Reversal of Fortune [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I could move again.

Not properly, that was for sure. I was still healing, but while Yiuwa had gone to fight a battle that erupted in Inferi, I'd found the strength to get up and take a piss on my own. However, I returned to the bed and laid down, resting the soreness in my muscles, the pain pulsing in my back and along my arm, which I had stupidly thrown out against the wall to support myself.

Still, I was strong enough to move on my own.

Physically, anyway. Mentally, I wasn't so sure.

Hades still had yet to come to me with the information he was no doubt going to discover sooner or later. Blood tests took a while to examine, and Hades was incredibly busy. Between fighting shadows and healing the injured, he really didn't have time to focus on the blood test. No doubt, the vial was still sitting in a secure container in his private laboratory. Guarded by those black skeleton creatures.

Fuck.

I closed my eyes, reaching up to rub away at a headache that was forming between my eyes.

And to make matters worse... Yiuwa was planning something. I'd caught him looking at websites for renting out venues, something about a lavish hotel in Duat, homes in Inferi and Styx. It made my stomach churn and I didn't dare let myself think about what he was doing. Didn't let myself see the smiles he flashed me, the kisses he gave me. I couldn't sink any further.

And the nightmare I'd had the night before had been what solidified my resolve.

I shuddered in remembrance.

The sight of the blood, Yiuwa's body laying in a mangled mess at my feet, those cold yellow eyes staring up at me in accusation. It had been so real. I could still feel his warm blood running down my face, soaking my hands as I struggled to staunch the blood bubbling from his corpse. He was already dead, and I knew it, knew it by the coldness of his skin, the hollowness of his eyes, but I couldn't stop trying.

I saw flashes of Petros, of Theona, Rasi. I choked on a sob, surrendering to the fact that Yiuwa was dead.

"I'm so sorry," I choked helplessly, "I'm so sorry, Yiuwa, please, I'm so sorry." It didn't matter how many times I'd repeated it. It would never be enough. And it got even worse when Petros had appeared before me, his eyes locked me with raw hatred.

"You did it again," he sneered.

"Selfish asshole," Hades said, appearing at his side. I looked back and forth between them helplessly, then back down at Yiuwa, cradling his head in my hand, tears spilling down my cheeks. An overwhelming sensation of guilt flooded my chest, suffocated me. It felt as if there were literal hands around my throat, squeezing me tighter and tighter, and I could only sit there on my knees, letting it happen until I burst awake in a flurry of terror and agony.

Yiuwa had no idea what the nightmare had been about. I couldn't form any proper words to tell him, not that I would anyway. All he could do was hold me, and I savored it, savored those muscular arms wrapping around me protectively.

Because it was the last time it would ever happen.

I had been here long enough. I had mostly healed. I was fine to be on my own now. No more liquid diet, no more pampering, no more love and affection. No matter how much I craved it.

Because the curse was getting worse and worse as the days dragged by.

Yiuwa had already been injured during battle, not once, but twice. Hades had also been severely injured, but had brushed it off like it was nothing, only to land himself into Recharge for a while.