10

10

Rock. Hard Place. And Me.

Something in Hades’ expression and voice is different from a second ago. Or maybe I’m reading him wrong. It’s difficult to tell, but I’m pretty sure he’s now putting on a mask for the others. Playing a part for them. I don’t like it.

Meanwhile, he and Poseidon are still waiting on me to respond.

What’s the safest answer here? Hades has only given me hints about what’s going on, but my gut is telling me that if the other deities see weakness in me or division between us, they’ll pounce. Growing up as a loner in the Order taught me that the hard way.

I clear my throat and raise my voice. “He was just…laying down some ground rules.”

Hades’ slow, pleased smile teases parts of me I didn’t know I could feel. He leans closer, lips brushing my ear, breath sending shivers cascading through me. “That’s my girl.”

I hate that infantilizing shit…and yet my body hasn’t gotten the message. I’m going to pretend he didn’t just push a whole lot more buttons I didn’t know I had until right this second. “I’m not your anything,” I whisper back.

He doesn’t seem to notice as he finally pulls away, smile completely gone as he turns to face Poseidon, who’s watching us with eyes sharp and curious.

“You selected an interesting champion, brother.” The ocean god looks me up and down. “And a thief of all things, by the looks of her.”

Asshat. My eyes narrow before I can stop myself. “Secure the services of a lot of thieves, do you?” I ask him.

Poseidon’s eyes darken half a second before he raises his arm to backhand me. With a speed that renders him nearly invisible, Hades shifts between us. He says nothing, doesn’t touch him, but his brother goes ashen. After a moment, Poseidon snarls and stalks away.

I’m left blinking. Hades protected me.

Me.

Logic tells me it’s because he needs me to win their stupid contest, but I can’t help how I feel like I can breathe a tiny bit easier.

Just for a moment.

Anyone close by also seems to drift farther away, maybe because tension now rolls off Hades like steam off a geyser.

In a nervous move, I tentatively raise a hand to my hair, which is still short, but I can tell it’s curled on top and maybe styled into some sort of twisting effect with… I pause. Then drop my hand abruptly. “Is this a tiara?”

I glance at the other mortals. Each and every one of them is wearing a headpiece that matches their clothing, but they’re all in the style of the ancient Greek laurel diadems. What I’m wearing definitely doesn’t feel like leaves.

Almost like my nerves calmed Hades, the tension eases from him. The change is subtle, but from up close, I can see it.

“I thought women loved tiaras?” Now he couldn’t sound more bored.

“The point is to not stand out.”

“Why?”

He can’t be that unaware. “Are the histories right that you’ve never chosen a champion during the Crucible?”

“Yes.”

“Then that already makes me different.” And not in a good way. I don’t say that bit. I don’t have a death wish.

That logic doesn’t so much as make a dent with him. “Then there’s no reason to blend in. Is there?”

I grit my teeth, giving a little growl of frustration.

Hades lowers his voice, and the timbre changes, sounding more genuine. “You’d stand out even if I dressed you in rags and covered you in mud.”

Only because I’m his chosen mortal, he means. There’s no need for my belly to turn squishy.

“Try not to make it worse, at least,” I mutter back, smoothing my hands down my pants.

He chuckles. Not in a mean or calculating way—he’s honestly amused. A shock wave of horror shudders through me, because it’s loud enough the others hear, and I feel every single eye that wasn’t already trained on us turn in our direction.

I really hate this sensation.

“Stars are my symbol,” Hera calls to Hades in a voice like the sweetest cream, smooth and lovely.

I search her face more closely. Something about the way she said that… I wonder if being Zeus’ queen has made her feel like not much is hers in this world. I know what that feels like.

“And?” Even I wince at Hades’ tone. He slides one hand in his pocket, and Hera eyes the move warily. “You may be the goddess of the stars,” he says, “but everyone knows who commands the darkness.”

Good grief. Does he have to antagonize every god and goddess right from the start?

If I make it home after this is all over, I’m switching to a different pantheon of gods.

I sigh. “You don’t have to deliberately provoke them.”

He says nothing to that.

The thing is…there’s something in his attitude that I envy. He doesn’t care. Not one shit is given if he’s welcomed here, let alone accepted or loved.

As if he can’t stand not being the center of attention and needs to take it back, Zeus claps his hands, and two rows of golden chairs appear to one side of the platform.

“Take your seats,” the current King of the Gods says.

Hades immediately takes me by the hand—his warm, roughened skin is somehow grounding even while his grip is insistent—and escorts me as though I am royalty. He doesn’t choose seats in the back row or off to the side. Nope. Hades places us front and center.

Zeus, who didn’t get there quite fast enough with his mortal, glares again as he takes the seat to my left, even as Samuel—that was his name, right?—gives me a nod. Terrific. I’m sitting directly between two gods who seem to be locked in some kind of silent battle of wills. Best seat in the house, apparently. Or a good place to get myself killed before I even know what’s happening.

“I am so fucked,” I mutter, then pin a smile to my lips that feels as though it might crack my face.

Hades leans over but says loud enough for Zeus to hear, “Only if you would like to be.”

Oh. My. Gods.

My spine goes as straight as if Zeus jammed an electric rod right down it, and I refuse to look at Hades. Or answer, for that matter. He doesn’t mean it. I know he doesn’t. He also doesn’t know the kinds of unfortunate responses I’ve been having to him. That kind of nonsense is just to rile Zeus up, for whatever reason, and doesn’t deserve an answer.

I can feel Hades watching me, probably with that taunting expression that I’m starting to resent.

“No?” he asks. “More’s the pity.”

Then he settles back in his seat, apparently happy to enjoy whatever new brand of torture is coming next.

“Zeles,” Zeus calls out, “let us have the rules for the Crucible.”