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The Making Of Sovereigns & Gods

I’ve been called many names in my twenty-three years in this world—criminal, cheat, bitch, unloved, cursed, champion—but those are just what happened to me. Not who I am. Especially now.

I have new names.

Better names—friend, goddess, survivor, lover…

Turns out being made a goddess knocked the curse right off me, although Hades claims that he broke it just with his charm alone.

“This is ridiculous,” I mutter out of the side of my mouth at him.

“I agree, my star.” He raises our clasped hands and presses a kiss to my knuckles, lifting his head with a smile.

And I melt a little.

He’s been sweet like this these days following the Crucible while we’ve hidden out in the Underworld, reveling in the new world that we’ve started building together. Even Charon and Cerberus—the Styx healed our dog just fine—have hardly been allowed to visit us, and only on order of not telling us what’s happening elsewhere. We’ll deal with reality soon enough. In between…other things…Hades has been teaching me how to rule the Underworld. It’s not easy.

But it feels worthwhile.

“Put up with the ceremony,” he tells me as we walk down a long hallway in a building in Olympus I haven’t been in before. “They’ll gloat that we lost. But I don’t think we have, and I’ll show you why when we get home again.”

A sizzle of his emotions—something that hasn’t gone away yet—courses through my blood. Desire. But also a wonderous contentment that makes me giddy. Charon says it’s disgusting how happy Hades is.

And that’s despite our worry over not having solutions to help Persephone or Boone yet. She’s still stuck in Tartarus. And Boone…well, Hades no longer has a crown to give up to make him a god. We’re not even sure who won the Crucible, since the finish line disappeared after I crossed it. Probably Diego, seeing as he had the most wins before that.

In the days following the final Labor, Hades and I have talked. We talk now. About everything.

And we talked about this in detail. We decided that if Diego is the winner, the plan is to talk to Demeter—we’ll help her get Persephone out of Tartarus. Although that’s the second thing Hades hasn’t told me specifics about yet—what being the King of the Gods had to do with it. Zeus said something about a box.

What I did discover is that it’s connected to how Hades found out about the sirens being part of the Labors. When I asked, his expression took on a wicked glint filled with laughter and…a suspicious sort of knowing. “I have an inside source,” he said. “Someone who can see the future.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. “An oracle?”

There hasn’t been an oracle born in centuries.

He shook his head. “I’ll tell you someday soon. Just know that this person can see multiple futures. She is how I knew about the sirens. She is who told me to break your heart when I did.”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t like this source,” I muttered darkly.

Which made him laugh.

“She’s who told me to make you my champion. And the reason I trusted that you’d come out unharmed is because she also told me I’d be the King of the Gods. Which meant you’d win.”

“And you believed her?” I crossed my arms and glared at him then. “But you’re not king. I’m not so sure this source is trustworthy.”

He shrugged, seeming unworried when what I would have expected him to be is suspicious or pissed. “I told you. She sees multiple futures.” Then he pulled me into him, holding me tight and resting his chin on the top of my head. “As long as I have you, we’ll figure out the rest.”

So now, all we have to do is get through this crowning ceremony for whichever god or goddess won, then figure out a plan to help our friends. The new ruler better not be fucking Zeus. In fact, if he’s there at all, I’m not entirely sure what Hades will do. He’s gone smolderingly silent any time I bring up his brother.

With an irritated sound, I twitch at the dress I’ve basically been sewn into, which I have already been complaining about.

Hades is dressed in black again, mostly to see the way I would laugh at him, I think. A modern suit, designed to match my dress. Two butterflies facing each other, their wings forming a larger butterfly, are embroidered over his heart, right in the center of a black threaded star.

His symbol for the two of us.

