Page 6

“Long story short, because we don’t exactly have time to waste here, but Hades fell in love with our mother, Leuce. She was a water Nymph and daughter of the Titans, Oceanus and Tethys. From their love for each other came the birth to twins, Ella and myself. But from fear from his wife’s wrath and what Persephone may try and do to us all if she found out, he hid us.”

“Hid you where?” I asked, even as I tried to wrap my head around it all.

“He hid us in the Elysian Fields, where he had a secret temple built for us. One that borders closest to the Underworld and where we remained even long after our mother passed.”

“Elysian Fields?” I uttered, knowing the place was separate from the Underworld, despite it being ruled by Hades. It was like a paradise for the heroes of men. Or so I had been told, as naturally, it wasn’t a place the likes of any HellBeast had been.

“It was the only place no one could cross to. It was our safe haven, one untouchable by outsiders. That was, until your HellBeast started to call out to Aná…”

“Again, we don’t need names here,” I said, pausing her again, as I didn’t fancy knowing what a fucking HellBeast heart attack felt like.

“She left the safety of our home in search of you,” she told me, making me suck in a quick breath.

“And she found him?” Orth asked, as my mental capacity to absorb any more shocking news was failing me.

“Yes, and for a while, it was fine. But then another discovered her.”

“Garmr,”I snarled his name, already knowing this.

“Yes, our uncle,” she confirmed.

“And what exactly makes him your uncle? As I gather you mean more than just some family friend that wants to fuck up your lives?” Marcus asked this time.

“Garmr is my mother’s half-brother,” she said, her face one of hatred even speaking of him.

“How? He is of Norse decent?”

“Garmr was fathered by Loki, this is true, but what you don’t know is that Loki disguised himself as Oceanus’s husband and tricked her into sleeping with her.”

“Sounds like they did a lot more than sleeping,” Marcus muttered, making Lerna frown before continuing.

“From this she birthed a child, Garmr, who was born a HellHound. So, she gave him over to Loki as a child and cast him from the Olympian line. After which he grew up and was given to Hel, the queen of the underworld that neighbors my father’s own realm. I don’t know exactly what happened after that, only that at some point he was cast from the realm of Niflheim as well.”

“And has been hellbent on bringing about Ragnarök ever since,” I added with a growl of words. Her bright blue eyes widened before she agreed.

“Yes, and he wants to use my sister to do it, to do what he failed to do all those years ago.”

“But what happened to you both? What happened to make Ella’s soul reincarnate?” I asked, as this was what I wanted to know more than all else.

“Garmr discovered the power she possessed, that of our father. So, he devised a plan and kidnapped her. Only when she wouldn’t do as he commanded her to do, he knew he needed leverage. So, he had me kidnapped also, so as he could force her to do terrible things, things she did for fear of what he would do to me.” I felt my whole-body tense at that, my demonic hands curling into fists.

“But you escaped?” Marcus assumed.

“Koro, who was acting as his second in command, he was the one to kidnap me but we… well we…”

“Fell in love,” Koro affirmed, reminding me of what he had told me, about the innocent soul he had been forced to kidnap. Well now I knew who that innocent soul was.

“Yes, we did,” she said, looking up at him with the same love in her eyes, a love I would have wanted to curse to damnation only moments ago. As for now…it seemed as if I wasn’t so sure of anything anymore.

“I got her out and, together, we planned a way to free her sister,” Koro told us, and I swear I felt like my heart was going to pound its way out of my fucking chest hearing this!

“But in order to achieve it, we first needed to ensure her guardian was ready for her, when the time came,” he told me, making me assume,

“Hence where I came in.”

“Yes, the plan was to befriend you and lure you to the caves where you were to cross over but you didn’t trust me the first time,” Lerna said, causing me to jerk back a little before asking,

“The first time?”