MARS
The next morning, I awoke with an enhanced motivation to find my mate, to find Aurora.
Last night had been the longest one of my entire life. I had nightmare after nightmare of Hella finding Aurora and taking her away from me again. She’d screamed so loudly in my dreams, the shrill sound making me wake up multiple times in a cold sweat.
I needed to find her. It wasn’t just a want anymore. She was in the underworld, so close to where I was, and I wouldn’t let her travel around here alone anymore. Ares might’ve been strong, but he didn’t know the horrors that lay upon this world down below.
There were monsters far more dangerous than Hella and Nyx. Giants and centaurs and birds who wanted revenge lurked in every dark corner of this realm, just waiting to attack and sink their claws into one’s flesh.
Deep down, I wanted to protect Aurora because I couldn’t protect her in our life. I couldn’t protect her in our past lives either. I had seen nightmares and horrors of what had happened after I died in the Sanguine Wilds. I had let Aurora die.
This was my only chance, my only chance to really see her again.
Part of me hoped, wanted, needed Aurora to be down here for me. For years, I’d prayed to the Moon Goddess to see her again. I’d wanted her to come and find me. But at the same time, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that were the case. She shouldn’t be down here at all.
“We need to get to Hades’s kingdom,” I pleaded with Helios as he walked into his small living quarters.
He had offered for me to stay with him from now on since Hella had destroyed my hidden home, but I couldn’t wait here anymore.
“I know you think it’s stupid. Hell, I know that it’s stupid. But I need to find her. I need to find my mate.”
“Mars, do you know how dangerous it is?” Helios let out a long sigh, rubbing the lines on his forehead, and then stared out of his living room window with a pained expression. “But I know. I know what it feels like to have your mate torn away from you.”
“She’s your sister,” I argued. “Hella might still be here, still in between us and her, but we can’t let her divide us. We need to find Aurora, Ares, and my entire pack. We’re only gonna be able to defeat them together. Not separately. Hella has far too many hounds on her side.”
Helios stared at me for a long few moments. Then, finally, his eyes softened, and he nodded. “I know, Mars. I know we need to find her now. She’s the strongest god and goddess of them all, and she doesn’t even know her true potential yet. She has the ability to lead the hounds. Not just the wolves, but also the hounds. Hella’s hounds.”
“What?” I whispered, my heart racing inside my chest. I swallowed hard and stared at him, my eyes wavering just a bit. Aurora has the ability to not only wield the Malavite Stone, but to also lead the hounds? “How is that possible? How can she lead Hella’s hounds? Hella raised them from the dead with her own power. How can Aurora take control of Hella’s creation?”
“It’s possible,” Helios said. “I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. When she was alive years and years ago, she was best friends with the hounds. They followed her wherever she went. Every time I saw them together, I couldn’t fathom it, but it’s true. She is extraordinary, even for a divine being.”
“If what you’re telling me is true and we get Aurora close enough to hellhounds, will she be able to lead them? Is it possible for Aurora to take control of the hounds just by using her mind?”
Helios sighed again. “I believe so, but I’m not certain. We’ll have to check it out and see.”
“Then, let’s go.” I leaped up from the small couch. “Apollo left hours ago. The hounds between her and us have dwindled down. This is our only chance. You know that Hella isn’t going to give up her position. She knows that she’s in between us, driving us apart. We need to get to Aurora now. Do you know any way to Hades’s kingdom without going through her?”
Helios frowned, and then he perked up and hurried over to one of his many desks in his house. After pulling open a drawer, he took out a map and laid it flat across one of the tables. Then, he traced it with his finger and finally found a point on it.
“I believe there’s a secret passage. We would have to pass the hounds, so we could do so in secrecy. I could use my magic—at least, all the magic I have left. We can try to cloak ourselves while we walk around the hounds. But it’s very risky. We could get caught. And if we get caught, we might not survive. It’s a choice that we have to make together if we want to try to find Aurora again.”
After weighing all the possibilities of what could happen, I nodded. “Let’s do it, then. We have to do it. We have to get to her now.”
Helios looked over at me and nodded. “Okay, let’s do this. We’re going to go find Aurora tonight. I’m going to get you back to see your mate.”