Meanwhile, I am trussed up in a diaphanous gown of the unique, glowing blue of the Underworld. A sort of modern take on ancient Greece—slim fitting, it has a strap over only one shoulder, and the skirt splits into panels with long slits up to my hips. The material is sheer, and because of the slip that matches my skin so well, I look like I am naked underneath. Butterflies of many-colored iridescent threads are embroidered along every hemline. A gold band at my waist, more at my wrists, and a gold neckpiece that means I have to keep my chin up or pinch my skin in it are all sources of added irritation.

Aphrodite made me this gown. That’s the only reason I am putting up with it.

“You go in here,” he says. “Nike will escort you to where I’ll be in a few minutes.”

“What?” Is it silly that I don’t want to leave his side? My heart shrivels a bit. I’m still traumatized after everything that happened, I guess.

He runs a finger down my cheek, and I shiver in response. “I’ll be close, my star. I promise.”

When I nod, he presses a kiss to my lips, then ushers me through double doors, closing them behind me. I pause just inside as I find all the other champions standing in a large room with no windows.

Zai sees me first, and he goes still, a slow smile breaking out over his face.

“Lyra!” Trinica is first across the room to pull me into her for a tight hug. “Oh my gods,” she said. “We didn’t know what happened to you.”

By the time she lets me go, the others have made it to where we are, and I find myself being passed from hug to hug, laughing as I go.

When we finally stop all the hugging, I sober a little. I’ve been wanting to tell them this for days. “You should know that I’ve seen the others—Isabel, Meike, Neve, and Dex—they’re all in Elysium now.” I reach over and squeeze Dae’s arm. “Your grandmother, too. She said to tell you to take care of your sisters and…” I repeat the Korean words she taught me, hoping I get it right.

His eyes turn a little glassy. “That means ‘my family is my strength and my weakness,’” he whispers. “She used to tell me that when I got annoyed with my sisters.” Then he gives me a small bow. “Thank you.”

“Are you seriously a goddess, Lyra?” Amir asks.

I find eight pairs of eyes trained on my face. “Yes.”

“Of what?” Zai asks.

I laugh. “We don’t know yet. Still figuring it out.”

“Well, don’t expect me to pray to you,” Zai says with a grin. And I laugh again.

I never thought I’d have this. Laughing with friends. It feels…amazing. Better than I imagined.

I wish we had more time. Maybe we should have come back here sooner.

We use the next few minutes to catch up. They’ve all been staying in Olympus. Apparently, the gods have been arguing for days about the winner, and the champions still aren’t sure who it will be. Though, like me, they all assume it will be Diego. I’m tempted to ask Jackie if she ever saw that weird net-like veil over Zeus’ face, thanks to her ability to see through enchantments. But now’s not the time to solve that mystery.

“Champions.” Zeles and Nike enter the room. “It’s time to join your patrons.”

Each of us is led off through a different walkway. I’m last, as always, and find myself in a small room with Hades. One with massive double doors.

“When they open those,” Hades says as he tucks my hand around his arm, “we’ll go out onto a stage. There will be a dais. Zeles will present us, and then we’ll sit.”

“Okay.”

I can hear cheering and the muffled sound of Zeles’ voice on the other side. It doesn’t take too long before Nike appears suddenly and shoots me raised eyebrows. Her version of a smile. I smile back. Those days in jail with the Daemones netted me a few more friends, I think.

A chorus of trumpets sounds from outside.

Nike swings the doors open wide.

We step out into a roar of crowds. All the Olympic gods, demigods, and non-homicidal creatures are gathered in an amphitheater that extends into the skies, like a stairway to the clouds. We make our way to the center of the floor, as we were instructed to do. But before we can turn to take our seats on the dais, Zeles’ voice rings out. “Before we begin, I have been asked to announce the winner of this century’s Crucible.”

I look over my shoulder and search for my friends’ faces among those seated on the dais behind us.

Zeles waits for the buzz from the crowd to settle. “The winner is…Lyra Keres, the only Survival virtue in the Crucible, champion of Hades, god of death!”

