AURORA
“They’re retreating,” Hades announced, stopping and watching the hellhounds sprinting in the opposite direction through the woods. He stuck the end of his bident on the ground and clenched his jaw. “They’re leaving.”
I watched the wolves run far away from here after we had destroyed about half of them with our strength, numbers, and magic. But it didn’t make sense. They were alone, and it seemed like we had found them and cut them off, as if they were running somewhere to meet up with someone—maybe Hella.
“Mars isn’t here,” I announced, more for myself than for Hades or Apollo or even Ares. I walked through the dead hellhounds that we needed to kill in order to survive and frowned, not finding Mars anywhere. “Where is he?”
“They must’ve been fighting elsewhere,” Minerva said, crouching by the wolves and running her fingers over one of their snouts. “We must’ve cut off these wolves from getting to Hella and fighting against the other gods.”
“They’re stronger than I ever imagined,” Acesca muttered and wiped some blood off a warrior with her supplies. Then, she stood and walked over to me. She nudged me and glanced up at the trees. “The harpies are watching again.”
I looked up at the bird-woman perched high in the trees and furrowed my brows, my stomach tightening. “We’re with Hades and the other gods. What do you think they want? Don’t they only take people who are traveling to Hades’s kingdom?”
She chewed on the inside of her lip. “I’m not sure.”
“Nobody knows what they want. They show up whenever they feel like it. But we should head back to the castle to regroup and form a plan,” Hades announced. “We have much to talk about and even more to catch up on. So much has happened since you were killed the first time. And we can chat about Mars.”
I glanced over at Ares and gave him a small smile. “We would love that.”
So, I strolled alongside my mate back to Hades’s castle. As we stepped onto his property and walked around those mindless ghostlike creatures, I glanced over at Apollo and let go of Ares’s hand. I had a question, one that had been bothering me since Apollo had given me the picture of Mars.
I glanced over at Apollo and held my hand to my stomach. “I don’t usually ask anyone for favors, but would you be able to draw my daughter? She was taken from me before I could even see her, and I want something to remember her by.”
Apollo stopped before we entered Hades’s palace. After taking a seat on a large rock, Apollo pulled out a notepad and sketch pen, as if he kept one on him at all times along with his lyre. “I won’t ask what she looks like, but I’ll make her how I believe any child you and Ares have together would look like.”
Apollo whipped up a quick drawing of our daughter—or what he thought she’d look like—and handed it to me, his lips turned up into a small smile. I moved closer to Ares and grasped his hand, staring at the bright eyes of my daughter for the first time.
It was far from the real thing, but it was something.
I had never fucking seen her before. Not once.
“How does she look to you, Ares?” Apollo asked. “You’ve seen a glimpse of her.”
Ares stayed quiet for a few moments, his eyes glossing over. “It’s our daughter,” he whispered, muscles tightening. “This is our daughter.”
“How do you like it?” Apollo asked me.
“I love it,” I whispered, bursting into tears and grasping the page so tightly.
Acesca moved beside me and gently rubbed my back, whispering that it would be okay. But I couldn’t stop crying.
“I love it so much. I miss her.”
Ares took me from Acesca and picked me up, cupping my face with his large, callous hands. “We’re going to be okay. She’s going to be okay. We’re doing this to see her again, Aurora. You have to stay strong.”
I balled his shirt in my fists and pulled him closer to me. “I miss her so much.”
“Me too, Kitten,” Ares whispered against my lips. “I miss her too.”
“We need to find Mars,” I said. “He needs to know that his daughter is okay.”
“You can search for him at his home. He lives a few miles from here.”
“He does?” I asked, perking up at the thought. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“Because we needed to talk about more important things, like this war,” Hades said.
Instead of addressing the war anymore today—because by the looks of it, they didn’t have much information yet either—I grabbed Ares’s hand and led my warriors to the door. “Come on. We have to go find him. He has to be close.”
Hades nodded. “I knew that you would. Find his home and then come back tonight, so we can chat. I want this to be over once and for all.”
“Unfortunately, I’ll be gone when you get back,” Apollo said. “I have business with other gods, but I hope to see you again, Dawn. Our paths will surely cross once more. And if I see Helios, I’ll let him know that you’re here.”
“If you find Mars before I do, can you give him this?” I asked, placing the drawing back in Apollo’s hand and curling his fingers around it, desperate for him to take it before I tried to steal it back from him. Because I wanted to keep it so badly. “Please, show Mars who our daughter is.”
Ares squeezed my free hand. “Are you sure, Kitten?”
“Yes,” I whispered, pulling away from Apollo. “I want him to know that we’re here for him, that we’re going to find him, and that we’ll bring him home, no matter who he has become or how he looks. We will be a family again.”