My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Gods And Other Misunderstood Beings (Part 3)

For a while, there was no sound other than eating. "Where're all your suck ups?"

Hades eyes blazed from under his heavy eyebrows. "They leave me alone until I've had my coffee. Or get thrown in Tartarus."

I stiffened. Touchy.

"I'm kidding." He shook his head. "No one ever gets when I'm kidding."

He looks lonely.

No, see, I didn't want to think that about him. Didn't want to feel bad for him. He wants humanity dead. Wants Earth destroyed.

I chewed on a sausage almost viciously, trying to hang on to my hatred. I thought about how he treated Kai. That helped. "Your son would get your humor. If you ever bothered with him."

Hades scowled and slammed a fist down on the table, sending a crack out along the foot-thick wood like a ripple in a pond.

I clamped my knees together so they couldn't shake.

"Don't ever talk to me about my son. You've made him soft. Whipped him around your little finger. After all I've done ..."

Now I was indignant. "Ignored him? Insulted him? Emotionally abused him?"

Hades tilted his chin up, the gesture haughty and proud. "I made sure he survived."

Understanding took my breath away. In his own twisted way, Hades loved his son. He really thought he was being a good father. Just like Zeus had thought that sending minions to kill me if I didn't fall in line counted as tough love.

No wonder Kai didn't break the passive-aggressive stalemate with Persephone. Because as much as Persephone had been raised to never disappoint, Kai had been raised to be tough. To show he was strong. To play a different predetermined role. They were locked into a dynamic they wouldn't, couldn't, break. To break it was to speak up, and make themselves vulnerable.

And vulnerable was unacceptable. Instead, they both pretended everything was fine.

I bowed my head, busying myself with pushing food around my plate and studying Hades through lowered lashes, while my thoughts spilled over each other. Did Hades act that way toward Kai because taunts and mockery were the only connection he knew how to make? And if I took that thought further, did this entire war between Hades and Zeus boil down to the fact that fighting each other was the only way they could stay connected?

If that were true, messed up as it was, it was still sad. Man, I didn't want to feel compassion for the old goat. "Don't you want more for Kyrillos than just survival?"

Hades sneered at me. "Awww, does he need a hug?"

And back to thinking you're an ass. "You don't need to be such a jerk." I took a grim satisfaction at his startled expression. I'd talked back to the Lord of the Underworld.

Hades pushed to his feet and gave me a low, mocking bow. "I will throw a party celebrating the greatness that is my son. How about that?"

I tried not to be too subtle in conveying my thoughts on his doucheyness.

But Hades wasn't paying me any attention. He zoned out for a moment, and then pronounced, "I will throw a party. A masquerade ball starting at midnight before the equinox." His gaze turned distant and soft. "He used to like parties."

I choked on a bite of food at seeing this side of him. Which swung his attention back to me.

Hades' eyes gleamed and he smiled slowly. "Such an art to picking the right mask, don't you think? The wrong one can reveal so much more than it conceals."

He swept from the room, bellowing for some creature or another to start the planning.

Games and roles and masks and agendas. Give me high school backstabbing any day.

On the upside, my belly was full and I'd survived my first encounter with Hades. Maybe my luck would hold in finding Prometheus. My chair scraped over the flagstones as I stood.

Crossing to the door, I heard a chirping. I looked around, expecting some trapped little bird but there was nothing. I took a couple more steps. The noise got louder. More insistent.

Another look around. This time I found the source. A gray gecko with brown spots and brilliant green eyes clung to the wall, close to the ground. I bent down to peer at him. "Hey, little guy."

I would have dismissed him as a cute wildlife encounter when I realized what his presence meant.

Demeter was here.

The gecko was her messenger. I knew it. I remembered it. These creatures were considered sacred to her. And whenever she'd wanted to meet Persephone in the Underworld, she'd used one of them to arrange a meeting.

I narrowed my eyes. "Mother Dearest wants to see me, does she?" My palms started to sweat and I tugged at the neckline of my dress. I swear it had shrunk and was the reason I suddenly couldn't breathe.

My first time seeing Demeter while she was still the loving mother of legend? How nerve wracking was that? What if I ended up blubbering the whole time? Or punching her? Either was possible.

And since refusing the summons was not an option, I was about to find out which it would be.