I stumble, and only the fact that Hades goes still as a stone, pinning my hand in the crook of his arm, keeps me from falling flat on my face.

Wait.

I won the Crucible?

I look around wildly.

I won.

“Fuck me.” The words just pop out unbidden.

The crowds in the seats, already murmuring in shock, chuckle, but I’m not paying any attention to them. I turn stunned eyes to Hades.

Zeles raises his voice over the din. “The Daemones unanimously voted that Lyra was still mortal when she crossed the finish line, was killed by something unrelated to the Labor, and, as the winner of the challenge, was also allowed to be healed, even to the point of bringing her back from death. With Zeus’ addition of three wins added to her earlier win of Apollo’s Labor, Lyra has the most points. Congratulations!”

“Like you said, my star,” Hades murmurs. Then smiles in a way that lights up his eyes and flashes his dimples. “Fuck me.”

Then he shocks even me, taking my face in his hands and kissing me in front of everyone.

He lifts his head and laughs. “And your virtue isn’t Survival, my star. It’s Loyalty.”

Hades kisses me again, and the vague sound of the crowd’s gasps disappears under the feel of his lips against mine.

Not fast and hard. Not soft and swift. He takes his time. He kisses me over and over until I sigh under his touch, until I forget the entire world exists as I lean into him. And he still doesn’t stop. Not until he’s damned good and ready.

By then, I’m wrapped in his arms.

He slows our kisses, sipping at my lips in softer and softer caresses until he reluctantly lifts his head, smiling down into my dazed eyes. “We can fix it all now,” he whispers.

No convincing the other gods. No negotiating. No subterfuge or deals.

I blink. “Boone?” Then frown. “You’d have to give up a crown to make him a god, and you don’t hold both crowns anymore.”

His eyes twinkle at me. “But as winner of the Crucible, you get a boon. And you can ask for him to be made a god.”

My heart swells, then ebbs a little. “Persephone?”

He shakes his head. “Even your prize can’t reach her in Tartarus. But now that I’ll be king, I have a way.”

Sheer happiness bubbles in my veins.

Everything fixed. Boone. Persephone. And, if I have my way, which I know he’ll let me, we’re going to do away with the fucking Crucible forever.

A new ruler is just what Olympus needs.

He rights me and, as if none of that just happened with all of the immortal world watching with bated breath, takes me by the arm and leads me to stand before the empty throne, where Zeles waits.

Who might as well be tapping a foot in impatience.

I look stonily past the mostly dour-faced Olympian gods and goddesses seated around the throne in their own chairs in a semicircle, dressed to the nines. Their champions, my friends, are at their sides.

They cheer for me.

Not the gods, though, who are both furious and, though they hide it, scared shitless by this turn of events. I think the only thing keeping them from losing their shit and descending into another war here and now is the fact that I am Queen of the Underworld, so at least Hades won’t hold both titles.

What happens next is full of pomp and circumstance and bullshit that I will myself to get through.

I hold Hades’ hand through the golden laurel leaf crown of the winning champion being placed on my head by Zeles. Not Zeus. He’s not here, thank the gods.

Which I guess now means I’m thanking myself.

That’ll take some getting used to.

Hades has to let me go when the power to rule Olympus is granted to him. All that is required is that he sit on the throne. One by one, the Olympian gods and goddesses drop to a knee, bowing their heads. And when they do, a rainbow arcs from them to Hades.

“You too, young goddess,” Zeles murmurs beside me. “Acknowledge him as your king in your heart. Your magic will do the rest.”

And I, too, bow.

When the rainbow of light pours from me, it feels like the purest warmth wrapping around me even as it also feels like a part of me is drawn out of my body and floats across the colors to Hades.

It feels…right.

The Daemones are next. And then all the crowds of immortals stand, kneel, and bow, and the entire sky is filled with rainbows.

Our lights strike Hades in the chest, flowing into him until he glows with unearthly brightness.

