Page 207 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

The Warning

‘When your mother left you here,

you were a child and it was my duty,

as we are all cousins, to see you protected.’

He moved into the room like a snake.

‘However, things have taken a turn.’

His grey eyes glinted with a sword’s edge.

‘Your mother did not tell us the extent of your powers.

If she had, I would have never kept you here.’

I put down the Hydra eggshell on the table.

‘How did you know?’ I asked him softly.

Despite our schisms, Styx and Pallas

would never have told him of any of this.

Hades looked around the apothecary now,

lifting one of my urns of belladonna,

wrinkling his nose at the smell.

‘Hermes told me everything, Hekate.

I know all about your quest. All the Gods are aware,’

he said this quietly, ‘of what you are.’

Of course. Hermes. I should have known that

the Olympian in him would not keep

my secrets. The betrayal stung.

I stared at Hades, the curl of distaste

on his mouth jarring and cruel.

‘What do you want from me?’

‘I am letting you know,’

his voice was so cold,

‘that my spies are watching you.’

Charon had told me this about Hades.

He had grown so mistrustful that

he had taken to keeping shadows as spies.

That he deemed me threat enough to have me

watched chilled me to the bone. I stared at him,

unable to fathom this version of him.

‘If you had not let me stay, I would have been—’

He cut me off. ‘You would be enslaved to Zeus

or Poseidon. Or have turned out like your mother.’

I took in the cold shock of his words.

And then it struck me like ice.

‘You are afraid of what I am.’

It was there, in his hesitation

that I knew, but still

I let him speak.

‘If you try anything,’ his voice was low,

‘that challenges my rule. You will wish

that I am as kind to you

as Zeus has been to Prometheus.’