Medusa warned me not to go, but I didn’t listen.
Why hadn’t I listened to her yet again? Because I was angry at whoever killed such a beautiful, innocent goddess. Because I was hurt that I’d never see my sister’s smiling face ever again. Because I was ready to burn someone to their very core.
Hella and her hounds had me cornered on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Phlegethon River as soon as we appeared in the Underworld. The mortal wolves behind me backed up until they were teetering on the edge, some falling off into the stream of lava when the chalky cliff rocks below their paws broke off. They hit the water with a splat, their bodies sizzling on contact. Bones floated to the top and were fished out by Underworld monsters who stacked their carcases in a pile to do Gods and Goddess knew what with them.
“Don’t move,” I ordered the wolves behind me, remembering the promise I made to Selene before I left her for the Underworld. I would protect the wolves she sent with me as she trained more wolves for war in the Sanguine Wilds.
Hella crossed her arms over her chest, braids of her raven hair flowing in an ashy breeze. “How’d you like finding your sister?” Hella asked me, flicking her tongue out against her plum-colored lips.
I wanted to lunge at her, to wrap my hands around her neck and burn her body. But her hounds stood around her, ready to attack me. And if she could’ve killed Eos, I didn’t put it past her to be strong enough to weaken me.
“You killed her, didn’t you?” I asked through gritted teeth, trying to buy myself time to come up with a plan to kill her. I might’ve been cornered, but I wouldn’t let her roam free after what she did.
To my surprise, she shook her head. “No, I didn’t lay a finger on your sister.”
“You’re a liar,” I seethed. “You and your hounds killed her.”
“Hella didn’t kill your sister,” someone said to my right. Walking down the narrow and rocky cliff toward us, Erebus stared right at me with Nyx by his side. My eyes widened slightly as I saw the deep burn marks around Nyx’s wrists and ankles, which must’ve been from divine chains. She looked tired and weak, and she couldn’t hold eye contact with me.
When Erebus made it a few meters away, he grasped Nyx’s hand as one would a wife. “Nyx, your lover, killed her.”
Nyx stared over at her brother with such terror that it hurt me. I shook my head, not believing that Nyx would do such a thing, and clenched my jaw. Yet I didn’t know who to believe. Medusa told me not to trust anyone down here, no matter what… but when Nyx lifted her gaze to meet mine, I knew that she would never willingly hurt anyone.
She might’ve been the night, but she was pure.
Erebus pushed Nyx forward and let her stumble toward me.
“Kill him,” Erebus said to Nyx, eyes burning as dark as charcoal. “End his reign.”
Nyx stared at him, then at me—her eyes darker than I had ever seen them. For a single moment, I thought that Medusa was right, he had her under his control. But then she turned back to her brother. “Give me chains. I want him to suffer. He doesn’t deserve a death that quickly for what he did to you.”
I dug my nails into my palms. What was she doing? Trying to make me look weak, insecure, as if I didn’t know what I was doing? Or did my Nyx have a plan to save us both from this hell?
Erebus stared at her for a few moments, analyzing her, then he looked toward Hella. “Give her the chains you brought.”
Hella handed her divine chains, the same kind that bound the original titans right around here. “You’re welcome,” Hella said, voice snarky.
Nyx sauntered over me, grabbed my chin in her chilly yet calming grasp, and stared up at me with menace. “I hate you with everything I fucking have,” she said, thrusting me back toward the edge of the cliff.
One more step and I’d fall right into the lava pits.
She stepped closer. “Trust me,” she whispered so quietly that only I could hear her.
She had a plan. She was going to save us.
“Let the warrior-wolves go, and I’ll come with you,” I said.
Nyx laughed. “You act as if you have a choice. You made a mistake by hurting my brother, and all of you will pay for it.” She snapped the chains around my wrists and ankles, binding them so tightly that I could barely move. All my power suddenly drained from me, and I felt as weak as a mortal probably did.
My chest tightened as I stared at her brother—the man who had always wanted to destroy me. He stared at me with hatred in his eyes and a smug smirk on his face, as if this had been coming for years and he was relishing in the moment.
I struggled slightly to make it seem believable. Nyx yanked on the chains and pulled me toward her. “Don’t think about trying to get out,” she said, her voice and words harsh. “You’re a liar, a cheater, and a betrayer. You’re our prisoner now. There will be no escape.”