“Why do you address me in this way, Hades? Why are you so angry at me? If you are looking for people who hurt Hephaestus, you need to look closer to him than me. I’m just the one who clarifies things. I’m the one who sharpens the pictures of the past.”
The light has gone out of his eyes. That song is now the only sound as I cradle my brother’s dead body to my chest. I tenderly kiss his forehead as I close his eyes, rocking us back and forth.
I was unsure of myself for the first time in so long I barely remembered the feeling. I hesitated with my hand hovering over the door handle and felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of my face. I gritted my teeth and snarled. Bloody Furies think they can make me feel this way? They will pay the price.
Is Hera alive? Safe? Did my bargaining work? Did Zeus set me free? Am I imagining all of this? Another nightmare? Did I really escape or just trade one prison for another? I have so many questions and no answers.
“Please, Hades. I’ll do anything,” I begged, my voice straining. “I’ll leave, and I’ll never come back. They won’t even know I am gone. I swear it.”
My blind rage and vengeance never took into account what the Titans would have done to them. I didn’t care. Why would I? I had my eyes set on one target, and one target only.
