Page 69 of Bride of Death

First, Hades upsets Sera and leaves me to fix it.

Then Morpheus mists Sera and me off to a dystopian Styx hole, knowing full well I couldn’t just shadow out of that realm without risking some serious consequences.

Shadowing to and from the Human Realm? Fine. Midnight Fae Realm? Cool. Pretty much all other Faedoms? Yep.

But the Mythos Fae Realm? The land without a Source? The fucking epitome of “should not exist”? Nope. No. Absolutely not.

I probably would have ended up in a fire geyser had I tried.

And now Hades has the fucking audacity to show up again. He’s had thirteen months to get to know his mate. Yet he chooses twice in the same day? When she’s already clearly traumatized?

“No,” I say before he can even utter another word. “Fuck off.” I look at Hades and then at Morpheus. “Both of you.”

Hades simply arches one of his fucking brows, his expression saying,Excuse me? Do you know who you’re talking to?

Yeah, I fucking do.

The God of Idiocy. The God Who Fucked Up. The God Who Doesn’t Understand Women At Fucking All.

I mean, Styx. I know it’s been a long time for him. But the way he spoke to Sera today was absolutely asinine. He’s lucky she didn’t slap him.

All that possessive Alpha shit.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

Well, not tonight.

“Go home,” I growl at him and Morpheus. “Sera needs food and sleep. Because apparently you’ve both forgotten that she’s afucking human.”

I’m usually the chill one who doesn’t give a Styx about much. But seeing the light dim in Sera’s eyes tonight did something to me.

She went from my feisty little mystery to a docile, broken lamb.

I’m not tolerating it.

And my expression must convey that because both Morpheus and Hades take a step back.

“We should talk,” Hades says, his words for the God of Dreams. And it’s not an offer so much as a demand.

“Oh, now you want to chat? After thirteen months of telling me to leave?” Morpheus grins. “How about no?” He looks at me. “Take care of our mate, Enforcer.”

He disappears before I can reply, the wordourseeming to echo in the air.

Hades narrows his gaze, making me sigh.

Apparently, Morpheus wants to imply that I’ve formed an alliance with him. And that Sera is the center of that relationship.

Or maybe he meant “our,” as in “Morpheus and Hades.” I have no clue. And it’s not really my riddle to solve.

“We will be discussing this,” Hades warns me.

“I’ll pencil it into my calendar,” I deadpan.

He isn’t amused by my sarcasm. In fact, I suspect he’s furious.

And that anger is only going to grow when he finds out where Morpheus took us. Though, the dangerous glint in his fathomless eyes suggests he already knows.

He glances down at Sera, some of the ire seeming to dissipate as he studies her shaking form.