110

110

And Then…

Light pierces my consciousness, waking me from nothingness.

I feel myself frown at it. They say this is common at the end, no matter what gods you follow.

The light is only a pinpoint in the distance at first, and then nearer. Not like a tunnel I need to go down, though. This light is coming to me. It grows and grows until I am awash in it, everything around me radiant. It parts the darkness like it’s digging me out of it, and then…it touches me.

Warmth.

Glorious, perfect, soothing warmth. It’s everywhere inside me, all parts of me, and yet not of me.

The warmth turns to…heat. Not searing heat. Not unbearable.

Just everywhere.

I still can’t see anything but the light.

Then…a pulse of power.

It hits me so hard it’s like a jolt of electricity.

Did Zeus just strike me with lightning again? What a dick. Doesn’t he know I’m already dead?

Another jolt. And in the distance somewhere, a voice is calling. Faint.

What are they saying?

Another jolt. This time, an extra sizzle fills me with fear. The emotion is so strong it makes me want to run and hide.

My fear? What am I afraid of?

Another jolt. Then desperation.

“Come on, Lyra!”

Hades. That’s Hades.

“Come back to me, my star.”

Another jolt, and despair creeps into the emotions battering me.

Which is when I come back into myself in a whoosh. Into my body. And yet not. Because I feel no pain, no weakness, only vital, incredible, pulsating…life.

Life!

Another jolt—this one inundated with a sudden, searing hope—and I realize what I’m feeling is…him. His emotions.

“That’s it,” he whispers, as if he can’t make his voice work anymore. “That’s it. You can do this. Stay with me.”

Always. I want to stay with him always.

“Open your eyes, Lyra.”

And I do.

No fluttering. No struggle. I just open them.

To find that we are still in the desert. I am suspended in midair above the ground, upright, and Hades is standing below me, looking up. The champions are behind him, staring in awe.

And the light…the light is coming from me. Is me.

Hades smiles, dimples in full view, face covered in tears and every emotion he was keeping from me, holding back from me, stubbornly refusing to give to me before—it’s all there in his eyes, in that smile that is for me alone.

“I can’t believe that fucking worked,” he says.

Incandescent happiness is like an explosion inside my chest. The light draws inward, as if my body absorbs it, consumes it, becomes it. And as it disappears, I lower slowly to the ground until my feet touch the packed earth.

Then the light is gone, and we are standing staring at each other.

“Hades?”

His smile turns serious as he searches my face, and then he’s across the space between us, his arms wrapped around me so tight, it’s hard to breathe.

And I don’t care.

I don’t care, because he’s trembling and he’s real and he’s holding me. “I couldn’t lose you,” he says in a voice that breaks.

“What happened?” I whisper into his chest. “I died. I know I died.” But before he can answer me, I close my eyes in terrible comprehension, tightening my arms around him. “Tell me you didn’t—”

“If you mean I didn’t give you my crown, it’s too late to take it back.”

I gasp. “Oh my gods…” He gave me the thing that means the most to him in the world, that makes him who he is? I died. He won’t be crowned King of the Gods, either. He gave up everything. For me. “Why?”

“I couldn’t lose you.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I actually wasn’t sure it would work.”

I stare into eyes that harbor no doubts. “I’m…the Queen of the Underworld now?”

“Yes.”

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy… “Fuck me,” I whisper. “I’m a goddess?”

The dimples flash again. “That too.”

“Goddess of what?”

He huffs a laugh. “Probably curiosity and trouble,” I think he mutters. Then, louder, he says, “It takes time to manifest.”

Vaguely, I realize I’m in Hades’ arms—surrounded by the other gods and goddesses and their champions. I glance at my friends, tears on their faces as they smile at me.

I turn back to Hades and shake my head. “I can’t believe you did that—”

He cups the back of my neck with his palm, holding me closer.

I curl my hands into his shirt, burying my face in his chest, breathing in bitter chocolate. “Why? Why would you give that up for me?”

“Do you know what I see in Elysium?” He’s smoothing his thumb over my cheekbone in rhythmic circles.

“What?”

“The two of us there. And you as my queen. I’ve seen it for a long, long time.” He swallows hard. “I just thought it was only something I’d get in the afterlife someday. But now that I’ve had you there with me, I won’t wait that long. Being King of the Underworld without you at my side is an eternity of my own personal hell.”

He shudders against me, holding nothing back now.

He lifts his head, hands threading into my hair so he can stare down into my face. “Be the queen there. Keep me at your side.”

Even though I can’t turn back from being what he made me now, he’s still giving me a choice.

This is what it feels like. To be loved. To be wanted.

To have a someone.

I always wondered. I always dreamed about how some day… But I never really believed it. Not even the night we shared ourselves.

I can’t contain the smile that wants to burst from me. “No more games?”

I know Hades understands what I’m asking when his mercurial eyes spark with silver. “Only the fun ones.”