Page 39 of Love and Death (Tempting the Fates #4)

CERBERUS

“ H urry,” I bark hoarsely at the last few souls still wandering the shoreline, grabbing one side of the gate as I get ready to close it. “If you do not move, I will have no choice but to shut you out!”

My voice is heard, despite the dullness in their eyes, and I let out a stuttered sigh as they turn to shamble toward the gate. I turn to look over my shoulder at the shifting forest, watching for any sign of Hades’ imminent arrival.

The first of the remnant souls shuffles through, a small smile on her worn face.

She mumbles something about her sweet precious, and I get the impression that she is speaking of a cat as she strokes an imaginary shape.

I urge her to move quickly down the path, and I sincerely hope as I watch after her that they are once again reunited before the day’s end.

The next soul stumbles trying to get through the gate, and I bend to grab his arm and pull him to his feet, but the moment I do, a growl forces its way through my teeth.

His very skin crawls with the testimony of his wretched abuses, and I have half a mind to make him face Hades’ slaughter … but even that would be too kind.

My beast continues to snarl at him for another minute before I am distracted by another wave of dizziness, and press a hand to the still-bleeding wound at my side. I tried to bind it earlier, tearing my shirt to shreds in the process, but to no avail.

Pained, and slowly bleeding out, I usher in the next wave of souls. Though faint, I can feel the earth tremors beneath my feet to the march of men.

The trees will not hold Hades and his men hostage much longer. I can almost feel the ghost of his leash tightening around my neck once again.

I should slam these gates shut, and lock us in.

But one soul remains behind, unmoved since I first glimpsed him with the others. He is tall, for a mortal, broad-shouldered, with a brutal look about his features, like he has been in one too many fights and won. Though his shoulders tell a different tale ... one of burden. Heartache. Guilt.

It is a little hard to tell from here which one weighs heaviest on him.

“I am going to shut the gate again,” I call out after another minute, when he still does not move. “I do not know when it will next open.”

“Shut it, then,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’m not ready to pass through. Not yet.”

I cock my head slightly out of curiosity. It is not often the souls talk back, and less still that they refuse to step through the gates.

A breeze wafts in from the Styx as I continue to watch the young mortal, and in the midst of the river’s bleak odor, I smell his past life. Sweat and sour wine, the salt of tears hidden in pain, the faintest scent of—nightshade.

I straighten, my brow furrowing as I look him over more carefully.

“Are you the brother?”

“What,” he says, his curated indifference gone in an instant.

“Are you her brother,” I repeat, adding a little more specificity.

“Is she here?”

“Hmm, I suppose that depends on who she is,” I press.

“For all I know, telling you her name will only hurt her.”

Spitting hellfire, he is determined not to tell me anything.

I lean back against the gate, my eyes narrowing on him. “Fine. Why are you here then?”

“I came looking for her, after her father—” he stops, swallowing the rest of his words.

“Was poisoned with nightshade ?”

“Hey,” he snaps, taking his first step toward me, “how did you know about the nightshade?”

“Lucky guess.”

“I don’t believe you.”

I scoff, “Fine. I read the note, and I smell it on you. Simple. Was it you? Should I force you through the gates to stop you causing her more grief? ”

“No! No, you don’t understand,” he says, his breaths coming quicker.

“Understand, what?”

“I-I have to talk to her. I need to tell her something.”

I clench my teeth, frustration bristling the hairs at the nape of my neck. “What makes you think she is here anyway? Or even capable of talking to you?”

“She has to be, why else would you care about causing her more grief?”

I run a hand over my face, my head spinning.

I shouldn’t have let him get to me so easily.

The spice of Hades’ musk suddenly permeates the air, and I know there is no time left to argue with the boy.

“Fine, but move away from the gates,” I say in a low growl. “Stay on the bank and clear of the water, or you may never get a chance to talk to your sister, let alone move on.”

Grabbing both sides of the gate, I pull them shut with a loud, metallic clang, just seconds before the tree line gives way, and Hades storms out in all his blazing blue fury. Deimos appears right behind the king, his men marching out with him to fan out in a display of power.

Behind me, the dawn breaks across the sky to spill over my shoulders, bright and soft, as if I am not about to be torn apart for the last time. Still, I find comfort in believing that Hazel is out there, safe for now, as I steel myself for what I am about to face.

I grimace, bracing myself against the gate as exhaustion pulls at me like never before. I feel weak—powerless, but I have to fight .

I promised to buy her time, and I intend to … I just had not expected to need to buy it for myself, as well.

“Traitor,” Hades sneers, his voice bitter with poison, holding up a hand as he comes to a stop about a throne room’s length away.

I smile at him, feeling the blood coating my teeth. “So says the king who would trade the lives of his entire kingdom for power.”

“I will bring him to heel,” Deimos snarls, baring steel, but Hades waves a hand to stop him as he looks past me at the gate.

“Locked,” I confirm. “And the girl gone. Death with her.”

“Foolish beast,” Hades says, his eyes burning with cold hate, “you have no idea what you have just let slip out of our hands.”

“I have enough of an idea to know that it was better to let it slip away than hand it over to you.”

Hades’ hand drops at this, and they charge.

I leap forward, shifting full control to my beast as I slip into myself.

Dawn-kissed metal clashes like thunder against my teeth and claws. I rip through the first line—tearing a shield from one man’s arm, crushing another man beneath my heavy paw.

Deimos lunges, his blade nearly piercing into the same wound on my ribs. I roar, turning on him to bite hard into his arm, piercing his metal armor into his skin with my teeth before shaking and tossing him across the battlefield.

I am surrounded, fighting off the king’s men as he watches and waits from a distance. Swords and spears pierce me before I can tear them away, but I will not go down easily. I will not give up, not until there is nothing left in me to give.

The fight is so intense that I do not notice that other gods and creatures have come to join me in battle until the swell lessons around me. Fiery determination rekindles in my chest at the sight, and I throw myself into battle with renewed strength.

Slowly, we push back on Hades’ army, and hope begins to rise within me.

And then, I am abruptly plunged into utter darkness just before sharp pain erupts through my side, burrowing deep between my ribs to then twist in agonizing cruelty. I grit my teeth, gasping as air struggles to fill my lungs, and a blade is pulled slowly from me.

Hades appears, grinning, before me as he pulls off his Helm of Darkness, and I fall to my knees.

“Good little mutt. Now, lie down,” he commands with a biting laugh before kicking me in the chest.

I fall back against the gate, clutching at the wound as I drop sideways onto the ground, a dying man.

The battle rages on around me, but I can do no more.

I am slipping away.

The king has escaped my jaws, but I have bought her time.

And, in turn, she has given me my freedom.