ARES
Hades stepped back into his castle and held one of the doors open for us to enter. I grabbed Aurora’s hand, wanting her to stay close, and pulled her into the castle with the rest of our warriors.
A ghostlike man with striking features paced the foyer, muttering to himself.
“We will—”
“Hella and Nyx have pushed the gods back even further,” the ghost said to Hades, completely interrupting him, his hands running through his hair every now and again. “I fear they’ll trap them soon within their borders and won’t ever let them leave.”
“We will handle it. We have reinforcements now,” Hades said, glancing at us.
“It’s not only that. They are also—”
“Phobo, please, let me welcome our visitors.”
After Phobo disappeared down the hallway, muttering and cursing to himself, fear plaguing every one of his features, Hades glanced down at Aurora’s belly, like everyone had been doing lately, and frowned.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Dawn. Medusa told me what she did to you and your family. I can feel the pain that you’re in.”
Instead of responding, Aurora pursed her lips together and placed a hand on her belly. “We need information.”
“Of course.” He walked into another room with a long table fit to seat hundreds of people. “The other gods have been waiting for your return. You’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you need, but I suspect that you’ll want to get out there and fight with them.”
“How are the gods fighting?” I asked.
“They’ve been losing the war since you left.” Hades sat at the head of the table and gestured for the rest of us to sit too. “I doubt you remember everything that happened during your time fighting in the underworld with them. Medusa mentioned that you have scattered memories. But truthfully, we’ve never been winning. They have powers to kill gods.”
“We’re losing, but not for long,” someone said, strolling into the room with a lyre in his hand. He walked right up to my mate and slung his arm around her shoulders, smiling down at her. “It’s been a long time, Dawn. You’re going to change this world for good this time.”
Aurora glanced up at me, and I couldn’t hold back a growl. “Get your hands off her. She’s mine.”
“Apologies.” He pulled his arm away. “Medusa was right. It seems you don’t remember me or much down here. I’ve been watching you since you entered the underworld. I’m Apollo, one of the gods who’s been trapped in this hell, distantly related to Dawn or … Aurora, as you call her.”
Whether they were related or not, I didn’t care. I pulled my mate closer.
“Dawn, I actually have something for you,” Apollo said, unstrapping his pack and pulling out a large notebook. He tore out a piece of paper. “Usually, I prefer music and poetry, but I do enjoy painting the beauty of gods and goddesses.”
Apollo handed Aurora a painting with strong blue brushstrokes across the page. I glanced over her shoulder and examined the image that looked to be a copy of myself, except my body looked wispy and transparent, like those ghosts outside.
“A hundred years ago, Mars asked me to draw a photo of you.” He gave a small smile and drew his fingers across the page. “I told him that if I ever saw you before he did, if I ever made my way to Earth again, I would give this one to you.”
“A hundred years ago?” she whispered. “Mars has only been gone for a few weeks.”
“Time works differently here for distinct beings,” Hades announced to all the warriors scattered across the room. “You’ll understand soon enough. The dead, undead, and living beings in the underworld age unusually as well.”
“What does that mean for Mars?” she asked, glancing up at me through teary eyes.
“While it’s only been a couple weeks for you, it has been a century for him.”
A century …
How has he survived down here all that time, alone?
“So, those creatures outside, those … ghosts,” I whispered, “they’re the dead?”
“The simple answer, yes,” Hades said.
Which meant that, if Apollo had drawn Mars that way, he’d actually died during that fight with Hella. I hadn’t been fucking insane like Denise, that bitch therapist, had told me I was being. I was right, really and truly right.
I stared out the windows at the ghosts walking around in the underworld and unclenched my jaw. Maybe Mom was one of these many ghosts down here, wandering around aimlessly and thinking back to Charolette and me.
Will she remember me? Has Mars found her yet? Is he doing good down here?
A piercing pain shot through my chest, right over the fatal wound that had killed Mars. Just thinking about him brought back bad memories. And while I expected the memory and the hurt to fade quickly, it didn’t.
It only intensified.
I clutched my chest, the pain bringing me to my knees, and grunted in hopes to displace the hurt. I didn’t feel too much pain, but this was more than I’d ever experienced.
“Ares!” Aurora cried, hurrying over to me and kneeling by my side. “What’s going on?”
“I’m fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
Everyone in the room stared at me, including the other gods. And I didn’t want to seem weak in front of anyone. We had to fucking show that we were here to fight, that we wouldn’t succumb to the hounds like the other gods had. We were here to save the world.
When Aurora peeled my hand away from my chest, blood seeped through my shirt from the same fatal wound. I lifted my shirt to see the gash had reopened, but it looked like someone had sliced me through the chest perpendicular to the scar, like this was fresh.
“The hounds and gods are fighting again,” Hades said, glancing at my wound and standing, suddenly worried. “We must prepare for them to run on my kingdom. They’ve been getting closer and closer to our gates. I’m not sure if Cerberus is strong enough to hold them back.”
“Is Mars with them?” Aurora asked, hands still on my chest, using her power to keep the wound closed even though it kept reopening, almost as if I were being stabbed over and over again. “He has to be fighting with the gods, right?”
“Yes,” Hades said. “Mars is fighting with them. If we hurry, you might get to see him.”