I start at myself in the mirror for a long moment. The image I’ve very carefully curated over the years is sunny and bright and filled with light colors and pink lips. I look like an entirely different person right now. I feel like a different person.
Good. The girl I was a month ago never would have had the audacity to make the bargain I struck last night. Such a small amount of time. So much changed. And we’re not done yet.
The ride from my mother’s home to the bridge takes less time than I expect. It feels like different worlds, but in reality it’s less than thirty minutes, even with traffic. I climb out of the back seat and brace myself. Ideally, I would have liked at least twenty-four hours to bring Hades around to seeing things my way, but I’m working with a few hours.
I still have to apologize for sneaking out like a thief in the night.
Crossing the bridge in daylight feels strange. I brace myself for the same pain I experienced that first time, but it’s just a light pressure against my skin. I have the strange thought that it feels like its welcoming me home. I stride quickly across and step through the columns to the lower city. It…does feel like coming home. I lift my chin and start walking, my stride eating up the distance between the bridge and Hades’s house. It’s still early enough that there are only a scattering of people out and about, and their presence is just another reassurance that I’ve done the right thing.
None of these people will bear the consequences of my actions.
It’s over.
Almost.
I hold my breath as I walk up the steps to Hades’s house and knock on the door, my heart in my throat. It opens a moment later and I’m pulled into a hug against a soft body. It takes several seconds to register that it’s Eurydice.
“What are you doing opening the door?”
“Psyche texted that you were on your way.” She yanks me into the house and shuts the door behind us. “Zeus is really dead?”
“Yes.” She looks exhausted, dark circles beneath her eyes and her hair messy as if she’s been running her fingers through it. I catch her hands. “Mother would like you to come home. We all would.”
She opens her mouth, hesitates, and finally nods. “I will.” She gives me a sad smile. “But something tells me you’re not here for me. Hades is in with the puppies.”
“I won’t be long—”
“It’s okay.” Another of those sad smiles. “Charon offered to give me a ride home whenever I decided that was what I wanted. Don’t worry about me.”
Easier said than done, but she’s right. Eurydice has her own path to walk going forward. I give her another hug. “I’m here whenever you need me.”
“I know. Now, go get your man.” She gives me a gentle nudge in the direction of the living room currently designated for the puppies.
I find Hades sitting against the wall with his eyes closed, the puppies sprawled over and around his legs. He opens his eyes as I walk into the room and blinks slowly. “You came back.”
“Of course I came back.” I take a step forward and stop, suddenly feeling awkward and unsure. I clasp my hands in front of me. “I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye. I saw a way through this, and I took it.”
He absently runs his hand over the back of the puppy in his lap. “You could have talked to me before you left. I said you aren’t a prisoner here, and I meant it.”
“I couldn’t risk it,” I whisper. “You’ll go to such lengths for the people you care about, but you’re positively ruthless when it comes to your own safety.”
“I’m expendable.” He shrugs. “It goes with the territory.”
“No, Hades. No, you are absolutely not expendable.” I stride to him and sink carefully to my knees in front of him. It’s only now that I get a good look at his face. I can’t stop my gasp any more than I can stop from reaching out to ghost my finger along the bruise darkening his cheekbone and blackening his eye. “What happened?”
He still won’t look at me. “You made a deal with your mother last night to ensure I could act against Zeus without repercussions. What were the terms?”
“How did you—” I stop when I catch up to what he’s saying. “Zeus. That was you?” It must have been, unless Hades wandered into a bar fight in the time between when I left and returned. The most logical answer is also the simplest. He went after Zeus and they fought. Now Zeus is dead and Hades is home and looking like he’s come out of a car wreck.