When the rainbows dissipate and everyone rises, the glow around Hades fades and a crown manifests on his head.

Not golden laurel leaves.

Not golden at all.

He wears a dark crown made of black gold, obsidian chips, and smoke. He catches the way I’m buttoning my lips around a laugh and winks. Then smoke swirls around my own head, and I reach up, touching the pointed spikes of a matching crown.

I think the entire world might hold its breath as power crackles across Hades’ body, absorbing into eyes gone dark, swirling gray.

“My first act as king,” he announces in a voice as dark as his crown, “will be to keep a promise and grant the winner’s prize.”

He looks at me, and I say clearly, “I ask for Boone Runar to be made a god.”

Hades snaps his fingers.

Boone appears on the dais. He has faded a bit more since I saw him last. He blinks, then looks around, visibly confused until his gaze lands on mine. Then his eyes widen before his mouth lifts into that cocky grin.

“About damn time,” he says in an echoey voice.

“What’s this about, Hades?” Poseidon demands.

Before anyone else can so much as move, Hades holds up his hands, and power goes out of him. It’s not black like I’m sure the world expects but a brilliant, sparkling blue—the color of the River Styx.

Boone’s ghostly form absorbs the light, then slowly turns from translucent to opaque and then to radiant, incredible health. Suddenly, a beam of that same blue light shoots from Boone straight to Hermes where he, like the other gods, is on his feet.

“No!” Hermes throws his hands up to ward off what’s coming, but it’s too late.

Boone has already taken what he needs, and the glow around him dissipates, that cocky grin widening. “Looks like there’s a new god of thieves in town,” he says.

The way Hermes stares at him, Boone had better watch his back.

Boone dismisses the messenger god without another glance, turning instead to offer me a bow. Me, not Hades.

I grin back before facing Hades, my smile changing to one of gratitude. “Thank you,” I whisper.

He would never admit it out loud, but he knows what Boone once meant to me, and with my curse gone, he knows it’s possible for Boone to love me back. Making my friend a god might be the most selfless thing Hades could have done.

“And to the champions,” he announces next. “I made you promises as well.”

Hades turns to Zai, his expression softening. “First to Zai. For giving Lyra what she has always wanted, a best friend, you may choose a boon. And I swear on the River Styx no harm will ever come to you again, so choose for yourself.” Then he shoots a look to Zai’s father that sets the man to trembling—and my heart swells.

Zai stands taller and holds Hades’ gaze. “May I take some time to consider? For now, I want to remain by Lyra’s side”—he tosses me a cheeky grin—“and see what she does with the Underworld.”

Hades’ eyes narrow, but he gives a brief nod, then turns to the rest of the champions. “Every champion shall receive the same blessings as the winner of the Crucible—abundance for your families as well as your homelands—and one boon each. Both those here and those champions in the Underworld.”

Every one of my friends stares at Hades in slack-jawed shock.

“You can’t fucking do that!” Poseidon yells, jumping to his feet.

Hades silences him with a single look. He doesn’t even have to speak before his brother sits back down, visibly shaken. The other gods and goddesses are all exchanging worried glances.

Because they know for sure now.

Hades is about to change everything.

They should be afraid.

He looks at me, and only me, and his smile is everything the god of death’s should be.

I can’t help but smile right back at him. Ready for whatever comes next as long as it’s with him.

“A dark king and queen, ruling Olympus and the Underworld side by side,” Aphrodite murmurs behind us, an odd lilt of trepidation in her voice. “This could be interesting.”

Hades ignores his sister and turns to Zeles, then commands, “As my rightful boon as ruler of Olympus and King of the Olympian Gods, I demand Pandora’s Box.”

The room erupts in chaos as an ornate, wooden container suddenly appears at Hades’ feet.

The box rumored to have the power to unleash all evils on the mortal world. I swallow back my own panic at the one secret Hades still managed to keep from me.

He gives me a look swirling with guilt. “I’m sorry, Lyra.”