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But I’m not in charge.

Hades is.

He reaches around me and presses his hand to Meg’s pussy. I watch him push three fingers into her hard, already knowing exactly what she needs, and my strange shame burns hotter. Worse in some ways… as he presses his cock against my ass, I can’t help resenting the clothing barrier between us. I can imagine him driving just as deep into me as his fingers are into Meg right now. No, better than that. I can imagine him fucking me as I fuck her, even if it’d really be Hades fucking us both.

“You’re getting distracted, little Hercules.” He switches hands, delving the one still wet with Meg’s desire into my pants as he starts fucking her again with his other. He grips my cock tight and I can’t fight back a moan. Hades’s chuckle is cruel. “It would be a shame if you came before she does.”

Just like that, I can’t hold on any longer. I suck hard on Meg’s clit and come into Hades’s hand, and it’s only his clever fingers that have her following me over the edge. The pleasure goes on and on, wave after wave until my body goes limp and it’s only Hades’s arms around me that keep me from slumping over.

I rest my forehead against Meg’s stomach. “Fuck.”

“Yeah,” she whispers. She still doesn’t sound like herself, but I get that now. I don’t sound like myself in this moment either.

I don’t know what I expect after that. I honestly don’t. But nowhere in my realm of possibilities is it for Hades to take care of us. He eases me back from Meg and cleans up my stomach before I can dredge up the energy to do it myself. Another blanket appears and he guides me back to the floor next to the couch. At some point Aurora gets up, gives my shoulder a quick squeeze, and slips out of the room. That shame from before hasn’t gone anywhere, and it only worms its way deeper as I huddle beneath that fucking blanket and watch Hades tend to Meg.

He leans down and says something in her ear and cups her pussy in a possessive way that raises a strange kind of jealousy in me. Jealousy because I want her, yes, but jealousy in the level of caring she receives from him. She means something to him, something special. I might not understand the many undercurrents of their relationship, but even I can see that.

Hades uncuffs her and scoops her into his arms. Meg always seems larger than life, so it’s almost shocking to see how small she really is. He carries her easily to the couch and wraps another blanket around her while she’s still in his lap. I don’t know what to expect. Am I supposed to leave? The thought hurts. A lot. More than it has right to.

Somehow, he knows.

Hades taps the couch next to him with a single finger. “Up.”

My legs shake as I obey. I feel both too light and too raw, as if he’s ripped me open for his perusal. Maybe he has. I must take too long, because he grips the back of my neck and guides me until I’m leaning against them, my head in Meg’s lap. She has to spread her legs to make room for my shoulders, and that could have been an invitation of sorts, but it doesn’t feel like it. I close my eyes. One of them sifts their fingers through my hair, but I can’t work up the energy to open my eyes to know who. Does it even matter?

I don’t understand any of this. The actions, yes. Not the motive behind it. I can’t shake the feeling they chose me on purpose, trapped me on purpose. My father has a long history of fucking people over, and sometimes those people want revenge. They can’t get to him, so they target the people in his sphere. My mother has had no fewer than four assassination attempts since I was born. My older brother, the heir to the title Zeus, has had double that. Just because I’ve mostly be spared from that danger up to this point doesn’t mean a single damn thing.

In absence of better evidence, the only thing I can do is draw a line between these two things. Hades has some connection to Olympus. All signs point to him targeting me specifically, which means he likely is using me to get to my father.

I almost laugh at the thought, might even do it if I had the energy. Hades might know a lot, might have some deep plans running, but he obviously doesn’t realize how deep my hatred for my father goes. If he wants to use me against the man, he’s more than welcome to.