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.You cared about him, and you stayed friends through it all.He appreciated that.I know he did,” I said softly.“Don’t feel guilty for living the life you want, Shanti.He’s worth remembering fondly, and, as much of a demon as he was, he still wouldn’t want you to hurt every time you remembered him.”“I know,” she said, taking a deep breath to steady herself.“We did a little ceremony thing while you were recovering.We were going to wait, but…”“But you needed it, and so did everyone else who knew him.I’m glad you had it.I will say goodbye in my own way.”Shanti leaned forward and hugged me.“I am so glad you’re back.Stop doing shit like that.”I hugged her back.“I’ll try.”“Liar,” she said, smiling as she released me.“This is Zero, by the way.”I chatted with Shanti and Zero for a few moments, and then asked where my parents were.Shanti pointed to the room that had always been considered “the vampire room.” I hugged her again and then headed up the stairs, listening to the din of conversation in the loft.All of the various teams, our allies, had bonded over our grief, over the experience of going into battle together.And based on the news reports, we weren’t done.Supernaturals still fought in the streets, though it was much more random now.Even as I’d talked to Shanti, about half of the team, including Jamie and Ronan, had left to patrol and try to fight back the chaos.So much to do, I thought to myself as I walked up the stairs.I reached the room and knocked.“Come in,” my father said, and I opened the door, ducked into the room.The scene in here was similar to the way it was in the room I shared with Nain.My mom laid in the bed, dozing.My father was in the twin bed beside her, arm around her body, lending her his strength.I sat on the small chair, looked at my mom for a few moments.She looked healthy, but I could feel that she was still weak.“How is she?” I asked Hades.“She is alive.Thanks to you.”“She was nearly dead because of me.”“Because of Nether.Do not even start this nonsense, daughter,” Hades said sternly.“I should have controlled her better,” I said, shaking my head.“You did everything you could.Tis and I talked about all of it a lot after Asclepias saw you that day.We both had a feeling it was only a matter of time.You have too many powerful enemies, and hiding and playing it safe just isn’t in you.”I tried to sense for him, to see if he harbored some anger toward me.I didn’t feel anything other than typical demonic/Nether rage.“We’re proud of you, Mollis,” he said.“And you saved your mother’s life and I should be sorry for asking so much of you.When I saw what it did to you…” he trailed off, shook his head, guilt rolling off of him.“I can’t choose you or her.I want you both in my life.And I was willing to risk you, to risk Nether’s prison, to save her.I knew you’d come back, though you did give us all a fright there for a while.I’m only sorry it hurt you so much.”“She’ll be okay, right?” I asked, looking at my mom again.“She will be fine.I think we started giving her our blood just in time.There was only the tiniest speck of life left in her when we started.”I sensed for my father.My mother.“What about Tartarus?” I asked him, remembering the insanity with the realms of the immortals.He watched me.“Something is happening.None of us can get back into the Nether since it kicked us out that day.”“Maybe the Nether doesn’t exist, because Nether is free now?” I asked, and he shook his head.“No.The gateway is there.It’s just not letting anyone through.I have never seen anything like it.”“Weird,” I said, thinking.“Yes.But I’ll take it.I am not leaving her side until she’s back to normal.”I watched my father for a few seconds.“You love her.”He didn’t answer.“You loved Persephone too.”He looked at me from his place beside my mother.“If it hadn’t been for that stupid, nonsensical prophecy, Tis and I would have been together immediately.There has always been something between us.Always.And we did our best to avoid it, to avoid one another as much as our roles would allow, because for our entire existence, the Fates and everyone else were warning us that we would destroy everything.We reached a point where we could barely be in the same room together, the tension between us was so high.And then one day, I was out in the woods in the Nether, and she was there, and no one was around.I don’t think either of us had a second thought.Being with her was like coming home.Everything was right.And we parted ways after we’d exhausted one another, and swore we’d try to forget.”His eyes had a faraway look, as if he was remembering.“But I’ve never forgotten.You can’t forget the feel of the body of someone who was absolutely made to be yours.You can’t forget the way it feels when two souls fit together so perfectly you can’t sense where one begins and the other ends.Can you?” he asked me, meeting my eyes.I shook my head, thinking of my husband, who had given me his energy the same way Hades was doing with my mother.“You always were much more of romantic than anyone has given you credit for,” my mother said, and Hades smiled and took her hand.Their fingers entwined, and my mom looked at me.“Hello, my beautiful girl.”“Hi mom,” I said, trying to fight back tears of relief.She released my father’s hand and took mine.“Thank you, my love.You didn’t have to do that.I knew what I was doing.”“Why on earth did you do it?” I asked her.She smiled.“You are eternal, Mollis.You never, ever would have forgiven yourself if Nether had killed the shifter.I am made of stronger stuff than he is.And I was fine with dying if it meant saving you from that.”“I don’t love you any less than I loved him,” I said.“I know that.And, as I said, I figured I had a better chance of surviving than he would.” She shrugged a thin shoulder.“You certainly pack a punch, kiddo,” she said, grinning.“I’m sorry, mom,” I said again, and she let out a weak laugh.“Considering what you went through to save me, and that it wasn’t your fault in the first place, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for.I love you, my darling girl.I am more proud of you every single day.Do you know that?”I blinked tears back from my eyes.“Thank you.”She squeezed my hand again, then pulled it back, and Hades held it in his.“I’ll take a look at the gateway and see if anything had changed,” I said to them, and Hades nodded.“And then I’m going to hunt down Strife and Nether.”“Nether will be impossible to find until she generates a body.She is nothing more than energy now, floating around in the world,” Hades said.“That takes several weeks in mortal time.”I nodded.“Strife will be easy,” I said.My mom watched me.“How do you figure that? She’s been eluding you for months.”“Thanks for that vote of confidence, mom,” I said, and she laughed.“That last moment, before she killed me, she looked into my eyes and was talking to Nether.She told her to come and find her when she was ready.And she was excited, and the dumb bitch projected exactly where she’d be.Good thing I have a decent memory,” I finished, and I could feel my energy rising, my lust for battle, for the blood of my enemy, making it soar [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]