Page 70 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

Hades Led Us Quietly

It was easy to forget

that we were following him.

His footsteps were so soft.

I had learned his story

from my mother years ago,

when we were still at war.

Hades was the youngest

of the three Olympian brothers,

children of the once-ruling Titans,

Rhea, the mother Goddess,

and Kronos, God of Time

and God-King of the world.

But Kronos had a madness,

a sickness no one could cure.

His father had cursed him

and told him that someday

one of his own children

would steal his throne.

To prevent this from happening,

Kronos ate every one

of his five offspring.

Rhea, pregnant with her sixth

and consumed with grief,

found a way to protect her child.

Zeus grew up in secret

and returned to defeat Kronos,

releasing his sisters and brothers

from the stomach-prison of the old God.

They arrived in reverse order

of their original births.

First it was Hera, then Poseidon,

then Demeter, Hades and finally,

Hestia. After which the three brothers

looked upon the realms of the sky,

the sea and the Underworld

and chose which one to rule.

But to be ruler of the Underworld

you must choose never to live

on Olympus with the other Gods.