Page 82 of Bride of Death

I can survive this. But it still smarts like a son of a fae.

“What did you think she needed to be taught?” Hades asks, his silky voice near my ear as he crouches behind me.

“Everything, you imbecile,” I hiss at him. “She knowsnothing. Not about Persephone. Not about mating an Alpha. Not about our world. She’s utterly lost with only her sister’s words to guide her. And she thinks she’s not an Omega.”

That last line is delivered with such rage that I can’t control my tone. Because I’m furious that he let it get this far.

“You’re her Alpha, yet you’ve left her woefully unprepared for our life,” I accuse, my voice growing hoarse from all the deadly toxins flowing through my veins. I would mist if I could, but the damn souls neutralized that ability the moment my feet touched this pit.

Well played, I would normally tell Hades.

But I’m not in much of a praising mood right now. I’m too irritated with him to be commending his sparring choices.

“You do not tell me what I have and have not done formy mate,” Hades replies, his voice reverberating through his deadly minions.

“If Serapina is your mate, then you’ve already failed her,” I return, hating how weak I sound. “She doesn’t understand or know you at all, as evidenced by her thinking you hate her when we both know you could never truly hate your Omega. And she thinks marrying you will help her Omega side take over.”

I grunt after that last sentence, still irritated by the conversation I overheard.

Because yes, I was lurking in the mist. I probably should have made my presence known, but I wanted to give Hades a chance to properly woo Serapina.

But his own stubborn nature took over. He’s hurt from a betrayal that happened two thousand years ago. I understand. We’re allhurtby what happened.

However, his pain blinds him to what everyone else can plainly see—that Serapinais notPersephone. She’s a separate entity. A human. A beautiful mortal who has been paired with a turbulent soul.

That’s not her fault.

She shouldn’t be punished for another being’s sins.

Yet the beautiful individual that Serapina is came out on full display as she offered to do whatever was necessary to try to access the memories buried deep inside her spirit.

“What are you going to do on your nuptial night, Hades?” I ask, my vision starting to go black. “Continue to assume it’s Persephone, thereby justifying your growl? Seduce the Omega into taking your knot when she doesn’t even bloody know what a knot is?”

“And how do you knowthat?” His fury underlines that last word, making me sigh.

Because I’m about to lose consciousness.

And he’s probably going to leave me here to suffer until Ares comes along.

Or maybe Athena will pull me out. But only if she’s careful. I would die a thousand deaths before letting any ill fate befall my precious owl.

“Because I made an offhanded comment the other night,” I tell him, my voice barely audible. “She repeated the term like a question.”

I don’t hear his reply.

Not even sure he makes one.

But I really only have one last thing to say to him anyway. “All I’ve ever wanted was to share her, Hades. Not take her. Not claim her as my own.Share. Alas, it’s something you’ll never understand. Not even for Maliki.”

Because I know that’s what set him off—his possessive jealousy.

He took it out on me. Which is fine. I can take his fury.

Yet I’m so bloody tired of this fight.

Maybe he’ll finally hear me.

Maybe he won’t.