my father warned. “The bar—”
Sparks emitted from the metal where my hands clutched the bars. I felt only a sting.
Tartarus stared at me, his expression unreadable. “Interesting. The cells and doors are warded by magic as old as dirt. Titans get burned when they lay a finger on the bars. Even I have an allergic reaction if I touch them.”
My father and I shared a look as I dropped my hands. I wasn’t only his child. I had Mom’s archangel and demon blood in me, too. Maybe that was how she’d gotten in and out of the Eternal Prison while she visited Dad. However, I wasn’t going to consult Dad in front of the warden.
“To test my theory, could any one of you thumb the bar, demigods?” Tartarus asked.
“No,” my mates answered in unison, and Héctor didn’t even bother to respond.
I almost rolled my eyes. Why would we reveal our trade secrets? We’d have to be careful of what we said, since I figured the prison had eyes and ears everywhere. But that didn’t stop me from craving a private moment with my father.
“May I have a moment alone with my father, Tartarus?” I asked nicely.