Bonds of Hercules (Villains of Lore, #2)(134)

I barely heard them.

Each step sent agony shooting through my bullet wound; I dragged us both forward.

Clawed hands stuck out between the bars. Gruesome fangs flashed as creatures bellowed.

We were causing a commotion.

Crack.

Smoke filled the hall.

“Who’s down here?” a male voice echoed, bouncing off the rocks. He sounded furious.

Mentally screaming, I looked around hopelessly.

There were prisoners reaching on either side.

Nowhere to go.

Nowhere to hide.

A spiky silver crown, glinting with rubies, came into view.

“Daughter—what … are you doing?” Hades stepped out of the shadows, eyes widening as he looked from me to the woman hanging limp with her arm draped across my shoulders. “Is that—”

“Medusa.” I nodded jerkily, struggling to keep my balance.

The name hung explosively in the air.

We both waited for the detonation.

Hades tilted his head to the side, as if sizing up something he’d never seen before.

“She’s the property of the federation,” he said slowly. “She’s held in their section of the prison. I have no jurisdiction over her. There’s nothing I can do to—”

“I don’t expect you to help.” I cut him off, arm straining as I held her up. “This is all me. I’m making a choice.”

I stared down at the floor, waiting for his censure.

The shouts.

The fists.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Hades said quietly as he raised his hand toward me. “The House of Hades is known as the House of Death because when we feel passionately about something … we wage war. Always.”

Nyx slithered up my leg.

It took me a second, then I realized he was reaching his hand out for me to take.

“Welcome to the family, daughter.” Hades’s voice brimmed with pride.

I grabbed his outstretched hand.

“Domus,” he said as the Underworld disappeared and we leapt to Crete.

The roaring villa fireplace burned bright on the far wall, and the sparkling night sea glittered with moonlight behind the couch.

Charlie and Persephone greeted us with expressions of shock. They immediately started tending to my wounds, as Hades laid Medusa down on the plush couch.

“I’ll cover for you,” Hades said. “We’ll take you back to the training center and I’ll say I found you here.”

“What about … Medusa?” Persephone stared down at her with a tender sadness. “I remember when she was just a little girl.”

“The federation will search here first.” Hades’s eyebrows lowered with worry. “We’ll need to find a place to hide her that they won’t expect. The safe houses will all be searched.”

“I’ll figure it out,” I said quickly. “Just give me a little time to come up with a plan. Please—I’ll come back for her as soon as I can.”

Persephone, Hades, and Charlie all stared at me. Concern was written across their faces.

“I’ll h-handle it,” I whispered. “Please, trust me.”

The moment stretched.

Persephone nodded first. “Okay—I’ll prepare a room for her. And if the federation comes before you do …” She smirked and pet the dragon on her shoulder. “The island will attack them. Violently.”

My mother was beyond ferocious.

Even now, there was a strange energy rising from the floorboards, as if the island was sentient and welcoming me back.

“Be safe, daughter.” Persephone smiled at me, and I leaned forward, gratitude filling my heart as I hugged her tightly.

She smelled like lilacs and something fruity, pomegranates.

“Thank you,” I whispered into her curls.

She squeezed me three times, in quick succession. “Anything for you, my sweet Alexis.”

When I pulled away, Charlie was waiting for his hug.

I embraced him.

Hades cleared his throat, his eyes full of moisture. “We have to go.”

With one last look at the sleeping woman on the couch, we leapt away. This time straight into the Chthonic medical center. Jars of body parts lined the walls.

Hades spoke in a hushed tone to the doctors, and I made myself useful by flopping onto a medical gurney and passing out.

Time spiraled after that.

I chose my mentors as my hunting partners.

The next day, I woke up in the villa.

It was the middle of the night, but I couldn’t sleep because I needed to find a solution to the problem I’d just created.

A woman’s wails echoed—and for a second, it sounded like Medusa—in a blind panic I followed the sound.

I stopped when I realized the woman in the dungeon was Ceres, the traitor who’d worked with Theros during the crucible.

As I stood in the damp dungeon, an idea struck.

A horrible, brilliant, awful idea.

“Did you … help Theros kill all those children?” I asked softly.

Ceres went still, eyes widening.

“Did you help Theros?” I repeated. “Yes or no?”

She didn’t answer, her silence a damning omission.

Gathering my courage, I sliced my forearm open on a jagged stone, grabbed Ceres’s chin roughly, and dripped blood onto one of the open wounds on her face.