Page 87 of Bride of Death

Hades

I sit in the dirt,my gaze on the sky while I wait for Morpheus to return to the land of the living.

Some of my ire has melted. Not all of it, but enough.

And all because of a knot.

I nearly laugh at the insanity of it all.

However, Morpheus’s statements were truthful. Everyone’s always are when faced with the pit of death. That’s what makes it such an effective tool for eternal judgment.

“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.”

Morpheus’s dying proclamation plays through my mind, the words ones I struggle to accept.

Only, I know he meant each and every statement.

“How could Persephone not know what a knot is?” I ask his corpse. “I’ve knotted that Omega thousands of times. Trust me,she knows what a knot is.”

Yet I heard the truth in his commentary then, too.“She repeated the term like a question.”

I grunt. “That doesn’t sound like my Persephone at all,” I tell him, aware he can’t hear a word I’m saying. “You needto regenerate faster, Morpheus. This one-sided conversation is boring me.”

The irony of the situation is not lost on me.

Usually, I can’t wait for him to shut the fuck up.

Yet right now, all I want is for him to answer me.

I shake my head. “Everything is twisted. Nothing is right. And Persephone… She doesn’t know what a knot is?” I can’t help voice the question aloud for what’s probably the third or fourth time. “I don’t understand. She’s not…” I trail off, my mind struggling with the logical assessment that’s so blatantly obvious I want to disregard it.

Because I can’t trust her.

Except, what if it’s not her? What if Morpheus and Maliki are right? Orcus, too…

They’ve all said Serapina is her own individual.

I’ve not wanted to believe it.

Maybe that’s the true reason I avoided her for the last thirteen months—I didn’t want to be proved wrong.

My jaw clenches at the very real likelihood of that scenario.

“Am I just being stubborn?” I ask myself.

“Fucking… always,” a hoarse voice answers from beside me.

“Oh.” I look down at Morpheus. “Good. You’re up. We need to talk.”

The corpse-like version of my cousin sputters out a sound that might be a laugh. Or maybe a curse. I’m not sure. Nor do I care.

“What did you mean,not even for Maliki?” I ask my cousin. “Are you suggesting I share him as an enforcer?”

The look Morpheus gives me tells me that’s too complex a question for his waking brain.

Or maybe he’s trying to convey irritation with his gaze.

“You’re going to need to rouse faster,” I tell him. “I have a date with my Omega tonight, and I don’t want to be late.”